攻克语篇挑错

攻克语篇错误 语篇错误题是 SAT写作部分最难、最耗时的一个部分，它需要你读一系列的段落，发现错误， 并且挑选出最适合的改正这个错误的答案。这个部分的难度引出两个关键点：时间分配和训练。 时间分配 Pacing Students tend to think they have to spend the most time on the toughest questions. That’s definitely not the best strategy, since you get the same credit for easy and difficult questions. On the PSAT and the SAT II Writing test, for example, you can skip ALL of the Improving Paragraphs questions and still score a 670. We’re definitely not suggesting you skip the entire Improving Paragraphs section. We’re suggesting that you not dedicate a disproportionate amount of time and energy to these especially tough questions, since they’ll likely not amount to more than 15 or 20 percent of your score on the SAT Writing section, which is less than 10 percent of your entire score. Just as you should not spend much more time on difficult SAT questions than you do on easier ones, you should avoid spending more time than necessary preparing for Improving Paragraphs. 训练 Training The time you do devote to preparing for Improving Paragraphs questions is certainly not a waste. Think of it as a tough training routine for the rest of the Writing section. By the time you can identify a problem with a series of paragraphs, you will have mastered the skills you need to beat each of the other question types: Identifying Sentence Errors, Improving Sentences, and even the Essay. It might be helpful to think of all four parts of the new SAT Writing section as building blocks that teach you the skills you need to beat each successive question type. Even though the questions don’t come in this order, thinking about how they relate can help make your preparation more cohesive and effective. Understanding how the parts fit together will give you a greater mastery of the entire section. To sum up: • Identifying Sentence Errors teaches you how to improve sentences. • Improving Sentences teaches you how to improve paragraphs. • Improving Paragraphs shows you how to write an essay. 题目说明 Directions Here are the official directions for Improving Paragraphs: Directions: Each of the following passages is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passages need to be rewritten. Read each passage and answer the questions that follow. Some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure and word choice. Other questions refer to parts of the essay or the entire essay and ask you to consider organization and development. In making your decisions, follow the conventions of standard written English. After you have chosen your answer, fill in the corresponding oval on your answer sheet. Here’s a quick translation of what these directions mean: Improving Paragraphs questions present you with a rough draft of an essay. Some questions will ask you to fix or combine individual sentences, and some will address the essay as a whole. 段落 The Paragraphs The SAT describes the passages in Improving Paragraphs questions as rough drafts of essays. Each passage usually contains three paragraphs of about five sentences each. So all together you’re dealing with about 15 sentences per Improving Paragraphs passage. The SAT’s description of the passages as “first drafts” means that the passages contain simple sentence construction and a straightforward writing style. It also means that the essays are filled with errors of style, clarity, wordiness, and poor organization. It’s your job to find and fix those errors. Our section on the SAT Essay tells you just what you need to know to write great SAT paragraphs and to avoid the errors you’ll have to fix in Improving Paragraphs questions (see page ). 问题 The Questions You’ll come across four different types of Improving Paragraphs questions. Though the specifics of each question are crucial to understand, it’s just as important to know that all four types of question share one general rule: Unlike Identifying Sentence Errors and Improving Sentences, Improving Paragraphs questions do not focus on grammar. Here’s what they do focus on: • Style • Organization • Syntax • Clarity • No Grammar! This makes sense because Improving Paragraphs questions take a broader view on writing. These questions also focus on an entire passage of writing, not just on one sentence. Therefore, Improving Paragraphs questions usually approach problems at the paragraph or sentence level, which means the big picture tends to matter most. They definitely cover sentence improvement, but they do that within the context of the overall thrust or purpose of the paragraph. Here are the four different types of Improving Paragraphs questions plus a quick explanation of each. We go over them all up close, including examples, later in the chapter. 1. Sentence Revision Questions Sentence Revision questions, the most common question type in this section, require you to change and improve an entire sentence or a portion of one. Revision questions ask you to pick a word that should be added to clarify the meaning of a particular sentence or to choose a multiple-choice answer that would most effectively revise a flawed phrase. 2. Sentence Addition Questions Sentence Addition questions ask you which sentences or phrases should be added to the passage in order create a smoother transition or to clarify meaning. These questions require you to take into account the meaning of the overall passage and how the paragraphs transition into or relate to one another. 3. Sentence Combination Questions Sentence Combination questions present you with two sentences and ask you to pick the best way to join them. A semicolon? A conjunction? Which conjunction? The skills you picked up in our section on Conjunctions, Coordination and Subordination and the chart of conjunction words will be particularly useful on Sentence Combination questions. 4. Essay Analysis Questions Essay Analysis questions require you to take a deeper, more critical look at the essay. They ask you to pick the sentence that best sums up the essay or to identify how a particular sentence functions within the essay as a whole. These questions test your understanding of the mechanics of essays, which means how essays are built from the ground up. We cover everything you need to know about essays for the SAT in our chapter on the new SAT essay (see page ). 五步骤 Improving Paragraphs in Five Steps There are five standard steps for dealing with all four of the Improving Paragraphs question types. Each type has its own particular quirks. First we give you the standard steps, then we go over each individual question type to explain the quirks. Step 1: Read and outline the entire passage quickly. This first step never varies, and you only have to do it once for every passage: Before looking at the questions, read and outline the entire passage very quickly. When we say quickly, we mean quickly. It shouldn’t take you more than two minutes to read the passage and write down a quick sketch of what the paragraphs contain. The “outline” we advise you to write is really just a very sketchy road map of the passage. As you read each paragraph, sum up its purpose in a few words and write that summation next to the actual paragraph in your test booklet. Here’s a quick sample of a paragraph and how we would outline it: Dolphins can communicate by using a series of clicking and shrieking sounds. Researchers off the coast of Florida have undertaken research to try to decode these sounds and come up with a comprehensive dolphin language. So far they’ve managed to translate over 100 “phrases” dolphins use to communicate. This paragraph is all about dolphins, but more specifically about research on dolphin communication. Our outline entry for this paragraph would read something like, “Florida dolphin research—100 phrases.” Just enough to cover the key facts and purpose of the passage. As you read and outline, you’re going to blaze by a lot of errors. Don’t waste your time trying to fix them or even marking them. Since the passage has more sentences than the questions can possibly cover, it’s a waste of time to examine each sentence carefully. You won’t be asked about every single sentence, so let the questions guide you to the sentences you need to examine for problems. On this first quick read-through, your main goal is to understand the purpose of the passage and to see how its paragraphs relate. The outline sketch you build along the way will make navigating back through the passage a breeze. Step 2: Read the question. Read the first question, but remember not to look at the answer choices yet. Step 3: Reread the context sentences. Context sentences are the sentences before and after the sentence mentioned in the question. Your quick read-through of the passage will give you a general understanding of its subject. But to answer most Improving Paragraphs questions, you need to go back to the relevant part of the passage and reread the sentence mentioned in the question more carefully. It’s also crucial to read the context sentences. In fact, sometimes the context can help you rewrite the sentence. For example, read the two sentences around this problematic sentence: Her mother told Emily to make the bed. Another chore her mother told her to do was to take out the garbage. Emily reluctantly complied. Here, the first and second sentences convey similar information. The second sentence is wordy and awkward, however, while the first sentence is clean and concise. You can use the first sentence as a model for the revision of the second sentence. Step 4: Make your own revision. As in the other multiple-choice sections, it’s important to generate your own answer before you read the answer choices. The wrong answers are SAT traps placed there to confuse you, so don’t fall blindly into their clutches. Generate your own answer in your head before reading the actual answers. If you read the example about Emily and her chores, and modeled your revision on that successful first sentence, you might come up with Her mother also told Emily to take out the garbage. Step 5: Read every answer and pick the one that comes closest to your answer. Here are the answer choices: (A) Another chore her mother told her to do was to take out the garbage. (B) Her mother additionally asked her to do the chore of taking out the garbage. (C) Also, take out the garbage, her mother asked. (D) Then, her mother told Emily to take out the garbage. (E) She also asked Emily to take out the garbage. D comes closest to the revision you prepared before you looked at the answer choices, so that should be your choice. Let’s sum up all five steps: 1. Read and outline the entire passage. 2. Read the question. 3. Reread the context sentences. 4. Make up your own answer first. 5. Read every answer and pick the one that comes closest to your answer. These fives steps apply to all four question types: Sentence Revision, Sentence Addition, Sentence Combination, and Essay Analysis. Each question type does have its own particular quirks, including one important exception, so next we take you through each type up close. 句子修改 Sentence Revision—Up Close The SAT asks you to revise sentences for a bunch of reasons. Most often the problem is awkward language that obscures the meaning of the sentence. The SAT poses these questions in a variety of ways. Here are some examples: Which of the following is the clearest version of the underlined portion of sentence 2? In the context of the third paragraph, sentence 9 could be made more precise by adding which of the following words after “That”? The phrase “this thing” in sentence 5 is made most specific in which of the following revisions? Which is the best word or phrase to add after “The movie theater” in order to connect sentence 3 (reprinted below) to the rest of the first paragraph? On Improving Paragraphs questions like these, clarity is key. The SAT hates sentence structure that lacks specificity or could be interpreted in more than one way. Your goal on Sentence Revision questions is always to suggest alternatives that make problematic sentences clearer, simpler, and more specific. Finally, on some Sentence Revision questions, you may be able to skip step 3 (reread the context sentences). While we think it’s always a good idea to look at the context sentences, if you’re pressed for time, you could just revise the sentences blindly. Here’s an example of a paragraph with a Sentence Revision question that follows. Read the paragraph and the question, and then we’ll explain how to get the correct answer using our five-step method: (1) Obesity is a big problem in the United States. (2) Sixty-one percent of adults suffer from it, but around 300,000 people die every year from diseases directly related to obesity. (3) Obesity is related to diabetes, high blood pressure, and getting heart disease. 1. Which of the following is the best way to revise the underlined portion of sentence 2, reprinted below? Sixty-one percent of adults suffer from it, but around 300,000 people die every year from diseases directly related to obesity. (A) suffer from it, but around (B) suffer, from it but around (C) suffer from it, and (D) suffer from it, although (E) suffer because of it, but around Follow our five-step method: • Read the passage and mark down something like “obesity, 61% adults, 300,000 dead per year” (step 1). • Read the question (step 2). • Go back and read the context sentences quickly (step 3). • Now come up with your own answer (step 4). At this point you may have spotted the conjunction error in the sentence. Since there’s no contrast between the first half of the sentence and the second half, the conjunction word after the comma should be a noncontrast word like and, so, or therefore. Once you have an idea of the possible answer worked out on your own, read the answers and try to find a match (step 5). Happily, you’ve struck gold with choice C, which uses the conjunction to improve the sentence. 句子补充 Sentence Addition—Up Close The purpose of adding a sentence is usually to smooth over a rough transition from paragraph to paragraph. Transitions are words, phrases, or entire sentences that give the reader the context necessary to understand the flow of your ideas in an essay. They’re like training wheels for readers. Transitions take readers gently by the hand, leading them through a piece of writing. When you see a Sentence Addition question and are preparing your own answer, think how best to improve the transition between the paragraphs or sentences. Here are two examples of the ways the SAT phrases Sentence Addition questions: Which of the following sentences should be added after sentence 7 in order to link the second paragraph to the rest of the essay? Which of the following sentences should be inserted at the beginning of the third paragraph, before sentence 10? Be especially careful with questions like the second example above, which ask you to insert a sentence at the beginning of a paragraph. Sentences that begin paragraphs are usually topic sentences. A topic sentence tells the reader the subject or purpose of the paragraph. Topic sentences are crucial parts of the essay as a whole because they determine how each paragraph functions and fits in the context of the entire essay. To understand the context for these sentences, you have to do more than just read the sentence before and the sentence after. You have to understand how the paragraph relates to the previous entire paragraph. If you’ve followed step 1, you’ll have at your fingertips an outline of what each paragraph does. You can follow your outline to assess how one paragraph relates to another. Then you can write a possible topic sentence and examine how your sentence contradicts, modifies, or agrees with the main idea of the previous paragraph. Here’s a Sentence Addition question based on the sample obesity essay: (1) Sixty-one percent of adults suffer from it, but around 300,000 people die every year from diseases directly related to obesity. (2) Obesity is related to diabetes, high blood pressure, and getting heart disease. 1. Which of the following sentences should be inserted at the beginning of the next paragraph, before sentence 2? (A) obesity is only a problem for the elderly (B) obesity is a serious problem that affects hundreds of thousands of people. (C) obesity can cause cancer (D) obesity has no known cure (E) obesity is not necessarily an inherited condition Follow our five-step method: • You’ve already read and outlined this passage, so you can skip straight to Step 2. • Read the question but not the answer choices (step 2). The paragraph in this example lacks a topic sentence, so the question is asking you to supply one. • Go back and read the context sentences quickly (step 3). A quick glance back at the passage and your outline reveals that the paragraph is about obesity, the huge numbers of people who suffer from it, and the diseases that result from it. • Now come up with your own answer (step 4).You might generate a topic sentence that says something like, “Obesity is a very serious condition,” or some similar broad phrase that presents obesity as serious business. • Step 5 tells you to check the answer choices. B does exactly what your topic sentence did—it presents obesity as a grave problem that affects many people. So B is the correct answer. 组合句子 Sentence Combination—Up Close Some questions ask you to combine two or three sentences. Context often doesn’t play a role in answering this type of question, so you can skip step 3, which tells you to go back and read the context sentences. You should still read and outline the passage (step 1) and read the question without looking at the answer choices (step 2). Just skip ahead to steps 4 and 5, which tell you to generate your own answer (step 4) and then check it against the answer choices (step 5). There are two ways the SAT tends to ask Sentence Combination questions: Which of the following is the best way to combine and revise sentences 5 and 6? How should the underlined portions of sentences 4 and 5, which are reprinted below, be revised so that the two sentences combine into one? Only rarely will Sentence Combination questions require you to consider a sentences’s context. Here’s one example that does: In order to vary the repetitive sentence structure of the sentences in the first paragraph, how should sentences 8 and 9 be combined? On questions like this one, you must look back at the relevant paragraph to familiarize yourself with the repetitive sentence structure that the question addresses. All of this adds up to a lot of time invested in one question, so you may consider leaving questions like this blank or skipping them and returning after spending your precious time on easier questions that don’t require context analysis. How to Combine Sentences Most often you’ll combine sentences by using a comma and a conjunction (a conjunction is a connecting word like and, but, or so). You can also combine sentences using semicolons and colons. We explain all of the different combination methods below. Comma and Conjunction Say the question asks you