Sentence Correction: Generic: Noun: can be an adjective (Argentina Football Coach) Pronouns: Take place of a noun -­Relative pronoun: who, whom, whose, that, which -­whoever, whomever, whichever (compound relative) -­everyone, each, none, anybody (singular) Adjective: -­Comparitive: 2 things (e.g. taller) -­Superlative: 3 + things (e.g tallest) Verb:

-­Action vs State (Run vs. Seems) -­Main vs Helping (helping cannot stand on its own) -­Active: object receives the action (Dogs eat bones) -­Passive: subject receives the action (Bones are eaten by dogs) -­Transitive vs Intransitive (Later does not require an object)

Adverb: -­Can modify verb or adjective -­usually end with -­ly Preposition: -­Links nouns, pronouns, and other phrases together -­Look below at prepositional phrase -­Preposition should always be followed by a noun Conjunction: -­Coordinate:

-­Ex: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet -­Connect independant clause -­Subordinate:

-­Ex: after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, and while.

-­Connects a dependant clause -­The conjunction introduces the dependant clause -­After she learned to drive, Alice felt more independent. -­Subject: Person/Thing that carrying out the action -­Object: Person/Thing upon which the action is carried out on -­Predicate: What a person or thing does or did | what happened to person/thing Ex: The dogs (subject) are destroying (predicate) the furniture (object). Gerund: -­Acts as a noun and ends with -­ing Participle: -­Present: describe what a thing does -­ end with: -­ing

-­Past: describe what was done to a thing -­ end with: -­ed, -­t, -­en, -­d, -­n (eg: dealt, asked, eaten) -­She is buying a talking (present) bird Infinitive:

-­to + verb (noun, adjective, or verb) Colon(:) -­used to introduce a list or when introducing an explanation or an example

-­Ex: After several days of deliberation, the board made its decision: it was going to sell the company.

Semicolon(;;) -­connects to independent clauses -­ Subject Verb Agreement: 1. Placing the subject and the verb far from one another a. Appositives: nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases placed next to nouns to further describe them. b. Relative Clauses: a dependent clause that acts as an adjective describing a noun. GMAT will attempt to confuse you by obscuring the subject-­verb agreement by making the relative phrase plural. c. Prepositional Phrase: Prepositions are used to for spatial and temporal description. GMAT will use a prepositional clause to obscure the correct subject. 2. Confusing one with additives a. Additive: i. Subject closest to the verb should agree. Do not be confused by earlier subject being added by the additive. ii. Be wary of subjects that are connected but are considered a single unit. 3. Either or/Neither or: Make the verb agree with the subject that is closest to it. 4. Collective Nouns: collective nouns are ‘Groups’ and hence are considered to ALWAYS be singular. Examples: Herd of elephants, crowd of people. 5. Each & Every: When you see each, every, Anyone, Everyone, Whoever, etc. be Wary! Though the ensuing subject may be plural, the word each makes the agreement Singular. 6. The number / a number: The number is singular. A number is plural. 7. Words that are sometimes singular and sometimes plural: a. For example: i. A Majority is always right ii. A majority of students are right. 8. One of the X who/that Y: This construction is primarily PLURAL. a. One of the ‘noun’ (will always be plural) + that/who + Plural Verb b. Do not confuse with: One of the chairs is broken. i. One of the ‘noun’ à this structure is usually SINGULAR 9. NOTES: a. When in doubt go singular

b. Always check for subject verb agreement when you see the words: each, every, and, as well as, or, etc. Tense: Used to refer to time: past, present, and future. -­There are 4 variations of these 3 tenses: 1. Simple Tense: simple tense used to show permanent characteristics of people and events or what happens regularly, habitually or in a single completed action. -­Present: The Earth is round. -­Past: I saw a play yesterday. -­Future: He is going to spend his holidays in Jamaica. (Will is also used for future tense) 2. Continuous Tense: Verbs in continuous tense always express “actions” that are in progress during the given time framework. 3. Perfect Tense: Used to link an action or situation in the present to a moment in the past. -­Present: Used to denote an action that happened at an unspecified time before now. -­ Ex: Have you seen that play yet? -­Past: Use this tense to refer to two actions taking place in the past at different times. -­ Ex: You had studied French before you moved to London -­Present Continuous: Action that started in the past and continues into the present. -­ Form: has/have + been + present participle -­ Ex: He has been waiting here for 2 hours. -­Past Continuous: Action that started in the past and continued to another time in the past. -­ Form: had + been + present participle -­ Ex: They had been talking for an hour before Herb left. 4. Perfect Continuous Tense: Used o denote an ongoing action either starting and ending in the past or starting in the past and continuing to the present. **GMAT MOSTLY TESTS ON THE PERFECT TENSES** Test on: -­Actions taking place at different time periods -­Choosing between simple and perfect tenses -­Choosing between simple and continuous tenses -­Use of ‘has had’ (present perfect of to have) and ‘had had’ (past perfect of to have) -­If…Then construction 1. If + ‘present tense’ + will + ‘verb’ à (then clause) 2. If + ‘past tense’ + would/could + ‘verb’ 3. If + ‘past perfect tense’ + would/could have + past participle Pronoun: anything that replaces a noun -­Make sure it is clear that the pronoun in use refers back to a specific noun -­Make sure pronoun agrees in number with the noun it replaces. No ambiguity -­Make sure a pronoun only refers to one noun -­Pronoun should have a CLEAR/DISCERNABLE antecedent. -­NO indefinite antecedents -­Know the correct usage of ‘that’ and ‘which’ -­Which is explanatory

-­Must come after a comma -­It must refer to the noun that comes right before the comma -­Do not confuse with ‘in which’, ‘from which’, etc. These need NO comma -­That is required and used to identify the subject -­Know the correct usage of ‘who’ and ‘whom’ -­Who: Represents a subject like: I, he, and she. -­Whom: Represents an object like: me, him, and her. -­ Comes after a preposition -­Know the correct usage of ‘do it’ vs. ‘do so’ -­ -­Know the correct usage of ‘one’ vs. ‘you’ -­ Never use one and you together in sentence. Modifiers: Describer and provide more accurate definitional meaning for another element in a sentence. List of Modifiers 1. Adjectives modify Nouns: I am a good boy 2. Adverbs modify Verbs: He walked slowly 3. Adverbs modify Adjectives: They were really happy 4. Adverbs modify adverbs: He is almost always hungry 5. Adverbs modify clauses: Perhaps you are correct. 6. Adverbs modify sentences: Suddenly, she went home. *Modifiers should be placed closest to what they are modifying GMAT Test the following: -­ Misplaced modifiers: o Participial Phrase: these phrases modify nouns. Often, there is a incorrect modifier lurking. § Ex: Coming out of the house, John was robbed of his car. o Use of adjectives or adjectival phrase: § Ex: Tall and handsome, John cut a striking figure. -­ Dangling modifiers and introducing new words: o Modifier must be referring to the correct subject. § Ex: Using a stethoscope, heartbeats can be detected. · This is incorrect. “Doctor’ should follow the comma. Parallel Construction: -­Identify these questions by looking for a list or series of items or actions separated by commas. -­Parallel structure can be made with: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. -­ Can also use gerunds (to walk) and infinitives (walking) -­ Can use Clauses (that they should… *repeat throughout list*) -­ Can use correlative conjunctions: -­ Correlative conjunctions join grammatically equal elements (noun and noun) -­Ex: not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, both…and -­Correct: The company debated not only the magazine but also the newspaper.

-­ Ex: After the typhoon, the citizens of the country were left without food, power, and hug bills for reconstructing their houses. Comparisons: Special category of parallel constructions involving the comparison of 2+ items. -­Compared items must be: -­Logically similar -­Grammatically similar (like with parallel construction) On GMAT they are tested by: -­ Unclear comparisons o Make sure it is clear to identify the comparison -­ Illogical comparisons o The comparisons need to make sense o Ex: The books at this shop are far better than any other shop § Cannot compare books to other shops -­ Comparative Form: o Used when comparing 2 things o Typically end with -­er -­ Superlative Form: o Used when comparing 2+ things o Typically end with –est o Quote simple: with 2+ objects make sure that 1 object has been classified separately from rest. § Among all my students, John is most intelligent (not more!) -­ The use of ‘like’ and ‘as’: o Like is used to ONLY compare nouns o As is used to compare everything else but for nouns Idioms: -­Memorize most used list Miscellaneous Errors: -­Subjunctive Mood: -­Number Words: -­Use correct term depending on word -­Countable: many, number, fewer, quantity, little, etc. -­Uncountable: much, amount, less, etc. -­ Non countable noun is always SINGULAR -­Collective Noun: represents a group (SINGULAR) eg. Flock of geese -­More examples: Majority, minority, family, crowd, etc… -­Where & When: -­Where: specific location -­When: specific time period -­Each other vs. one another: -­

-­Whether vs. If: -­ -­Everyday vs. Every Day: -­ -­Prepositions or Conjunctions: -­ -­Ending sentences with a preposition: -­ -­Like vs. Such As: -­ -­Compare to vs. Compare with -­ -­Due to vs. Because of: -­ -­Less v/s Fewer -­ -­Agree to v/s Agree with -­ -­Shall v/s Will -­ -­Will v/s Would v/s Should -­ -­Between v/s Among -­ -­Farther v/s Further -­ -­Differ with v/s Differ from -­ -­Rather than v/s Instead of -­ -­Advice v/s Advise -­ -­Coordination and Subordination -­ -­The use of Double Negatives -­ Dos and Don’ts: 1. Go for shorter option 2. Avoid passive voice 3. Avoid redundancy 4. Avoid ‘Being’ 5. Avoid words with ‘ing’ (infinitives)

6. Always read the correct option back into the sentence