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SAT Reading & Writing: Modifier Placement (Drill 1)

Drill 1 · Reading & Writing · Modifier Placement

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About This Drill

SAT Reading & Writing: Modifier Placement (Drill 1) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Modifier Placement. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Modifier Placement questions test your ability to place descriptive phrases so that they clearly and logically modify the correct noun. Read the sentence and identify who or what the modifier describes, then select the choice that places the subject immediately next to its modifier.

Questions & Explanations

Text
Trained in classical piano from the age of four, ________ won her first international competition before her sixteenth birthday.

Question 1. Which choice completes the text correctly?

  • A) the competition was entered by Yuna Park, who
  • B) Yuna Park ✓
  • C) it was Yuna Park who
  • D) Yuna Park's talent

Explanation: The modifier describes a person trained in piano, so the person (Yuna Park) must immediately follow. 'Talent' can't be trained in piano; 'the competition' wasn't trained.

Text
Spanning over three hundred pages and including more than fifty original illustrations, ________ quickly became the best-selling field guide in the publisher's catalog.

Question 2. Which choice completes the text correctly?

  • A) birdwatchers loved the guide, which
  • B) the illustrations in the guide
  • C) it was the guide that
  • D) the guide ✓

Explanation: The modifier describes something that spans 300 pages, that's the guide, not birdwatchers or illustrations.

Text
Frustrated by repeated delays in the permitting process, ________ filed a formal complaint with the city's planning commission.

Question 3. Which choice completes the text correctly?

  • A) the developers ✓
  • B) a formal complaint from the developers was
  • C) the permitting process led the developers, who
  • D) it was the developers who

Explanation: The modifier describes people who felt frustrated, the developers. A complaint or process cannot be frustrated.

Text
Orbiting Earth at an altitude of approximately 550 kilometers, ________ captures high-resolution images used by meteorologists, urban planners, and agricultural scientists worldwide.

Question 4. Which choice completes the text correctly?

  • A) high-resolution images are captured by the satellite, which
  • B) meteorologists rely on the satellite, which
  • C) the satellite ✓
  • D) the satellite's camera

Explanation: The modifier describes something orbiting Earth, the satellite. Images and meteorologists don't orbit Earth.

Text
Having spent nearly a decade studying migration patterns of Arctic caribou, ________ published a landmark paper arguing that climate change has altered the herds' traditional routes.

Question 5. Which choice completes the text correctly?

  • A) the landmark paper by Dr. Halvorsen
  • B) Dr. Halvorsen ✓
  • C) it was Dr. Halvorsen who
  • D) Dr. Halvorsen's research

Explanation: The modifier describes a person who spent a decade studying. A paper or 'research' cannot spend time studying.