SAT Writing : Increasing the Effectiveness of a Sentence Fragment
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Example Question #15 : Rewriting A Sentence Fragment
1 One such example of regional cooking could be found in the American South. 2 Wherefore foods such as gumbo, barbecue, fried chicken, and watermelons can now be found all across the country, it was once specific to states south of the Mason-Dixon line. 3 And while Southern cuisine has been influenced by Native American tribes, Scottish immigrants, and Cajun settlers, one of the most significant culinary inspirations came from the South’s black population. 4 Dishes such as cornbread, succotash, collard or turnip greens, pimento cheese, crawfish, and sweet tea all hale from the South, as well. 5 For example, okra, black-eyed peas, and sorghum are all foods brought to America and cultivated by African slaves. 6 Soon, soul food (a sometimes contentious term among black chefs) began to be served in black-owned restaurants in the South. 7 Borne out of competing cultural influences and not-infrequent strife, it should be no surprise that Southern food remains a complex delicious cuisine to this day.
How should the underlined portion of Sentence 1 be rewritten?
will eventually be found
could have been found
could be found (no change)
would be found
can be found
can be found
To match the tense of the rest of the passage, the verb in Sentence 1 should be conjugated in the present tense.
Example Question #21 : Rewriting A Sentence Fragment
1 Ethnography: sounds erogenous but is simply a study of a culture or group of people. 2 Originating in the field of anthropology, later becoming popular in sociology and other disciplines. 3 Ethnographies typically include: descriptions of geography, religion, economy, social behaviors, rituals and histories. 4 Most early ethnographies were written by ex-patriot European explorers traveling outside their home continent; though by some standards the Greek historian Herodotus was producing protoplasmic ethnographies hundreds of years before the Age of Exploration. 5 Ethnographies can take forms ranging from the confessional, the feminist, the critical, and the realist but most are qualitative and descriptive rather than quantitative and statistical. 6 Some attempt to provide fairly objective observations of a group or society, others have the anterior motive of empowering marginalized or repressed cultures. 7 This group or culture may include anything from a fraternity to a particular Uruguayan village. 8 Today ethnographers often immerse themselves fully in the lives of their subjects, be they powerful politicians and impoverished blue-collar workers.
How should the underlined portion of Sentence 1 be rewritten?
Ethnography: sounds erogenous but is simply (no change)
Ethnography, which sounds esoteric but is simply
Ethnography: sounding esoteric, it is simply
Ethnography sounds erogenous but is simply
Ethnography: It sounds erogenous but simply it is
Ethnography sounds erogenous but is simply
A colon isn’t required after “Ethnography.” By deleting it, we can make the sentence a straightforward independent clause. No other changes are necessary.
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