ROCKETCAT RACECAR STRATEGY WINS AGAIN ON JUNE 22, 2010, SAT QUESTION FOR THE DAY!
Our Rocketcat winning strategy for the College Board SAT Question for the Day, June 22, 2010, is the classic, fast ‘RACECAR’ strategy. WATCH FOR LACK OF PARALLELISM IN THE SECTIONS ENTITLED: Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors.)
Read from top left of the title of the section to note that you are looking for(Writing: Sentence Error): an error in the sentence;
Continue quickly through all the words, left to right, in the Directions to remind your brain of the sequence for finding the error and answering correctly.
o The sentence will contain one grammatical error or no error at all.
o Portions of the sentence are underlined.
o Read the sentence, left to right, and notice if changing any one of the underlined portions will transform the sentence from incorrect to correct.
o Notice that the underlined portion does not have to be incorrect all by itself, only that the sentence needs correction.
o When you realize what correction is necessary for the sentence, choose the letter of the underlined portion that could be changed to ‘fix’ this error.
o If nothing is incorrect, mark ‘E’ on the answer sheet.
RACECAR strategy is to move quickly, purposefully, and smoothly to the finish line. Put your correct answer next to the correct letter on the answer sheet.
In this question, while reading the sentence, you notice as you go from left to right what the potential is for the underlined portions to need changing.
For example, the introductory phrase is going to need a specific person after the comma—Is that what happens? Yes, ‘Thurgood Marshall’ is the referenced Supreme Court justice. So ‘A’ probably does not need correcting.
The next underlined portion is a verb form, so it should be in agreement. It is. So the answer is not A.
Now, as a list of what Thurgood Marshall ‘was known for’ is coming up, you are expecting parallel construction: quest, opposition, support—No, the word here is not parallel. Instead of using another noun (quest, opposition…support) here, the writer changed to a different form of the word.
This underlined portion, D, can be changed to make the sentence correct. Therefore, the answer is D.
A correction possibility would be: As a Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall was known for his quest to end racial discrimination, his opposition to the death penalty, and his support for free speech and civil liberties.
Strategies to use every time with these questions:
RACECAR strategy: RACECAR is a palindrome (meaning it reads the same both ways).
o Speed through the title, directions, and the sentence to notice the predictable errors.
1. Do subjects and verbs agree in number?
2. Do introductory phrases connect properly to modified words?
3. Do antecedents agree with pronouns?
4. Do all items in a list have the same form?
If there is a LIST OF ANY KIND, including bullets, is every item in the list in the same format? If not, this is called ‘lack of parallelism,’ and you will have errors of this type on an SAT test. Watch for the way this question is asked. Answer correctly!
