SAT Questions

Sentence Completions

As part of the Critical Reading Section of the SAT, sentence completion questions
require a strong vocabulary and the ability to recognize the logic of complex sentences.

Directions: Choose the word(s) that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

3. Actors in melodramas often emphasized tense moments by being ______, for example, raising their voices
and pretending to swoon.

1. imperious
2. inscrutable
3. convivial
4. histrionic
5. solicitous

• If a student does not know the meaning of histrionic, he or she needs to know the meaning of the four other choices.

4. Her dislike of _______ made her regard people who tried to win her approval through praise as ______ .

1. autocrats..dictators
2. defiance..toadies
3. tyrants..connoisseurs
4. adulation..superiors
5. flattery..sycophants

• Only students with strong vocabularies will know the meanings of sycophants, adulation, and toadies.
• Choices D and E both start with an appropriate word first, which word is correct for the second choice?

Identifying Sentence Errors

As part of the Writing Section of the SAT, sentence error questions test a student's knowledge of grammar and usage. The successful student must understand the rules for subject verb agreement, pronoun agreement, verb tenses, adverbs etc. He or she must also be able to identify misplaced modifiers, and faulty constructions, as well as many other errors.

Directions: The following sentences test your ability to recognize grammar and usage errors. Each sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. The error, if there is one, is underlined and lettered. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence is correct, select choice E. Follow the requirements of standard written English.

1. A talented and versatile artist
2. has been
3. a dancer
4. collaborated on various productions
5. no error

• Understanding that properly constructed sentence are based on parallel structure is essential to finding the error.

Answer Key 1.D, 2.D, 3.D, 4.E, 5.D