PSAT Writing : Inserting Content
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for PSAT Writing
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Example Questions
Example Question #13 : Improving Paragraphs
(1) Kabuki performances first appeared in 1603, when a woman named Izumo no Okuni began performing a new style of drama and dance routines outside of Kyoto. (2) This new form of entertainment quickly got popular throughout Japan.
(3) Kabuki was known for its extravagant costumes and elaborate make-up. (4) The stage was what really set it apart from other forms of theater at the time. (5) It included a walkway protruding from the stage out through the audience. (6) Actors would use this walkway to make surprise entrances. (7) More advanced features were added, such as rotating stages and trapdoors to lift actors onto or down from the stage almost instantly. (8) All of these were used to create dramatic emphasis.
Which of the following would be the best sentence to insert at the beginning of the passage?
What is kabuki theater, anyway?
Have you ever been to a Broadway musical?
There is a new form of theater in Japan today known as kabuki theater.
Kabuki theater, still a very popular form of entertainment in Japan today, was invented over four hundred years ago.
In 1629, the Japanese government banned women from performing on stage, so from that point on all female roles were played by men.
Kabuki theater, still a very popular form of entertainment in Japan today, was invented over four hundred years ago.
We want a topic sentence to introduce the main idea of the passage.The best sentence also sets a general timeframe that is clarified by the next sentence. The choices that ask questions are too informal and do not fit the tone of the passage.
Example Question #14 : Improving Paragraphs
(1) Kabuki performances first appeared in 1603, when a woman named Izumo no Okuni began performing a new style of drama and dance routines outside of Kyoto. (2) This new form of entertainment quickly got popular throughout Japan.
(3) Kabuki was known for its extravagant costumes and elaborate make-up. (4) The stage was what really set it apart from other forms of theater at the time. (5) It included a walkway protruding from the stage out through the audience. (6) Actors would use this walkway to make surprise entrances. (7) More advanced features were added, such as rotating stages and trapdoors to lift actors onto or down from the stage almost instantly. (8) All of these were used to create dramatic emphasis.
Which of these sentences, inserted after Sentence 8, would provide the best conclusion to the passage?
I hope to travel to Japan some day to see a live kabuki performance.
Over time, more innovations were added, and kabuki theater continues to thrill Japanese audiences to this day.
Some kabuki actors became well-known celebrities.
These stages were more advanced than the ones used in European theaters in the seventeenth century.
The exaggerated expressions painted on the actors' faces identify them to the audience as the protagonist or the villain.
Over time, more innovations were added, and kabuki theater continues to thrill Japanese audiences to this day.
The sentence "Over time, more innovations were added, and kabuki theater continues to thrill Japanese audiences to this day" is the best conclusion because it transitions from the discussion of the stage innovations and sums up both the popularity and longevity of kabuki theater. Of the other choices, a first-person statement doesn't fit the overall tone, the comparison to European theaters is not what the passage is about, and the other two are more specific details that do not summarize the point of the passage.
Example Question #1 : Inserting Content
(1) The sport of lacrosse, while perhaps not as widely popular today in the United States as baseball or football, is far older. (2) These games served many important cultural functions. (3) They were used to settle disputes between tribes, as festival events, and to train young men to become warriors and hunters.
(4) Hundreds of men and women from rival tribes or villages would gather to play at once. (5) The playing field was sometimes several miles long. (6) The original game was very different from the organized sport played today. (7) A single game would be played from dawn until sunset, and be followed by dancing and feasting.
(8) Modern, standardized versions of lacrosse started to be played in the 1850s and soon became very popular throughout Canada and the United States. (9) For over a century, it has been one of the most widely played sports in high schools in both nations.
The author wishes to add a concluding sentence after Sentence 9 that relates to a statement made in the opening sentence. Which of the following sentences would achieve this most effectively?
Lacrosse has played an important role in North American culture for hundreds of years.
Though it may not be considered "America's pastime," lacrosse could certainly be called the original American team sport.
Lacrosse is a difficult sport to play because it requires much more physical endurance than baseball.
If you haven't ever played lacrosse, you're missing out on a really fun game.
Changes to the game have been made to improve safety, such as the addition of helmets and padding for the players, and the use of a rubber ball.
Though it may not be considered "America's pastime," lacrosse could certainly be called the original American team sport.
The sentence "Though it may not be considered 'America's pastime,' lacrosse could certainly be called the original American team sport" is best because it echoes both the reference to baseball and the assertion of lacrosse's longevity made in Sentence 1.
Example Question #2 : Inserting Content
(1) The sport of lacrosse, while perhaps not as widely popular today in the United States as baseball or football, is far older. (2) These games served many important cultural functions. (3) They were used to settle disputes between tribes, as festival events, and to train young men to become warriors and hunters.
(4) Hundreds of men and women from rival tribes or villages would gather to play at once. (5) The playing field was sometimes several miles long. (6) The original game was very different from the organized sport played today. (7) A single game would be played from dawn until sunset, and be followed by dancing and feasting.
(8) Modern, standardized versions of lacrosse started to be played in the 1850s and soon became very popular throughout Canada and the United States. (9) For over a century, it has been one of the most widely played sports in high schools in both nations.
What would be the best sentence to insert between Sentence 1 and Sentence 2?
Numerous Native American tribes, including the Iroquois, Cherokee, and Onondaga have played versions of it for at least 400 years.
Consequently, professional lacrosse players are not paid the same salaries as baseball players.
The sport has quickly gained popularity in recent years.
However, the game has faced a lot of criticism over the years due to its violent nature.
The first modern lacrosse league was organized in Montreal in 1856.
Numerous Native American tribes, including the Iroquois, Cherokee, and Onondaga have played versions of it for at least 400 years.
The sentence "Numerous Native American tribes, including the Iroquois, Cherokee, and Onondaga have played versions of it for at least 400 years" creates the best transition between the two other sentences and adds key information which clarifies the passage, introducing where and when the game originated.
Example Question #17 : Improving Paragraphs
(1) Cowboys have long been a symbol in American society. (2) On the one hand, they represent American strength, adventurousness, and indefatigability. (3) But they also call up images of oppression, racism, and exploitation. (4) However, both of these romanticized views of cowboys betray the dull routine and everyday realities of the lives that many cowboys lived.
(5) Some cowboys worked at the same farms for much of their lives, while others periodically moved cattle from place to place without ever participating in a gun fight or being harangued by unexpected or hidden enemies. (6) Today, their figurative descendants can still be found living in agricultural areas, working hard to ensure that steady supplies of milk, meat and other agricultural products find their ways to stores and your dining room table.
Which of the following would be the best spot to insert the sentence "Many times, they dealt with disease, hunger and loneliness."?
Between Sentence 5 and Sentence 6
Before Sentence 1
Before Sentence 5
Between Sentence 2 and Sentence 3
Between Sentence 3 and Sentence 4
Between Sentence 5 and Sentence 6
"Between Sentences 5 and 6" is the best answer because Sentence 5 marks the beginning of the description of the real life of the cowboy, while Sentence 6 focuses more on the contemporary existence of people that fit the cowboy image. The clause being inserted refers to the past lives of the cowboys but is not necessarily part of the idealized image in the first paragraph, excluding this location as a possibility.
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