SAT Grammar 1.2

When writing The Other Black Girl (2021), novelist Zakiya Dalila Harris drew on her own experiences working at a publishing office. The award-winning book is Harris’s first novel, but her writing _________ honored before. At the age of twelve, she entered a contest to have a story published in American Girl magazine—and won. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• were

• have been

• has been

• are

The Alvarez theory, developed in 1980 by physicist Luis Walter Alvarez and his geologist son Walter Alvarez, maintained that the secondary effects of an asteroid impact caused many dinosaurs and other animals to die _________ it left unexplored the question of whether unrelated volcanic activity might have also contributed to the mass extinctions. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• out but

• out, but

• out

• out,

In winter, the diets of Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, are influenced more by food availability than by food preference. Although the monkeys prefer to eat vegetation and land-dwelling invertebrates, those food sources may become unavailable because of extensive snow and ice cover, _______ the monkeys to hunt for marine animals in any streams that have not frozen over. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• forces

• to force

• forcing

• forced

Lucía Michel of the University of Chile observed that alkaline soils contain an insoluble form of iron that blueberry plants cannot absorb, thus inhibiting blueberry growth. If these plants were grown in alkaline soil alongside grasses that aid in iron solubilization, _______ Michel was determined to find out. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• the blueberries could thrive?

• could the blueberries thrive.

• the blueberries might thrive.

• the blueberries could thrive.

• could the blueberries thrive?

In his 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean American artist Nam June Paik showed how television images could be manipulated to express an artist’s perspective. Today, Paik _______ considered the first video artist. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• will be

• had been

• was

• is

The first computerized spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin’s VisiCalc, improved financial recordkeeping not only by providing users with an easy means of adjusting data in spreadsheets but also by automatically updating all calculations that were dependent on these _______ to VisiCalc’s release, changing a paper spreadsheet often required redoing the entire sheet by hand, a process that could take days. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• adjustments and prior

• adjustments. Prior

• adjustments, prior

• adjustments; prior

• adjustments prior

In order to prevent nonnative fish species from moving freely between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, marine biologist Bella Galil has proposed that a saline lock system be installed along the Suez Canal in Egypt’s Great Bitter Lakes. The lock would increase the salinity of the lakes and ________ a natural barrier of water most marine creatures would be unable to cross. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• creates

• create

• creating

• created

Despite being cheap, versatile, and easy to produce, ________ they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not biodegrade in landfills. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:

• two problems are associated with commercial plastics:

• commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that

• commercial plastics have two associated problems:

Stomata, tiny pore structures in a leaf that absorb gases needed for plant growth, open when guard cells surrounding each pore swell with water. In a pivotal 2007 article, plant cell ________ showed that lipid molecules called phosphatidylinositol phosphates are responsible for signaling guard cells to open stomata. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• biologist, Yuree Lee

• biologist Yuree Lee,

• biologist Yuree Lee

• biologist, Yuree Lee,

Small, flat structures called spatulae are found at the tips of the hairs on a spider’s leg. These spatulae temporarily bond with the atoms of whatever they touch. ________ spiders are able to cling to and climb almost any surface. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• For instance,

• However,

• Similarly,

• As a result,