Strategy Guide Notes - Sentence Correction

Front 1

SC Process (1/2)

1) First glance

2) Read for meaning

3) Find a starting point

4) Eliminate incorrect choices and repeat 3 and 4

"Best" does not mean ideal

SC timing = 1 min 20 secs (2 min cut-off)

Back 1

1) First Glance

• Underline long: sentence structure, meaning modifiers, paralellism
• Underline short: compare all answers before reading question
• First word underlined, word immediately before
• Differences between first word in answers

Hint 1

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 1

Front 2

SC Process (2/2)

2) Read for meaning

• Read entire original sentence, all the way to the period, noting possible grammar or meaning issues along the way
• If you spot an error in the original, eliminate Choice A and any other answers that repeat same error

Back 2

3) Find a starting point

• 2 primary ways: Read original sentence; compare answers

4) Eliminate all incorrect choice

Hint 2

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 1

Front 3

5 Key Grammar Terms (1/4)

1) Clause

2) Modifier

3) Sentence Core

4) Conjuction

5) Marker

Back 3

1) Clause

• A set of words that contain a subject and working verb
• Complete sentence requires one independent clause, but more complex sentences will also include something else: another independent clause, a dependent clause or other modifiers

Hint 3

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 2

Front 4

5 Key Grammar Terms (2/3)

2) Modifier

• Provides additional information in a sentence, beyond the core subject and verb
• Essential modifier vs. non-esssential modifier

Back 4

3) Sentence Core

• Core of a sentence consists of any independent clause along with some essential modifiers
• Bare minimum needed for a coherent sentence

Hint 4

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 2

Front 5

5 Key Grammar Terms (3/3)

4) Conjunction

• Words that help parts of sentences stick together
• Coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) vs. subordinating conjunctions

Back 5

5) Marker

• Flag or clue that a certain kind of issue is being tested

Hint 5

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 2

Front 6

Meaning

Most meaning errors fall into 3 major categories:

1) Choose your words

2) Place your words

3) Match your words

Back 6

Avoid Redundancy

• Rose and Increased
• Sum and Total
• Pay attentions to expressions of time

Hint 6

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 2

Front 7

Sentence Structure (1/2)

• Subject and verb must both exist - if sentence is missing the subject or verb it is a fragment

Back 7

Examples:

The cat sitting by the stairs ← wrong

The cat was sitting by the stairs ← correct

Because the dog was never mine ← wrong

Which will be approved tomorrow ← wrong

Because and which are connecting words, they add extra information but are not sentences by themselves

Hint 7

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 3

Front 8

Sentence Structure (2/2)

• Subject and Verb must agree in number

Back 8

1) Lin and Guy drive to work ← correct

• Compound subjects are always plural
• Compound subject must be connected by word "and"

2) Lin, as well as Guy, drives to work ← correct (not a compound subject)

Hint 8

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 3

Front 9

Eliminate the Middlemen and Skip the Warm-up

Back 9

• Most common way to hide a subject is to insert words between the subject and the verb - Middlemen
• GMAT often puts a significant number of words in front of the subject you want - Warm-up (ignore this when looking for the subject)
  

Hint 9

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 3

Front 10

Common types of Middlemen and Warm-ups

1) Prepositional Phrases

• Group of words headed by a preposition (of mice, for milk, by 1800, in Zambia, with her, at that level, to the store, on orders, from home
• Prepositions are followed by nouns or pronouns
• Prepositional phrases modify or describe other parts of the sentence
• A noun in a prepositional phrase will never by the main subject

Back 10

2) Dependent clauses

• Begin with connecting words such as who or because
• Cannot stand alone as sentences
• If a dependent clause is stripped out of a sentence, what remains is still a complete sentence

3) Other modifiers

Sometimes a sentence will need to be substantially rewritten in order to make sense

Building complex sentences: When the word "that" appears just after a working verb, it acts as a reset button in the sentence - a new subject and verb will follow. Important to maintain the word "that".

Hint 10

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 3

Front 11

Two Independent Clauses

Two complete sentences can be connected into one long sentence.

e.g. Lin drove to work, but Guy rode his bike

Back 11

• Two complete sentences can be connected using a comma plus a conjunction (FANBOYS) to create a compound sentence
  
• It is not acceptable to connect two sentences using only a comma (run-on)
• Comma + FANBOYS to connect independent clauses
• Can connect two independent clauses using a semi-colon
• Semi-colon is often followed by a transition expression such as 'however', 'therefore' or 'in addition'
• These transition elements are not true conjunctions like 'and' and as a result you must use semi-colons (not commas) to join the sentences

Hint 11

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 3

Front 12

Adjectives and Adverbs

Noun modifiers (adjectives)

• Modify only nouns or pronouns

Adverbial modifiers

• Modify anything but a noun
• Many adverbs are formed by adding '-ly' to the adjective

Back 12

GMAT will sometimes offer answers that use adjective when an adverb is grammatically correct and vice-versa

• Is word modifying noun? --> Use adjective
• Is word modifying something else --> Adverb

• Many modifiers answer the questions Who, What, When, Where and Why

Hint 12

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 13

Noun Modifiers

• Preposition
• Past Participle
• Present Participle without commas

• "Comma which" --> Non-essential modifier
• Modifier without commas --> Essential modifier

Back 13

Place a NOUN and its MODIFIER as close together as possible - the closer the better

• The majority of the time a noun and its modifier will be placed right next to each other, with no other words intervening
• In certain circumstances, a noun and its modifier may be separated by another modifier

• Possessive nouns are not nouns, they are adjectives (e.g. Ryan's grades)

Hint 13

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 14

Noun Modifier Markers: Relative Pronouns

• Which, that, who, whose, where, when - signal noun modifiers
• Who and Whom --> modify people
• Whose --> can modify either people or things
• Which or whom is sometimes follow prepositions
• Which can never modify people
• Where --> modifies a noun place (never a condition)
• When --> modifies a noun event of time

Back 14

Noun Modifier Markers: Prepositions and Participles

• Can be either noun or adverbial modifiers
• If a preposition immediately follows a noun, then the prepositional phrase modifies that noun
• '-ing' functioning as part of the verb form will have another verb immediately before it e.g. "is playing"; no prior verb --> not acting as verb
• '-ing' words that are not verbs and not separated from he rest of the sentence by a comma will either be a noun e.g, "Playing soccer is fun", or modify another noun e.g. "The girl playing soccer is my sister"
• 'comma -ing' structure --> adverbial modifier

Hint 14

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 15

Adverbial Modifiers

• Adverbial modifiers do not have the same placement constraints as noun modifiers
• It must clearly point to one particular verb or clause
• It should be structurally closer to the right verb or clause

Back 15

Check sequence in Participle Modifiers

• Whichever statement comes first --> Instigating action
• Whichever comes second --> Effect or resutl

Subordinators

• Subordinate clauses are not full sentences
• Subordinate markers include: although, before, unless, because, that, so that, if, yet, after, while, single, when

Hint 15

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 16

Which vs. the Present Participle -ing

• Which must always refer to the closest preceding main noun and not the whole clause

Back 16

Modifier vs. Clause

• Two long non-essential modifiers in a row can lead to awkward or incorrect phrasings
• If your first glance reveals a long underline, expect portions of the sentence to move or even change roles completely in the sentence
• Core+modifier and Modifier+core are both acceptable of the meaning is logical and unambiguous

Hint 16

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 17

Quantity

Rule 1: Words used for Countable Things vs. Words used for Uncountable Things

• MANY hats MUCH patience
• FEW stores LITTLE merchandise
• FEWER children LESS money
• FEWEST shoes LEAST greedy
• NUMBER of chairs AMOUNT of tables
• NUMEROUS books GREAT courage

Back 17

Rule 2: Words used to relate two things vs. words used to relate three things

• Two things: Comparative
• Three things: Superlative

Between --> two people

Among --> three or more people

Hint 17

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4

Front 18

Rule 3: The word Numbers

• To make a comparison using the word Numbers , use "greater than" not "more than"
  

Back 18

Rule 4: Increase and Decrease vs. Greater and Less

• Increase/decrease --> change of one thing over time
• Greater/less --> comparison between two things

Watch out for redundancy with the words increase and decrease

Hint 18

Strat Guide 8 - Chapter 4