What this lesson covers
This one reads the shape straight off the two items already printed in the sentence, names it, and then judges all four candidates against it. Then it carries the same question into comparisons, where the classic slip is comparing one team's results to the team itself.
00:00 All four mean the same thing
00:14 The setup
00:38 The method
01:02 Three ways this goes wrong
01:21 Recap
Every example sentence is original, written for SAT Climb.
Worked examples
The questions the video works, written out: the setup, each step, the answer and the trap.
0:14Example 1
The apprenticeship trains carpenters to read blueprints, to price materials, and ___. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? A) supervising a crew B) how a crew is supervised C) to supervise a crew D) crew supervision
- Two items in the list are already on the page. Read their shape, not their meaning: to read blueprints, to price materials. Both are infinitives, to plus a verb.
- The blank is the third item, so it has to be an infinitive too.
- Name the shape of each choice. A, supervising a crew, is a gerund. B, how a crew is supervised, is a clause. C, to supervise a crew, is an infinitive. D, crew supervision, is a noun phrase.
- Only C matches the two items already printed.
Answer: C) to supervise a crew
The list is to read, to price, to supervise, three infinitives, so C is correct. All four choices say the correct thing, which is what makes this question type hard: the test is form, not sense. A is the trap, because supervising a crew names the same skill and sounds natural at the end of a list, but a gerund cannot close a list of infinitives.
One more, same method
After the new training program, the crew's inspection results were better than ___. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? A) the previous crew B) the previous crew was C) those of the previous crew D) it was for the previous crew
- A comparison is a two-item list joined by than, so it asks the same question a list does: what shape is the item already on the page? Here it is inspection results, a plural noun.
- The thing after than has to be the same kind of thing: results compared to results, not results compared to people.
- A compares results to a crew. B compares results to what a crew was. D compares plural results to a singular it. C, those of the previous crew, means the previous crew's results.
Answer: C) those of the previous crew
Those stands in for results, so C compares results to results. A is the trap because in speech everyone says better than the previous crew and means the crew's results; on the test that sentence compares numbers to people, and comparing unlike things is the third of the three ways this question goes wrong.
Lesson transcript
The narration of the video, word for word, under its chapter headings.
Two items are already on the page, and they are in the same form. The blank has to join them. Not match their meaning. Match their shape. To read blueprints. To price materials. Both are infinitives, so the third item is an infinitive too. To supervise a crew. Supervising is a gerund. How a crew is supervised is a clause. Crew supervision is a noun. All three say the right thing, and all three are the wrong shape. Three ways this goes wrong. Matching the meaning instead of the form. Losing the pattern because the first two items sit far from the blank. And in comparisons, comparing a thing to a person, or one team's results to the team itself. Line the items up. Same shape, every time.
Read the written version: the Form, Structure, and Sense strategy guide, then try 25 hard Form, Structure, and Sense questions with full explanations. Both are free, no account needed.