Explanations May -

5/31/23

In 2014, Scottish artist Katie Paterson started a new project, one that would ultimately last a century and relying solely on hope and the goodness of future generations. That project, called the Future Library, is now well underway. It will result in an anthology of 100 books, printed in the year 2114, using paper from trees from a newly planted Norwegian forest.

A. NO CHANGE
B. century, and rely
C. century and rely
D. century; relying

(A) is incorrect because the underlined verb must be parallel to last, and relying does not fit. (B) is incorrect because comma + and = period, but a period cannot be plugged in at that point in the sentence: In 2014, Scottish artist Katie Paterson started a new project, one that would ultimately last a century. Relying solely on hope and the goodness of future generations. (D) is incorrect because a semicolon is also equivalent to a period, and again, relying solely on hope and the goodness of future generations is not a sentence. (C) is correct because it supplies a conjugated verb (rely) that is parallel to last and does not include any unnecessary punctuation.

5/30/23

It wasn’t that long ago that putting food in liquid nitrogen was something you’d only see in a high school science class, but it’s also becoming a mainstay of modernist cooking. It’s odorless, tasteless, and harmless because it’s so cold (–320.44°F to be exact), it boils at room temperature and evaporates out of your food as it rapidly chills it.

A. NO CHANGE
B. tasteless, and harmless, and because
C. tasteless and harmless, because
D. tasteless, harmless and because,

Be very careful with (A): even though the first part of the sentence makes sense grammatically, the comma after the close-parenthesis actually creates a comma splice — two complete sentences separated by only a comma. (Sentence 1: It’s odorless, tasteless, and harmless because it’s so cold (–320.44°F to be exact); Sentence 2: it boils at room temperature and evaporates out of your food as it rapidly chills it.) As a result, this answer can be eliminated. (C) creates the same error; this option merely places an additional comma before because. Note that the lack of a comma after tasteless is a distraction; the comma before the last item in a list is optional. (D) is incorrect because no comma should ever be placed after a subordinating conjunction (because) — that construction automatically eliminates this answer from consideration. (B) is correct because the comma + and = period, and the sentence can be logically divided after harmless: It’s odorless, tasteless, and harmless. Because it’s so cold (–320.44°F to be exact), it boils at room temperature and evaporates out of your food as it rapidly chills it.

5/29/23

Although it may sometimes get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of the daily commute, New York City’s subway stations are packed with art. Over the years, stations have become home to all sorts of works like mosaics of peering eyes or disarmingly cute bronze sculptures. According to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), subway art has been a part of the transit system’s lifeblood since its earliest days.

A. NO CHANGE
B. disarmingly, cute bronze sculptures.
C. disarmingly cute, bronze, sculptures.
D. disarmingly cute, bronze sculptures.

(B) is incorrect because no comma should be placed between an adverb (disarmingly) and an adjective it modifies (cute). (C) can be easily eliminated as well because no comma should be placed between an adjective (bronze) and the noun it modifies (sculptures). (D) is trickier, though, because a comma can sometimes be placed between two adjectives. In this case, however, the comma between cute and bronze is unnecessary. The rule is that no comma is needed when one adjective modifies the other, as is the case here (cute modifies bronze sculptures). In addition, a comma should be used when and can be inserted between the adjectives, or when the order of the adjectives can be reversed, neither of which is true here (it does not sound right to say disarmingly cute and bronze sculptures or bronze, disarmingly cute sculptures). Because no commas are needed, (A) is correct.

5/28/23

Lions and great white sharks may boast the most famous jaws in the animal kingdom—but theirs are nowhere near the fastest. That honor belongs to Odontomachus bauri, a tiny ant whose jaws can snap shut at a remarkable 145 miles per hour. The ant’s quick bite also does double-duty as an escape mechanism. When faced with a larger nest intruder, an ant may use its jaws to strike the invader, simultaneously flinging itself 8 or 9 inches away (a maneuver known as the “bouncer defense”). Therefore, it may snap its jaws against the ground, propelling itself into the air and out of the way of such dangers as an anteater’s tongue (a move known as an “escape jump”).

A. NO CHANGE
B. For example,
C. Alternatively,
D. Meanwhile,

To answer this question, you must consider the role of the sentence begun by the transition within the passage as a whole. You should also cross out (or try to ignore) the original transition so that you do not get distracted by it and try to find a relationship that is not actually present. If you back up a few couple of sentences, you can see that the passage is discussing Odontomachus bauri’s ability to use its jaws in order to escape from predators. The previous sentence describes one way that the ant can accomplish this feat, namely by using its jaws to strike while flinging itself away. The key to answering this question is to recognize that the last sentence — the sentence begun by the transition — describes a second, or different, method of escape (“the escape jump”) used by this ant. It does not describe a consequence or an example of the first method, eliminating (A) and (B). (D) can also be eliminated because placing meanwhile at the beginning of the last sentence would imply that the ant was using the two different defenses simultaneously, which would be physically impossible. Alternatively accurately conveys that the final sentence is describing an alternate method of defense, making the answer (C).

5/27/23

Until 1877, all rapid long-distance communication depended upon the telegraph. However, that year saw the development of a rival technology: the telephone. In 1879, patent litigation between Western Union, which controlled the telegraph industry, and the infant telephone system ended in an agreement largely that separated the two services.

The best placement for the underlined word is

A. where it is now.
B. after the word that.
C. after the word two.
D. after the word services.

Largely is an adverb and thus can only be used to modify a verb. Because modifiers should be placed next to the words they modify, largely should come either before or after a verb. (B) is the only option that places this word next to a verb: when it is inserted after that, it is also placed before the verb separated. This is also the only position in the sentence that creates a logical meaning: how were the two services separated? largely.

5/26/23

Richard Sylvester of the University of Western Australia has associated the mysterious disappearances of ships in the Bermuda triangle with the Sargasso Sea. Vast amounts of seaweeds accumulate at its center, where powerful currents slowly circulate, creating a huge whirlpool. That whirlpool, which extends into the area of the Bermuda triangle, creates smaller whirlpools, strong enough to cause mini-cyclones capable of rotating a ship and dragging it inside.

A. NO CHANGE
B. whirlpools strong enough
C. whirlpools strong enough,
D. whirlpools are strong enough

The key to answering this question is to recognize that the underlined phrase can be written two ways: …creates smaller whirlpools that are strong enough to cause mini-cyclones or …creates smaller whirlpools strong enough to cause mini-cyclones. When that is optional and does not appear, no comma should be used in its place. That eliminates (A) and makes (B) correct. (C) does not fit because when this answer is plugged into the passage, the comma after enough wrongly places a comma before a preposition (to). (D) is incorrect as well because using only a verb (are) without that in front of it creates a nonsense construction: That whirlpool…creates smaller whirlpools are strong enough to cause mini-cyclones capable of rotating a ship and dragging it inside.

5/25/23

A comprehensive 2016 study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that genetically engineered crops are just as safe to eat as their non-genetically engineered counterparts, yet in one survey, more than a quarter of consumers reported that they avoid to purchase them.

A. NO CHANGE
B. of purchasing
C. in purchasing
D. purchasing

The correct idiom is avoid + -ing (avoid purchasing). Either the infinitive or the use of a preposition before the -ing word is incorrect. That makes (D) the only possible answer.

5/24/23

Life as we know it requires liquid water, which can exist on planets with a surface temperature and a mass similar to the Earth’s. Surface heating is also needed to prevent water from freezing and becoming ice, and Earth-like gravity is required to retain an atmosphere—an essential feature since ice turns directly into gas in the absence of an external atmospheric pressure.

A. NO CHANGE
B. freezing and turning into ice
C. freezing so that it becomes ice
D. freezing,

By definition, water that freezes becomes ice, so it is sufficient to refer to water’s freezing. All of the answers except (D) contain redundancies. Shortcut: shorter is better. You can make a very educated guess that (D) is correct simply by looking at the lengths of the answer choices.

5/23/23

In pumping her “Wonderful Hair Grower” door-to-door, at club gatherings, and eventually through a mail-order catalog, Sarah Walker—who eventually decided to promote herself professionally under the name, Madame C.J. Walker, proved to be a marketing magician who sold her customers more than mere hair products. She offered them a lifestyle, a concept of total hygiene and beauty that in her mind would bolster their pride.

A. NO CHANGE
B. name Madame C.J. Walker—
C. name, Madame C.J. Walker
D. name Madame C.J. Walker,

If you read the entire sentence in which the underlined portion appears, you can notice that it contains a dash after Sarah Walker. That dash signals the beginning of a non-essential clause whose end must be marked with a dash as well. As a result, (B) is the only possible answer; the question of whether a comma belongs before the name is only a distraction here. To test out (B), you can cross out the information between the dashes: In pumping her “Wonderful Hair Grower” door-to-door, at club gatherings, and eventually through a mail-order catalog, Sarah Walker…proved to be a marketing magician who sold her customers more than mere hair products. Because the remaining sentence makes sense, the clause is non-essential, and the same form of punctuation must be used to signal its beginning and end.

5/22/23

In 1850, Joel Houghton registered a patent for the first mechanical dishwasher in the United States. The device was made of wood and was cranked by hand while water sprayed onto the dishes, and they were both slow and unreliable. Fifteen years later, another patent was granted to L.A. Alexander. It was similar to the first but featured a hand-cranked rack system. Like Houghton’s, this contraption was neither practical nor widely accepted.

A. NO CHANGE
B. it was
C. those were
D. DELETE the underlined portion.

The only plural noun in the sentence that contains the underlined portion is dishes, and it does not make any sense to say that dishes were slow and unreliable. They and those are plural, so (A) and (C) can be eliminated. The sentence also does not make sense if the underlined pronoun is removed entirely, so (D) can be eliminated as well. Logically, the underlined pronoun refers to the device (i.e., the first mechanical dishwasher), which is singular, so a singular pronoun (it) is required. That makes (B) correct.

5/21/23

Hedy Lamarr and her co-inventor, the composer George Anthiel, figured out how to use the mechanics of the player piano to create the earliest version of the “frequency-hopping spread-spectrum” system. A method that protects radio communications by switching frequencies in a preprogrammed pattern.

A. NO CHANGE
B. system a method that
C. system, a method that
D. system, a method

(A) is incorrect because the statement beginning with A method is not a complete sentence: the verb protects “belongs” to the pronoun that, and the subject of the sentence (A method) lacks a verb. (B) is incorrect because some type of punctuation is needed to signal that a new clause is beginning after system — without it, a run-on is created. (D) is also incorrect because eliminating that creates a nonsense construction; it also makes the clause after the comma independent, creating a comma splice. (C) correctly uses a comma to separate an independent clause (Hedy Lamarr and her co-inventor, the composer George Anthiel, figured out how to use the mechanics of the player piano to create the earliest version of the “frequency-hopping spread-spectrum” system) from a dependent clause (a method that protects radio communications by switching frequencies in a preprogrammed pattern) and retains the necessary word that.

5/20/23

In Washington, D.C., viewing the cherry blossoms is a time-honored tradition that dates back to 1912. At that time, Tokyo presented 3,020 cherry trees to the United States in an act of friendship. The Cherry Blossom Festival was launched in 1935 to commemorate the springtime occasion, and it is still celebrated today.

What is the most effective way to combine the two sentences at the underlined portion?

A. that dates back to 1912, when Tokyo presented
B. dating back to 1912, and that was a time when Tokyo presented
C. that dates back to 1912, and Tokyo then presenting
D. that had dated back to 1912, which is when Tokyo presented

(A) is correct because it joins the two sentences most cleanly and concisely by replacing the phrase at that time with when alone. (B) is incorrect because the phrase and that was a time when Tokyo presented makes this answer unnecessarily wordy. The phrase which is when Tokyo presented makes (D) wrong for the same reason. (C) can also be eliminated because the gerund presenting creates a fragment — the clause after the comma lacks a main verb.

5/19/23

Raising mice in captivity has been traced back to the seventeenth century, when collectors in Japan selected for traits such as coat color or unique behaviors. Two centuries later, “fancy” mice experienced a gust in popularity in Britain and in the United States, with people keeping them for pets and breeding interesting specimens for mouse shows.

A. NO CHANGE
B. surge
C. race
D. stream

To say that something experienced as “surge” in popularity is to say that it experienced a sharp increase in popularity. None of the other answers can be used idiomatically to have this meaning. (B) is thus correct.

5/18/23

The Apollo 11 mission became famous for allowing astronauts to land on the lunar surface in 1969. However, the flight of Apollo 8, which sent the first crew to orbit the moon seven months earlier, was in some ways even riskier, its success more surprising.

A. NO CHANGE
B. its’
C. they’re
D. their

The subject of the sentence is the flight of Apollo 8, which is singular. As a result, the underlined pronoun must be singular as well. (Don’t get distracted by the plural noun astronauts in the previous sentence — the sentence in which the underlined noun appears is clearly about the Apollo 8 mission.) They’re and their are both forms of they (plural), eliminating (C) and (D), and (B) can be eliminated because its’ does not exist. That leaves (A), which correctly provides the singular possessive, its. Its success = the sucess of Apollo 8.

5/17/23

When scientists cracked open the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969, and scraped the material on the inside, they discovered that it was chock-full of carbon and organic materials. It also had an odd smell, reminiscent of the New York City subway—metallic, with musty and bitter hints.

A. NO CHANGE
B. 1969 and scraped the material on the inside they
C. 1969, scraped the material on the inside, they
D. 1969, and scraped the material on the inside—they

If you read the sentence from the beginning, you’ll notice that it contains comma + which, indicating a non-essential clause. To simplify the sentence, cross out the clause: When scientists cracked open the Murchison meteorite…and scraped the material on the inside, they discovered that it was chock-full of carbon and organic materials. That makes perfect sense, suggesting that (A) is correct. If you’re not sure, though, you can check the other answers. (B) is incorrect because a comma must be placed after 1969 to mark the end of the non-essential clause. (C) does not work because without the word and, the sentence no longer makes sense when the non-essential clause is removed: When scientists cracked open the Murchison meteorite…scraped the material on the inside, they discovered that it was chock-full of carbon and organic materials. (D) is incorrect because it is incorrect to use a dash rather than a comma before they. It does not mark the end of a non-essential clause begun by another dash (don’t get distracted by the unrelated dash after subway, later in the passage), nor is it used stylistically, to create a dramatic pause. In case of the latter, a dash must be preceded by a complete, standalone sentence, and When scientists cracked open the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969, and scraped the material on the inside cannot stand on its own as a complete thought. That leaves (A), which appropriately punctuates the underlined portion.

5/16/23

As the United States stood on the brink of a Second World War, the push for aeronautical advancement grew ever greater, spurring an insatiable demand for mathematicians. Ushered into the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1935 to shoulder the burden of number crunching, engineers were freed from hand calculations in the decades before the digital age by dozens of women acting as human “computers.”

A. NO CHANGE
B. in the decades before the digital age, dozens of women acting as human “computers” freed engineers from hand calculations.
C. dozens of women acting as “human computers” freed engineers from hand calculations in the decades before the digital age.
D. hand calculations were freed from engineers by dozens of women acting as human “computers” in the decades before the digital age.

Who was ushered into the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1935? Dozens of women. It would not make sense for the introductory phrase to describe engineers: this group could not be asked to shoulder the burden of number crunching and be freed from hand calculations simultaneously. So dozens of women, the subject, must be placed at the beginning of the underlined portion; otherwise, a dangling modifier is created. (C) is the only option to contain the correct construction, so it is the only possible answer.

5/15/23

When Paige Embry, author of Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them, learned that bees extract pollen from flowers by shaking them, she embarked on a reporting journey to document the lives of North America’s 4,000 wild native pollinators. Some secrete silk, she discovered, while others shave fuzzy plants to build plush pillows for their eggs. Still others nest in rose stems, cow patties, or snail shells.

A. NO CHANGE
B. them. She embarked
C. them, and she embarked
D. them, she embarked,

The sentence in which the underlined portion appears is quite long, but you can simplify the sentence by crossing out the non-essential clause: When Paige Embry…learned that bees extract pollen from flowers by shaking them, she embarked on a reporting journey to document the lives of North America’s 4,000 wild native pollinators. Now the basic structure of the sentence is clear: it contains a dependent clause (When Paige Embry, author of Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them, learned that bees extract pollen from flowers by shaking them) followed by an independent clause (she embarked on a reporting journey to document the lives of North America’s 4,000 wild native pollinators). When a dependent clause comes before an independent clause, a comma should be placed between them. That eliminates (B). (C) can be eliminated as well because comma + and is grammatically identical to a semicolon. (D) correctly places a comma after them, but the second comma, after embarked, inappropriately places a comma before a preposition (on) when the answer is plugged back into the sentence. (A) correctly places a single comma after them, dividing the dependent clause from the independent clause.

5/14/23

In recent years, scientists have become increasingly aware that plants thrive through cooperation rather than competition. For example, oaks that are subjected to drought conditions have been shown to provide nutrition to their beneficial partners by transferring water from their tap roots up through their root systems to associated fungal networks, nourishing these beneficial partners. In fact, some researchers believe that such networks are the principal way that plants extract nutrients from the soil.

A. NO CHANGE
B. providing nourishment for these beneficial partners.
C. sustaining these beneficial partners.
D. DELETE the underlined portion (replacing the comma after networks with a period).

The sentence in which the underlined portion appears already contains the phrase provide nutrition to their beneficial partners, and the underlined section repeats the information almost verbatim. As a result, it is redundant to include that statement or any variation on it at the end of the sentence. The best option is to delete it entirely, making (D) correct.

5/13/23

When I was a child growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, crossing a big bridge meant facing unexpected challenges. The majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge was my family’s main route off of the rural shore and towards “real cities,” where we could walk among crowds and shop in stores unlike anything we had at home. But these trips were also journeys in themselves— a chance to spot bottlenose dolphins and peregrine falcons and to see both our home and our destination from a new perspective.

Which choice best introduces the topic of the paragraph?

A. NO CHANGE
B. taking a step toward independence.
C. entering a portal to a new world.
D. returning to my roots.

Because this question asks you to identify the option that “best introduces the topic of the paragraph,” you must start by determining that topic — and to do that, you must ignore the first sentence and read the rest of the paragraph. What does it focus on? The fact that the writer and his or her family could experience things unlike anything we had at home, and see things from a new perspective. The correct answer must correspond to those ideas. The paragraph says nothing about challenges, unexpected or otherwise, eliminating (A), nor does it say anything about the narrator’s independence, eliminating (B). (D) is incorrect because the passage gives no indication that the narrator’s family was returning to its roots. Rather, the focus is on the newness of the world beyond the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. That corresponds directly to (C).

5/12/23

Although it is estimated that 10 meteorites come crashing to Earth from outer space every day, researchers only discover a few of these rocks each year. They are easiest to spot when they fall on relatively stable geographic environments, making it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors like the Arizona desert.

A. NO CHANGE
B. environments that make it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors like the Arizona desert.
C. environments like the Arizona desert, making it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors.
D. environments like metal detectors that make it unnecessary for search teams in the Arizona desert.

The original version creates a misplaced modifier: read literally, the phrase to use metal detectors like the Arizona desert implies that the Arizona desert is a metal detector — clearly a ridiculous meaning. (B) creates the same error; the replacement of making it with that make it does not address the real problem in the sentence. (D) creates a different misplaced modifier: the phrase environments like metal detectors illogically implies that metal detectors are environments. (C) is correct because it makes clear that the Arizona desert is an environment.

5/11/23

In 1997, David Perry founded Indigo Ag, a company dedicated to commercializing microorganisms that help plants grow. Indigo Ag’s scientists have identified a variety of microbes that confer resistance to drought, are developing others that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in five important crops: corn, rice, soybeans, cotton, and wheat.

A. NO CHANGE
B. scientists identify
C. scientists, having identified
D. scientists identified

At first glance, the different tenses in the answer choices (have identified, identify, identified) might suggest that this question is testing tense, but in fact it is doing something very different. To determine the answer, you must back up and consider the sentence as a whole — the underlined portion alone does not provide sufficient information to answer the question. If you read the entire sentence, you can notice that the comma alone after drought does not make sense. It would be acceptable to say Indigo Ag’s scientists have identified a variety of microbes that confer resistance to drought and are developing others that reduce the need for chemical fertilizer, but the comma by itself after drought is not correct. Because there is no way to change the end of the sentence, the underlined portion must be changed instead.

The key is to recognize that the comma after drought can signal the end of a non-essential clause. As a result, the underlined portion must signal the beginning of a non-essential clause. This construction makes sense because when the non-essential information is crossed out, the sentence still makes grammatical sense: Indigo Ag’s scientists…are developing others that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in five important crops... A non-essential clause must be set off by a comma and cannot begin with a verb, and so the correct answer must contain those elements. That makes (C) the only possibility.

5/10/23

In the past few years, governments have begun to see automation as the key to better urban futures. Many cities are becoming test-beds for experiments with robots in social spaces, where robots have both a practical purpose (for which they are programmed) and a symbolic role (to demonstrate good city governance). Whether through autonomous cars, automated pharmacists, service robots in local stores, or autonomous drones delivering parcels, cities are being automated at a steady pace.

Which choice provides an example that is most similar to the other example in the sentence?

A. NO CHANGE
B. (to facilitate everyday life)
C. (they come in many shapes and sizes)
D. (and are becoming ever more intelligent)

By directing you to look at the “other example in the sentence,” the question itself provides an important clue. Start by looking at the construction of the other example: the symbolic role of robots is defined in parentheses, and the definition begins with an infinitive (to facilitate). The first example must match: the information within the parentheses must define the practical purpose of robots and begin with an infinitive. All of the answers could apply to robots in general, but only (B) begins with an infinitive (to facilitate) and is truly consistent with the idea of a practical purpose. As a result, it is correct.

5/9/23

Today, humans can live in space for months at a time, and some space travelers are lucky enough to visit the realm of microgravity more than once. Repeat trips into space teach astronauts not only to survive in a hostile and alien environment but also adjusting to life back on Earth.

A. NO CHANGE
B. they adjust
C. adjusted
D. to adjust

To answer this question, you must consider the sentence as a whole. The fact that it contains a word pair (not only…but also) is a clue that the question is testing parallel structure: as a rule, the construction on one side of a word pair must match the construction on the other side. Not only is followed by an infinitive (to survive), so but also must be followed by an infinitive (to adjust) as well. That makes (D) the only option.

5/8/23

The “Green Revolution”—championed by American agronomist Norman Borlaug, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work—led farmers to: increase their use of chemical fertilizers, adopt high-yielding crop varieties, and improve their irrigation practices and technologies. Today, those practices are firmly entrenched aspects of industrial agriculture.

A. NO CHANGE
B. to increase their use of chemical fertilizers;
C. to increase their use of chemical fertilizers,
D. to increase their use, of chemical fertilizers

Although the sentence contains a list, it is incorrect to place a colon after to. This type of punctuation must follow a complete, standalone sentence, and The “Green Revolution”—championed by American agronomist Norman Borlaug, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work—led farmers to clearly does not express a complete thought. That eliminates (A). (B) is incorrect because the other two items in the list are set off by commas rather than semicolons, and the punctuation between items must be consistent. (D) is incorrect because this answer places a comma before a preposition (of) and eliminates the punctuation between the first and second items in the list. (C) is correct because this answer maintains consistency with the rest of the list by placing a comma after the first item.

5/7/23

In the never-ending symphony of the sea, there’s a standout among the percussive pings of bottlenose dolphins and the plaintive calls of humpback whales. Recordings of bowhead whales show that these mammals sing intricate yet varied songs—they’re more like jazz musicians than Beethoven or Bach.

A. NO CHANGE
B. intricate, yet varied
C. intricate yet, varied
D. intricate yet varied,

As a rule, when two adjectives (intricate, varied) are separated by but or yet, no comma should be used. That eliminates (B) and (C). (D) eliminates the comma between the adjectives themselves, but the comma after varied creates a new problem: the comma is incorrectly placed between an adjective (varied) and the noun it modifies (songs). (A) is correct because no punctuation is necessary in the underlined section.

5/6/23

The largest pyramid, built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2530 B.C. and intended in lasting an eternity, was until fairly recently the largest building on the planet. To raise it, laborers moved six-and-a-half million tons of stone—some in blocks as large as nine tons—into position using nothing but wood and rope.

A. NO CHANGE
B. on lasting
C. for lasting
D. to last

The correct idiom is something is intended to do x; it is incorrect to use the gerund (lasting), regardless of the preposition that precedes it. (D) provides the infinitive (to last), so it is the only possible answer.

5/5/23

Numerous factors—from changes in air temperature to the tug of nearby storms—can affect a tornado’s development. Unlike hurricanes, which can be spotted days off shore, tornadoes develop over the course of hours or minutes, which makes taking on-the-ground measurements even more challenging.

A. NO CHANGE
B. affect a tornadoes development.
C. effect a tornado’s development.
D. effect a tornadoes development.

Affect is a verb, whereas effect is a noun. Because a verb must follow can, affect is the correct version, eliminating (C) and (D). (B) can be eliminated as well because tornado must be possessive rather than plural: tornado’s development = development of a tornado. Tornodoes is the plural form (note the lack of an apostrophe). The original version provides the correct form of both words, making (A) correct.

5/4/23

The cognitive scientist Rafael Núñez of the University of California at San Diego doesn’t buy the conventional wisdom that people have a naturally innate capacity for understanding numbers. Rather, he thinks that “number sense” is a product of culture, like writing and architecture.

A. NO CHANGE
B. a natural and innate
C. a natural, innate
D. an innate

Natural and innate (inborn) have the same basic meaning, so it is redundant to use both words. Only one is sufficient, making (D) correct.

5/3/23

The emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) are believed to have been the first to eat a frozen, milky confection. This early version of ice cream was made with cow, goat, or buffalo milk that was heated with flour. Camphor, an aromatic substance harvested from evergreen trees, was added to enhance the texture and flavor. Subsequently, the mixture was placed into metal tubes and lowered into an icy pool until frozen.

A. NO CHANGE
B. Nevertheless,
C. Thus,
D. Despite this,

The easiest way to answer this question is to recognize that the passage is describing the steps used to make an early version of ice cream. Logically, the mixture must have been frozen after all the ingredients were added — in other words, the mixture was heated and had camphor added to it, and afterward it was placed into metal tubes and lowered into an icy pool. Subsequently is a transition word meaning “then” or “after,” so (A) is correct. There is no contradiction between the sentence begun by the transition and the previous sentence, so (B) and (D) do not fit. (C) does not make sense either because the freezing of the mixture did not directly result from the addition of all the ingredients; this step merely took place at a later time.

5/2/23

Despite the economic promises touted by supporters of the Golden Gate Bridge, the project met fierce resistance from an array of business and civic leaders. Not only would the bridge impede the shipping industry and mar the bay’s natural beauty, they argued, it wouldn’t survive a trembler like the San Francisco Earthquake that crippled the city in 1906.

A. NO CHANGE
B. it also won’t survive
C. and it also wouldn’t survive
D. but it also wouldn’t survive

To answer this question, you must consider the beginning of the sentence — the underlined portion does not give you enough information to determine the correct option. The first words of the sentence are Not only, which must be paired with but (also). (D) is the only answer that contains this construction, so it is the only possible answer.

5/1/23

Before I started working on real-world robots, I wrote about their fictional and historical ancestors. That wasn’t too different from what I do now. In factories, labs, and of course science fiction, robots continue to fuel our imaginations about artificial humans and smart machines.

Which of the following would NOT be an acceptable alternative to the underlined word?

A. nourish
B. fire
C. supply
D. stimulate

Nourish, fire, and stimulate are all idiomatic ways to indicate that something activates or encourages (i.e., fuels) people’s imaginations. Only supply cannot have this connotation. In addition, this word does not fit grammatically: x can supply y with something, but something cannot supply x about y. Because the question asks which word is NOT an acceptable alternative to fuel, (C) is correct.

Explanations May