SAT Writing and Language: Expression of Ideas 🎨

🤗 Overview: Expression of Ideas

The SAT Writing and Language section is notoriously tricky, but once you understand the structure of common SAT writing questions and how to answer them, it’ll be a breeze! 🍃

Expression of ideas is one of five skills measured in the SAT Writing and Language section. You must be wondering what it really is, so let’s dive into it! 🏊‍♀️

🪩 Three Elements of Expression of Ideas

Expression of ideas is all about the rhetorical aspects of a passage. By mastering this topic, you’ll know how to make each provided SAT passage clearer, sharper, and more fun.🕺🏻

There are three key elements of this category:

• 👩‍🎨 Developing ideas: this is about adding details to ideas in the passage to achieve the writer’s purpose.
• 🗂 Organizing ideas: this will relate to the flow of ideas in the passage to make it make sense.
• 📑 Using language: this is about word choice and grammar to complement the passage. In this guide, you’ll learn about each of these topics and how to answer questions on the expression of ideas on the SAT. You got this! 💪

1. Developing Ideas

Developing ideas is all about enhancing, presenting, and expanding on the concepts within a passage. Questions in this category require you to assess how ideas can be supported, clarified, and elaborated upon. You might be asked to decide whether to add or remove information, choose the best supporting evidence, or interpret graphical data.

Types of Questions:

• Proposition: These questions ask you to edit the ideas in the passage to better complement and support the overall argument.
• Support: These questions focus on selecting the information that best supports the ideas in the passage.
• Focus: These questions require you to refine the clarity and focus of the passage by adjusting, adding, or removing content.
• Quantitative Information: These questions involve interpreting data from graphs, charts, or tables and integrating it effectively into the passage.

Strategies for Answering Development of Ideas Questions:

• Identify the Main Ideas: As you read the passage, identify its main ideas. This will help you determine which information best supports these ideas.
• Use the Process of Elimination: Eliminate answer choices that do not directly relate to or support the main ideas of the passage.
• Consider the Impact of Changes: If a question asks whether to keep or remove a sentence, read the passage with and without the sentence to determine its impact.
• Carefully Interpret Data: When dealing with graphs or charts, pay close attention to titles, labels, and data points to ensure accurate interpretation.

Example Question:

Let’s consider a sample question involving the development of ideas:

Passage Excerpt:

“The Harvey Girls were instrumental in advancing the roles of American women in the workforce, particularly in the restaurant industry. They played a significant role in the American West, contributing to the development of the region.”

Question:

Which choice provides the best transition from the previous sentence to the information that follows?

A) Additionally, the Harvey Girls inspired numerous books, documentaries, and even a musical.

B) Moreover, the Harvey Girls were known for their culinary skills.

C) Despite their efforts, the Harvey Girls faced numerous challenges.

D) The Harvey Girls were well-known for their hospitality.

Answer:

The correct answer is A. This choice supports the main idea that the Harvey Girls had a significant impact by highlighting their influence on popular culture, which aligns with the previous sentence’s emphasis on their contributions.

2. Organizing Ideas

Organizing ideas focuses on the logical flow and structure of a passage. Questions in this category test your ability to ensure that ideas are presented in a coherent, well-organized manner. You might be asked to determine the most logical order of sentences, identify the best transitions, or choose the most effective introductions and conclusions.

Types of Questions:

• Logical Sequence: These questions ask you to reorganize sentences or paragraphs to create a more logical flow of ideas.
• Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions: These questions require you to choose the best words or phrases to introduce, conclude, or transition between ideas in the passage.

Strategies for Answering Organization of Ideas Questions:

• Read the Entire Passage: Before making any changes, read through the entire passage to get a sense of its overall flow and structure.
• Consider Alternative Orders: Experiment with placing sentences or paragraphs in different orders to see which sequence makes the most sense.
• Look for Transition Cues: Pay attention to transition words or phrases that signal relationships between ideas, such as cause and effect, contrast, or continuation.
• Use Context Clues: Ensure that the chosen order or transition fits the context of the passage and maintains its logical flow.

Example Question:

Passage Excerpt:

“[1] I decided to bake a cake for my mom’s birthday. [2] However, I didn’t have any flour. [3] I went to the store to buy some flour. [4] I used the flour to bake a chocolate cake, and she loved it.”

Question:

Where should sentence 2 be placed to improve the logical sequence of the passage?

A) Before sentence 1

B) After sentence 1

C) After sentence 3

D) Before sentence 4

Answer:

The correct answer is B. Placing sentence 2 after sentence 1 maintains the logical sequence by showing the problem (lack of flour) immediately after the decision to bake a cake.

3. Using Language Effectively

Using language effectively involves selecting the best word choice, grammar, and syntax to enhance the clarity and tone of the passage. Questions in this category test your ability to refine the passage’s language to improve precision, conciseness, and style.

Types of Questions:

• Precision: These questions ask you to choose words or phrases that convey the intended meaning more precisely.
• Concision: These questions focus on eliminating unnecessary words or phrases to make the passage more concise.
• Style and Tone: These questions require you to match the style and tone of the passage to maintain consistency.
• Syntax: These questions ask you to combine sentences or phrases in a way that best complements the passage.

Strategies for Answering Language Usage Questions:

• Understand the Passage’s Tone and Audience: Consider the tone and audience of the passage. Is it formal or informal? Scientific or conversational? Your word choices should align with the passage’s overall tone and purpose.
• Substitute and Compare: Try substituting different answer choices into the passage and see which one fits best. Consider both meaning and style when making your selection.
• Eliminate Redundancy: Look for opportunities to eliminate redundant words or phrases without losing the meaning of the passage.
• Consider the Syntax: Pay attention to how sentences are structured and combined. Choose the option that creates a smooth, logical flow of ideas.

Example Question:

Passage Excerpt:

“The library’s new e-book circulation system has been extremely successful. It has outperformed all expectations and led to a significant increase in library usage.”

Question:

Which choice best replaces “outperformed” to maintain the tone and style of the passage?

A) Defeated

B) Surpassed

C) Outdone

D) Exceeded

Answer:

The correct answer is D. “Exceeded” is a precise and formal term that matches the tone of the passage, making it the best choice.

👩‍🎨 Development of Ideas

Questions in this category relate to how ideas can be enhanced, presented, and expanded within a passage. They’ll often ask you to choose whether to add information, choose the best information to add, or interpret a graph. 

There are four main types of questions in this category: 

• 📋 Proposition – The goal of preposition questions is to ask you to edit the ideas of the text in the best way to complement the ideas in the text and structure the text effectively.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Support – The goal of support questions is to ask you to assess information that can best support the ideas of the text.
• 🔬 Focus – The goal of focus questions is to ask you to change, add, or delete information to improve clarity and focus.
• 📊 Quantitative Information – The goal of quantitative information questions is to ask you to interpret and understand graphs and numerical data, and use it to develop ideas in the text. What are some strategies we can use when answering these types of questions? 
• 👁 Identify the main ideas of the text while reading, even before reading the questions. This way, it’s easier to identify which information and ideas can best support these main ideas.
• ❌ Eliminate answers that do not connect back to the main ideas of the text.
• If a question asks you to decide whether to keep/remove information, try to read the section of the passage with and without the sentence/data in question.
• Make sure to read all graphs, charts, and numerical data carefully before answering the question– pay close attention to titles, axes labels, and the data itself! Let’s take a look at some examples!

📋 Development: Proposition

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: A 

Let’s start by reading through the passage to summarize some main ideas: 

• The Harvey Girls advanced the roles of American women in the workforce and restaurant industry.
• The Harvey Girls greatly impacted the American West. Now, let’s read the question, and determine whether the additional information supports any of these main ideas. Including that the Harvey Girls inspired books, documentaries, and a musical supports the idea that the Harvey Girls had a large impact. Therefore, we can eliminate choices C and D. 

Reading answer choices B and A, we can see that A is a better choice because it mentions the influence of the Harvey Girls, which is one of our main ideas.

🏋️‍♀️ Development: Support

Image Courtesy of The College Panda

Answer: A 

Let’s start by reading through the passage to identify some main ideas: 

• Liberal arts education is being viewed as less practical.
• Majors directly related to employment are increasingly valued by employers.
• Liberal arts programs are expanding to include more career-oriented programs. First, let’s check which answer choices are NOT related to the main ideas we identified. B and D both relate to things outside of education, so they can be eliminated. Next, let’s focus on A and C. While the passage focuses on some perceived downsides of a liberal arts education, answer C provides a positive. Therefore, A is the best answer.

🔬 Development: Focus

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: C 

Again, we can start by identifying main ideas: 

• Coworking spaces are places people can pay to work in.
• They include many resources for people to do their work. Now, let’s look at the question, and read the sentence being considered. This sentence focuses on launching a coworking business. This strays from the main ideas identified, so we can conclude it should be deleted. This eliminates answer choices A and B. Next, let’s look at C and D. D states that this idea is repeated in an earlier paragraph, however, since the sentence actually clashes with the main ideas we identified, this answer can also be crossed off. We can then pick the answer as C.

📊 Development: Quantitative Information

Image and Question Courtesy of College Board

1. Which choice completes the sentence with accurate data based on the graph?

A) NO CHANGE

B) warning, however, that job growth in urban and regional planning will slow to 14 percent by 2020.

C) predicting that employment of urban and regional planners will increase 16 percent between 2010 and 2020.

D) indicating that 14 to 18 percent of urban and regional planning positions will remain unfilled.

Answer: C 

Let’s look over the graph before looking at the question. First, we can look at labels. The title and units tell us that the graph is about the “projected percent increase in employment for Urban and Regional Planners between 2010 and 2020.” 

Now, let’s look at the question. This question asks us to complete the sentence with accurate data. Looking at answer choices, we can eliminate options that do not relate to the graph. Choices A and D are about ‘unfilled positions’ and ‘percent of all new jobs’. These are not found on the graph, so the only choices left are B and C. 

Now, we can look at the data on the graph, and determine which of these choices are true. The graph shows that the projected increase in growth for regional planners between 2010 and 2020 is 16%. Only C reflects this data, therefore it is the correct answer.

🗂 Organization of Ideas

Questions falling in this category relate to the flow and transition of the passage. The goal in answering these questions is to pick the option that best goes along with the flow of the passage. 

There are two main types of questions in this category: 

• ➡️ Logical Sequence: The goal of logical sequence questions is for you to put some of the text in the most logical location within the passage.
• 💭 Intros, Conclusions, and Transitions: The goal of introduction, conclusion, and transition questions is to pick the best transition, concluding, and introduction words to maintain the flow of the passage. Let’s look at simplified examples of both!

➡️ Organization: Logical Sequence

Where should sentence 4 be placed so that this story makes sense? 

“[1] However, I did not have any flour. [2] I went to the store and bought some flour. [3] I used the flour to bake a chocolate cake, and she loved it. [4] Since it was my mom’s birthday, I decided I would make a cake.” Sentence 4 should be placed before sentence 1! How do we know this? 

Let’s look at the alternatives. 

• If sentence 4 is left as is, the premise for the rest of this story is gone. The reader would be left confused. For example, how would the reader know who “she” is in sentence 3?
• This means that sentence 4 has to be placed somewhere before sentence 3.
• Let’s see what it would look like if we placed sentence 4 before sentence 3. “[1] However, I did not have any flour. [2] I went to the store and bought some flour. [4] Since it was my mom’s birthday, I decided I would make a cake. [3] I used the flour to bake a chocolate cake, and she loved it. ” 
• Here, sentence 4 interrupts the flow between the reference to flour in sentence 2 and the use of flour in sentence 3.
• Let’s try placing it before sentence 2. “[1] However, I did not have any flour. [4] Since it was my mom’s birthday, I decided I would make a cake. [2] I went to the store and bought some flour. [3] I used the flour to bake a chocolate cake, and she loved it.”
• This structure makes much more sense than the other examples, however, by reading it to yourself, you may notice that the flow between sentence 1 and sentence 4 does not follow the natural sequence of events.
• The use of ‘however’ at the beginning also indicates a contrast with a previous idea– so there should be an idea or sentence before sentence 1.
• Ask yourself: if you were writing this passage, how would you order ideas in the text?
• Now let’s read the passage in its correct order. “[4] Since it was my mom’s birthday, I decided I would make a cake. [1] However, I did not have any flour. [2] I went to the store and bought some flour. [3] I used the flour to bake a chocolate cake, and she loved it.”

💭 Organization: Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions

Intros, Conclusions, and Transitions: Question 1

“My little brother’s favorite color is green. ________, we decorated his bedroom with green curtains, pillows, and toys.”  Which word best fills in the blank in the text? 

A) However 

B) Therefore 

C) Such as 

D) Then 

E) For instance

The answer is B) Therefore.

“My little brother’s favorite color is green. Therefore, we decorated his bedroom with green curtains, pillows, and toys.”

“Therefore” is a cause and effect transition. In this example, because the brother’s favorite color is green, the effect is they choose to decorate his room with green accessories. None of the other transitions listed are cause and effect transitions, therefore this fits best.

What are some strategies we can use when answering these types of questions? 

Remember to use RAT 🐀:

• 📖 Read through the entire text. This will help you get a better sense of the passage’s overall flow
• 🤹‍♀️ Consider your Alternatives. Try rereading the passage with the sentence or paragraphs placed in a different order, or while substituting different words. Keep reading until you find the option that flows best.
• 🌊 Look for Transition words. Certain transition words can clue you in to the order of the sentences and the placement of new words.

Image Courtesy of English Grammar Here

• If you spot a transition, make sure its placement and usage fits its purpose.
• In the earlier example, “however” was not being used as a contrast transition—because it was not connecting two contrasting ideas. This helped us know there was an idea missing from the beginning of the passage.
• If you need a refresher on the functions of transition words, check out this resource.

Intros, Conclusions, and Transitions: Question 2

Let’s take a look at an example from Khan Academy:

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: C 

Using RAT🐀, we can:

• 📖 First, read through the entire passage without adding the sentence to get a general feel for the topic.
• 🤹‍♀️ Next, we can try placing the new sentence in alternate positions and reading to see where it fits next. In this case, it makes sense for the narrator to fill out a registration form after deciding to try a co-working space (sentence 1), and after choosing the type of facility they like (sentence 2). However, it also makes sense for them to have “taken a seat at a table” before noticing more people appearing (sentence 3) or describing the environment of the co-working space (sentence 4). This leaves us placing the new sentence after sentence 2.
• 🌊 Lastly, we can check the transition words to make sure the flow of the sentence makes sense. Therefore, we can conclude the answer should be C.

Intros, Conclusions, and Transitions: Question 3

Image Courtesy of College Board SAT Practice Test

Answer: D

Let’s use RAT🐀 to unpack this question. Reading through the passage first, we can see that the text is about literature that combines poetry and prose. This passage also includes Bernardine Evaristo’s novel as an example of this kind of work. Next, let’s try using the answer options in the blank. The options “ by contrast”, “consequently”, and “secondly” don’t make clear that the book is an example of a hybrid literary work, since they are not ‘illustration’ transition words.

📑 Effective Language Usage

These are questions that ask you to choose the word choice, grammar, or syntax that best complements the main ideas of the passage. 

There are four main ways the writing can be improved: 

• 🔪 Precision – This focuses on making word choice more specific or appropriate.
• ❎ Concision – This focuses on getting rid of unnecessary words or phrases to improve the conciseness of the text.
• 💅 Style and tone – This focuses on matching the style and tone to the rest of the passage to keep consistency.
• ♾ Syntax – This focuses on combining sentences in the best way to complement the passage. What are some strategies we can use when answering these types of questions? 
• Read through the text with a goal of understanding its overall vibe and goal. Consider its audience–is the tone formal or casual? Is the word choice scientific or conversational?
• Read and reread the text swapping in different answer choices until you ‘feel’ which one fits best and best goes along with the text. Let’s look at some practice questions:

🔪 Language Usage: Precision

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: D 

Let’s use the substitution strategy to handle this question. We can first read the statement–leaving the space with the underlined word blank–and decide what we might naturally say in this context. For me, the words “outweigh”, “exceed”, and “surpass” come to mind. 

Next, we can look and see which answer choice comes close to our ideas, as well as look for answers that mean the same thing. For example, outdo and outperform are pretty much identical in meaning, so they both must be wrong. Now we are left with B and D. Defeat is usually used to describe a battle or competition, and doesn’t match the tone of the passage. Therefore, D is the best answer.

❎ Language Usage: Concision

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: D 

We can start by reading the entire sentence to get a gist of the main idea. Here, we can see that the sentence is about an increase in ebook circulation, and how libraries have had to adapt. Remember that the goal is to pick the most concise option. Let’s start by eliminating any answers that would be grammatically incorrect or unclear in this context. 

Starting with A, this option has an unclear pronoun. As a reader, I end up confused about who ‘them’ is referring to. This same problem exists with answers B and C, so D is the best choice. Another way to approach this question is also to pick the answer that conveys the same information with the simplest and clearest wording.

💅 Language Usage: Style and Tone

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: C 

For this question, let’s start by establishing what the question is asking. In this case, it’s asking us to pick the answer that keeps the same tone in the passage. First, we have to identify what tone the passage has. In this case, the tone is informative and not informal while still being pretty easy to understand. 

Next, let’s identify the tone or meaning of each answer choice. For A, sinister usually means ‘evil’ or ‘sly’, and could be associated with an evil person or bad intentions. For B, surly means ‘menacing’ or ‘unfriendly’. For C, abysmal means ‘awful’ or ‘terrible’. For D, ‘icky’ usually means ‘gross’ and is used more informally. Keeping all of this in mind, we can go back and read the question. Since this is describing food, B and A would not be good choices. Also keeping in mind the ‘informative’ tone, D would not be appropriate.

♾ Language Usage: Syntax

Image Courtesy of Khan Academy

Answer: A 

This is a question asking us to combine two sentences/phrases. First, make sure all answer options are grammatically correct. In this case, D is not a correct sentence because ‘and’ can’t be used alone to connect two independent clauses. Let’s look at A, B, and C. Since the goal is to find the answer choice that most simply and concisely combines the two sentences, A is the best option.