The writing section on the PSAT test is one of the most important sections. You definitely want to pass this section to get a good score on the test. In this section, there are three different kinds of questions. These questions include improving sentences, identifying sentence errors, and improving paragraphs. You'll be expected to know basic grammar such as subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, correct verb tense, correct sentence structure, and correct dictionary. You'll. To know how to recognize a dangling participle and how to spot when two parts of a sentence are not clearly connected. You'll also need to know when a paragraph is or isn't properly developed and organized. The writing skills questions test your ability to recognize clear, correct standards of written English. The kind of writing your college professor will expect on the papers you turn in.

Improving Sentences

The most common type of questions in the Writing Skills section involves identifying the form of a sentence that works best in the context. In these types of questions, you will be presented with 4 or 5 versions of the same sentence, and you need to pick the best one.

The best way to handle these types of questions is to first, eliminate the NO CHANGE option if you see an error. If you don’t spot an error in option A, then carefully examine the answer choices to see what has changed between the original and the choices given. After analyzing each of the choices, make sure that all parts of the sentence are logically connected. Sometimes you can clearly see a discontinuity in the sentence. When that is the case, cross those options off. Make sure to pay attention to shorter answer choices because sometimes the shortest answer is the most correct one.

The turning point in the battle of Waterloo probably was Blutcher, who was arriving in time to save the day.

A) Blutcher, who was arriving

B) Blutcher, in that he arrived

C) Blutcher’s arrival

D) when Blutcher was arriving

E) that Blutcher had arrived

Just by looking at the answer choices, we can instantly cross off B and D because it doesn’t make any sense in the context. Then we can look at the other options to see which one best replaces it and the best one is clear and concise, so the answer is C.

Identifying Sentence Errors

Almost one-third of the Writing Skills questions on the PSAT, fourteen of the thirty-nine, are identifying sentence errors questions. In these questions, you have to find an error in the underlined section of a sentence. You do not have to correct the sentence or explain what’s wrong. All you have to do is recognize that something is wrong in that specific area of the sentence.

The best way to handle these types of questions is to first, realize that if there is an error in the question it MUST be in an underlined part of the sentence. The only thing you need to worry about is what is in the underlined section. Look for the most common error. Check the underlined sections one by one. Remember that not every sentence has an error.

Marilyn and I ran as fast as we could, but we missed our train, which made us late for work.

Let’s take a look at the sentence, let’s go to each underlined section and see which one doesn’t make sense. As we can see, “I” is a part of the subject, so it seems correct. fast is a verb stating an action, so nothing wrong there. Which is a pronoun, and needs a noun for its antecedent and the only available noun is “train”

A) I

B) fast

C) which

D) us

E) No error

So by making the analysis of the sentence we can identify that the error is C, which.

Improving Paragraphs

The improving paragraphs questions are typically at the end of the passage after you have answered all the other questions. For these questions, you will need to make improvements to an essay. In some cases, you must select the answers choice that best rewrites and combines portions of two separate sentences. In some cases, you must decide where in an essay the sentence would best fit. And in the last few cases, you must choose what sort of information would most strengthen the author’s argument.

Types of Errors you come across

• Error in subject-verb agreement

• Error in pronoun-number agreement

• Error in the tense or form of a verb

• Error in logical comparison

• Adjective and Adverb Confusion

• Error in Modification and Word Order

• Error in Parallelism

• Error in Diction or Idiom