Exam (elaborations)
SAT-and-ACT-Grammar-Review
- Course
- Institution
SAT-and-ACT-Grammar-SAT-and-ACT-Grammar-Review
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
modockochieng06
Content preview
SAT/ACT Grammar ReviewThe SAT and ACT do not expect you to know every nook and cranny of the English
language. Instead, they assess your knowledge of a small subset of grammatical rules —
and once you master them, you can master the Language Arts* sections of both tests.
Below are the 16 most commonly tested grammatical rules, what they mean, and how to
practice them.
*Note: The SAT’s language arts section is called “Writing and Language.” The ACT’s is
called “English.” This guide does not have tips or techniques for the tests’ essay
components.
Rule No. 1: Subject–verb agreement
1. What it means:
Consider this simple sentence: “My mother works in a school.”
The subject is “mother” and the verb is “works.” In every sentence, the subject and the
verb must “agree” — or take the same form. This sentence would not be grammatically
correct if it read, “My mother work in a school.”
2. How the tests will try to trick you:
When the subject and verb are placed right next to each other, identifying them and their
form is relatively easy (as in the example above). So the SAT and ACT will attempt to
confuse you by separating them by several (often confusing or unnecessary) words.
For example, consider this sentence: “The collection of short stories — many of them
written by authors in 19th-century England, including Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis —
contain some of the preeminent works of fiction to date.”
Is there an error here? Ask yourself three questions: What is the subject, what is its verb,
and do they agree? (Blue is subject; red is verb.)
The collection of short stories — many of them written by authors in 19th-century
England, including Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis — contain some of the preeminent works
of fiction to date.
The subject is “collection.” The verb is “contain.” These do not agree: The verb should
be “contains” because “collection” is singular. Thus, there is an error in this sentence.
Be wary of the tests’ propensity to using singular subjects with plural verbs, or vice-
versa. They love to try to trip you up with pairings like these. Don’t let them!
3. Other things to consider:
, “Each” is singular.
- “Each of the boys is athletic.”
- “Each teacher tests the same material.”
Gerunds (words ending in “–ing”) are singular
- “Running is my favorite sport.”
- “The coach thought swimming was one of the most effective forms of
exercise.”
Collective nouns (the government, New York City, the town council) are singular.
- “The town council votes on the bicycling ordinance this summer.”
- “The chain of large businesses vows to stop poaching clients from smaller
stores.”
“Neither” and “nor” are singular.
- “Neither the city nor its constituency has an answer to the problem.”
Use context to decide whether to use singular or plural for words like “athletics,”
“economics,” “statistics,” etc.
4. Tips/strategies:
Underline the subject and its verb, and draw arrows to connect them. Determine if
they agree, and if not, determine how to make them agree.
Cross out any prepositional phrases and parenthetical clauses that separate the
subject and its verb. Reread the sentence with the extraneous parts eliminated.
Don’t get bogged down by unnecessarily verbose sentences; focus only on the
essentials: the subject and verb in question.
5. Practice questions: For the following questions, determine if there is an error in the
underlined portion(s); if there is, choose the answer that best fixes it.
1) After driving through five states in a span of 14 hours, Carmen, whose two best
friends accompanied her on this journey up the East Coast — which was
completed in a rundown sedan overpowered by the smell of two lemon air
fresheners — were exhausted — physically and mentally drained.
A. NO CHANGE
B. were exhausted to the point of being physically and mentally drained.
C. was exhausted — physically and mentally drained.
D. were physically and mentally exhausted.
2) Perhaps, the professor told his wide-eyed students on the first day of class, the
best way to learn these complex math equations was not by mindless
memorization, but by consistent practice until it was engrained into their brains.
“Learning,” he loved to tell them, “is a time-consuming endeavor.”
A. NO CHANGE
B. until they were engrained into their brains.
C. until their brains were sufficiently engrained by the equations.
D. until it was, finally and wholly, engrained into their brains.
3) New York, a city with a rich sports history, house two baseball teams, two
football teams (if, of course, you count the Giants, who play their home games in
East Rutherford, New Jersey), two hockey teams, one basketball team, and now
, two soccer teams — New York City F.C. recently arrived to the city’s sports
scene.
A. NO CHANGE
B. house two baseball teams;
C. house two teams that play baseball, including the Yankees and the Mets,
D. houses two baseball teams,
4) Each of the company’s 1,500 employees — a pool of workers that include the
CEO, COO, and CFO — were qualified to earn a raise after a booming quarter of
sales.
A. NO CHANGE
B. that includes; was qualified to earn
C. NO CHANGE; was qualified to earn
D. that includes; NO CHANGE
5) When the coach asked her to select her favorite sport, she had trouble deciding.
“Basketball and soccer have long been my primary interests,” she explained in a
written note, “but recently cross country has jumped up the list.”
A. NO CHANGE
B. has long been my primary interest
C. has long been my primary interests
D. has interested me the most throughout my athletic career
Rule No. 2: Verb tense
1. What it means: All verbs in the sentence must carry the same tense. The tense of the
verb must remain consistent throughout the whole sentence.
Verb tenses:
1) Present
Simple present: “The team runs every day.”
Present progressive/continuous: “The team is running right now.”
Present perfect: “The team has run every day for the past month.”
2) Past
Simple past: “The team ran for one hour yesterday.”
Past progressive/continuous: “The team was running yesterday when the
storm rolled in.”
Past perfect: “The team had run for one hour before the storm rolled in.”
3) Future
Simple future: “The team will run tomorrow.”
Future progressive/continuous: “The team will be running tomorrow
around 8 a.m.”
Future perfect: “The team will have run by tomorrow at 9 a.m.”
4) Conditional: This tense usually describes something that would happen if a
condition had been met. “The team would run tomorrow at 7 a.m. if the school
were open that early.”
5) Gerund: “The team enjoys running.”
6) Infinitive: “The team enjoys to run.”
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller modockochieng06. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
80189 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now