PSAT prep #3

PSAT prep 3

Many PSAT questions are based on understanding a sentence, a group of related words having a subject and verb that stands independently.  Missing either the subject or the verb, or both, the group of words is not a sentence.  Also, having a subject and verb but not standing independently, the group of words is not a sentence.  For example, “Walks to Mohamed’s house on Jonathan” is missing a subject.  “Ali, an intelligent student attending Fordson High School” is missing a verb.  And “When Ali, an intelligent student attending Fordson High School, walks to Mohamed’s house on Jonathan” is also not a sentence because the subordinating conjunction “when” makes the clause dependent.

Apply your understanding of a sentence to this question:

When Mr. Wojtys speaks about one of his favorite short stories “Flowers for Algernon” and likes to ask students questions about their understanding,

  1. no change
  2. If Mr. Wojtys
  3. Mr. Wojtys
  4. Whenever Mr. Wojtys

When, if, and whenever are subordinating conjunctions making the entire group of words a subordinate clause.  By eliminating the subordinate conjunctions, the clause becomes an independent clause with one subject, Mr. Wojtys, and two verbs, speaks and likes.  Many students may not understand some of the terms here, phrase and clause. Before you complete this prep, you should come to an understanding of those two terms and others that you may not be sure of: for example subordinating and independent clause.

Now, put in your own words what you understand by this example question and explanation.  Also write two examples, one of how to correctly and another of how to incorrectly use subordinating conjunctions.

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