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SAT Reading & Writing: Standard English Conventions (Drill 28)

Drill 28 · Reading & Writing · Standard English Conventions

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About This Drill

SAT Reading & Writing: Standard English Conventions (Drill 28) is a Reading & Writing practice drill covering Standard English Conventions. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Five hard Standard English Conventions questions covering the summarizing dash, the colon before a list, parallel structure in a series, finite verbs, and subject-verb agreement across intervening nouns.

Questions & Explanations

Text
Helium, neon, argon, krypton, and ______ are among the noble gases, a group known for rarely reacting under ordinary conditions.

Question 1. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  • A) xenon: these elements
  • B) xenon—these elements ✓
  • C) xenon, these elements
  • D) xenon these elements

Explanation: The opening run "Helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon" names the elements but has no verb, so on its own it is not a complete sentence. A dash can follow a group like that and lead into a clause that sums it up, which is what "these elements are among the noble gases" does; that is why (B) works. (A) uses a colon, but a colon has to follow a complete sentence, and a bare list is not one. (C) uses only a comma, which is too weak to join the list to the clause and leaves a comma splice. (D) runs the two parts together with no break at all.

Text
A gamelan ensemble is built around a variety of ______ gongs, metallophones, drums, and bamboo flutes.

Question 2. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  • A) instruments,
  • B) instruments;
  • C) instruments: ✓
  • D) instruments

Explanation: Everything before the blank, "A gamelan ensemble is built around a variety of instruments," is a complete sentence, and the list spells out what those instruments are. A colon introduces a list after a complete sentence, so (C) fits. (A) uses a comma, which sets the items off as a loose continuation rather than the list the sentence is pointing to. (B) uses a semicolon, but a semicolon joins two complete sentences, and the list is not one. (D) drops the punctuation, so "instruments gongs" runs together as if it were one phrase.

Text
Producing maple syrup takes three steps: tapping the trees in late winter, collecting the sap as it runs, and ______ it down into thick syrup.

Question 3. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  • A) boiling ✓
  • B) to boil
  • C) the boiling of
  • D) boiled

Explanation: The three steps in the list have to take the same grammatical form. The first two are "tapping" and "collecting," both ending in -ing, so the third has to match. (A) "boiling" keeps that -ing pattern. (B) "to boil" switches to an infinitive, (C) "the boiling of" turns the step into a noun phrase, and (D) "boiled" is a past form, so each one breaks the series.

Text
The axolotl, a salamander native to a few lakes near Mexico City, ______ entire limbs, parts of its heart, and even sections of its brain after an injury.

Question 4. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  • A) it regrows
  • B) regrowing
  • C) to regrow
  • D) can regrow ✓

Explanation: Take out the description set off by commas and the sentence is "The axolotl ______ entire limbs." That main clause needs a real, finite verb. (D) "can regrow" supplies one. (B) "regrowing" and (C) "to regrow" are not finite, so they leave the sentence with no main verb. (A) adds a second subject, "it," which leaves the opening "The axolotl" with nothing to do and splits the sentence in two.

Text
The system of ledgers, journals, and account books used in double-entry bookkeeping ______ each transaction to be recorded with corresponding debit and credit entries.

Question 5. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  • A) require
  • B) requires ✓
  • C) are requiring
  • D) have required

Explanation: The subject of the sentence is "The system," which is singular, even though the plural nouns "ledgers, journals, and account books" sit right before the verb. A singular subject takes "requires," so (B) is correct. (A) "require," (C) "are requiring," and (D) "have required" are all plural forms that agree with those nearer nouns instead of with the real subject. The phrase "of ledgers, journals, and account books" only describes the system; it does not change what the verb has to match.