SAT Form, Structure, and Sense study notes

Read the whole sentence, then locate the word that controls the grammar. For agreement, ignore a long phrase between the subject and verb. For a modifier, ask who is actually doing the action. For tense, put the events on a timeline.

Worked example

‘After analyzing the pollen, ____ concluded that the valley once held more flowers.’ What should fill the blank?

‘The researchers.’ They are the ones who analyzed the pollen, so they must appear immediately after the introductory phrase.

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