SAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Form, Structure and Sense
- Form, Structure and Sense
- 10 questions
- 10 minutes
These 10 questions practice the Form, Structure and Sense skill in the SAT Standard English Conventions domain. Find the true subject of each verb by skipping over phrases that come between them, and check that pronouns match the nouns they replace.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
The collection of letters written by the explorer's crew members ______ now kept in a climate-controlled archive at the university library.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: A
The subject is "collection," which is singular; "of letters written by the explorer's crew members" is a phrase in between. "Are" agrees with "members," the nearest noun, not the subject.
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Question 2
The giant sequoias in the national park are so old that ______ thick, fire-resistant bark has protected them through dozens of wildfires.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: D
The pronoun refers to "sequoias," which is plural, and it must show possession, so "their" is correct. "They're" means "they are."
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Question 3
Last summer, the research team ______ more than two hundred water samples from the lake, and its members are still analyzing the results.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: C
"Last summer" marks a finished past action, so the simple past "collected" is needed. The present perfect "has been collecting" cannot be used with a specific finished time like "last summer."
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Question 4
Climbers on the north face of the cliff reported that the ______ nests, built by four different pairs of birds, were all on the same narrow ledge.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: A
The nests belong to several falcons, so the plural possessive "falcons'" is correct. "Falcon's" refers to only one falcon, which does not fit nests built by four different pairs.
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Question 5
The storm clouds had been building all afternoon, but neither the coach nor the players ______ expecting the game to be delayed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: B
With "neither ... nor," the verb agrees with the nearer subject, "players," which is plural, so "were" is correct. "Was" would agree only with "coach."
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Question 6
The museum's newest exhibit displays ______ from three centuries of quilt making, including a rare bedcover stitched in 1790.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: C
The sentence needs a plain plural noun as the object of "displays," not a possessive. "Examples'" and "example's" would need a following noun that is possessed.
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Question 7
The engineer, who had studied bridge design for more than thirty years, ______ that the old steel bridge could safely carry heavier trucks than its original plans suggested.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: D
The subject "The engineer" needs a main verb, and only "concluded" is a finite verb. The other choices leave the sentence without a main verb.
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Question 8
Hoping to finish the mural before the neighborhood festival began, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: B
The opening phrase describes someone who is hoping, so the subject right after the comma must be the artists. In the other choices the paint, the deadline or the act of working would be doing the hoping.
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Question 9
The award for community service was shared by Ms. Alvarez and ______, the two teachers who founded the school's robotics club.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: A
"Ms. Alvarez and ___" is the object of the preposition "by," so the object pronoun "him" is needed. "He" is a subject pronoun, and "himself" needs an earlier "he" in the same clause.
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Question 10
On the top shelf of the town archive ______ three boxes of photographs that no one has cataloged yet.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Correct answer: B
In this inverted sentence the subject, "three boxes," comes after the verb and is plural, so "sit" is correct. "Sits" and "has sat" agree with the singular "archive" or "shelf" instead.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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