Modifiers, Parallel Structure and Comparisons

American Diploma › Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Complete Course

What this question type tests

Modifier questions are part of Standard English Conventions, the grammar-and-punctuation domain of the Reading and Writing section (about 26% of the scored questions, usually 11–15 of them). Inside that domain they belong to the skill called Form, Structure, and Sense, which includes subject–modifier placement — the official name for what teachers call dangling and misplaced modifiers. Grammar questions usually come after the reading questions in each module, so you will meet them in the second half of Module 1 and again in Module 2.

The question always looks the same: one short text (25–150 words) with a blank, and the stem "Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?" In a modifier question, the sentence usually starts with a describing phrase followed by a comma, and the blank comes right after that comma. All four choices contain more or less the same words, but each one puts a different noun first. Your job is to choose the choice that starts with the person or thing the opening phrase actually describes.

This page also teaches two related "sense" problems: parallel structure (matching forms in a list or pair) and faulty comparisons (comparing two things that cannot logically be compared). They are not named as separate skills in the official skill list, but they are about the same idea — a sentence must say what it means — and they help you reject choices that are grammatically messy.

First, what is a modifier?

A modifier is a word or group of words that describes something else in the sentence. The SAT mostly tests introductory modifiers: phrases that open the sentence, end with a comma, and have no subject of their own. Because they have no subject, the reader borrows the first noun after the comma as the subject. If that noun cannot logically do or be what the phrase describes, the modifier is dangling.

The answer to the "Ask yourself" question must be the first noun after the comma — the subject of the main clause.

Rule 1: The noun right after the comma must do the action

This is the one rule that answers most modifier questions. Read the opening phrase, decide who or what it describes, and check that this person or thing comes immediately after the comma.

• ✗ Walking along the Corniche, the sea breeze felt cool to Salma. (The breeze was not walking.)
• ✓ Walking along the Corniche, Salma felt the cool sea breeze.
• ✗ Built in the fourteenth century, tourists still visit the mosque every day. (The tourists were not built in the fourteenth century.)
• ✓ Built in the fourteenth century, the mosque still welcomes tourists every day.
• ✗ To reduce traffic, new bus lanes were added by the city. (Bus lanes do not have goals.)
• ✓ To reduce traffic, the city added new bus lanes.

Rule 2: An appositive opener renames the noun that follows

An appositive is a noun phrase such as "A former math teacher" or "The oldest university in Africa". When it opens the sentence, it is another name for the subject, so the subject must be the same kind of thing: a person for a person, a place for a place, an object for an object.

• ✗ A former math teacher, Hana's novels often include puzzles. (The novels were not a teacher.)
• ✓ A former math teacher, Hana often includes puzzles in her novels.
• ✗ A city of over twenty million people, traffic is a daily challenge in Cairo.
• ✓ A city of over twenty million people, Cairo faces a daily traffic challenge.

Rule 3: Watch out for possessives and "the ___ of"

The SAT's favourite trap is a choice that mentions the right person but does not make that person the subject. In "Hana's novels", the subject is novels; Hana is only describing which novels. In "the research of Dr. Saleh", the subject is research. Find the head noun — the main noun that the verb belongs to.

• ✗ Having studied the samples for months, the scientist's conclusion was surprising. (head noun = conclusion; a conclusion cannot study)
• ✓ Having studied the samples for months, the scientist reached a surprising conclusion.
• ✓ Painted in bright colours, the temple's columns attract photographers. (head noun = columns; the columns really were painted, so this possessive is correct)

So a possessive is not automatically wrong. Ask: after the possessive, what is the head noun, and can that noun do the action in the opening phrase?

Rule 4: "It", "there" and the passive usually create danglers

Choices that begin with it is…, there is…, or a passive verb ("was discovered by") push the real doer to the end of the sentence. After an introductory modifier, these choices are almost always wrong, even though they may sound formal.

• ✗ After reviewing the satellite images, it was clear to the geologists that a river once flowed there.
• ✗ After reviewing the satellite images, there was evidence, the geologists said, of an old river.
• ✗ After reviewing the satellite images, an old river was identified by the geologists.
• ✓ After reviewing the satellite images, the geologists identified an old river.

Rule 5: Misplaced modifiers in the middle or end of a sentence

A describing phrase should sit next to the word it describes. If it is far away, it seems to describe the wrong word, and the sentence becomes illogical or funny.

• ✗ The museum displayed a statue for visitors carved from a single block of granite. (The visitors were carved?)
• ✓ The museum displayed a statue carved from a single block of granite for visitors.
• ✗ Omar found a fossil on his way home that was 50 million years old. (His way home was 50 million years old?)
• ✓ On his way home, Omar found a fossil that was 50 million years old.

The 3-step method for test day

1. Read the opening phrase and ask the doer question. "Having analysed the recordings" → who analysed? Answer in your head: the biologist.
2. Look only at the first noun of each choice. Cross out every choice whose subject is not your answer. Check for possessives ("the biologist's study"), "the ___ of", "it", "there" and passive verbs.
3. Check the survivor in the full sentence. Make sure the rest of the sentence still works: the verb must agree with the subject and the sentence must be complete. Usually only one choice survives step 2.

Notice that you often do not need to read the whole passage. The context sentence before the blank sometimes helps you understand the topic, but the grammar decision is made inside the sentence with the blank.

Related sense issue 1: parallel structure

When a sentence joins items with and, or, or a pair such as both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also, the joined items must have the same grammatical form: verb with verb, -ing with -ing, noun with noun, infinitive with infinitive. The SAT shows this in lists of actions and after "not only… but also".

• ✗ The app lets students record lessons, share notes, and the creation of quizzes.
• ✓ The app lets students record lessons, share notes, and create quizzes.
• ✗ A strong candidate must be honest, hard-working, and show patience.
• ✓ A strong candidate must be honest, hard-working, and patient.
• ✗ The reserve was created not only to protect reefs but also for supporting fishers.
• ✓ The reserve was created not only to protect reefs but also to support fishers.

Quick check: find the first item in the list, then make every later item start the same way. If the first item is "to protect", the second item should be "to support"; if the first is "record" after "lets students", the others must also fit after "lets students".

Related sense issue 2: faulty comparisons

You can only compare like with like: a population with a population, a price with a price, a person with a person. A common mistake compares a feature of one thing with the whole of another thing.

• ✗ The population of Cairo is larger than Alexandria. (population compared with a city)
• ✓ The population of Cairo is larger than that of Alexandria. (that = the population)
• ✓ Cairo's population is larger than Alexandria's. (Alexandria's = Alexandria's population)
• ✗ The shells of desert snails are thicker than coastal snails. (shells compared with snails)
• ✓ The shells of desert snails are thicker than those of coastal snails. (those = the shells — plural, so "those")
• ✗ Unlike the earlier model's battery, the new tablet can run all day. (battery compared with tablet)
• ✓ Unlike the earlier model, the new tablet can run all day.

"Unlike…", "Like…", "Compared with…" and "Similar to…" at the start of a sentence are both comparisons and introductory modifiers, so the noun after the comma must be the same kind of thing as the noun in the opening phrase.

Worked examples

Worked example 1: a participle phrase

Humpback whales are famous for their long, complex songs, which can last for hours. Having analyzed more than two thousand recordings of these songs from the Indian Ocean, ______ that the songs change gradually from one season to the next.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) the conclusion of marine biologist Lena Ortiz was
• B) marine biologist Lena Ortiz concluded
• C) it was concluded by marine biologist Lena Ortiz
• D) marine biologist Lena Ortiz's conclusion was

Worked example 2: an appositive opener

Many farms in southern Egypt depend on diesel pumps that are costly to run. A self-taught engineer from Aswan, ______ a low-cost solar water pump that small farms can repair using parts sold in local markets.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) the design by Karim Nassar is
• B) it was Karim Nassar who designed
• C) Karim Nassar designed
• D) Karim Nassar's design is

Worked example 3: a faulty comparison

Snails that live in the dry hills of Sinai must protect themselves from heat and from birds. In a recent survey, researchers measured hundreds of snail shells and found that the shells of snails collected in the hills were thicker than ______ collected near the coast.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) snails
• B) those of snails
• C) that of snails
• D) the snail

Worked example 4: parallel structure

Each spring, the city holds a fair where teenagers present their own inventions. To qualify for the fair, a project must solve a real local problem, use materials costing less than 500 pounds, and ______ by a team of no more than three students.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) be built
• B) building
• C) it is built
• D) to be built

Practice

All pages in this course

Start here

• The Digital SAT: Complete Overview
• Time Strategy and How to Attack Every Question

Craft and Structure

• Words in Context
• High-Value Vocabulary for SAT Reading and Writing
• Text Structure and Purpose
• Cross-Text Connections

Information and Ideas

• Central Ideas and Details
• Command of Evidence: Textual
• Command of Evidence: Quantitative
• Inferences

Standard English Conventions

• Sentence Boundaries
• Commas and Extra Information
• Colons, Dashes and Semicolons
• Subject–Verb Agreement
• Pronouns
• Verb Tense, Aspect and Finiteness
• Modifiers, Parallel Structure and Comparisons
• Plurals and Possessives

Expression of Ideas

• Transitions
• Rhetorical Synthesis (Student Notes)

Full practice tests

• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 1
• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 2
• Digital SAT Reading and Writing — Practice Test 3