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About Nielson
Nielson Phu is a teacher, author, and engineer. Since graduating from NYU with a degree in
Actuarial Science, he has helped hundreds of students throughout Boston and Hong Kong improve their SAT
and ACT scores with a unique approach that goes far beyond the basic strategies found in typical test prep
material. In 2013, he started The College Panda blog, which now attracts over 15,000 readers each month. His
best test scores are listed below:
New SAT: 1600 Old SAT: 2400 ACT: 35 SAT Math 2 Subject Test: 800 SAT Physics Subject Test: 780 SAT Chemistry Subject Test: 780
SAT Writing Guide
All lessons are based on official exams The College Board has released. Nothing else. Because there are only 44 questions on the writing test, how often each topic shows up can vary widely.
- Relative Clauses (foundational knowledge)
- Prepositional phrases (foundational knowledge)
- Idioms (0-5%)
- Subject-Verb Agreement (2-7%)
- Modifiers (0-5%)
- Run-ons (5-7%)
- Fragments (0-5%)
- Redundancy (5-9%)
- Parallelism (2-5%)
- Pronoun Reference (5-7%)
- Tenses (0-5%)
- Commas, Dashes, and Colons (9-20%)
- Apostrophes (2-5%)
- Word Choice (7-16%)
- Transitions (2-11%)
- Topic, Conclusion, and Transition Sentences (0-9%)
- Supporting Evidence and Examples (2-9%)
- Relevance and Purpose (9-22%)
- Placement (5-7%)
- Point of View (0-2%)
- Comparatives vs. Superlatives (hasn’t shown up directly, but you should know it)
- Who vs. Whom (0-2%)
- Combining Sentences (5%)
- Data Interpretation (2-5%)—mostly practice questions, only available in the paperback guide
- Odds and Ends
Need more practice? Prefer a book with everything in one place? Buy the paperback guide. It contains over 500 practice questions (grouped by topic so you can reinforce what you learn at the end of each chapter) and 3 practice tests as extra material not found here.
Practice:-
Cross out all the comma phrases and relative clauses. What’s left should still be a grammatically complete sentence (subject and a verb), even though the meaning may come off as incomplete. The first one is done for you.
- Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lamp that is never turned off.
- Jack’s grandfather suffered from polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.
- She tiptoed through the cubicle, examining the dusty wooden chair, and made her way past her boss, who was on the phone with a contractor.
- As an environmental researcher, I study the effects of global warming, which has been a hot topic in recent years.
- The group of nearly ten executives, under the leadership of Senator Aldrich, enjoyed the secrecy and placidity of the luxurious Jekyll Island.
- According to the article, the train that had crashed into the wall had no conductor on board.
Answers: -
- Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lamp that is never turned off.
- Jack’s grandfather suffered from polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.
- She tiptoed through the cubicle, examining the dusty wooden chair, and made her way past her boss, who was on the phone with a contractor.
- As an environmental researcher, I study the effects of global warming, which has been a hot topic in recent years.
- The group of nearly ten executives, under the leadership of Senator Aldrich, enjoyed the secrecy and placidity of the luxurious Jekyll Island.
- According to the article, the train that had crashed into the wall had no conductor on board.
SAT Writing: Prepositional Phrases
Most prepositions are direction/position words. Here’s a list of common prepositions:
aboard about above across after against along amid among around
as to at before behind below beneath beside between beyond by
circa despite down due to during except for from In into
like near of off on onto out over past since
through to toward under until up upon with within without
Now do you have to memorize these? Certainly not. Just familiarize yourself, especially with the bolded ones. Some words are prepositions in some cases and something else in others. Just remember that a preposition almost always has a noun following it. Take a look at these two sentences:
Throughout the living room was the scent of fatty crabs that had expired weeks ago. I put my sister on the diet after it worked so well for me. The preposition + noun combinations are underlined. These preposition and noun combinations are called prepositional phrases.
Prepositional Phrase = Preposition + Noun + Any Attached Describing Phrase
= of + fatty crabs + that had expired weeks ago
If you think a word is a preposition and there’s a noun following it, chances are it’s a preposition. Even if it’s not, don’t worry about being 100% on which words are prepositions; the SAT doesn’t test you on them directly. For example, after it is not a prepositional phrase in the second sentence because it’s part of a larger phrase— after it worked so well. If the sentence were After school, I put my sister on a diet , then After would act as a preposition. But again, as long as you get the general idea, you’ll be fine. This just helps you later when you learn about subject verb agreement.
Here’s the most important takeaway: prepositional phrases are not essential to the sentence they’re in. While they may supply important details, sentences can stand alone grammatically without them (there will still be a subject and a verb).
Practice: -
Cross out all prepositional phrases in the following sentences.
- Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lamp that is never turned off.
- Jack’s grandfather suffered from polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.
- She tiptoed through the cubicle, examining the dusty wooden chair, and made her way past her boss, who was on the phone with a contractor.
- As an environmental researcher, I study the effects of global warming, which has been a hot topic in recent years.
- The group of nearly ten executives, under the leadership of Senator Aldrich, enjoyed the secrecy and placidity of the luxurious Jekyll Island.
- According to the article, the train that had crashed into the wall had no conductor on board.
ANSWER: -
- Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lamp that is never turned off.
- Jack’s grandfather suffered from polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.
Wrong: The winner was awarded of a gold medal.
Correct: The winner was awarded of a gold medal.
Example 6
Wrong: The company was accused to donate millions of dollars to the President’s campaign.
Correct: The company was accused of donating millions of dollars to the President’s campaign.
There’s no rhyme or reason behind these phrases and the right preposition can depend on the meaning of the sentence. Some are downright obvious because they sound so unnatural but some can be tough to spot, especially if you haven’t encountered the idiom before. Practice will expose you to the most common ones, but sometimes, you’ll have no choice but to rely on your instincts. Fortunately, the new SAT won’t go out of its way to test you on obscure idioms.
Practice: -
- His speech was meant at inciting conflict within the other party.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) in inciting of (C) to incite (D) inciting
- He wrote to the President in the hope to persuade him to veto the bill.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) to hope to persuade (C) in the hope of persuasion (D) in the hope of persuading
- The architecture of the building is based for the elaborate designs of the Persians.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) after (C) on (D) by
- The couch made a temporary place to sleep while the bed was being replaced.
(A) NO CHANGE (A) made for (B) made as (C) was made to
- I was assigned a seat across the table to a young boy who was fiddling with his pencil.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) at
(C) from (D) with
- When working in a nuclear power plant, one must be careful of exposure to radiation.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) careful from exposure of radiation. (C) careful of exposure from radiation. (D) careful about exposure with radiation.
- The violence in that neighborhood points at the failure of existing public safety measures.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) to (C) on (D) out
- Joanna’s parents are so lenient that they allow her buying anything she wanted.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) to buy (C) in buying (D) OMIT the underlined portion.
- In preparation for Valentine’s Day, the restaurant workers lined both sides of the walkway between candles and flowers.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) along (C) with (D) around
- The general ordered his officers watching over the prisoners.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) watching (C) to watch at (D) to watch over
- When her cousins were in town, Angela urged them to visit the local zoo.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) visiting (C) to visit (D) their visiting
- She managed to get a position in the director of the engineering department.
(A) NO CHANGE (B) for (C) as (D) into
- The law will hold on him accountable for his actions.
each sentence is to know that it’s awkward. Now the SAT won’t make it that easy on you; they’ll intentionally try to trick your ear. Let’s do an example:
Investigations into the scandal ( shows/show ) a lot more than we want to know.
To pick the right verb, we must first find the subject. Let’s start by applying what we learned in a previous chapter and cross out the prepositional phrases:
Investigations into the scandal ( shows/show ) a lot more than we want to know.
What’s left is the subject—investigations! Now the second step is to ask yourself whether investigations is singular or plural. Well, it’s plural because of the s , meaning there’s more than one. Therefore, we need the plural verb show. And that’s the whole process! Cross out the prepositional phrases and you’ll be able to pick the subject from the nouns that are left. It’s usually the remaining noun closest to the verb.
If you’re ever unsure of whether a verb such as show is singular or plural, test it by putting he and they in front and then asking yourself which sounds more correct:
He show… OR They show…
Hopefully, They show… sounds more correct to you, which means show is the plural form (since they is obviously plural).
Let’s try some more difficult ones. Note that in the following example, we can cross out both a prepositional phrase and a comma phrase.
Example 3
Question: Films by Miyazaki and Itami, including Miyazaki’s^ Spirited Away , ( excites/excite ) the imagination.
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: Films by Miyazaki and Itami, including Miyazaki’s Spirited Away , ( excites/excite ) the imagination.
Step 2: What is the subject?^ Films
Step 3: Is^ Films^ singular or plural? Plural.
Answer: Films by Miyazaki and Itami, including Miyazaki’s Spirited Away , excite the imagination.
Example 4
Question: Her jewelry, in addition to her pokemon cards, ( was/were ) stolen by the robber.
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: Her jewelry, in addition to her pokemon cards, ( was/were ) stolen by the robber.
Step 2: What is the subject? Her jewelry
Step 3: Is Her jewelry singular or plural? Singular.
Answer: Her jewelry, in addition to her pokemon cards, was stolen by the robber.
You might think that the verb should be plural because the sentence mentions both jewelry and cards, but because of the comma phrase, the subject is just the jewelry.
Example 5
Question: Beside the bins, where one could smell the stench of rotten eggs, ( was/were ) a pack of philosophy majors gathering cans for recycling.
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: Beside the bins, where one could smell the stench of rotten eggs, ( was/were ) a pack of philosophy majors gathering cans for recycling.
Step 2: What is the subject?^ a pack
Step 3: Is a pack singular or plural? Singular.
Answer: Beside the bins, where one could smell the stench of rotten eggs, was a pack of philosophy majors gathering cans for recycling.
Again, make sure you can identify that was is singular whereas were is plural. Everyone uses the correct form in simple conversation, but some students have trouble identifying the correct form in a grammar test setting.
Example 6
Question: Inside heaven’s kingdom ( rests/rest ) Charlie and his angels.
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: Inside heaven’s kingdom ( rests/rest ) Charlie and his angels.
Step 2: What is the subject? Charlie and his angels
Step 3: Is Charlie and his angels singular or plural? Plural.
Answer: Inside heaven’s kingdom rest Charlie and his angels.
Example 7
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: The forks and knives are in the kitchen, and the jar with the thai peanut sauce ( has/have ) been sitting in the refrigerator.
Step 2: What is the subject?^ the jar
Step 3: Is^ the jar^ singular or plural? Singular.
Answer: The forks and knives are in the kitchen, and the jar with the thai peanut sauce has been sitting in the refrigerator.
Example 10
Question: The players on our all-star tennis team ( is/are ) taken on luxury cruises every year.
Step 1: Cross out the prepositional phrases/comma phrases/relative clauses: The players on our all-star tennis team ( is/are ) taken on luxury cruises every year.
Step 2: What is the subject?^ The players
Step 3: Is The players singular or plural? Plural.
Answer: The players on our all-star tennis team are taken on luxury cruises every year.
Another question variation you might see is one in which the verb is in a phrase or clause you would normally cross out. For example,
I visited my aunt, who ( is/are ) a panda caretaker, earlier today.
Note that the underlined portion is a comma phrase. To find the subject if the verb is located in a phrase or clause like the one above, just ask yourself what it’s describing. In this case, the phrase is obviously describing my aunt , which is singular. Therefore, we need the singular verb is.
I visited my aunt , who is a panda caretaker, earlier today.
Example 11
Question: Where are the cookies that ( was/were ) in the cookie jar?
Answer: Where are the cookies that were in the cookie jar?
In Example 11, we have a relative clause that describes cookies , which is plural.
Example 12
Question: I have no interest in luxury products, which ( caters/cater ) only to the wealthy.
Answer: I have no interest in luxury products, which cater only to the wealthy.
Now let’s walk through a really tricky example that combines everything we’ve learned so far in this chapter:
Mastery of magic tricks that truly ( surprises/surprise ) the audience ( requires/require ) lots of time.
Here, we have to figure out the subjects for two verbs. Cross out the prepositional phrases and relative clause:
Mastery of magic tricks that truly ( surprises/surprise ) the audience ( requires/require ) lots of time.
Now it’s easy to see that mastery is the main subject of the sentence. Mastery is singular so we need the singular verb requires. After all, it’s the mastery that requires a lot of time. But let’s get back to the first verb, which is crossed out within the relative clause, and ask ourselves what that relative clause is describing. What is truly surprising the audience? Magic tricks! Magic tricks is plural so we need the plural verb surprise.
Mastery of magic tricks that truly surprise the audience requires lots of time.
Now, a few more rules you should know:
Example 13
Question: The Simpsons ( is/are ) the longest running American sitcom.
Answer: The Simpsons is the longest running American sitcom.
Rule: Names of books, TV shows, bands, and movies are all singular.
Example 14
Question: Charles and Kate ( was/were ) at the ball last night.
Answer: Charles and Kate were at the ball last night.
Rule: Subjects joined by and are always plural.
Example 15
Question: Everybody ( loves/love ) Raymond.
Answer: Everybody loves Raymond.
Sentence 1: Poisonous traps that attracts rats are spread throughout this office. Wrong.
Sentence 2: Poisonous traps that then kills off rats are spread throughout this office. Wrong.
Correct: Poisonous traps that attract and then kill off rats are spread throughout this office.
Example 19
Wrong: I was walking down the street and were chatting with my friend about his day.
Sentence 1: I was walking down the street. Correct.
Sentence 2: I were chatting with my friend about his day. Wrong.
Correct: I was walking down the street and (was) chatting with my friend about his day.
In Example 19, the second was is unnecessary because the first was serves as a helping verb for both walking and chatting. If we stripped out all the details of the sentence, it would read, I was walking and chatting… , which is a grammatically fine sentence
Practice: -
Fix the subject-verb agreement error. Some may be correct.
- New economic policy in a few states have brought wealth to some industries, such as manufacturing, but most industries remain unaffected.
- The scientists trying to replicate the results of the experiment realized that the speed of explosive chemical reactions were too fast to accurately measure.
- The paper formed from organically grown trees tends to be more sturdy than that made from trees in the wilderness.
- Above the desk in his bedroom hangs shiny silver medals and a large gold trophy, each adorned with a small plaque and signed by the young athlete.
- At any given moment, there is likely to be more than a million websites being visited
Answers: -
- New economic policy in a few states has brought wealth to some industries, such as manufacturing, but most industries remain unaffected.
- The scientists trying to replicate the results of the experiment realized that the speed of explosive chemical reactions was too fast to accurately measure.
- The paper formed from organically grown trees tends to be more sturdy than that made from trees in the wilderness. CORRECT
- Above the desk in his bedroom hang shiny silver medals and a large gold trophy, each adorned with a small plaque and signed by the young athlete.
- At any given moment, there are likely to be more than a million websites being visited
SAT Writing: Modifiers
Try to recognize what’s funny about this sentence:
After being beaten and deflated, the baker shaped and seasoned the dough.
The sentence is ridiculous because of the comma phrase at the start—it seems like the baker is being beaten before he goes off to work on the dough. After being beaten and deflated is called a modifier because it modifies or describes someone or something in the same sentence. Here, the modifier is misplaced. Instead, it should go right next to the thing it’s supposed to modify:
After being beaten and deflated, the dough was shaped and seasoned by the baker.
A modifier is like a describing phrase. How do you know if a phrase is a modifier? Usually it comes at the beginning of the sentence and is separated off by a comma (but not always). If all you read was After being beaten and deflated , your natural thought would be, “ Who or What is being beaten?” Having that thought is how you know you’re dealing with a modifier. Without the rest of the sentence, it leaves you wondering what’s being talked about. When correcting sentences that have this error, you want to make sure there is a sensible noun that is right next to the modifier.
Let’s do a couple examples so you can see how modifiers are tested.
Example 1
Wrong: I bought a house from the local bakery made of gingerbread.
Correct: I bought a house made of gingerbread from the local bakery.
Modifiers don’t necessarily have to be at the start of the sentence. Here, made of gingerbread should be placed next to the house it’s describing. Otherwise, it seems like the local bakery is the thing that’s made of gingerbread.
Example 2
Wrong: Watching the end of the world, our lives flashed before our eyes.
Correct: While we were watching the end of the world, our lives flashed before our eyes.
In this example, the sentence makes no sense because our lives don’t have eyes to watch the end of the world with. The modifier Watching the end of the world needs to modify we even though that word’s not even in the sentence. Therefore, the correct version puts in the subject we and re-words the sentence.
English is a weird language. Don’t be confused by constructions like the one below:
The magician walked across the stage, dazzling the crowd with card tricks.
This sentence is grammatically correct and does not contain a modifier error—it’s understood that dazzling the crowd with card tricks applies to the subject, the magician , even though it’s placed next to the stage. Modifier errors will typically occur when the describing phrase is at the start of the sentence, as in the examples above, so don’t overanalyze these types of sentences. Note that the comma is important; without it, there WOULD be a modifier error.
SAT Writing: Run-ons
Most students think they know what a run-on is based on their 6th grade English class. So when I ask students whether the following is a run-on sentence, almost all students say yes:
I took the SATs, and I scored a 36, and I applied to MIT, and I got in!
Now this sentence may be long, wordy, and awkward, but the sentence is actually NOT a run-on sentence—it’s grammatically correct. The reason it’s correct is the use of the word and , which connects all the parts together.
I took the SATs, I scored a 36, I applied to MIT, I got in!
Now this IS a run-on sentence because several complete sentences are being mashed together with just commas.
The basic form of a run-on is this:
complete sentence , complete sentence
A run-on also occurs when there is nothing between the two complete sentences:
complete sentence complete sentence
There are four main ways to fix a run-on. Let’s go over them one by one with a simple run-on example:
He was hungry, he bought a Chipotle burrito.
Two complete sentences connected only by a comma—definitely a run-on that needs to be fixed.
1. Use periods:
complete sentence. complete sentence.
He was hungry. He bought a burrito.
2. Use a conjunction
complete sentence, conjunction complete sentence.
He was hungry, so he bought a burrito.
Note that a comma, if necessary, comes before the conjunction (we’ll learn more about commas in a future chapter). Most students have learned the acronym FANBOYS to memorize the list of conjunctions:
For And Nor But Or Yet So
Memorize this list because it’s super important.
Now here’s a really important point: if two sentences are connected by a word that’s not from the FANBOYS list, IT’S STILL A RUN-ON. This is how the SAT tricks you:
He was hungry, therefore , he bought a Chipotle burrito.
This sentence is wrong because therefore is not a conjunction—it’s not a member of FANBOYS. Instead, it’s a transition word pretending to be a conjunction. Other words the SAT might use include however, moreover, in addition to, nevertheless, and furthermore. These words cannot be used as conjunctions.
3. Use the semicolon ;
complete sentence; complete sentence.
He was hungry; he bought a burrito.
Semicolons are the simplest way to edit run-ons, but in everyday speaking and writing, conjunctions are more common because they better express how two connected sentences are related. The SAT will test you on both ways. Note that this is also correct:
