SAT Reading Comprehension: Individual People vs. Groups of People

This approach to answer choices once again involves a difference in number. Remember that that the difference between individuals and groups is important.

Imagine that, half-asleep, you stumble out of bed in the middle of the night and trudge down to the kitchen to eat. As soon as you flip on the kitchen light, you notice a Russian soldier standing in front of the fridge eating a sandwich. That's kind of annoying...perhaps a little scary. Now imagine that the entire Russian army is in your kitchen, eating all your food. Now you've got a situation.

This stupid hypothetical highlights the difference between an individual and a group or groups of people. Attention to this difference in scope will save you a lot of time and a lot of wrong answers in the SAT Reading section.

PRACTICE QUESTION FOR INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE VS. GROUPS OF PEOPLE

Just a year before, Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman had appeared in Britain. In it, Wollstonecraft endorses the moral equality and responsibilities of men and women. To uplift and fulfill the moral rights of women, she argues that they must be given the chance to cultivate their faculty of reason.

1. The above lines primarily suggest that
   (A) a woman is morally superior to any man
   (B) men did not allow Wollstonecraft to develop her reason
   (C) the oppression of women enlivened Wollstonecraft’s work
   (D) Wollstonecraft was morally equal to any man of her era
   (E) women are identical to men in their ethical obligations

Focus on the people or groups of people in the lines to find the correct answer.

Think you've got the answer? Let's make sure.

The referenced lines contain two large groups (“men” and “women”) and one individual (“Wollstonecraft”).

The key to navigating the answer choices lies in the fact that any correct answer must match the scope given in the lines, namely that covering “women” and “men”.

   Choice (A) is incorrect because it stays within an individual scope (“woman”)
   Choice (B) is incorrect because it includes “men” but not “women”
   Choice (C) includes “women” but not “men”
   Choice (D) only includes “Wollstonecraft” and "a man"
   

   Only choice (E) correctly contains the proper scope, covering both the large groups of “women” and “men”.

SAT Reading: Individuals vs. Groups

Lesson Includes:

—Examples of Individual vs. Groups of People

—Practice Question for Individual vs. Groups of People

SAT Math

SAT Writing

SAT Reading

SAT Vocabulary