1. SAT Writing & Language Practice Test 2 Answers & Explanation
“Ghost Mural”

2. As we go through the questions and answers,
Label the question type, if you haven’t done so already.
If you have marked an answer incorrectly, circle the letter of the correct answer.
Take any notes provided about points of grammar or punctuation, notably in focus lessons on
Comma Splice
Appositives
Parallelism
These will be marked in red.

3. América Tropical, David Alfaro Sisquieros, 1932.
Fresco applied with airgun on cement. Dimensions 19.7’ by 98.4’
Olvera Street, Los Angeles

4. Sisquieros had lived in the U. S
Sisquieros had lived in the U.S. for seven months before being commissioned to create América Tropical by wealthy patron Christine Sterling, who wanted to transform LA’s Overa Street district into something like a stereotypical Mexican village . The mural was whitewashed immediately after its unveiling.
After Siqueiros’ visa ran out, he was deported from the U.S.

5. América Tropical, David Alfaro Sisquieros, 1932.
Fresco. Olvera Street, Los Angeles

6. QUESTION 1 (grammar & punctuation)

7. QUESTION 1 (grammar)
comma splice
Choice B is the best answer because the relative clause “which he accordingly titled” appropriately modifies the noun “work” in the preceding in dependent clause.
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because each creates a comma splice.

8. Comma Splice Focus Lesson—Take notes.
A comma splice “splices” together two independent clauses with a comma.
I made the beds, I dusted the furniture.
There are many ways to correct a comma splice.
I made the beds, and I dusted the furniture.
I made the beds; I dusted the furniture.
I made the beds. I dusted the furniture.
I made the beds; then, I dusted the furniture.
I made the beds and dusted the furniture.

9. QUESTION 2 (logical reasoning)

10. QUESTION 2 (punctuation)
Choice B—”however”—is the best answer because it creates the appropriate contrasting transition
from the fact that the first two panels were painted during the day
to the fact that the third panel was painted at night.
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because each creates an inappropriate transition from the previous sentence.
Choice A—”NO CHANGE, “also”—and choice D—”Moreover”— imply addition rather than contrast.
Choice C—”Although” results in an incomplete sentence because it introduces the first half of a contrast and not the other.

11. QUESTION 3 (grammar & punctuation)

12. QUESTION 3 (grammar & punctuation)
Choice B is the best answer because it creates an appropriate appositive explaining or identifying “the final section of the mural,” correctly set off by commas on both sides.
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because each is incorrectly punctuated.
Choice A lacks a comma after “centerpiece.”
Choice C unnecessarily introduces an independent clause.
Choice D contains an em dash that has no parallel earlier in the sentence.

13. Your boyfriend, Bill, is in trouble. (Copy this one.)
Appositives Focus Lesson—Take notes.
An appositive is a noun or pronoun phrase—often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.
Here are some examples of appositives (the noun or pronoun will be in blue, the appositive will be in red).
Your boyfriend, Bill, is in trouble. (Copy this one.)
My brother's car, a sporty red convertible with bucket seats, is the envy of my friends.
The chief surgeon, an expert in organ-transplant procedures, took her nephew on a hospital tour.

14. Appositives Focus Lesson—Take notes.
Note that commas setting off both sides of the midsentence appositive imply a possible substitution.
Here are some examples of appositives (the noun or pronoun will be in blue, the appositive will be in red).
Your boyfriend, Bill, is in trouble.
The commas offsetting the appositive—Bill—in the first sentence imply that Bill is your only boyfriend. The name “Bill” could substitute for “your boyfriend.”
Your boyfriend Bill is in trouble.
The lack of commas in the second appositive example implies that of your multiple boyfriends, Bill is the one in trouble. It lets the reader know which boyfriend is in trouble.

15. Appositives Focus Lesson—No need for notes on this.
An appositive usually follows the word it explains or identifies, but it may also precede it.
A bold innovator, Wassily Kandinsky is known for his colorful abstract paintings.
The first state to ratify the U. S. Constitution, Delaware is rich in history.

16. QUESTION 4 (logical reasoning)

17. QUESTION 4 (logical reasoning)
Choice A—NO CHANGE—is the best answer because “The reason of Sisquieros’ behavior became clear” explicitly introduces the explanation for Sisquieros’ unsual behavior described in the previous paragraph: painting at night.
Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because none alludes to the artist’s painting at night, which is described at the end of the previous paragraph and explained in this paragraph.

18. QUESTION 5 (vocabulary in context)

19. QUESTION 5 (vocabulary in context)
Choice D is the best answer because “unveiled” refers to an action that can be performed on a physical object such as a mural.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because “confided,” “promulgated” (promoted or made widely known an idea or cause) and “imparted” (made information known; communicated) refer to actions that are performed on information rather than on a physical object.

20. QUESTION 6 (grammar)

21. QUESTION 6 (grammar)
Choice B is the best answer because “included” creates a past tense construction consistent with the verb “was dominated.”
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because none is consistent with the verb tense established earlier in the sentence.

22. QUESTION 7 (grammar)

23. QUESTION 7 (grammar)
Choice D is the best answer because “this movement” is the most precise choice, specifying the noun that the pronoun “this” refers to.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because “this,” “it,” and “them” provide vague, nonspecific pronouns that do not concretely identify what they are referring to.

24. QUESTION 8 (grammar and concision)

25. QUESTION 8 (grammar)
Choice B is the best answer because it correctly places and punctuates the appositive phrase “an explosion of mural painting that spread throughout California and the southwestern United States in the 1970s” that explains the “Chicano mural movement.”
Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because each contains awkward syntax that obscures the relationship between the key noun phrases “an explosion of mural painting” and “the Chicano mural movement.”

26. QUESTION 9 (grammar)

27. QUESTION 9 (grammar)
Choice C is the best answer because “on” creates parallel construction within the list of locations (“in abandoned lots, on unused buildings, or on infrastructure”).
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because none follows the construction established within the list of locations.

28. Parallelism Focus Lesson—Take notes.
Sentences need to list items in parallel structure, using the same pattern of words for two or more ideas that are joined or compared.
The usual way to join parallel structures is with the use of coordinating conjunctions such as "and" or "or."
With the gerund (-ing form of words):
NOT PARALLEL: Suzie likes hiking, running, and to swim.
PARALLEL: Suzie likes hiking, running, and swimming.
With infinitive phrases:
NOT PARALLEL: Suzie likes to hike, to run, and swimming.
PARALLEL: Suzie likes to hike, to run, and to swim.
PARALLEL: Suzie likes to hike, run, and swim.

29. Parallelism Focus Lesson—Take notes.
With adverbs, adjectives, or adjective phrases:
NOT PARALLEL: Suzie researched information for her essay quickly, accurately, and with thoroughness.
PARALLEL: Suzie researched information for her essay quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.
With verbs or verb phrases:
NOT PARALLEL: Tom was an excellent journalist because he completed his articles on time, researched facts thoroughly, and the organization of his articles was clear.
PARALLEL: Tom was an excellent journalist because he completed his articles on time, researched facts thoroughly, and organized his articles clearly.

30. QUESTION 10 (logical reasoning)

31. QUESTION 10 (logical reasoning)
Choice A is the best answer because “leading the way” provides information that sets up the uniquely high level of investment that the new group of artists is making in restoring and publicizing América Tropical that is described in the next sentence.
Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because each fails to express the connection between the general restoration efforts mentioned in the previous sentence and the specific role of América Tropical in these efforts, which is described in the next sentence.

32. QUESTION 11 (logical reasoning)

33. QUESTION 11 (logical reasoning)
Choice C is the best answer because details of the initial reaction to Siqueiros’s mural and its subsequent rediscovery are given previously in
the passage and are not needed to set up the forward-looking sentence that follows.
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because each provides an inaccurate interpretation of the sentence that the writer is considering adding.