Posted on 05/15/2003 4:07:50 PM PDT by ZinGirl
Md. Teacher Finds Botched PSAT Question
Student Test Scores Increased Due To Erroneous Question
POSTED: 9:00 p.m. EDT May 14, 2003
The nation's largest testing company has increased the PSAT scores of nearly 500,000 high school juniors after the company concluded it was wrong about the correct answer to a grammar question posed on the exam last October.
Students were asked if anything was grammatically wrong with the following sentence: "Toni Morrison's genius enables her to create novels that arise from and express the injustices African-Americans have endured."
The correct choice on the multiple choice exam was originally listed as "no error" by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J., which administers the PSAT and SAT for the College Board. The PSAT is aimed at helping juniors prepare for the SAT college entrance exam in their senior year.
Maryland high school journalism teacher Kevin Keegan spotted the botched question in late January.
He informed ETS that the sentence was incorrect because the pronoun in the sentence -- "her" -- was used improperly. Keegan said pronouns should only refer to nouns and in this case Morrison's name is used as an adjective.
The ETS said a committee of experts signed off on the question, which was posed on the exam given Oct. 15 to 1.8 million juniors.
In letters and telephone calls, Keegan persevered.
From experience, he knew that the loss of one or two points on the PSAT could disqualify a junior from becoming a National Merit commended student or a National Merit semifinalist. National Merit academic honors are determined by PSAT scores.
"I have taught dozens of kids over the years who have missed those two cutoffs by one point or one question," he said.
Based on a review by three experts, ETS this month informed Keegan and the students that the sentence would not be counted in the scoring. As a result, the scores of 480,000 students will rise.
Lee Jones, a College Board vice president, said the National Merit Scholarship Program has also agreed to adjust its limits.
"He was persistent in his point and we appreciate that," Jones said of Keegan. "And, he turned out to be correct."
". . . pronouns should only refer to nouns and in this case Morrison's name is used as an adjective."
Wrong. The usage is incorrect.
First there is no "continuing subject in the essay". The question is directed to only the presented sentence. It is a rather simple question regarding grammer. 'Genius'is the noun and "Toni Morrison's" is clearly and adjective describing the noun. It is Toni Morrison's genius.
Sentence structure does not rely upon a "continuing subject" of an essay. Each sentence must stand on its own- either gramatically correct or not.
Enable is so common, such a basic-800-words kind of verb that it begs, beseeches for replacement. How about "genius badgers Toni Morrison day and night until she finally falls from exhaustion after extracting the essence of the Afro-Amer whatever and distilling it into the finest, purest, most refreshing oasis spring water a thirsty desert traveller can imagine." Like that, u no?
Curses be upon MS Word auto-complete. :)
LOL! Hey, they don't call 'em edumakaters fer nuthin!
She is a racist, moronic, leftist twit.
yeah, but if a student put THAT down, no matter how true, they probably wouldn't have earned the extra point.
Personal pronouns are commonly used as nouns, for instance, 'I love her.'
One presumes, and rightly, that the woman in question is NOT an adjective. :^)
In the test question, "Toni Morrison's" is used as an adjective modifying "genius," but remains a genitive (possessive) noun.
In the sentence "My dog has fleas," is "My" an adjective or a possessive pronoun?
Hyphens were dropped from the language years ago--waste of printer's ink. The old double-em is still around if your word processor can be fooled.
alternative version...
Due to a massive (or is it massively) hairy navel and an sub-human IQ, Dragno has figured out how to turn on his computer and post to the internet. (turn on? Is this the same as amorous?
I disagree. Toni Morrison is a proper noun, used in the genitive case.
If only these self-styled grammarians knew some Latin.
no, no, no...haven't you been reading? Only Toni Morrison, herself, is allowed to be a genius (according to the wonderful folks concocting the PSAT)....she's just not allowed to modify herself....or something like that.
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