SAT Writing

SAT Writing: Apostrophes & Pronoun-Noun Agreement

Writing to communicate well

What we've covered so far:

• Parts of speech: verb, noun, pronoun, prep., etc. (p. 9-13)

• ADR: intro, conclusion, transition, support, add, delete, emphasis (p. 15-29)

• SPO: insert S/P, change S/P order (p. 30-38)

(continued)

• Infographics: graphs, charts (p. 39-49)

• Concision (p. 50-56)

• DIR: diction, confusing word pairs, idioms, register (p. 57-66)

Today, we're going to focus on apostrophes (') and

noun-pronoun agreement

(the chair = it ✔️, tomatoes = it ❌).

Let's check what you already know about apostrophes...

Multiple Choice

The three business' PR teams were working hard to cover up the scandal.

• NO CHANGE

• businesses

• business'es

• businesses'

Apostrophes to show something is owned:

• Plural noun: add -s or -es. NO (')

• Singular noun + poss.: add (') + s.

• Plural noun + poss.: add (') after -s/-es

• [page 133]

Apostrophes to show two words are smooshed together:

• it's = it is

• they're = they are

• you're = you are

• who's = who is / who has

• she'd / he'd / they'd = + would

• [page 133 - 139]

Multiple Choice

An artists' colony is a place where creative practitioner's live and interact with one another.

• NO CHANGE

• practitioners

• practitioners'

• practitioners's

Multiple Choice

Since colonies such as MacDowell and Yaddo were founded in the early 20^th century, they have exhibited hundreds of artist's works and provided important spaces for collaboration and experimentation.

• NO CHANGE

• artists works

• artist's work's

• artists' works

Multiple Choice

Macdowel and Lim would argue that it was only by they're tenacity that they were able to open the research center in Prague.

• NO CHANGE

• there

• their

"Many questions that test apostrophes will also test pronoun agreement [at the same time]..."

p. 140

Multiple Choice

The cacao bean is the dried and fully-fermented, fatty bean of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). Their the source of cocoa butter and solids, including chocolate, as well as an ingredient in many Mesoamerican dishes such as mole and tejate.

• NO CHANGE

• It's

• Its

• They're

noun-pronoun agreement

• noun: person/place/thing/idea (Suwon/park/Nike shoes/racism)

• pronoun: word that stands in for a noun (he/she/them/us/our/it)

• agreement: matching up two words to make a grammatical connection (cacao bean + it ✔️, cacao bean + they ❌)

Rules of noun-pronoun agreement:

• Is it human? it = thing; he/she = 🧍

• How many? it = one; they = more

• One.. one.. one.. ❌ you (p. 144)

• Missing / confusing noun? Specify the name (p. 145)

• this / that + noun (SAT required)

Multiple Choice

Mae Jemison became the first Black American woman to travel into space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. After one's medical education and a brief general practice, Jemison served in the Peace Corpos for two years.

• NO CHANGE

• her

• its

• they're

Multiple Choice

When an artist works with oil paints, they should allow at least a week for paintings to dry.

• NO CHANGE

• one

• he or she

• we

Multiple Choice

If you want to protect your home from insect invasions, you should avoid leaving crumbs lying on the floor. You should also avoid leaving dirty dishes in the sink since ants and mice are attracted to leftovers. Finally, one should make sure that cracks in the floor and walls are sealed because pests can often enter homes by wriggling through tiny spaces.

• NO CHANGE

• we

• they

• you

Multiple Choice

Daniel Liebeskind and Frenk Gehry are among the most celebrated architects in the world. He is known for using unconventional building materials such as corrugated metal to create tilted geometrical structures.

• NO CHANGE

• Their

• Gehry

• Them

Multiple Choice

Over the last several decades, the Internet has fundamentally changed how we live, work, and play. From virtual classrooms to electronic banking to online gaming, many of our daily actions and interactions are now governed by the web. While these have numerous benefits, we must be aware of the drawbacks too.

• NO CHANGE

• some things

• such exceptions

• these innovations

Follow up excercises on

p. 138-139 + 147-148

Due tomorrow.