Question 144·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Standard English Conventions
Spectroscopic analysis indicates that the adhesive binding a strip of silver leaf to the central ______ from a plant resin rather than from the mineral compound found on neighboring panels.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For a long comparison inserted between a subject and its verb, strip the sentence to its core and determine the subject’s number. Then restore the comparison, punctuate both of its boundaries, and reject any option that leaves the outer clause without a finite, agreeing predicate.
Hints
Remove the comparison
Read the sentence without the words beginning with “unlike” and locate the head noun of the subject.
Restore both boundaries
Decide whether the comparison is part of the sentence core or an interruption that needs a boundary at each end.
Test the predicate
Check each completion for both agreement with the true subject and a finite verb that completes the clause.
Step-by-step Explanation
Recover the sentence core
Remove the comparison beginning with “unlike.” The clause becomes “the adhesive binding a strip of silver leaf to the central panel derives from a plant resin.”
Identify the subject
The head of the subject is the singular noun “adhesive.” The nouns “strip,” “leaf,” “coatings,” “panels,” and “conservators” occur in modifiers and do not control the main verb.
Restore the comparison
The comparison interrupts the subject-predicate connection and is nonessential to the clause’s grammatical core, so commas mark both its beginning and its end.
Supply a finite predicate
After the interruption closes, the clause needs a finite singular verb. “Derives” both agrees with “adhesive” and completes the predicate.