Digital SAT Boundaries

Open Ended

Warm-Up: Roses and Thorns! List two positive and two negative things that have happened recently.

OR--list some things/people you are thankful for and why

​What are "boundaries" questions?

On the SAT Reading and Writing Test, some questions will present you with a short passage that contains a blank. The question will then ask you to complete the text in a way that conforms to the conventions of Standard English. On the SAT, these Standard English conventions are broken down into two categories: Form, structure, and sense Boundaries

Boundaries questions focus on how phrases, clauses, and sentences are linked together in written English.

​Which Standard English conventions will be tested in boundaries questions? Boundaries questions focus on these Standard English conventions:

Linking clauses You may be asked to link clauses using coordination, subordination, or end punctuation.
Supplements You may be asked to format and punctuate supplemental information provided within a sentence.
Punctuation You'll need to know when and where to use (and not use) different punctuation marks. Correct punctuation is essential for all boundaries questions.


To learn more about these conventions, check out their corresponding lessons in our grammar practice unit!

​Which Standard English conventions will be tested in form, structure, and sense questions?

Form, structure, and sense questions focus on these Standard English conventions: Subject-verb agreement Pronoun-antecedent agreement Verb forms Subject-modifier placement Plural and possessive nouns To learn more about these conventions, check out the grammar guides, lesson videos, and exercises in the grammar practice unit!

​How to approach boundaries questions

Step 1: Investigate the blank Read the text closely. Where does the blank appear? Within a sentence? Between clauses? Compare the choices. What changes from choice to choice? Are conjunctions added or removed? Is different punctuation used? Any patterns we can identify will be useful in the next step.

Step 2: Find the focus Based on our observations in the previous step, we should be able to identify which Standard English convention is being tested. For example, if the blank comes between two independent clauses, and the choices offer a mix of commas and conjunctions, we should focus on avoiding errors with linking clauses. If we can narrow our focus to the specific convention being tested, we'll have less to think about. This can save both time and brainpower.

​Step 3: Eliminate the obvious errors Now it's time to take a closer look at the choices! Plug each choice into the blank, and read the passage through. Keeping in mind the grammar rules we identified as the focus, eliminate any choice that creates an obvious error. Once we eliminate choices that create errors, we'll be left with only one remaining choice. We can select it with confidence!

Comma Rules Review

• Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction  (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) that separates two independent clauses. 

• Use a comma after an introductory phrase or clause.

• Use a comma around unessential phrases in the middle of a

   sentence.

• Use commas between items in a list.

• Use a comma to separate 2 adjectives.

​Colons

​The colon has 3 main uses:

• ​to introduce a list of items

• ​to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first.

• and to emphasize a phrase or word at the end of the sentence.

​#1 -to create a list

​Colons can be used to make a list; however, there must be a complete thought on the left side of the colon.

​#2- between two independent clauses

​Just like a semicolon, a colon can be used to separate two independent clauses, but only if the second clause explains or illustrates the first. Just like a semicolon, you do not capitalize the first letter after unless it is a proper noun.

​

​#3- for emphasis

​The colon can be used to emphasize a phrase or single word at the end of the sentence.

Multiple Choice

In botany, the term “resurrection plant” refers to any species of plant that seems to come back to life after appearing fully withered and dead. Resurrection plants do not truly return from the dead, ______ are simply exhibiting an adaptation that allows them to survive in very dry conditions for extended periods.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• however they

• however, they

• however. They

• however but they

Multiple Choice

In discussing Mary Shelley’s 1818 epistolary novel Frankenstein, literary theorist Gayatri Spivak directs the reader’s attention to the character of Margaret Saville. As Spivak points out, Saville is not the protagonist of Shelley’s ______ as the recipient of the letters that frame the book’s narrative, she’s the “occasion” of it.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• novel

• novel,

• novel; rather,

• novel, rather,

Multiple Choice

In paleontology, the term “Elvis taxon” gets applied to a newly identified living species that was once presumed to be extinct. Like an Elvis impersonator who might bear a striking resemblance to the late musical icon Elvis Presley himself, an Elvis taxon is not the real thing, ______ is a misidentified look-alike.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• however, it

• however it

• however but it

• however. It

Multiple Choice

With some 16,000 in attendance, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and ______ or FESTAC ‘77, as the event was more commonly known—became the largest pan-African event on record. FESTAC drew people from around the world to Lagos, Nigeria, for a monthlong celebration of Black and African art, scholarship, and activism.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• Culture:

• Culture,

• Culture

• Culture—

Multiple Choice

In a 2016 study, Eastern Washington University psychologist Amani El-Alayli found that, among the study participants who experienced frisson (a physiological response akin to goosebumps or getting the chills) while listening to music, there was one personality trait that they scored particularly ______ openness to experience.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• high on;

• high on

• high. On

• high on:

Multiple Choice

Using satellite remote sensing, Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, director of NASA’s Harvest Africa initiative, gathers important data on crop health. Nakalembe doesn’t just compile the ______ she also shares her findings with African farmers, enabling them to make data-driven decisions about managing critical food crops.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• information, though,

• information; though

• information, though;

• information though,

Multiple Choice

The field of geological oceanography owes much to American ______ Marie Tharp, a pioneering oceanographic cartographer whose detailed topographical maps of the ocean floor and its multiple rift valleys helped garner acceptance for the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• geologist

• geologist:

• geologist;

• geologist,

Multiple Choice

Quantum particles of light—photons—provide an unhackable means of transmitting encryption keys over networks, as attempts to observe particles in quantum states will invariably alter the particles ______ dismantle any information they transmit.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• and in the process--

• and, in the process

• and in the process,

• and, in the process,

Multiple Choice

People who experience chromesthesia report seeing different colors and shapes when they hear different sounds. Interestingly, studies have identified two groups of people that chromesthesia is particularly ______ musicians and composers.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• common in:

• common in

• common. In

• common in;

Multiple Choice

Researcher Lin Zhi developed a process for increasing the tensile strength—measured in gigapascals, or GPa—of silkworm ______ dissolving and reweaving the silk in a solution of iron metal ions, zinc, and sugar, Zhi increased the amount of force required to stretch it from approximately 0.5 GPa to 2 GPa.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• silk and by

• silk by

• silk, by

• silk. By

Multiple Choice

The Tantaquidgeon Museum in Uncasville, Connecticut, was founded in 1931 with the goal of showcasing the culture and history of the Mohegan ______ today, nearly a century later, it is the oldest Native-owned and -operated museum in the country.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• Tribe, and

• Tribe and

• Tribe,

• Tribe