9 original Form, Structure and Sense questions, easiest first. Agreement, tense, pronouns, modifiers, parallelism. Answer them all, then submit once to see every answer explained.
The oversight committee, after examining dozens of complaints, ______ its findings to the city council next week.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A — presents. 'Oversight committee' is a singular collective noun acting as a unit, requiring the singular present-tense verb 'presents'; the interrupting phrase 'after examining dozens of complaints' does not change the subject's number.
By the time the search team reached the summit, the missing hikers ______ already found by a rescue helicopter.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
D — had been. The sentence describes an action (finding the hikers) that was completed before another past action (the team reaching the summit), which requires the past perfect tense. 'Had been' correctly forms the past perfect passive.
Not only the head curator but also the museum's docents ______ expected to attend the mandatory preservation training.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
D — were. In a 'not only...but also' construction, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it—here, the plural 'docents.' The plural past-tense verb 'were' is correct.
Not only the plant manager but also the shift supervisors ______ required to complete the updated safety certification by June.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
D — were. In a 'not only...but also' construction, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it—here, the plural 'shift supervisors.' The plural past-tense verb 'were' is correct.
If the shipment had arrived before the storm, the warehouse crew ______ able to unload it without any delay.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
B — would have been. This is a past hypothetical conditional ('If the shipment had arrived...'), which requires the conditional perfect 'would have been' in the main clause to correctly match the past-perfect 'had arrived' in the if-clause.
The data gathered from the wildlife cameras ______ analyzed by a team of biologists before the habitat report was finalized.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
B — were. In formal Standard English, 'data' is treated as a plural noun (the plural of 'datum'), requiring the plural past-tense verb 'were.'
A considerable share of the district's teachers ______ supportive of the proposed schedule change.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A — are. 'A share of' followed by a plural noun takes a plural verb. Here, 'teachers' are plural, so 'are' is correct.
A significant portion of the survey's respondents ______ unaware of the new recycling guidelines.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
B — are. 'A portion of' followed by a plural noun takes a plural verb. Here, 'respondents' are plural, so 'are' is correct.
The director's revised budget, along with several supporting cost estimates, ______ submitted to the board last Thursday.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
D — was. The subject of the sentence is the singular 'budget'; 'along with several supporting cost estimates' is a parenthetical phrase that does not change the subject's number. The singular past-tense verb 'was' agrees with 'budget.'
Score:
Every question above is now marked up: the correct answer is highlighted, any wrong option you picked is flagged, and each explanation is open.
No. Every question here is original, written to the College Board's published Digital SAT Reading & Writing specification for the Form, Structure and Sense skill. No retired or copyrighted College Board material appears anywhere on this site.
Form, Structure and Sense covers the rest of Standard English Conventions: subject-verb agreement, verb tense and form, pronoun agreement and clarity, modifier placement, and parallel structure within a list or comparison.
For agreement, find the actual subject of the verb and mentally delete every phrase between them — the SAT inserts long prepositional phrases specifically to hide a singular subject behind a plural noun. For tense, find the other verbs and time markers in the passage and match them. For a modifier, check what the phrase sits next to: it modifies that, whether or not that is what the writer meant.
No, and deliberately so. This drill is 9 Form, Structure and Sense questions back to back; a real Reading & Writing module is 27 questions in 32 minutes drawn from all eleven skills. Use a drill to fix one weakness, then take a full module to practice the real thing.
No. The SAT has no penalty for a wrong answer — a blank and a wrong guess both score zero — so answer every question, including the ones you have to guess.