Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of Ancient Greece.
C. as Ancient Greeks did.
This sentence is short by standards of the sentences in the part of the test challenging your ability to make corrections in sentences.
I want you to look at the question and answer on the SAT site (http:www.collegeboard.com). When you come to one of my tutoring sites to practice for the SAT, please know the way you were inclined to answer the SAT question for the day.
If you will notice why you answered as you did, you can learn a block of critical thinking skills to help to solve other problems, including the problems you solve every day, to progress in what you want to do. Critical thinking skills transfer from one area to another. When you know what you know, you can build upon what you know. This is true whether you are teaching your own baby how to read or whether you are figuring your tax credit based upon an energy efficient furnace purchase.
I want to remind you each time:
When you went the wrong way for this SAT answer:
When you get the answer wrong, you open an opportunity to get several answers correct on the actual test (and in other areas of your life). You can learn to follow the logic of the correct answer for that type of question if you know when you turned from that logic to a way that did not result in the answer required in this situation. This is a time to look back for an assessment and an adjustment before you propel forward a longer way.
When you are already going in the right direction:
When you understand the answer on your first attempt, you open the same opportunity to allow this correct answer to teach you how to use what you know for other connections. You will realize the patterns involved and apply them to complicated versions of the problem. You build upon your knowledge.
You learn how to learn every day. Critical thinking skills are dynamic. They grow. You actually use your brain in more efficient ways. This is not about memorizing material. It is about using logical, mathematical thinking while you read.
The good news is that the process is fun. You feel pleasure in understanding what you know. The feeling that you are in control of this improvement of your own thinking skills is empowering. That is why a little symbol of a person thinking will sometimes have a lightbulb or a star. You begin to feel that lights are going on inside your head. In a way, lights are going on inside your head. Your brain is responding, in a physical way, to your logical attempts to make connections.
Today, you read the short sentence: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of Ancient Greece."
Know the style of this question, but read the directions every time. You are asked to consider whether the underlined portion should be changed to the form of one of the options given in B-D. If not, you choose answer A to indicate that it is correct in current form. By this choice, you also indicate that the sentence structure is not improved by changing to one of the other choices.
This sentence is not correct in current form. Watch for comparisons in sentences. This sentence compares techniques being used today by “modern discus throwers” to “Ancient Greece.” A comparison of techniques used by people to a country is not a valid comparison.
Consider this possibility using the information in this sentence: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as the techniques of Ancient Greece." THIS, TOO, IS INCORRECT. Ancient Greece is the country of Greece in ancient times. A country does not use techniques. This is an extremely common error.
Some errors particularly targeted in SAT questions are errors made by writers every day. To answer these questions correctly on the SAT, you need to know why the answer they indicate as the correct answer is correct. YOU WILL NOT GET THESE POINTS EVERY TIME BY CHOOSING WHAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS RIGHT IN YOUR MIND. There is a logical reason that you will miss many of the points if you dive to the answer that "looks right." The reason is that you see this type of error in writing, even in well-known magazines, on a regular basis. It will "look right" because it is printed this way in front of you on a regular basis.
To correct this sentence today, you need a choice of substitution for the underlined portion with the following elements: a word to use in comparison instead of the word ‘of’ AND a comparison choice including people (not the country) as the throwers.
The choice, C, is the only fulfillment of the two elements this sentence needs to be correct.
With this choice, the sentence is now: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did."
See the difference? If you do, you will gain more points on the SAT. This is a favorite style of question for writers to ask on the SAT. I believe the reason may be due to the proliferation of illogical writing published today. Publishing is instantaneous, so attention to structure is inconsistent.
An effective self-education method is to try to write a sentence like this one. Correcting this sentence your own way satisfies a part of your brain that knows even more now that you realize what this sentence correction question is testing.
With the correction, this sentence is: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did.”
If you are a test writer, can you write better sentences to replace the original and the best answer?
What do you think about this way to write the sentence? (See below.)
Modern discus throwers use much the same technique that the Olympic discus throwers used to throw the discus in Ancient Greek games.
Do you notice how the SAT teaches about a variety of subjects while presenting questions to you? Can you make up sentences to do the same thing? When you make up your own questions and answers, always use information that you know is correct.
For example, when I rewrote the sentence above, I included the words ‘Olympic’ and ‘Games.’ If you visualize the action in the sentence, you are seeing accurate scenarios: Ancient Greek discus throwers did use their throwing techniques in the early Olympic Games. The Olympics today are styled upon the ancient Greek Olympic Games.judiethcarol&Rocketcat c. Feb 2010 http://www.coolrocketschool.org and http://www.coolrocketschool.com
