20 Official SAT Grammar Questions With Answers Explained

Pasted an SAT grammar question into Google? Find it below by its first words. Every question on this page shows the passage, the four choices, and the answer right under the choices. A tutor’s explanation follows: why the answer is right, and why each wrong choice is a trap.

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All 20 are official College Board SAT questions from Standard English Conventions, the grammar and punctuation part of the Reading and Writing section. The two questions students search for most are first.

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Question starts with	Answer
Far from being modern inventions, ______	B (drinking straws were used by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia)
In winter, the diets of Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys…	C (forcing)
Formed in 1967 to foster political and economic stability within the Asia-Pacific…	B (had doubled)
In 1930, Japanese American artist Chiura Obata depicted the natural beauty of…	B (they were)
Over twenty years ago, in a landmark experiment in the psychology of…	A (varied:)
Journalists have dubbed Gil Scott-Heron the “godfather of rap,” a title that…	C (nickname, however,)
The city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash following the eruption…	C (researchers Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn)
Sociologist Todd Gitlin co-opted the term “recombinant,” normally used in reference to…	B (content; in that era,)
In his 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean American artist Nam…	D (is)
The classic children’s board game Chutes and Ladders is a version of…	A (allows)
In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle…	D (to tell)
In the 1950s, a man named Joseph McVicker was struggling to keep…	A (suggested)
The Alvarez theory, developed in 1980 by physicist Luis Walter Alvarez and…	B (out, but)
The term “retroflex” derives from Latin and means “bent back,” an apt…	D (rare;)
Researchers studying the “terra-cotta army,” the thousands of life-size statues of warriors…	B (is)
Interest in mechanotransduction, the mechanism by which cells sense and convert mechanical…	C (study)
Researchers studying magnetosensation have determined why some soil-dwelling roundworms in the Southern…	A (food:)
Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass first appeared in 1855 as a slim…	A (changes, including)
English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s ______	C (works,)
As cheesemaking practices spread throughout Europe and Asia during and after the…	C (emerged:)

How we checked the answers. We matched every question, word for word, to College Board’s SAT Suite Question Bank and used the answer College Board gives there (checked September 29, 2026). Three of the questions also appear in College Board’s printable SAT Practice Test 8, and their answers match College Board’s Practice Test 8 answer explanations. This page began as our Practice Test 8 grammar walkthrough. We could not confirm the Bluebook question numbers for the other questions, so we list every question by its first words instead of a number.

Far from being modern inventions, ______ (Answer: B)

Far from being modern inventions, ______ more than 5,000 years ago.

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

1. A) Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia used drinking straws
2. B) drinking straws were used by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia
3. C) the use of drinking straws by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia happened
4. D) ancient Mesopotamia was home to Sumerians who used drinking straws

Answer: B) drinking straws were used by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Medium.

Why B is right. The sentence starts with a describing phrase: Far from being modern inventions. The words right after the comma must name the thing that phrase describes. So ask: what is the invention? The drinking straws. Only choice B puts drinking straws right after the comma.

• A) Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia used drinking straws. This puts the people right after the comma. Now the sentence says the Sumerians were not modern inventions.
• C) the use of drinking straws by Sumerians… happened. The phrase would describe the use. But the use is not the invention. The straws are.
• D) ancient Mesopotamia was home to Sumerians… This puts a place right after the comma. A place is not an invention.

The move: when a sentence opens with a describing phrase and a comma, ask “who or what is this about?” That word has to come right after the comma. Practice this rule in the free Modifiers lesson notes.

In winter, the diets of Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, are influenced more by… (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) forces
2. B) to force
3. C) forcing
4. D) forced

Answer: C) forcing
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Easy.

Show the full explanation

In winter, the diets of Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, are influenced more by food availability than by food preference. Although the monkeys prefer to eat vegetation and land-dwelling invertebrates, those food sources may become unavailable because of extensive snow and ice cover, [blank] the monkeys to hunt for marine animals in any streams that have not frozen over.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → The main clause is those food sources may become unavailable. It already has its working verb, may become. After the comma there is no joining word, so whatever goes in the blank cannot be a second working verb.

Why C is right.
Forcing starts a describing phrase that hangs off the main clause and explains its result: the food disappears, which forces the monkeys to hunt in streams. An -ing phrase after a comma is exactly the tool for "and the result of that was…".

A) forces — comma splice. Forces is a working verb, so the words after the comma become a second sentence glued on with a comma. It also disagrees in number with the plural subject food sources.

B) to force — meaning trap. An infinitive after a comma reads as purpose: the food sources become unavailable in order to force the monkeys to hunt. Snow does not have a plan. The structure is legal and the meaning is nonsense.

D) forced — comma splice plus tense clash. Working verb again, so the same splice as A, and it drops into past tense while the sentence around it uses may become.

The move — One Sentence, One Engine: the same rule as the Margarita Engle question, applied at a comma instead of mid-sentence. Fires when the blank follows a comma and the clause before it is already complete. You do: if there is no joining word, cross out every working verb in the choices. Usually one -ing form survives, and that is your answer. Saves you: two choices instantly on every result-clause item.

⚡ Shortcut — The Comma Splice Sweep: on any item where the blank sits right after a comma, ask one question before you read a single choice. "Is what comes before the comma already a whole sentence?" If yes, and there is no and, but, or or in sight, every working-verb choice is dead.

Formed in 1967 to foster political and economic stability within the Asia-Pacific region, the Association of… (Answer: B)

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) has doubled
2. B) had doubled
3. C) doubles
4. D) will double

Answer: B) had doubled
Checked against College Board’s official answer. This question is also in College Board’s printable Practice Test 8 (Module 2, question 20). College Board rates it Easy.

In 1930, Japanese American artist Chiura Obata depicted the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park in… (Answer: B)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) it was
2. B) they were
3. C) this was
4. D) some were

Answer: B) they were
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Medium.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Over twenty years ago, in a landmark experiment in the psychology of choice, professor Sheena Iyengar… (Answer: A)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) varied:
2. B) varied,
3. C) varied, while
4. D) varied while

Answer: A) varied:
Checked against College Board’s official answer. This question is also in College Board’s printable Practice Test 8 (Module 2, question 24). College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	The only thing that changes	What that mark claims
A	colon  :	"A full sentence just ended. Here is the explanation of it."
B	comma  ,	"These two halves are glued with a comma." Not allowed between two full sentences.
C	comma , + the word while	"What follows is a dependent add-on."
D	no mark + the word while	Same claim as C, with no pause at all.

Show the full explanation

Over twenty years ago, in a landmark experiment in the psychology of choice, professor Sheena Iyengar set up a jam-tasting booth at a grocery store. The number of jams available for tasting varied [blank] some shoppers had twenty-four different options, others only six. Interestingly, the shoppers with fewer jams to choose from purchased more jam.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → Read only up to the blank: The number of jams available for tasting varied. That is already a whole sentence. Now read after the blank: some shoppers had twenty-four different options. Also a whole sentence. Two whole sentences means a comma alone is dead.

Why A is right.
A colon does one job: it follows a complete sentence and points forward to the thing that explains it. The number of jams varied is the claim. Some shoppers had twenty-four different options, others only six is exactly how it varied. That is the colon's job description.

B) varied, — comma splice. Two independent clauses cannot be joined by a comma with nothing else. This is the single most common wrong answer on punctuation items, because the comma feels like a pause and the sentence reads smoothly out loud.

C) varied, while — half-right trap. While does turn the next chunk into a dependent clause, so the first join looks legal. But look at the end: others only six is still hanging off a bare comma. You fixed one seam and left the other broken.

D) varied while — same half-right trap, no pause. Identical problem to C at the end of the sentence, and it also runs varied straight into while with no breath. Two choices with the same flaw are usually both wrong.

The move — Colon Needs a Full Sentence First: a colon is legal only when everything before it could end with a period. Fires when one choice has a colon and the others have commas. You do: cover the choices, read up to the blank, and ask "is that a sentence?" If yes, and the next part explains it, take the colon. Saves you: the guess between colon and comma, every single time.

Journalists have dubbed Gil Scott-Heron the “godfather of rap,” a title that has appeared in hundreds… (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) nickname, however
2. B) nickname, however;
3. C) nickname, however,
4. D) nickname; however,

Answer: C) nickname, however,
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	Mark before however	Mark after however
A	comma ,	nothing
B	comma ,	semicolon ;
C	comma ,	comma ,
D	semicolon ;	comma ,

Show the full explanation

Journalists have dubbed Gil Scott-Heron the “godfather of rap,” a title that has appeared in hundreds of articles about him since the 1990s. Scott-Heron himself resisted the godfather nickname however feeling that it didn’t encapsulate his devotion to the broader African American blues music tradition as well as “bluesologist,” the moniker he preferred.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → Delete however and the sentence still works. That is the test for a supplement. A supplement dropped into the middle of a sentence needs a comma on both sides — think of them as a matching pair of bookends.

Why C is right.
Two things have to be true at once. First, however is a supplement here, so it gets a comma on each side. Second, what follows is feeling that it didn’t encapsulate… — a describing phrase, not a sentence. A phrase like that attaches with a comma. C is the only choice that gives a comma on both sides of however.

A) nickname, however — unclosed supplement. One bookend, no second bookend. The sentence opens the interruption and never shuts it, so however feeling collides.

B) nickname, however; — wrong mark on the right. A semicolon promises a full sentence on the other side. What actually follows is feeling that it didn’t encapsulate…, which has no subject and no working verb. Promise broken.

D) nickname; however, — wrong mark on the left. This is the pattern students memorise for joining two sentences, and here the left side really is a sentence. But the right side is not. Right-answer-to-a-different-question: D would be correct if the text read however, he felt….

The move — The Supplement Sandwich: an interrupter takes the same mark on both sides, or no marks at all. Fires when a short word or phrase like however, a title, or like the shape of each person’s ears sits in the middle of a sentence. You do: delete it. If the sentence survives, it is a supplement, so wrap it in matching commas. Saves you: the two choices that give you one comma instead of two.

The city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in… (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn,
2. B) researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn
3. C) researchers Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn
4. D) researchers Roberto Scandone, and Christopher Kilburn

Answer: C) researchers Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Medium.

Choice	Where the commas sit	What it claims about the names
A	both sides of the names	"You could delete these names and lose nothing."
B	before only	Opens an interruption and never closes it.
C	none	"These names are needed — they tell you which researchers."
D	between the two names	Treats two names as if they were a list of three or more.

Show the full explanation

The city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, continues to be studied by archaeologists. Unfortunately, as [blank] researchers Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn attest, archaeological excavations have disrupted ash deposits at the site, causing valuable information about the eruption to be lost.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → The word before the names is researchers, plural and unlimited. Pompeii is studied by many. So the two names are doing work: they narrow "researchers" down to these two. Work means no commas.

Why C is right.
Names that identify which ones are essential, and essential means bare — no commas. There is a second reason too: the phrase is the subject of attest. Dropping a comma between a subject and its verb is never allowed.

A) researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn, — scope shift. Matching commas say the names are deletable extra. That would mean these two are the only researchers who exist. The passage has already said archaeologists, plural and general.

B) researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn — unclosed supplement. One comma opens the interruption, nothing closes it, and the sentence then runs into attest with a broken seam.

D) researchers Roberto Scandone, and Christopher Kilburn — false list. A comma before and belongs in a list of three or more items. There are two names. This also splits the compound subject in half.

The move — The Name Count Test: when a name follows a job title or a category word, ask how many of that category exist. Fires whenever the four choices differ only by commas around a person’s name. You do: if the category word is plural and open-ended (researchers, artists, novels), the name is essential, so no commas. If the category is already one specific thing (her only sister), the name is extra, so matching commas. Saves you: the coin-flip between the commas-on and commas-off pair.

Sociologist Todd Gitlin co-opted the term “recombinant,” normally used in reference to genetic engineering, to describe… (Answer: B)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) content, in that era
2. B) content; in that era,
3. C) content in that era,
4. D) content, in that era,

Answer: B) content; in that era,
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	After content	After era
A	comma ,	nothing
B	semicolon ;	comma ,
C	nothing	comma ,
D	comma ,	comma ,

Show the full explanation

Sociologist Todd Gitlin co-opted the term “recombinant,” normally used in reference to genetic engineering, to describe serialized television shows of the 1980s. Gitlin’s use of the term referenced TV studios’ practice of repackaging successful narrative formulas as new content [blank] in that era, even shows that varied only slightly from other shows still attracted sizeable audiences. in that era is the piece that makes you think a comma is enough.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → Cover the choices. Left side: Gitlin’s use of the term referenced TV studios’ practice of repackaging successful narrative formulas as new content. Full sentence. Right side: In that era, even shows that varied only slightly from other shows still attracted sizeable audiences. Full sentence. Two full sentences, so you need a mark strong enough to separate them.

Why B is right.
The semicolon separates the two independent clauses. The comma after era then closes off the opening phrase of the second clause, the same way you would write In that era, shows sold well. Two marks, two different jobs.

A) content, in that era — comma splice, and a missing pause. A comma cannot hold two sentences apart, and there is no comma after era to close the introductory phrase either.

C) content in that era, — fused sentence. Nothing at all sits between content and the second clause. Two sentences run straight into each other with the comma landing in the wrong place entirely.

D) content, in that era, — comma splice dressed up. The second comma is correct. The first one is not. Half-right is still wrong, and D exists purely to catch students who checked the end of the choice and stopped.

The move — Semicolon = Period Test: a semicolon is legal exactly where a period is legal. Fires the moment one choice offers a semicolon. You do: swap the semicolon for a period and read both halves as separate sentences. If both stand up, the semicolon is fine and every comma-only choice is dead. If either half falls over, cross the semicolon out. Saves you: the most repeated heuristic on r/Sat, and roughly 20 seconds a question.

If those two answers did not come instantly, that is the whole grammar domain telling you where to spend your week. The 15 rules in one place: the SAT grammar rules cheat sheet. Then practice them with the free Standard English Conventions lesson notes so the rule fires without you thinking about it.

In his 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean American artist Nam June Paik showed how… (Answer: D)

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) will be
2. B) had been
3. C) was
4. D) is

Answer: D) is
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Easy.

The classic children’s board game Chutes and Ladders is a version of an ancient Nepalese game… (Answer: A)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) allows
2. B) are allowing
3. C) have allowed
4. D) allow

Answer: A) allows
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Easy.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle uses poetry rather than prose ______ (Answer: D)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) tells
2. B) told
3. C) is telling
4. D) to tell

Answer: D) to tell
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Easy.

Show the full explanation

In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle uses poetry rather than prose [blank] the true story of Cuban folk hero Rosa La Bayamesa.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → This sentence already has a working verb: uses. One sentence gets one working verb per subject, unless a joining word like and or but shows up. There is no joining word here.

Why D is right.
To tell is an infinitive. It is not a working verb, so it does not fight with uses. It also carries the exact meaning the sentence needs: Engle uses poetry in order to tell the story. Purpose.

A) tells — two-engine sentence. Uses and tells would both be working verbs for the same subject with nothing joining them. The sentence would need and to survive, and there is none.

B) told — two-engine sentence plus a tense clash. Same structural problem as A, with the extra fault that uses is present and told is past.

C) is telling — two-engine sentence, longest version. Is telling is still a working verb. Adding a helping word does not make it stop being one.

The move — One Sentence, One Engine: a clause runs on exactly one working verb per subject. Fires when three choices are working verbs and one is an -ing word or a to + verb. You do: find the verb the sentence already has. If it has one and there is no and, but, or or, take the odd choice out — the infinitive or the participle. Saves you: the three-versus-one split resolves in about five seconds.

In the 1950s, a man named Joseph McVicker was struggling to keep his business afloat when… (Answer: A)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) suggested
2. B) suggests
3. C) had suggested
4. D) was suggesting

Answer: A) suggested
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Medium.

Show the full explanation

In the 1950s, a man named Joseph McVicker was struggling to keep his business afloat when his sister-in-law Kay Zufall advised him to repurpose the company’s product, a nontoxic, clay-like substance for removing soot from wallpaper, as a modeling putty for kids. In addition, Zufall [blank] selling the product under a child-friendly name: Play-Doh.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → In addition means "on top of that." It puts the two actions side by side in the same moment. It does not push one of them earlier.

Why A is right.
The whole passage is a 1950s story told in simple past: was struggling, advised. Zufall’s second suggestion sits alongside her first one. Simple past keeps them level.

B) suggests — tense-shift trap. Present tense drops a 1950s event into today. Nothing in the sentence resets the clock.

C) had suggested — wrong-time trap. Past perfect claims this happened before the advising. In addition says it happened as well as, not before. The transition word is the evidence.

D) was suggesting — wrong aspect. Past progressive frames an action as ongoing while something else happened. Nothing here interrupts the suggestion. It was one act, done.

The move — The Time-Marker Match: transitions are tense evidence, not decoration. Fires when a verb blank sits right after In addition, Later, Earlier, By then, or Today. You do: translate the transition into an order — before, at the same time, or after — then pick the tense that matches that order. Saves you: the pull toward past perfect, which sounds sophisticated and is usually wrong.

The Alvarez theory, developed in 1980 by physicist Luis Walter Alvarez and his geologist son Walter… (Answer: B)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) out but
2. B) out, but
3. C) out
4. D) out,

Answer: B) out, but
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Easy.

Choice	Comma?	Joining word?	Verdict
A	no	yes — but	Half the tool
B	yes ,	yes — but	The full tool
C	no	no	Nothing at all
D	yes ,	no	Half the tool

Show the full explanation

The Alvarez theory, developed in 1980 by physicist Luis Walter Alvarez and his geologist son Walter Alvarez, maintained that the secondary effects of an asteroid impact caused many dinosaurs and other animals to die out [blank] it left unexplored the question of whether unrelated volcanic activity might have also contributed to the mass extinctions.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → The word it after the blank is your tell. It left unexplored the question… has a subject and a working verb, so it is a full sentence. The blank has to handle a sentence-to-sentence join.

Why B is right.
Two full sentences joined by one of the seven joining words takes a comma and the word. That is the pair. But also fits the meaning: the theory explained one thing yet left another thing open.

A) out but — missing comma. The joining word is right and the punctuation is not. When but sits between two full sentences it needs a comma in front of it.

C) out — fused sentence. Two complete sentences crashing together with nothing between them. This one is easy to hear if you read it aloud and refuse to pause.

D) out, — comma splice. A comma alone between two sentences. It also throws away the contrast that the passage clearly means.

The move — Comma Plus FANBOYS: the seven joining words are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Fires when one choice pairs a comma with one of them. You do: confirm both sides are full sentences, then demand both pieces — comma and word. One without the other is always wrong. Saves you: the four-way split collapses to one choice in about ten seconds.

The term “retroflex” derives from Latin and means “bent back,” an apt descriptor for the branch… (Answer: D)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) rare and
2. B) rare,
3. C) rare
4. D) rare;

Answer: D) rare;
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	What sits after rare	Strong enough for two sentences?
A	the word and, no comma	No — needs a comma too
B	comma ,	No — splice
C	nothing	No — fused
D	semicolon ;	Yes

Show the full explanation

The term “retroflex” derives from Latin and means “bent back,” an apt descriptor for the branch of consonants—retroflex consonants—pronounced with the tongue curling up and back in the mouth. In many languages, including English, these consonants are rare [blank] in some dialects of Mandarin, however, four such consonants (“ch,” “sh,” “zh,” and “r”) are relatively common. The word however already carries the contrast, which is why choice A feels tempting.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → However is not a joining word. It cannot hold two sentences together on its own, no matter where you put it. It is a signpost, not a bolt.

Why D is right.
Swap the semicolon for a period and check. In many languages, including English, these consonants are rare. Stands up. In some dialects of Mandarin, however, four such consonants are relatively common. Stands up. Both halves pass, so the semicolon is legal and it is the only mark on the list that is.

A) rare and — missing comma, and a doubled contrast. Two faults. A joining word between two full sentences needs a comma in front. And and plus however means the sentence signals "addition" and "contrast" at the same time.

B) rare, — comma splice. The commas already sitting around however later in the sentence make this look like a normal comma pattern. It is not. A comma alone cannot separate two sentences.

C) rare — fused sentence. Nothing between the two halves. The eye slides over it because rare in some dialects briefly reads like one phrase, then falls apart.

The move — Semicolon = Period Test: same rule as the Todd Gitlin question, said a different way — if you can drop a period in that exact spot and end up with two sentences, the semicolon is correct there. Fires whenever a semicolon appears in any choice. You do: read each half as a standalone sentence out loud in your head. Saves you: the temptation to award the point to however, which is not a joining word.

⚠ Trap — The However Trap: a word like however, therefore, consequently, or nevertheless looks like it joins sentences because it means "on the other hand." It does not. It needs a semicolon or a period beside it. The seven real joining words are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, and however is not one of them.

Researchers studying the “terra-cotta army,” the thousands of life-size statues of warriors found interred near the… (Answer: B)

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) are
2. B) is
3. C) were
4. D) have been

Answer: B) is
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Interest in mechanotransduction, the mechanism by which cells sense and convert mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals… (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) is studying
2. B) has studied
3. C) study
4. D) studies

Answer: C) study
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Medium.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Researchers studying magnetosensation have determined why some soil-dwelling roundworms in the Southern Hemisphere move in the… (Answer: A)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) food:
2. B) food,
3. C) food while
4. D) food

Answer: A) food:
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	Mark after food	What it promises next
A	colon :	An explanation of what just ended
B	comma ,	A phrase, not a second sentence
C	none, plus while	A dependent add-on
D	none	Nothing — the sentence keeps running

Show the full explanation

Researchers studying magnetosensation have determined why some soil-dwelling roundworms in the Southern Hemisphere move in the opposite direction of Earth’s magnetic field when searching for food [blank] in the Northern Hemisphere, the magnetic field points down, into the ground, but in the Southern Hemisphere, it points up, toward the surface and away from worms’ food sources.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → The first half announces that researchers have determined why. Everything after the blank is that why. When a sentence promises a reason and then delivers it, that seam is a colon.

Why A is right.
Read up to the blank and stop: Researchers…have determined why some soil-dwelling roundworms…move in the opposite direction…when searching for food. Complete. What follows explains that behaviour by describing the magnetic field in each hemisphere. Complete sentence, then explanation: colon.

B) food, — comma splice. Everything after the blank is a full sentence with its own subject and verb, twice over. A comma cannot carry that weight.

C) food while — half-right trap. While subordinates the Northern Hemisphere clause, which handles one seam. But the sentence then hits but in the Southern Hemisphere, it points up, and that second full clause is left dangling off a subordinate one. The structure does not close.

D) food — fused sentence. No mark at all between two complete thoughts. Searching for food in the Northern Hemisphere reads as one phrase for a second, then the sentence collapses.

The move — Colon Needs a Full Sentence First: same rule as the Sheena Iyengar question, and here is the second half of it — the part after the colon does not have to be a sentence, but the part before it always does. Fires when exactly one choice carries a colon. You do: read up to the blank, stop, and check that you have a sentence. Then check that what follows explains it. Saves you: you can answer this item without reading the second half closely at all.

Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass first appeared in 1855 as a slim collection of twelve poems… (Answer: A)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) changes, including
2. B) changes would include
3. C) changes included
4. D) changes, include

Answer: A) changes, including
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	Mark after changes	What it promises next
A	comma , plus including	A supplement phrase — the main verb is still coming
B	none, plus would include	changes takes would include as its verb
C	none, plus included	changes takes included as its verb
D	comma , plus include	A comma, then a finite verb with nothing to attach to

Show the full explanation

Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass first appeared in 1855 as a slim collection of twelve poems, but Whitman would revise and expand it substantially over the next four decades. These extensive changes, including the addition of hundreds of new poems, the removal of some existing ones, and the insertion of prefatory material, reflected the poet’s evolving literary perspective and experience of the US Civil War.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → Look past the three-item list and find the comma before reflected. That comma is already printed in the passage. It is the closing bookend of a supplement, which means the blank has to supply the opening bookend.

Why A is right.
The sentence’s working verb is reflected, and its subject is These extensive changes. Between them sits a long supplement listing what the changes were. Including opens that supplement and the printed comma before reflected closes it. Cross the supplement out and you get These extensive changes reflected the poet’s evolving literary perspective.

B) changes would include — two-engine sentence. Would include is a working verb, and so is reflected later. One subject cannot run two working verbs with no joining word.

C) changes included — two-engine sentence. Same fault as B in past tense. It also reads smoothly for the first eight words, which is exactly why it is the trap.

D) changes, include — wrong form inside a supplement. The comma opens a supplement correctly, then puts a working verb inside it. A supplement cannot start with a bare present-tense verb like that, and include also disagrees with the past-tense frame.

The move — The Supplement Sandwich: restated for long insertions — if the passage already prints a comma somewhere ahead of the main verb, the blank almost certainly has to print the matching one. Fires when a long list sits between a noun and a verb. You do: find the printed comma first, then supply its partner. Saves you: you can answer without reading the list at all.

⚡ Shortcut — The List Inside a Supplement: when a three-item list with its own internal commas is dropped into the middle of a sentence, do not try to punctuate the list. It is already punctuated. Your only job is the outer pair of commas that wraps the whole insertion.

English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s ______ (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) works were
2. B) works, were
3. C) works,
4. D) works had been

Answer: C) works,
Checked against College Board’s official answer. This question is also in College Board’s printable Practice Test 8 (Module 1, question 25). College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	Mark after works	What it promises next
A	none, plus were	works takes were as its verb
B	comma , plus were	A comma, then a finite verb still attached to the subject
C	comma , on its own	Opens a supplement — the main verb comes after it closes
D	none, plus had been	works takes had been as its verb

Show the full explanation

English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne’s works, much admired during his lifetime (1572–1631) and in the decades that followed, had, at the time of their enthusiastic rediscovery by the early twentieth-century modernists, been essentially gathering dust for the intervening 250 years.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → Read to the end of the sentence before you touch the choices. The verb is already there: had … been essentially gathering dust. It is split in half by another supplement, which is why it hides. Once you see it, the blank cannot contain a verb.

Why C is right.
The subject is John Donne’s works. Then a supplement, much admired during his lifetime…and in the decades that followed, opened by the comma the blank supplies and closed by the comma already printed before had. Then the verb. Cross the supplement out and the spine reads: John Donne’s works had been essentially gathering dust for the intervening 250 years.

A) works were — two-engine sentence. Were makes a working verb, so works were much admired… becomes a complete sentence. Then had…been gathering dust is stranded with no subject of its own.

B) works, were — two faults at once. It cuts the subject off from its verb with a lone comma, and it still supplies a second working verb. Neither problem cancels the other.

D) works had been — duplicated verb. The sentence already carries had … been later on. Choosing this gives you the verb twice. It is the choice for a student who never read to the end.

The move — The Supplement Sandwich: one more time, because the SAT keeps asking it — when a printed comma sits ahead of the main verb, the blank supplies its partner and nothing else. Fires whenever a description like much admired… follows a noun. You do: supply the opening comma and no verb. Saves you: the two choices that hand you a second verb.

⚡ Shortcut — The Verb Is Still Coming: before you pick a verb for a blank near the start of a long sentence, scan to the full stop and ask whether the sentence already owns a verb further along. On this item the verb is had … been gathering, split across two commas. If the verb is already there, the blank is punctuation, not grammar.

As cheesemaking practices spread throughout Europe and Asia during and after the Neolithic, divergent strategies for preserving milk ______ (Answer: C)

The question: Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

1. A) emerged
2. B) emerged and
3. C) emerged:
4. D) emerged,

Answer: C) emerged:
Checked against College Board’s official answer. College Board rates it Hard.

Choice	What follows emerged	Legal before a whereas clause?
A	nothing	No — fused
B	the word and	No — wrong relationship, no comma
C	colon :	Yes
D	comma ,	No — too weak

Show the full explanation

As cheesemaking practices spread throughout Europe and Asia during and after the Neolithic, divergent strategies for preserving milk emerged [blank] whereas rennet-coagulated cheesemaking became key to milk preservation in Europe and Southwest Asia, acid-heat coagulation methods became common among nomadic herding populations of the northeastern Eurasian steppe.

yellow, dotted = what the question turns on · green, solid = the evidence · red, dashed = what pulls you to a wrong choice

Note → The word divergent is the setup. It means "splitting in two directions." The rest of the sentence names the two directions. So the blank is the hinge between a claim and its breakdown, which is colon territory.

Why C is right.
Read up to the blank: As cheesemaking practices spread throughout Europe and Asia during and after the Neolithic, divergent strategies for preserving milk emerged. That is a full sentence. Everything after it spells out what those divergent strategies were — one in Europe, one on the steppe. Full sentence, then the explanation of it. Colon.

A) emerged — fused sentence. Emerged whereas rennet-coagulated cheesemaking became key jams a whole new clause onto the first with no mark. There is nothing telling the reader that a new structure just started.

B) emerged and — wrong relationship, missing comma. And claims the two parts are added together as equals. They are not: the second part is the breakdown of the first. It also drops the comma that a joining word needs before a full clause.

D) emerged, — comma splice. The closest wrong answer, because a comma before a whereas clause is often fine. Here it is not: what follows is a full two-clause structure of its own, and the comma cannot introduce an explanation the way a colon can.

The move — Colon Needs a Full Sentence First: the same rule as the Iyengar and roundworm questions, and spotting it fast pays off. Fires when the sentence makes a general claim and then names its parts. You do: check the left side is a sentence, check the right side explains it, take the colon. Saves you: roughly 30 seconds on a punctuation question College Board rates Hard.

⚡ Shortcut — The Whereas Hinge: a word like divergent, two approaches, a split, or different strategies right before a blank is a promise. The sentence has told you it is about to list the parts. When a promise word appears and the left side is a sentence, look for the colon first.

The grammar rules behind these questions

Learn the rule, not the letter. Each rule below decides at least one question on this page.

Rule	When you see	What to do	Questions here
A describing phrase must touch what it describes	A sentence opens with a phrase and a comma	Put the thing being described right after the comma	Far from being modern…
One sentence, one main verb	Three choices are full verbs and one is an -ing or to form	Find the main verb the sentence already has. If it has one, pick the -ing or to form	In winter, the diets…, In the historical novel…
Past before past	A verb blank sits near a date or by the end of	The earlier of two past events takes had + verb	Formed in 1967 to…
Tense follows the time words	The choices are one verb in four tenses	Match the nearest time clue, not the sentence before	In his 1963 exhibition…, In the 1950s, a…
Count the pronoun’s noun	The choices are it / they / this / some	Point to the noun it replaces, count it, match it	In 1930, Japanese American…
Find the real subject	The choices are singular and plural forms of one verb	Cross out of phrases and extra details, then match the verb to what is left	The classic children’s board…, Researchers studying the “terra-cotta…, Interest in mechanotransduction, the…
Colon needs a full sentence first	One choice has a colon	The words before the colon must be a full sentence; the words after explain it	Over twenty years ago…, Researchers studying magnetosensation have…, As cheesemaking practices spread…
Semicolon = period test	A choice has a semicolon	Swap in a period. Both sides must stand alone as sentences	Sociologist Todd Gitlin co-opted…, The term “retroflex” derives…
Comma + and / but / so	Two full sentences are joined by a joining word	Use a comma and the joining word together	The Alvarez theory, developed…
Extra information gets matching marks	Extra detail sits in the middle of a sentence	Put the same mark on both sides of it, or none	Journalists have dubbed Gil…, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of…, English poet and Shakespeare…
No commas around a needed name	The choices add or drop commas around names	If the sentence needs the names to make sense, use no commas	The city of Pompeii…

Your question is not on this page?

We only post an answer when we can check it against an official College Board answer. If your question is not here, use the rule table above: name the rule first, then test each choice against it. You can also study one rule at a time in our free grammar lesson notes (a free account is needed to open them): Verbs, Pronouns and Apostrophes, Modifiers, The Colon and Joining Two Complete Sentences. For mixed practice, open the free Standard English Conventions lesson notes.

Keep going

Redo these questions tomorrow without looking at the answers. Say the rule name before you pick a letter. Then try the rules under a clock: create a free account and take one full-length adaptive SAT section free, with a real Module 1 to Module 2 route and a scaled score. You can also browse every practice test and question bank.

• Practice Test 8 Module 1 worked examples
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How we built this page: questions, passages and answer choices are College Board’s. Every answer was checked on September 29, 2026 against College Board’s SAT Suite Question Bank, and against the printable Practice Test 8 answer explanations where the question also appears there. The explanations, rule names and tips are The Test Advantage’s own work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the answer to the SAT question "Far from being modern inventions, ______ more than 5,000 years ago"?

B: drinking straws were used by Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia. The opening phrase describes an invention, so the drinking straws must come right after the comma. College Board's official answer is B.

What is the answer to the SAT question about the diets of Japanese macaques (snow monkeys) in winter?

C: forcing. The sentence already has its main verb (may become), and no joining word follows the comma, so the blank needs the -ing form, not a second main verb. College Board's official answer is C.

What is the answer to "Formed in 1967 to foster political and economic stability within the Asia-Pacific region"?

B: had doubled. The doubling was finished by a past point, the end of the 1990s, so the sentence needs the past perfect had doubled. College Board's official answer is B.

What is the answer to the John Donne question ("English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne's ______ much admired")?

C: works, (with a comma). The comma after works opens the extra detail much admired during his lifetime (1572-1631) and in the decades that followed, and the comma after followed closes it. The main verb comes later, so the blank cannot hold a verb.

Are these official SAT questions?

Yes. All 20 are official College Board questions. We matched each one word for word to College Board's SAT Suite Question Bank and used College Board's answer, checked on September 29, 2026.

Are these the Bluebook Practice Test 8 grammar questions?

This page began as our Practice Test 8 grammar walkthrough. Three of the 20 questions appear in College Board's printable Practice Test 8. We could not confirm where the others appear in the Bluebook app, so we list each question by its first words.

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