QUESTION EXPLANATIONS

1. (A) — The original sentence forms the second part of a three-part pattern: as it stands, each of the first three sentences of the paragraph describes a part of Lucy’s morning routine and matches it to the time by which it occurs. (A) upholds that pattern, so it is correct. (B) and (C) both fail to mention a time by which she leaves, so they are incorrect. (D) mentions a time, but it states it as the exact time of Lucy’s action instead of following the pattern of giving the latest time by which she leaves, so it does not match the pattern as well as the original sentence.

2. (C) — “Invasive species” are species that cause harm to an environment which is not their native environment; (C) therefore succinctly conveys the precise problem with the green crab population in this environment. Although “intrusive,” “encroaching,” and “infringing” all have meanings related to moving into places where one is not welcome, none of them are appropriate in this context. While “intrusive” does convey that the crabs are unwelcome or unwanted, it does not share the connotation of spreading permanently into a particular environment, so (A) is not the best answer. “Encroaching” would convey that the crabs are unwelcome, but it has an additional connotation of gradual action that does not make sense in this context, so (B) is also not the best answer. “Infringing” is usually used to talk about a more abstract kind of action, such as violating the terms of a contract, so (D) is not appropriate in this context.

3. (B) — This paragraph is talking about the problems green crabs pose for the native soft-shell clam population. Option (B) describes the relationship between the crabs and soft-shell clams without any extraneous information, so it is the clearest and most succinct option. (A), (C), and (D) all include the fact that clams are invertebrates, which weakens the focus of the paragraph because it is not relevant to the problem of crabs eating too many soft-shell clams; thus, they are incorrect.

4. (C) — If sentence 3 is moved to be after sentence 4, it functions to add details about the problems that the plummeting clam population, introduced in sentence 4, poses for the area; this is a logical progression of ideas, so (C) is correct. In its current location, sentence 3 refers to “this loss of clams” before the paragraph has informed the reader that there is in fact a loss of clams, which is confusing; thus, (A) is incorrect. This would also be the case if sentence 3 were placed before sentence 1; in that location, it would also interrupt the description of Lucy’s day that follows from the previous paragraph. Thus, (B) is incorrect. If sentence 3 were placed after sentence 5, the reference to “this loss of clams” might not be confusing, but it would still be disjointed following a sentence that was not about the loss of clams but instead about the research team; thus, (D) is incorrect.

5. (D) — “Site” is a noun meaning “location,” which makes sense in context; thus, (D) is correct. “Cite” is a verb meaning “to quote or use a source for justification,” or occasionally an abbreviation of the noun “citation,” neither of which makes sense in context, so (A) is incorrect. “Sight” is a noun meaning “vision,” which does not make sense in context, so (B) is incorrect. “Sleight” is a noun meaning “a skillful trick,” which does not make sense in context, so (C) is incorrect.

6. (B) — The other researcher hates the morning cold, and this sentence states that Lucy likes the morning cold; this expands on the fact mentioned in the previous sentence that Lucy “can’t help but disagree” with the researcher who hates the cold. (B) summarizes this function, so it is correct. Lucy’s feelings about the morning cold do not provide information about the chronology of events, so (A) is incorrect. The sentence should not be deleted, because without it the reasons for Lucy’s disagreement are left unclear; thus, (C) and (D) are incorrect.

7. (B) — The phrase that follows “compared to sitting at a desk” must be something, such as an activity, that can be compared with “sitting at a desk.” “Working with animals” can be appropriately compared with sitting at a desk, so (B) is correct. “The animals,” “the biologists,” and “the animal” are all living beings, not activities, so comparing them to sitting at a desk would be a comparison of unlike things; thus, (A), (C), and (D) are incorrect.

8. (B) — This paragraph describes the morning activities of the research team, and the next paragraph describes the work done in the lab; choice (B) takes the research team as its subject and introduces the lab, so it fits as a transition between the two paragraphs. Although (A) could potentially end this paragraph, it provides no context for the next paragraph, so it is not an effective transition; thus, (A) is incorrect. (C) acts to continue, not wrap up, the events of the paragraph, and it provides no context for the next paragraph, so it is not an effective transition; thus, (C) is incorrect. (D) expands on the preceding sentence but does not provide closure for the events of the paragraph as a whole; it also provides no context for the next paragraph, so it is not an effective transition. Thus, (D) is incorrect.

9. (C) — Choice (C) conveys the relevant information succinctly and with no redundancies, so it is correct. The original sentence unnecessarily repeats the phrase “phone call” and uses the needlessly wordy phrasing of “puts in some hours” instead of “works,” so (A) is incorrect. (B) unnecessarily repeats “after” and also contains the redundancy of “works on putting in some hours,” so it is incorrect. (D) contains unnecessarily wordy phrasing in the first clause and the clear redundancy “works on doing some work” in the second clause, so it is incorrect.

10. (C) — Choice (C) correctly uses the plural third person pronoun “they” to refer to “problems in the ocean”; it also maintains consistency by using the first person plural “we” as the subject of the verb “hear” and the first person plural “us” as the object of the verb “affect.” The original sentence incorrectly uses “we” to refer to “problems in the ocean,” which does not make sense, so (A) is incorrect. (B) incorrectly uses “them” to refer to “us” both following “easy for” and as the object of the verb “affect”; (B) is thus incorrect. (D) creates an inconsistency by first using the second person pronoun “you” and then referring to it with the first person pronoun “us,” so it is incorrect.

11. (D) — “Nobody” is a singular pronoun; (D) correctly pairs it with a singular verb “is,” so (D) is correct. The original sentence incorrectly uses a plural verb “are” with the singular pronoun “nobody,” so (A) is incorrect. (B) creates a sentence that does not have a main verb and is therefore an incomplete sentence, so (B) is incorrect. (C) incorrectly uses a plural verb with “somebody,” which is also a singular pronoun; (C) is thus also incorrect.

12. (D) — Choice (C) correctly positions “blazing through the sky…” to be modifying “comets,” so it is correct. The original sentence incorrectly places “blazing through the sky…” to be modifying “humans,” which is incorrect, since humans have not been blazing through the sky; (A) is incorrect. (B) incorrectly positions “disappearing into the galaxy” to be modifying humans, which does not make sense, since humans have not been disappearing into the galaxy; (B) is incorrect. (D) incorrectly positions “for brief periods of time” to modify humans being fascinated with comets, when it is describing the way comets blaze through the sky and thus should be modifying that phrase; (D) is incorrect.

13. (C) — The preceding sentence states that the coma is “very large”; choice (C) describes just how large the coma of a comet can be, which supports the assertion that it is very large, so (C) is correct. (A) is not relevant to the preceding sentence because the preceding sentence does not refer to Mars or the behavior of frozen carbon dioxide, so (A) is incorrect. (B) refers to the size of comets, but it discusses the differences in the size of comets, which does not support the statement that the coma of a comet is very large, so (B) is incorrect. (D) talks about the large size of comet tails, but the preceding sentence was about the large size of comet comas, so (D) is incorrect.

14. (B) — (B) both correctly separates the items of a list so it is correct. The original sentence lacks a necessary comma between list items “rock particles” and “dust,” so (A) is incorrect. (C) lacks any commas at all between items of a list, so it is incorrect. (D) incorrectly places a comma between a conjunction, “and,” and the last item of a list, so it is incorrect.

15. (C) — (C) correctly uses a conjunction to join two verbs with the same subject, so it is correct. The original sentence fails to use a conjunction to add a second verb to the subject of the sentence, so (A) is incorrect. Neither (B) or (D) address this problem, so they are both incorrect.

16. (A) — The original sentence logically and clearly connects the fact that comet tails are caused by solar winds to the fact that comet tails move away from the sun, so (A) is correct. (B) uses needlessly complicated syntax which creates a confusing sentence, so it is incorrect. (C) does not contain a clear logical connection between the fact that comet tails are caused by solar winds to the fact that comet tails move away from the sun, so it is incorrect. (D) places “being caused by solar winds” next to “the sun,” which might cause some readers to become confused about whether that clause modifies “tails” or “the sun.” (D) also focuses on stating the fact that tails move away from the sun, adding an explanation as only a minor detail, while (A) focuses directly on explaining why comet tails move away from the sun. (D) is therefore not the best answer option.

17. (D) — (D) correctly uses the possessive singular pronoun “its” to refer to the singular “comet.” The original sentence incorrectly uses “it’s,” which is a conjunction meaning “it is,” and which does not make sense in context; thus, (A) is incorrect. (B) incorrectly uses a non-possessive pronoun, “it,” to modify a noun, so it is incorrect. “Its’” is never a correct construction, so (D) is incorrect.

18. (C) — The graphic shows a velocity of ~120,000 miles per hour when the comet is closest to the sun, and a velocity of ~2,000 miles per hour when the comet is farther from the sun. 120,000 is much larger than 2,000, so the comet’s velocity increases closer to the sun and decreases farther away from the sun; (C) accurately conveys this information. The original sentence says that the comet’s velocity increases as it moves farther away from the sun, which contradicts the graphic, so (A) is incorrect. The graphic does not include any information about the length of the comet’s tail, so both (B) and (D) are incorrect.

19. (C) — “Orbit” is the most succinct way of conveying the necessary information, so (C) is correct. “Do an orbit around” is informal and unnecessarily wordy, since orbits inherently go around things, so (A) is incorrect. “Make an orbit of” is not a construction that is typically used with the word “orbit,” so it violates the conventions of standard written English; (B) is therefore incorrect. “Complete a whole entire orbit around” is redundant, since “complete,” “whole,” and “entire” all have the meaning of something being done to the fullest degree, so (D) is incorrect.

20. (D) — The number of the nouns in this sentence should agree; (D) uses both the plural “comets” and the plural “bodies,” conveying that multiple comets are colliding with multiple celestial bodies; thus, it is correct. (A), (B), and (C) all contain a mix of singular and plural, implying that either only one comet is colliding with multiple celestial bodies or all comets are colliding with a single celestial body; this does not make logical sense, so those answer choices are incorrect.

21. (D) — The sentence in question is long, but it does express a single thought and it is grammatically correct; thus, (D) is correct. It is not a run-on sentence, so (A) is incorrect. All of the information in the sentence is connected by the sentence itself, so (B) is incorrect. The conjunction “and” links together the list of elements (“carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen”), not various ideas in the sentence, so (C) is incorrect.

22. (A) — “Composed of” can mean “made up of,” which makes sense in this context; thus, (A) is correct. “Constituted” does not take the preposition “with,” so (B) is incorrect. “Arranged among” means “placed among,” which does not make sense in this context, so (C) is incorrect. “Produced through” means “created by,” which does not make sense in context, so (D) is incorrect.

23. (B) — (B) correctly uses the pronoun “those” to refer to “contributions”; this also means that it correctly compares the contributions of the Founding Fathers as a whole to the contributions of Alexander Hamilton. The original sentence incorrectly compares the Founding Fathers, who are people, to Alexander Hamilton’s contributions, which are not people; because it compares unlike things, (A) is incorrect. (C) creates a comma splice, so it is incorrect. (D) refers to Alexander Hamilton himself as being “contributions,” which does not make sense; thus, (D) is incorrect.

24. (C) — (C) is both succinct and consistent with the third-person point of view that the passage employs. (A) and (B) are both wordy and inconsistent, as (A) is in the second person and (B) is in the first person; thus, they are incorrect. (D) is in the third person, but it is also unnecessarily wordy, especially since the context focuses on the actions of Alexander Hamilton in his lifetime more than on how posterity has remembered him; thus, it is incorrect.

25. (C) — (C) is succinct and clear, with no redundancies. “Decided on the choice” is redundant, since “decided” means “chose” and “choice” means “decision, so (A) is incorrect. “Made the choice” is unnecessarily wordy, since one can just say “chose,” so (B) is incorrect. “Made his choice and decided” is both redundant and unnecessarily wordy, so (D) is incorrect.

26. (B) — “Precedent” is a noun which fits after the article “the”; a precedent is an instance that sets the model for how similar things will go in the future. This makes sense in context, so (B) is correct. The underlined word is not followed by a noun that it is modifying, so it has to be a noun itself, since it follows the article “the”; neither “preceding” nor “proceeding” is a noun, so (A) and (C) are incorrect. “President” is the name of a particular government role, not something that can be “set”; it does not make sense in context, so (D) is incorrect.

27. (D) — Sentence 4 talks about Thomas Jefferson, who is not mentioned elsewhere in the paragraph; the sentence fails to link Thomas Jefferson to the main point of the paragraph, which is the importance of Hamilton’s work as the first Secretary of the Treasury. Thus, sentence 4 detracts from the focus of the paragraph and should be deleted; (D) is correct. Sentences 1 introduces the topic of Hamilton’s work as Secretary of the Treasury by explaining how he got the job; this provides useful context, so it is an important sentence and (A) is incorrect. Sentence 2 explains why the work of the first Secretary of the Treasury would be so important; this supports the paragraph’s argument for the significance of Hamilton’s work, so it is an important sentence and (B) is incorrect. Sentence 3 summarizes the significance of Hamilton’s work as first Secretary of the Treasury; this emphasizes the main point of the paragraph, so it is an important sentence and (C) is incorrect.

28. (A) — The original sentence contains no problems, so (A) is correct. (B), (C), and (D) all use unnecessary punctuation to separate parts of the sentence without any compelling reason for doing so, so they are incorrect.

29. (D) — (D) correctly sets off a parenthetical statement with an em-dash both before and after the statement. The original sentence sets off a parenthetical statement with mismatched punctuation—an em-dash and a comma—so (A) is incorrect. (B) incorrectly sets off a parenthetical statement with mismatched punctuation—a comma and a semicolon—so (B) is incorrect. (C) incorrectly sets off a parenthetical statement with mismatched punctuation—a comma and an em-dash—so (C) is incorrect.

30. (B) — The paragraph is a detailed account of the results of Hamilton’s “Report on Credit”; (B) introduces the “Report on Credit,” although not by name, and explains in brief what it was. The paragraph is not concerned with where the nation’s capital was, so (A) is irrelevant and therefore incorrect. The paragraph focuses on Hamilton’s dealings with Congress, not President Washington, so (C) is irrelevant and therefore incorrect. The paragraph does not talk about Hamilton’s own emotional state, so (D) is irrelevant and therefore incorrect.

31. (A) — The original sentence correctly uses the plural non-possessive noun “members” to refer to the people in Congress and the plural possessive “states’” to refer to war debts owed by various states; thus, (A) is correct. (B) incorrectly uses a possessive plural noun where it should use a non-possessive plural (“members’”) and a non-possessive plural noun (“states”) where it should use a possessive plural, so it is incorrect. (C) incorrectly uses a singular possessive, “state’s,” where it should use a plural possessive, “states’,” so it is incorrect. (D) incorrectly uses a non-possessive plural, “states,” where it should use a possessive plural, “states’,” so it is incorrect.

32. (B) — Although all four options can indicate something that hinders success, “resistance” is the only one that specifically implies that what is hindering success is people with strongly diverging opinions. “Obstacles” usually refers to things, not people, so (A) is not the best choice. “Problems” is more general than “resistance,” and since the context makes it clear what sort of problems are being discussed it is better to pick a more specific word; (C) is therefore not the best choice. “Hardships” usually refers to suffering, so (D) isn’t appropriate in this context.

33. (B) — (B) correctly uses “however” to transition into a new sentence that contains a contradiction with the preceding sentence. The original passage implies that the nation needed a centralized bank as a result of fears of placing too much power in the hands of the central government, which does not make logical sense; thus, (A) is incorrect. (C) uses both “and” and “however” to connect two ideas, which violates the connections of standard written English; thus, (C) is incorrect. Using “thus” implies that the nation needed a centralized bank as a result of fears of placing too much power in the hands of the central government, which does not make logical sense; thus, (D) is incorrect.

34. (B) — “Scope” means “range,” which is something that can be expanded, or made bigger; thus, (B) makes sense in context and is correct. “Lengthened” is typically used to talk about physical size or duration in time, not something as abstract as the “scope” of an art movement, so (A) is incorrect. “Built,” or “created,” is generally not used with “scope,” and does not make sense in context, so (C) is incorrect. Although “deepened” can also carry connotations of augmentation, it refers to intensity or depth, not breadth or range, so it does not make sense to use it with scope; thus, (D) is incorrect.

35. (A) — The original passage correctly separates two sentences with a period and a capitalized word after the period, so (A) is correct. Words following an em-dash are not capitalized, so (B) is incorrect. (C) creates a comma splice, so it is incorrect. A colon is never followed by “and,” so (D) is incorrect.

36. (C) — (C) correctly sets off “rather” with commas before and after and does not unnecessarily separate any other words in the sentence, so it is correct. The original sentence separates a verb, “expresses,” from its direct object, “an artistic concept,” so (A) is incorrect. (B) uses a colon to introduce something that is neither a list nor an independent clause, so it is incorrect. (D) fails to put in the second comma after “rather,” so it is incorrect.

37. (C) — (D) presents the information clearly and succinctly. The original sentence uses the phrase “it is true that” without a good reason, so it is unnecessarily wordy; thus, (A) is incorrect. (B) uses convoluted and confusing syntax, so it is incorrect. (C) uses the verb “create” twice in the same sentence, which is redundant, so it is incorrect.

38. (C) — (C) uses only the information about Duchamp’s unconventional artistic practices, so it allows the paragraph to maintain focus on the development of Duchamp’s artistic career. (A), (B), an (D) all include references to Duchamp’s citizenship, which is irrelevant to the main topic of the paragraph; therefore, they are all incorrect.

39. (A) — The original sentence presents the information clearly and succinctly. (B) unnecessarily includes “by the artist,” which creates a redundancy since the sentence already made it clear that “an artist” was doing the signing; thus, (B) is incorrect. (C) unnecessarily includes “the piece of art,” which creates a redundancy when the sentence already made it clear that the object was the piece of art; thus, (C) is incorrect. (D) unnecessarily includes “the artist’s,” which creates a redundancy since the sentence already made it clear that the signature belonged to the artist; thus, (D) is incorrect.

40. (D) — Sentence 2 describes the critical response to, and Duchamp’s defense of, the artwork “Fountain.” This artwork is first mentioned in sentence 5, and it is the only specific artwork mentioned in the paragraph, so sentence 2 needs to follow sentence 5 in order for readers to know what “the piece” is; thus, (D) is correct. All of the other options place the sentence before sentence 5, making it so that readers will not know what “the piece” is, so (A), (B), and (C) are all incorrect.

41. (D) — The interview was a single event that happened in the past, so the simple past tense verb “said” is appropriate; thus, (D) is incorrect. (A) and (C) are both in the present tense, but the interview happened in the past, so they are both incorrect. (B) is in the past imperfect tense, but the sentence is not discussing an action that was ongoing at some point in the past; it refers to a single event. Thus, (B) is incorrect.

42. (C) — This sentence is setting up a contrast between the lack of critical acclaim Duchamp received throughout his career and the influence that he continues to have decades after his death. “Although” introduces a contrast, so (C) is correct. “Because” does not logically connect the two parts of the sentence because there is not a causal relationship between the lack of acclaim during his career and his influence decades later; thus, (A) is incorrect. “Considering that” does not introduce a contrast, so (B) is incorrect. When “however” is used to introduce a contrast, it is placed with the second piece of information, not the first, so (D) is incorrect.

43. (B) — (B) uses the “with his” construction used earlier in the sentence, following both “Andy Warhol” and “Jackson Pollock”; it retains the parallel structure, so it is correct. All the other options break the parallel structure established by the first two examples, so (A), (C), and (D) are all incorrect.

44. (B) — (B) separates two sentences with a period, which is grammatically correct and appropriate for the context. An exclamation point is too casual for a piece of formal writing such as this, so (A) is incorrect. An em-dash implies a more direct connection between the two pieces being connected than exists in context, so (C) is incorrect. The first sentence is not a question and thus should not have a question mark at the end, so (D) is incorrect.