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Example
Sample Answers
I.
The principal asked ten of we students
I.
to enter the public speaking contest.
No error
II. He saves every penny so that his children
II.  
could someday go to college. No error
Error Recognition Strategies
1. Begin by reading the entire sentence through quickly. Often your “ear” for English will turn
up an obvious error.
EXAMPLE:
Because she was preparing for an important trial, Mary had scarcely no time to spend with her
family. No error
A quick read through of this sentence should turn up the error in (C). “Scarcely no” is a double
negative.
2. If your first reading doesn’t reveal an error, take a closer look at each of the four underlined
parts lettered (A) through (D). Ask yourself whether there is an obvious error in any one of those parts.
EXAMPLE:
The college hired Irving to teach sociology because he had wrote the standard college text on
the subject. No error
A
B
C
D
E
A
B
D
E
C
A
B
D
E
C
A
B
D
E
C

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Lesson 2
24
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ARCO
■ SAT II Subject Tests
The error here appears in (C). Since wrote is not the past participle of to write, there is no English
sentence in which had wrote would be correct. Thus, you know that (C) is the correct answer without
having to worry about how the various parts of the sentence work together.
EXAMPLE:
In contrasting to the relatively mild weather we enjoyed last winter, the weather this winter
has included a lot of ice and snow. No error
The correct answer to this example is (A), and you don’t have to look any farther than the first three
words of the sentence to see this. The phrase “in contrasting to” is not idiomatic English.