Vocabulary
his 7-letter noun means a confusing or difficult problem, puzzle, or riddle—like trying to figure out how to balance a budget with no
What is a conundrum?
If an appositive phrase provides "extra" information that isn't required to identify the noun, it is called this, and it must be surrounded by commas.
What is nonessential (or restrictive)?
Choose the correct pronoun: "Every student must bring (its / his or her) own laptop to the SAT testing site."
What is his or her?
Choose the correct verb: "The flock of wild geese (flies / fly) south for the winter."
What is flies? (The subject is the singular collective noun "flock," not the plural "geese").
In the SAT Reading section, these types of text transitions—such as consequently, therefore, and as a result—are used to signal this exact logical relationship.
What is cause-and-effect?
This adjective describes someone who lives a solitary life and tends to avoid other people, much like a hermit or a fiercely private author.
What is reclusive?
Punctuated correctly or incorrectly? "My only biological sister, Sarah, is a lawyer."
What is correctly? (Since she is the only sister, her name is nonessential info and gets commas).
Identify the incorrect pronoun in this sentence: "The committee submitted their final report to the school board on Friday."
What is their? (The collective noun "committee" acts as a single singular unit here, so it should be its).
Choose the correct verb: "Either the tomatoes or the cheese on the pizza (has / have) spoiled."
What is has? (With either/or, the verb agrees with the closer subject, which is the singular "cheese").
Fix the punctuation error in this grammar sentence: "The architect drew up plans for a sustainable skyscraper; which would utilize solar panels."
What is replace the semicolon with a comma? (Semicolons can only separate two independent clauses; "which would utilize..." is a dependent clause).
A noun meaning a feeling of strong dislike, contempt, or looking down on something or someone you deem unworthy of respect.
What is disdain?
Fix the punctuation in this sentence assuming the speaker has three dogs: "My dog, Barnaby, loves to chase squirrels."
What is "My dog Barnaby loves to chase squirrels"? (Remove the commas because the name is essential to know which dog).
Correct this sentence: "Neither the teacher nor the students brought his or her textbook."
What is change "his or her" to their? (When using neither/nor, the pronoun must agree with the closer antecedent, which is the plural "students").
Identify the subject and choose the correct verb: "Beneath the floorboards (runs / run) a maze of old copper pipes."
What are pipes (subject) and run (plural verb)? (This is an inverted sentence structure).
[Reading Strategy] When an SAT question asks you to identify the choice that best weakens a scientist's hypothesis, your job is to find data that does this.
What is contradicts the prediction (or shows the opposite outcome)?
An adjective used to describe something done by secret, stealthy, or unauthorized means—like a spy slipping a flash drive into a pocket.
What is surreptitious?
Correct the punctuation and capitalization errors here: "We invited my Uncle, Joe, to dinner."
What is "We invited my uncle Joe to dinner"? (Lowercase uncle because of the possessive pronoun "my"; remove commas assuming you have more than one uncle).
Pronouns like someone, everyone, anyone, and nobody belong to this specific grammatical category and are always singular.
What are indefinite pronouns?
Fix this classic SAT trap sentence: "The reduction in corporate taxes, along with new trade subsidies, have boosted the stock market."
What is change "have" to has? (The core subject is "reduction." Phrases starting with "along with" are modifying phrases, not conjunctions like and).
Correct this dangling modifier: "Walking through the ancient forest, the giant redwood trees amazed the hikers."
What is "Walking through the ancient forest, the hikers were amazed by the giant redwood trees"? (The modifier "Walking..." must modify the people doing the walking, not the trees).
This 12-letter adjective describes a showy, pretentious, or vulgar display of wealth and luxury designed to impress or attract attention.
What is ostentatious?
This is the primary grammatical purpose of an appositive phrase in a sentence.
What is to rename, identify, or explain a noun right next to it?
Fix the pronoun error in this sentence: "When a person travels abroad, you should always keep your passport in a secure location."
What is change "you should" to "he or she should" (or "they should")? (The sentence starts with the third-person "a person," so it cannot suddenly switch to the second-person "you").
Choose the correct verb form: "Each of the participants who completed the grueling marathon (was / were) given a commemorative medal."
at is was? ("Each" is the true singular subject of the sentence).
Fill in the blank with the best SAT vocabulary option: "Though many assumed the author's new sci-fi novel would be derivative of older tropes, it proved remarkably _______, introducing entirely unprecedented concepts to the genre."
What is novel (or original / innovative)?