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SAT Reading & Writing: Standard English Conventions (Drill 3)

Drill 3 · Reading & Writing · Standard English Conventions

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About This Drill

SAT Reading & Writing: Standard English Conventions (Drill 3) 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.

These five challenging questions cover punctuation, verb forms, pronouns, and verb tense, with a full explanation for every answer.

Questions & Explanations

Text
As founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Lonnie Bunch took on a daunting set of tasks: raising hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it from private ________ a collection almost from scratch, sometimes by persuading families to part with treasured heirlooms; and overseeing the construction of a new building on the National Mall.

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

  • A) donors assembling
  • B) donors, assembling
  • C) donors; assembling ✓
  • D) donors. Assembling

Explanation: Lonnie Bunch's tasks come in three parts: "raising hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it from private donors"; "assembling a collection almost from scratch, sometimes by persuading families to part with treasured heirlooms"; and "overseeing the construction of a new building on the National Mall." Because the first two items carry their own internal commas, semicolons separate the items so the larger list stays clear. The semicolon already sitting before "and overseeing" shows the list is built on semicolons, so the blank needs one too. That makes (C) correct. (A) runs the first two items together with no break. (B) uses a comma, which does not match the semicolon used later in the same list and gets lost among the commas inside the items. (D) ends the sentence with a period after "donors," which splits the list and leaves the rest as a fragment.

Text
A suite of adaptations, including a slowed heart rate, oxygen-storing muscle tissue, and lungs that collapse under pressure, ______ the Weddell seal to make long, deep dives beneath Antarctic sea ice.

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

  • A) enabling
  • B) to enable
  • C) having enabled
  • D) enables ✓

Explanation: The subject, "A suite of adaptations," is followed by a long interrupting list but no main verb until the blank. A main clause needs a finite verb, and only (D) "enables" supplies one; it is singular, agreeing with the head "suite." (A) "enabling" and (C) "having enabled" are participles, and (B) "to enable" is an infinitive, so none can serve as the main verb, and each leaves the sentence a fragment.

Text
Because the manuscript had been copied and recopied by hand for nearly a thousand years before the first printed edition appeared ______ scholars cannot be certain which readings reflect the original and which were introduced by later scribes.

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

  • A) appeared, ✓
  • B) appeared;
  • C) appeared
  • D) appeared.

Explanation: The opening stretch, "Because the manuscript had been copied and recopied by hand for nearly a thousand years before the first printed edition appeared," is a subordinate clause; it cannot stand alone, and it is followed by the main clause "scholars cannot be certain..." A long introductory subordinate clause is joined to the main clause with a comma, so (A) is correct. (B) uses a semicolon, which has to sit between two independent clauses, but the "Because..." clause is dependent and cannot anchor one side of a semicolon. (C) supplies no mark, running the introductory clause straight into the main clause. (D) puts a period after "appeared," which strands "Because the manuscript... appeared" as a sentence fragment.

Text
Unlike most commercial orchards, which rely on a single dominant variety, a traditional cider orchard draws on dozens of apple cultivars, each of which is valued for ______ contribution to the blend's flavor.

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

  • A) their
  • B) they're
  • C) its ✓
  • D) it's

Explanation: The pronoun refers to "each," which is singular, so the singular possessive "its" in (C) is correct, even though the nearer noun "cultivars" is plural. (A) "their" is plural and agrees with that decoy rather than with "each." (B) "they're" and (D) "it's" are contractions of "they are" and "it is," not possessives; the clause already has a verb, so adding another is ungrammatical.

Text
By the time biologists at last grasped the importance of Gregor Mendel's experiments with pea plants, Mendel himself ______ years earlier, his work all but ignored during his lifetime.

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

  • A) died
  • B) had died ✓
  • C) was dying
  • D) has died

Explanation: The sentence describes two past events: biologists recognized the importance of Mendel's experiments, and, before that, Mendel died. The earlier of two past events takes the past perfect, so "had died" in (B) is correct, and "years earlier" confirms the order. (A) "died" is simple past, which does not mark the death as the earlier event. (C) "was dying" is past continuous, which wrongly makes a completed event ongoing. (D) "has died" is present perfect, which links an action to the present, but the sentence is narrating two finished past events, so it does not fit.