By Lauren Bishop
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It's a great nite for the mall, dawg; CU there.

For some teens, that's grammar at its finest. It's not good grammar, of course, which is why educators and parents often find themselves fretting over students' ability to put sentences together.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Examples of questions from the SAT's planned grammar and essay sections: • Identifying sentence errors In the following item, students are asked to identify the error in usage. It is likely that the opening of the convention center, previously (A) set for (B) July 1, would be (C) postponed because of (D) the bricklayers' strike. No error (E) Correct answer: C. Explanation: "Would be" is the wrong tense of the verb in this sentence. The sentence concerns when the convention center is going to open. This is a time in the future, either July 1 or later if there is a strike. Since the opening will definitely take place, the future tense, "will be," is needed. "Would be" (the conditional tense) indicates only that an event might happen. • Essay question Directions: Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. The principle is this: each failure leads us closer to deeper knowledge, to greater creativity in understanding old data, to new lines of inquiry. Thomas Edison experienced 10,000 failures before he succeeded in perfecting the light bulb. When a friend of his remarked that 10,000 failures was a lot, Edison replied, "I didn't fail 10,000 times, I successfully eliminated 10,000 materials and combinations that didn't work." - Myles Brand, "Taking the Measure of Your Success" Assignment: What is your view on the idea that it takes failure to achieve success? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Reprinted with permission from the College Entrance Examination Board

GOT GRAMMAR?

A few guidelines (tongue-in-cheek): • Don't use prepositions to end sentences with. "Well, you're the worst pirate I've ever heard of." - Will Turner to Capt. Jack Sparrow in 2003 film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" • Be more or less specific. "Oh my God, ew! Oh God, I'm sorry, you're cute and everything, but there's just no way!" - Summer Roberts in the Fox TV series The O.C., Jan. 14 • Each person should use their pronouns correctly. "...And that's really my only comment I've got." - President Bush, news conference, July 30, 2003 • Verbs has to agree with their subjects. "All People Is My Friends" - DJ Koze CD title • Write adverbial forms correct. "Think different." - Apple Computer advertising slogan • Confusing quantity and number can lead to an amount of errors. "10 items or less." - Express checkout line at supermarkets Source: Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, borrowing from William Safire's 1979 column "Fumble Rules of Grammar" and the Creative Teaching Web site

Mary Pat Key, an English teacher at Hughes Center High School in University Heights, says she's had students turn in rough drafts of papers full of abbreviations that they use in cell phone text messages.

"It's more habit, I'm sure, than anything else," she says.

Test takers had better break the habit - starting next March, the SAT will be revised, and the biggest changes are in the verbal section.

Now called "critical reading," the section will include an essay question and a 25-minute section testing grammar and word usage. Analogies - sweet is to sugar as hard is to brick - will be removed.

Other changes are ahead, too.

First, the test will be about 35 minutes longer. It will cost $10-$12 more to take and will have a maximum possible score of 2,400 instead of 1,600.

In the math section, quantitative comparisons - in which test-takers have to compare items in two columns - will be eliminated, and questions will be added to reflect subjects covered in third-year math.

Here's a study guide to the new SAT - and yes, this will be on the test.

Why were the changes made?

The College Board, which administers the test, changed it to bring it in line with high school curricula, says Kristin Carnahan, the board's associate director of public affairs.

Carnahan also says the board has been hearing from educators for years that students are entering college without the writing skills. The new test will ask students to identify sentence errors and improve sentences and paragraphs, she says.

What has influenced teens' grammar and writing skills?

The College Board surveyed college students who took the SAT and found that the percentage of test-takers who said they took a grammar course in high school declined 13 percent between 1993 and 2003.

Tori Theiss, a 17-year-old senior at Highlands High School, says many teens aren't receiving the amount of grammar education necessary to score well on a timed test.

"There have been very few years of my schooling where the teacher has placed as much emphasis on grammar as they did reading and writing," she says. "My school even required that I purchase a grammar book my freshman and sophomore years, and both years, less than 10 of the 200-something workbook pages were completed."

Some students think the changes are a good thing. Jenna Martin, a 16-year-old junior at Campbell County High School in Alexandria, recalls an advanced placement English class in which some of her classmates were unable to name the plural of "goose."

"I think the SATs should reflect that, and perhaps this drastic change will make a few teens try harder to express themselves without using 'like' or starting sentences with 'and' - my personal pet peeve," she says.

Martin isn't too worried about the new test, but other students are. Giana Collins, a 17-year-old junior at Hughes Center, prides herself on good grammar but says she's surrounded by slang and improper usage every day.

"It's kind of hard to distinguish what is right sometimes," she says. "It's easy to pick up, and I don't want to pick it up."

What are teachers doing to prepare students for the test?

Key, the English teacher from Hughes, says she reviews grammar rules when she sees students making the same grammar mistakes over and over.

That's the approach teachers should take, says Elizabeth Jones, the language arts curriculum council chairwoman for Cincinnati Public Schools and a counselor at Shroder Paideia Academy in Kennedy Heights. Some teachers also use oral language activities to start their classes, she says.

What can students do to prepare?

Students who will be juniors in the fall should take the Preliminary SAT and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The test will have questions similar to those that will be asked on the SAT beginning next March, but no essay question, according to the College Board.

Martha Geller, director of the College Information Center at Walnut Hills High School, also suggests that students who will graduate in 2006 take the ACT Assessment in addition to the SAT. The ACT, which covers English, math, reading and science, will add an optional, 30-minute writing test beginning in February.

"Thirty percent of students will do better on one test than another," says Geller, who has taken 260 different PSATs and SATs in her 32 years of prepping students for the tests.

In fact, more students at Hughes Center and other Cincinnati public high schools take the ACT because they tend to perform better on it, Keysays.

Geller also recommends that students take the ACT and SAT on dates that give them the option of getting back the questions and correct answers to the tests. There's an extra fee for that service, but it shows students where their strengths and weaknesses are, Geller says. Also this fall, the College Board will provide practice material on its Web site based on what the new SAT will look like, Carnahan says. The tests also will be available in school counselors' offices.

This summer, test-prep companies such as Kaplan and the Princeton Review will offer courses to prepare students for the new SAT. Students can also find free practice questions on the College Board's Web site, www.collegeboard.org, and on test-prep companies' Web sites.

Which version of the SAT will colleges accept?

Educators and test-prep companies recommend students check with the colleges they're interested in.

Karan says Kaplan surveyed senior admissions counselors at more than 200 of the top 500 colleges and universities. Of those that have formed policies regarding the SAT, 80 percent will accept scores from both versions of the test, she says.

But Carnahan urges students not to be too hasty.

"We don't want students to rush to take the current test," she says. "They do risk not doing as well if they're taking it before they feel they're ready."

E-mail lbishop@enquirer.com