The companion set to Workshop 6. Twelve real SAT-style questions on subject-verb agreement, modifiers, and transitions. Spot which skill each question tests, then apply its move.
This set mixes the three Workshop 6 skills, so first spot which one a question tests, then apply its move. For a verb, find the true subject and match its number, ignoring any nouns in between. For a modifier, the noun right after the comma must be the one doing the action. For a transition, name the bucket (contradict, cause and effect, or continue) before you choose. Here is how the wrong answers try to fool you:
Nearest-Noun Match. For verbs: agreeing with the closest noun instead of the true subject.
Number or Tense Slip. For verbs: singular where the subject is plural, or a needless change of tense.
Dangling Modifier. The noun right after the comma is not the one the opening phrase describes.
Passive Dodge. A 'there was' or 'it is' construction that strands the modifier with no noun to attach to.
Wrong Direction. For transitions: a same-direction word where the ideas clash, or the reverse.
Forced Cause or Addition. For transitions: a cause or 'also' word where no such link actually exists.
Question 1 of 12
Subject-Verb AgreementMedium
One of the enduring puzzles surrounding high-temperature superconductors ______ the question of why their electrons pair up at temperatures that should drive them apart.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The subject of the blank verb is "One" — singular. The plural noun "superconductors" between the subject and the verb belongs to an intervening phrase and is not the subject, so the verb must agree with "One": "remains."
ModifiersMedium
Frozen solid for most of the year, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The phrase 'Frozen solid for most of the year' must describe the subject that follows. Only the lake can be frozen solid, so 'the lake' must be the subject.
TransitionsMedium
The new bridge was designed with wide pedestrian lanes and shaded benches at regular intervals. ______ its gentle grade makes the half-mile crossing manageable for cyclists and wheelchair users alike.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
The takeaway: Both sentences add features that make the bridge accommodating: pedestrian lanes and benches, then a gentle grade. The second extends the first with another supporting detail, so an addition transition ('Moreover') is required.
Subject-Verb AgreementMedium
The community gardens established on vacant lots throughout the city of Detroit ______ fresh produce to neighborhoods that large grocery stores abandoned decades ago.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The subject of the blank verb is "gardens" — plural. The singular noun "city" between the subject and the verb belongs to an intervening phrase and is not the subject, so the verb must agree with "gardens": "supply."
ModifiersMedium
Circling high above the canyon, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The introductory phrase 'Circling high above the canyon' must describe the subject that immediately follows it. Only a hawk can circle above a canyon, so the subject after the phrase must be 'the hawk.'
TransitionsMedium
Recent research suggests that octopuses are capable of complex problem-solving, including using tools, navigating mazes, and recognizing individual humans. _______ scientists have observed octopuses unscrewing jars to retrieve food, carrying coconut shells to assemble portable shelters, and tossing rocks at the glass walls of their tanks when annoyed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
The takeaway: The first sentence makes a general claim about octopuses' problem-solving. The second sentence provides specific examples (unscrewing jars, carrying shells, tossing rocks). The transition introduces examples of the general claim.
Subject-Verb AgreementChallenge
The tide tables that Beatrice Lang's small engineering firm printed for harbors across the Pacific and the brass predicting machine that generated them ______ now on display at the national maritime museum.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The subject is a compound joined by 'and': 'the tide tables ... and the brass predicting machine.' Compound subjects with 'and' are plural, and 'now' anchors the sentence in the present, so the plural present 'are' is required.
ModifiersChallenge
Conservators recently examined a seventeenth-century Dutch portrait using X-ray fluorescence scanning. Hidden beneath the visible paint for nearly four centuries, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The introductory phrase Hidden beneath the visible paint for nearly four centuries can only describe the earlier composition, so that composition must be the subject after the comma. Only choice B places it there.
TransitionsMedium
In November 1934, painter Amrita Sher-Gil was living in Paris, where she was studying with celebrated artists and absorbing the techniques of European modernism. Yet she felt increasingly drawn to the colors, subjects, and sensibilities of her Indian heritage. _______ she returned to India in 1935, where she would produce most of her major works.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
The takeaway: Sher-Gil's growing pull toward India led her to return there. The relationship is cause (homesickness) → effect (return). 'Consequently' marks this causal connection.
Subject-Verb AgreementChallenge
According to marine microbiologists, the array of microbial mats blanketing the hydrothermal vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge currently ______ in thickness from several millimeters to nearly a meter, depending on the temperature of the fluids each vent emits.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The subject of the sentence is "the array," which is singular, so the verb must be singular: "ranges." The nouns "mats" and "vents" sit inside modifying phrases between the subject and the verb; neither is the subject. The word "currently" also fixes the tense as present.
ModifiersChallenge
For centuries, builders in hot, arid regions have topped houses with windcatchers, tall towers that funnel breezes into the rooms below. Oriented to face the prevailing wind, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The takeaway: The introductory phrase Oriented to face the prevailing wind describes the windcatcher towers, so the towers must be the subject after the comma. Only choice D begins with the towers.
TransitionsMedium
For decades the marsh was drained and treated as wasted land fit only for development. ______ ecologists now recognize it as one of the region's most effective natural filters, trapping pollutants before they reach the bay.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
The takeaway: The first sentence gives the old, dismissive view of the marsh; the second gives the current, valuing view. The two assessments oppose each other, so a contrast transition ('Today, however') is required.
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