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14. *Contrasting with* *most other* fifteenth-century rulers, Portugese kings *could count on* the support of the aristocracy *in any* overseas ventures. *No error*.

22. Unless the patient is willing to exercise to rebuild muscles, even the most skillful knee surgery *would probably prove almost worthless*.

A. would probably prove almost worthless
B. should likely prove more worthless than useful
C. will probably end up almost worthless
D. is likely to prove almost worthless
E. is probably likely to be almost worthless

By Arashf (Arashf) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 08:11 pm: Edit

not sure, but I'd say...

14. D
22. C

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 08:15 pm: Edit

Wrong and Wrong. And I thought ETS/NMSQT/College Board would always create good questions

By Tanman (Tanman) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 08:25 pm: Edit

I'll take a shot at it..

14. A
22. D?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 08:36 pm: Edit

Tanman, good. What was your thought process?

By Tanman (Tanman) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 09:03 pm: Edit

For the first one, my first thought was that the convential use of "contrast" is "In contrast with". However, I'm not sure if this is always true and I don't think that this is a very good question. Basically, I thought that the first clause "sounded wrong" because of the "constrasting with"
For #22, I first eliminated B and E because both seem very confusing and sound wrong. I wasn't that sure about the other three choices but I eliminated A and C because I thought the use of "probably" and "almost" together made the sentences wordy. Also, I thought the sentences were too similar for either one to be correct. Additionally, sentence D includes "prove", a word in the originial sentence. I'm not sure if this would make any difference. I dont know if the "strategies" that I use are correct but I've found them to work pretty well for me.

P.S. Where did you get these questions?

By Tanman (Tanman) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 09:07 pm: Edit

P.P.S If anybody else has a better, more technical explantion, please post it

By Pookdogg (Pookdogg) on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 11:51 pm: Edit

14.) Should be "in contrast to"

22.) Process of elimination. A doesn't work since the conditional "would" does not work with the present "is willing". B is just awkward, redundant, and wrong. For C, I always thought that "end up" had to have a noun as in "end up as a worthless exercise." In E, probably likely is redundant. D is the only one that works.

By Prethumous (Prethumous) on Sunday, October 05, 2003 - 02:48 am: Edit

# 14 - "in any" should still be changed to "for any"; you can't seriously tell me the former works better than the latter

# 22 - I would think that "unless" implies the subjunctive tense; thus, I chose A