Many chapters in this guide redefine or reexplain previous grammar terms so that those jumping from chapter to chapter still get a good sense of what's going on. But to get the full value out of this guide, it's best that we learn a few basic things about sentences and their structures before moving on. We start by learning to identify the nonessential parts of a sentence, the ones that aren't needed for a sentence to be complete.
Take the following sentence:
The tiger ate my aunt earlier today.
Let's add something:
The tiger that was hungry ate my aunt earlier today.
By adding the underlined phrase to the sentence, we've described the tiger in more detail. These phrases are called relative clauses because they start with a relative pronoun—who, whom, whose, which, or that. While some relative clauses can be essential to the meaning of a sentence, they are never essential to the sentence being a complete sentence. In other words, they aren't important grammatically even though the resulting sentence can sound awkward when they are removed.
Let's add some more phrases:
After escaping, the tiger that was hungry ate my aunt, who was nice and juicy, earlier today.
Now these additional phrases are called comma phrases because they're set off by a pair of commas. Note that the second underlined phrase is also a relative clause. Some relative clauses require commas and some don't—we'll delve into those rules in a future chapter. Either way, comma phrases and relative clauses are not essential to the sentences they're in.
A crucial part of doing well on the SAT Writing section is knowing how to strip away all these secondary phrases to get back to the essence of the sentence:
The tiger ate my aunt earlier today.
None of the underlined phrases we added above can stand alone as complete sentences themselves. Yes, they add valuable details, but at the end of the day, what's left is the sentence that CAN stand alone by itself, the main idea. To trick you, the SAT will constantly throw long boring phrases at you left and right like a boxer jabbing at you with one hand to disguise the big punch he's planning with the other. Don't be fooled. Learn to strip away the unnecessary phrases and you'll get through questions more quickly and accurately. In future chapters, you'll learn to deconstruct other parts of sentences and develop a way of reading them that will help you get directly to the answer.
Cross out all the comma phrases and relative clauses. What's left should still be a grammatically complete sentence (subject and a verb), even though the meaning may come off as incomplete. The first one is done for you.
Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lampthat is never turned off.- Jack's grandfather suffered from polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.
- She tiptoed through the cubicle, examining the dusty wooden chair, and made her way past her boss, who was on the phone with a contractor.
- As an environmental researcher, I study the effects of global warming, which has been a hot topic in recent years.
- The group of nearly ten executives, under the leadership of Senator Aldrich, enjoyed the secrecy and placidity of the luxurious Jekyll Island.
- According to the article, the train that had crashed into the wall had no conductor on board.
Want more questions? Our SAT Writing Advanced Guide and Workbook contains over 500 additional practice questions (grouped by topic) and 3 practice tests.
Bathed in balsamic and dressed in basil, ripe tomatoes and soft mozzarella bask in the light of the lampthat is never turned off.- Jack's grandfather suffered from polio,
a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. - She tiptoed through the cubicle,
examining the dusty wooden chair, and made her way past her boss,who was on the phone with a contractor. As an environmental researcher, I study the effects of global warming,which has been a hot topic in recent years.- The group of nearly ten executives,
under the leadership of Senator Aldrich, enjoyed the secrecy and placidity of the luxurious Jekyll Island. According to the article, the trainthat had crashed into the wallhad no conductor on board.