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 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)
-IfThen construction
1. If + present tense + will + verb (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 onlybut also, eitheror, neithernor, bothand
-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
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-Shall v/s Will
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-Will v/s Would v/s Should
-
-Between v/s Among
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-Farther v/s Further
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-Differ with v/s Differ from
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-Rather than v/s Instead of
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-Advice v/s Advise
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-Coordination and Subordination
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-The use of Double Negatives
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Dos and Donts:
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