Students often miss comparison questions on the SAT because the sentences that contain them often sound just fine. But the SAT Writing section is designed in such a way that the student who relies solely on his or her ear will, more often than not, be let down when it comes to more difficult questions.
Bad Comparisons on the SAT Writing Test
Can you spot the error in this sentence?
No United States president’s life has been written about as extensively as John F. Kennedy.
It sure sounds fine, to most people’s ears. Not to mine! The sentence has got a comparison error. Look closer. What two things are being compared? Grammatically, the answer is “life” and “John F. Kennedy.” We’re comparing a life to a person—and, although anyone reading the sentence understands its implicit meaning, the sentence is technically grammatically incorrect. Here are two ways we can fix it:
No United States president’s life has been written about as extensively as that of John F. Kennedy.
No United States president’s life has been written about as extensively as John F. Kennedy’s life.
No United States president’s life has been written about as extensively as the life of John F. Kennedy.
Learn how to spot these errors on the SAT! When you see words like “more,” “as,” anything ending in “-er” or “-est,” or the word “compared,” be on guard! The SAT is trying to drop a hint that a comparison error’s about to ensue.
Comparatives vs. Superlatives on the SAT Writing Test
The other type of comparison error that can occur on the SAT involves switching comparatives with superlatives.
Comparatives involve two things. Superlatives involve three or more. Comparatives require the suffix “-er” or the word “more,” and superlatives require the suffix “-est” or the word “most.”
Check out this sentence:
Between Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson, Nicholson has received the most Oscar nominations, while Day-Lewis has won more Best Actor awards.
This sentence implies that Jack Nicholson has the most Oscar nominations of anyone in the world! He does not. Let’s fix the sentence:
Between Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson, Nicholson has received more Oscar nominations, while Day-Lewis has won more Best Actor awards.
Since we’re comparing two people, we’ve got to use the word “more.”
How about this sentence?
Peacocks are some of the prettier birds in the world, but they’re also the most territorial.
Since we’re comparing peacocks to all other birds in the world, we need to change “prettier” to “prettiest.”
Make sense?
To sum it up: when words that indicate a comparison is being drawn on the SAT, make sure the sentence in question is comparing apples to apples and is using either the comparative or the superlative correctly!
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