SAT Grammar 2 (Hard)

In 2018, a team of researchers led by Dr. Caitlin Whalen compiled every available measurement of ocean mixing rates from the past two decades. With this novel data set, the team was able to determine how current-driven mixing varies across ______ and what impact it has on the distribution of heat and nutrients in the ocean.

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

• A. regions,

• B. regions:

• C. regions;

• D. regions

Working from an earlier discovery of Charpentier’s, chemists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna—winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry—re-created and then reprogrammed the so-called “genetic scissors” of a species of DNA-cleaving bacteria ______ a tool that is revolutionizing the field of gene technology.

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

• A. to forge

• B. forge

• C. forged

• D. and forging

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?

• A. novel

• B. novel,

• C. novel; rather

• D. novel, rather,

In assessing the films of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, ______ have missed his equally deep engagement with Japanese artistic traditions such as Noh theater.

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

• A. many critics have focused on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources but

• B. Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources has been the focus of many critics, who

• C. there are many critics who have focused on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources, but they

• D. the focus of many critics has been on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources; they

Over twenty years ago, in a landmark experiment in the psychology of choice, professor Sheena Iyengar set up a jam-tasting booth at a grocery store. The number of jams available for tasting ______ some shoppers had twenty-four different options, others only six. Interestingly, the shoppers with fewer jams to choose from purchased more jam.

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

• A. varied:

• B. varied,

• C. varied, while

• D. varied while

On sunny days, dark rooftops absorb solar energy and convert it to unwanted heat, raising the surrounding air ______ a light-colored covering to an existing dark roof, either by attaching prefabricated reflective sheets or spraying on a paint-like coating, helps combat this effect.

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

• A. temperature; by adding

• B. temperature, adding

• C. temperature. Adding

• D. temperature by adding

When they were first discovered in Australia in 1798, duck-billed, beaver-tailed platypuses so defied categorization that one scientist assigned them the name Ornithorhynchus paradoxus: “paradoxical bird-snout.” The animal, which lays eggs but also nurses ______ young with milk, has since been classified as belonging to the monotremes group.

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

• A. they're

• B. their

• C. its

• D. it's

Known as Earth’s “living skin,” biocrusts are thin layers of soil held together by surface-dwelling microorganisms such as fungi, lichens, and cyanobacteria. Fortifying soil in arid ecosystems against erosion, ______

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

• A. a recent study’s estimate is that these crusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent each year.

• B. an estimated 60 percent reduction in global dust emissions each year is due to these crusts, according to a recent study.

• C. these crusts reduce global dust emissions by an estimated 60 percent each year, according to a recent study.

• D. a recent study has estimated that these crusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent each year.

Ten of William Shakespeare’s plays are classified as histories. Although each one of these plays, which include Henry V and Richard III, ______ on a single historical figure (specifically, an English king), some, such as Henry VI Part One and Henry VI Part Two, feature different episodes from the same monarch’s life.

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

• A. focuses

• B. focus

• C. are focused

• D. were focused

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?

• A. information, though;

• B. information, though,

• C. information; though

• D. information though