The PSAT will test your reading and writing skills. Prepare for the writing section by focusing on grammar and style, grammar being the established rules to follow in writing Standard English and style the usual, or widely accepted, way to write. Here is a helpful rule to remember. Read the example and come up with an example of your own.
Lesson 1 Style rule: use only necessary words to express and idea. This is the rule of simplicity.
Apply the rule here: Use only necessary words to express an idea
Playing football is popular, as some say, among boys at Lowrey Middle School,
- no change
- popular
- really quite popular
- rather popular
The correct answer will have no unnecessary words. The correct answer is a matter of style, not grammar: b. popular. The other choices are incorrect because they violate the rule of simplicity. The additional words in choices a, c, and d add no more meaning to the word popular.
Do you find yourself using more words than necessary in writing? If not, great. When you see this type of question now, you will know the correct usage. This is rather easy. Or should I say only, “This is easy.”?
To help yourself remember this rule, compose a sentence adding unnecessary words. Then rewrite the sentence eliminating the words that are not needed. Explain why the corrected sentence is correct.