SAT: The Language of the Test: Language of the Test, List 8

When you include something, you incorporate it into a larger something. On the SAT, you may be asked why an author most likely chose to include certain details in his or her argument; it will be your job to infer why that decision was made. The opposite of include is exclude, which means "to rule out or prevent from joining."

An example is something used to prove a point. On the SAT, you may be asked to identify examples that support an argument's claim. Examples can also be used to highlight properties — a fire engine, a strawberry, and a stop sign are all examples of red things.

Emotion isn't about book smarts or facts but about how you feel. Authors of arguments will often use emotional appeals to persuade their readers. The SAT can ask you to put your finger on exactly what parts of a reading passage can trigger certain emotions in a reader, whether that emotion is patriotism, anger, love, or many others.

An experiment is an investigation of a theory. An experiment is careful and controlled to make sure the test is done properly. The SAT has descriptions of experiments of all kinds, but the common factor is the scientists who conduct these experiments have set up ways to research an aspect of life and have an idea they are examining to see if it is true. Experiment can also be used non-scientifically, to mean to try things out, like when an artist experiments with a new style.

To identify something is to recognize it. When writing the SAT essay, you may identify a rhetorical device in the related reading passage and describe it. However, on the SAT Reading Test, test writers will most likely identify something and then ask you to interpret or analyze it. For example, they might identify an interesting example of word choice and then ask you to try to figure out why it was used and its effect on the reader.

Some questions about the reading passages on the SAT address how one part of the passage relates to another, or how two different passages relate to one another. Does idea number 2 provide evidence for idea number 1? Does idea number 2 cause the reader to doubt the conclusion reached in idea number 1? Or, the question could be more general. For example, a question could ask: "Which statement best describes the relationship between the passages?"

This isn't the yield on the road sign that's a triangle. Yield is a word that means to produce. If a field yields corn, it has produced it. Yield is a word that is concerned with outcomes, with results. Yield can be about physical results, like the corn, or more abstract, like a discovery yielding scientific opportunity. On the SAT, you will most likely see yield in a variety of contexts (e.g., yield value, yield data, yield products, etc.).

A phrase is a bit of text that is made up of more than one word. A phrase can be as short as two words or as long as a sentence. On the SAT, the word phrase is usually used to refer to the text that the question will be asking about. For example, a question could begin, "The author uses the phrase 'x y' to most likely..." You will most likely see this word in questions that quote the phrase itself.

When something is important or has worth for someone, it has value. In SAT questions, you may see expressions containing value — such as "moral values" or "traditional values." Values can be personal, like someone whose moral values tell them not to steal, or shared (we all agree that money has value). Value can also mean prizing or holding something dear, as in "I value our friendship."

When you describe something, you are using language to create a representation in the mind of your reader. Descriptive words can range from physical traits like round or yellow to emotional states like amused or angry. Being able to describe something (to point out the characteristics of a given thing) comes up a lot on the SAT, and you will often be asked to pick a word or phrase that best describes a character or event.

A description uses language to illustrate the physical or emotional characteristics of a person or thing. Descriptions add up to paint a picture inside a reader's mind of what something looks or feels like. Descriptions usually involve adjectives, adverbs, or phrases that involve them. On the SAT, it is good to recognize the difference between regular phrases and descriptions: "he left" reports an action, but "he left angrily" describes that action.

Difference has many meanings, but they all describe things that are not the same. On the SAT Reading Test, similar and different will often be used when comparing paired passages or differing points of view on an issue. On the math side of things, the number that is the result of a subtraction problem is called "the difference" because it is the difference between two values.