SAT Writing & Language:
Practice Test 5

Directions: Each SAT Writing passage is followed by 11 questions. Read the passage and select the answer to each question that is most effective in improving the quality of the writing or in making the passage conform to the standard conventions of English.

Questions 1–11 are based on the following passage.

Basquiat: A Springboard to Deeper Truths

Jean-Michel Basquiat  1  begins as a graffiti artist in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City in the late 1970s. His father, Gerard Basquiat, was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and his mother, Matilde  2  Basquiat of Afro-Puerto Rican descent was born in Brooklyn, New York. Matilde instilled a love for art in her young son  3  and did take him to art museums in Manhattan and enrolling him as a junior member of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Basquiat was a precocious  4  child who learned how to read and write by age four and was a gifted artist. His teachers noticed his artistic abilities, and his mother encouraged her son’s artistic talent.

In September 1968, when he was about 8,  5  a car hit Basquiat while playing in the street. His arm was broken and he suffered several internal injuries, and he eventually underwent a splenectomy.  6  Although he was recuperating from his injuries, his mother brought him the Gray’s Anatomy book to keep him occupied. This book would prove to be influential in his future artistic outlook. When he was 11, his mother was committed to a mental institution. At 15, Basquiat ran away from home. He slept on park benches in Washington Square Park.

Beginning his career as a graffiti artist, Basquiat often incorporated words into his paintings. He produced punk-inspired postcards for sale on the street, and became known for the political–poetical graffiti under the name of SAMO. Basquiat sold his first painting in  7  1981; by 1982, spurred by the Neo-Expressionist art boom, his work was in great demand. By the mid-1980s, his work was exhibited internationally in galleries and museums, and  8  were labelled Neo-expressionist and Primitivist paintings.

Basquiat’s art focused on “suggestive dichotomies,” such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and  9  inner experiences as opposed to outer ones. Basquiat appropriated poetry, drawing and painting, and married text and image, abstraction and figuration, and historical information mixed with contemporary critique. Basquiat used social commentary in his paintings as a “springboard to deeper truths about the individual”,  10  as well as attacking on power structures and systems of racism.

On February 10, 1985, he appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled “New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist”. He was a success, but his growing heroin addiction began to  11  intersperse with his personal relationships. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 in 1988. In 1992 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of Basquiat’s art.

Adapted from “Jean-Michel Basquiat.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

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Question 1
 1  

A
NO CHANGE
B
had begun
C
did begin
D
began
Question 1 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (D). On the SAT, students must recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense and mood. Choice (D) is the best answer because the simple past tense verb “began” is consistent with the tense of the verbs in the rest of the paragraph.
Question 2
 2  

A
NO CHANGE
B
Basquiat, of Afro-Puerto Rican descent, was born
C
Basquiat was born of Afro-Puerto Rican descent
D
Basquiat of Afro-Puerto Rican descent had been born
Question 2 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (B). The phrase “of Afro-Puerto Rican descent” is non-essential information, and should be set apart from the rest of the sentence with commas. The phrase “born of Afro-Puerto Rican descent” in choice (C) is awkwardly constructed. The past perfect verb tense “had been born” in (D) is not necessary in this sentence, because we do not need to indicate that this birth happened before another past tense event.
Question 3
 3  

A
NO CHANGE
B
and was taking him
C
by taking him
D
for she took him
Question 3 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (C). The original construction is lacking a preposition to describe HOW Basquiat’s mother instilled a love of art in her son. Between choices (C) and (D), only (C) makes logical sense in the context of this sentence. The preposition “for” in choice (D) does not provide a clear meaning. The verb “taking” is also parallel with “enrolling,” which appears later in the same paragraph. Remember to consider the grammatical context of a paragraph before choosing your answer; context clues are incredibly useful for supporting or excluding an answer choice.
Question 4
 4  

A
NO CHANGE
B
child, who learned how to read and write by age four,
C
child who, by the age of four, had learned how to read and write
D
child and learned how to read and write by age four
Question 4 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (A). The phrase “who learned how to read and write by age four” is essential information. Essential information is found in restrictive clauses. A non-restrictive clause needs to be set off from the noun it modifies by commas. Commas should not set off a restrictive clause from the noun it modifies, as choice (B) does. By using the word “and,” choice (D) separates these two ideas when, in fact, they are linked. The fact that Basquiat could read and write by age four is something that MADE him precocious.
Question 5
 5  

A
NO CHANGE
B
Basquiat was hit by a car while playing in the street; and his arm was broken
C
a car hit Basquiat while it was playing in the street; his arm was broken
D
Basquiat was hit by a car while playing in the street. His arm was broken
Question 5 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (D). On the SAT, students are required to understand how a semicolon is used. Remember that a semicolon can only function to separate two independent clauses, or two standalone complete sentences. Choice (B) is incorrect because the conjunction “and” is not necessary. The semicolon itself would have been sufficient to connect these two sentences. Choice (C) corrects the semicolon error, but illogically describes a car as “playing in the street.” Choice (A) cannot be correct because “a car” is being described in the non-underlined section as “he.” Since the opening modifier describes a person, “Basquiat” should be the first word after the comma.
Question 6
 6  Which choice results in the most effective transition to the information that follows in the paragraph?

A
Although
B
While
C
Since
D
Despite the fact that
Question 6 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (B). In context, the passage describes how Basquiat’s mother gives him a book on anatomy. How could we link this to the idea that he was injured? Logically, a word such as “while” is the best fit. Choices (A) and (D) incorrectly set up a contrasting meaning, and (C) implies an overly strong cause-and-effect relationship between his recovery and his mother’s gift. The best choice is (B).
Question 7
 7  

A
NO CHANGE
B
1981; yet by 1982, spurred by the Neo-Expressionist art boom
C
1981. By 1982, it was spurred by the Neo-Expressionist art boom
D
1981, and 1982; spurred by Neo-Expressionist art boom
Question 7 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (A). This sentence is correct as written. It correctly uses a semicolon to separate two independent clauses, and it additionally creates a parallel structure in the phrase “by 1982,” which mirrors the phrase “by the mid-1980s” in the next sentence. Choice (B) incorrectly adds the adverb “yet.” Choice (D) incorrectly moves the year “1982” to the first independent clause.
Question 8
 8  

A
NO CHANGE
B
would
C
was
D
is
Question 8 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (C). Because the subject of the sentence, “work” is singular, the sentence should have the singular verb, “was,” and not the plural form, “were.” In addition, the simple past tense is all that is required in this sentence, not the present tense or conditional tense. In cases where the subject and connecting verb are far from each other in a sentence, as in this sentence, take an extra moment to ensure that you are linking the verb with the proper subject, and not assuming that the verb should be plural based on the words that immediately precede it.
Question 9
 9  

A
NO CHANGE
B
experience that is inner with outer
C
inner experience versus outer experience
D
inner versus outer experience
Question 9 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (D). On the SAT, students must follow proper parallel structure when editing sentences. In this sentence, there are three items listed: wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. Choice (D) correctly includes the word “versus” to mirror the first two items in the list. Choice (C) is also parallel, but needlessly repeats the word “experience,” and creates redundancy.
Question 10
 10  

A
NO CHANGE
B
as well as attacks
C
and additionally attacking
D
but also attacks
Question 10 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (B). The sentence describes Basquiat as using two things: “social commentary” and “attacking.” Notice how the first is a noun phrase and the second is a participle verb. A subject cannot use “attacking.” Instead, a subject uses “attacks,” another noun. This makes the sentence both logical and parallel in structure. Choice (C) redundantly uses two words that mean the same thing: “and” and “additionally.” Choice (D) is incorrect, because it wrongly uses one half of the two-part idiom “not only…but also.” Only (B) is correct.
Question 11
 11  

A
NO CHANGE
B
augment
C
interfere
D
befuddle
Question 11 Explanation: 
The correct answer is (C). On the SAT, students must determine the most contextually appropriate word. Since the next sentence reveals that Basquiat died from a heroin overdose, it is most logical to think that his heroin addiction had a negative effect on his personal relationships. Only choice (C) has the appropriate negatively-charged word. Choice (D) is too light in tone to make sense in this context.
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