Question 182·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Standard English Conventions
The park district plans to replace the playground equipment and resurface the tennis courts, projects ______ estimated costs exceed $250,000.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For pronoun and relative clause questions, first identify what the clause is describing and what grammatical job the missing word must do (subject, object, or possession). Then, check whether you need to both connect the clause to a noun and show ownership; if so, look for a possessive form that can introduce a clause (often "whose"). Quickly plug each option into the sentence and reject any choice that makes the structure incomplete, changes the meaning, or creates awkward or ungrammatical wording.
Hints
Look at the phrase around the blank
Focus on the words right after the blank: "estimated costs exceed $250,000." Ask yourself how those costs are related to "projects."
Think about possession
The sentence is talking about costs that belong to or are connected with the projects. What kind of word shows that kind of ownership while also joining clauses?
Check for complete, smooth structure
Read the sentence with each option. Which choice makes the clause after the blank both grammatically complete and clearly connected to "projects" without making the sentence sound broken or awkward?
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the sentence structure
Break the sentence into parts:
- Main idea: "The park district plans to replace the playground equipment and resurface the tennis courts"
- Extra information (set off by a comma): "projects ______ estimated costs exceed $250,000."
The blank starts a clause that gives more information about "projects." That kind of clause usually begins with a relative pronoun (like "that," "which," etc.).
Decide what role the missing word must play
Look closely at the words around the blank: "projects ______ estimated costs exceed $250,000."
- "estimated costs" is the subject of "exceed."
- These costs belong to the "projects."
So the missing word has two jobs:
- Connect the clause to "projects."
- Show possession (the costs of the projects).
Test each type of option logically and grammatically
Go through the choices by type:
- Some options are relative pronouns that connect clauses but do not show possession. With them, you would get something like "projects ___ estimated costs exceed $250,000," which makes it sound like "___ estimated" is missing a possessive word.
- One option is a regular possessive pronoun. It can show ownership, but it cannot introduce a clause that modifies "projects" in this position, so it breaks the sentence structure.
That means we need a word that both introduces a clause describing "projects" and shows that the costs belong to those projects.
Select the possessive relative pronoun
The only choice that is a possessive relative pronoun and can refer to things like "projects" is D) whose, which correctly gives: "projects whose estimated costs exceed $250,000."