Sentence Correction Strategies.docx

Sentence Correction Strategies.docx

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SentenceCorrectionStrategies

Spottingbadsentencesisthekeytodoingwellonsentencestructuretestquestions.

1）Pronounerror

a.Pluralandsingle–onceyoustartwithone,youneedtostayinthesamequantity.

SingularPronouns（Memorizethese.Period）

Hint:

DoyouseethecategoriesIsetup?

It’sSANEtomemorizethis

Some---

Any—

No—

Every--

Everyone

Everybody

Everything

Someone

Somebody

Something

Either

Neither

One

Each

Anyone

Anybody

Anything

Noone

Nothing

Nobody

Whoever

Whomever

His

Beawarethatgroup,jury,team,country,familyaresingular.Societytodayusesthemsometimesasplural.Thisisbecausetheseactasasingleunitwhentheydosomething.

PluralPronouns（Memorizethese.Period）

Both

Their

Many

Several

Few

Others

Tomemorizethis,tryFrighteningTOMBS

SingularandPluralPronouns–dependsonwhetherthenounissingularorplural（Memorizethese.Period）

Some

More

Most

All

Thepluralandsingularclauseerror

Whentwonounsareinthesentencedoinganactiontogetherbuttheyarelinkedwith

Alongwith

Togetherwith

With

Aswellas

Inadditionto

Accompaniedby

…thisdoesnotmakethefollowingactiontheydoplural.Only“and”cantakethetwosingularsandmaketheiractionplural.

Forexample

Janie,withherpoodlelimpingbehindher,walkstothedogpark.

Explanation:

Janieissingular.Thepoodleissingular.Theybothdotheactiontogether,buttheuseof“with”meansthatweneedtokeeptheverbsingular.“Walks”issingularand“Walk”isplural

Remember,averbthatendswithan–sissingular.

b.Pronounreferenceerror-referringpronounisnotcorrectlyplaced.

c.Relativepronounsareoftenusedincorrectlytoday.

1）Referringtothingsoranimals–that,which

2）Referringtopeople—who,whom

3）They–becarefulthatyoudon’tusethisunlessyou’repositivethereisareferringnoun.Todayweoftenuse“they”toreplacetheuseofapropernounwhichitisnot.It’saPronoun.

2）MisplacedModifier（modifiersmuststayclosetohome）

a.Definition:

Sentencesthatbeginwithaverb,adjective+verb,adjectivephrasesneedtobefollowedbythenounorpronountheyaremodifying.Usuallyendwith–ing.

b.Example:

Comingoutofthedepartmentstore,John’swalletwasstolen.

“Coming”isthemodifier.Wasjohn’swalletcomingoutofthestore?

Incorrectsentence.

Possiblesolutiontolookfor:

a）Correctthereference

b）Putanounorpronounintothe1stpartofthesentenceturningthe1stpartintoanadverbialclause.

c）Correctanswermightbe,“Ashewascomingoutofthedepartmentstore,John’swalletwasstolen.”Alternatecouldbe,“AsJohnwascomingoutofthedepartmentstore,hiswalletwasstolen.”

AbsolutePhrases:

Introduction

1.Introduction

Definitionandrules.Anabsolutephraseisamodifier（quiteoftenaparticiple）,oramodifierandafewotherwords,thatattachestoasentenceoranoun,withnoconjunction.Anabsolutephrasecannotcontainafiniteverb.

Absolutephrasesusuallyconsistofanounandamodifierthatmodifiesthisnoun,NOTanothernouninthesentence.

Absolutephrasesareoptionalinsentences,i.e.,theycanberemovedwithoutdamagingthegrammaticalintegrityofthesentence.Sinceabsolutephrasesareoptionalinthesentence,theyareoftensetofffromthesentencewithcommasor,lessoften,withdashes.Wenormallyexplainabsolutephrasesbysayingthattheymodifyentiresentences,ratherthanoneword.Thisisanimportantconcept,sincemanysimilarphrasesthatweworkwithmodifyotherwords.Forexample,adjectivesmodifynouns,andadverbscanmodifyverbs,adjectives,andotheradverbs.Thatsaid,however,insomecases,itseemstomakemoresensetosaythatabsolutephrasesmodifynouns.Wewilllookatsomeoftheseexamplesabitlater.

First,let'slookatsomeexamplesofabsolutephrases:

ExamplesofAbsolutePhrases:

Theabsolutephraselooklikethis:

∙Herdeterminationstrongerthanever,Nexisaresolvednottogiveupuntilshehadachievedherdreams.

∙ThesunshiningbrightandthepaleblueskyformingabackdropoftheSacreCoeur,Carlsteppedintohisfutureasatravelerandobserver.

∙Wefinishedtheheartymealquickly,ourappetitessatisfied,ourmindsatpeace.

∙Allthingsbeingequal,theactivevoicetendstobecorrectmoreoftenthanthepassiveonstandardizedtests.

Pleasenoticethatineverycasetheabsolutephraseprovidessomesortofinformationthatworkstoputthewholesentenceorideaincontext.PleasealsonoticethattheabsolutephrasesthemselvesdoNOTcontainverbs,noraretheyconnectedtothemainsentencewithaconjunction.Finally,pleasenoticethattheprimarycomponentsofmost（butnotall）oftheseabsolutephrasesareanoun+amodifier,althoughitispossibletouseonlyamodifier.

Hereisthenextpatternweshouldknow:

2.noun+participle

Thisisoneofthemostcommonwaystoformanabsolutephrase.Itmightbehelpfulforsomepeopletoimaginethispatternwithaverbbetweenthenounandtheparticiple.Forexample,ifyousayThequestionwasstillunanswered,youhaveacompletesentence;if,ontheotherhand,yousayThequestionunansweredandyouthenattachthatphrasetoamainsentence,thenyouhaveanabsolutephrase.

Herearesomeexamples.Theabsolutephraseslooklikethis.

∙Thequestionstillunanswered,theteacherdecidedtoaddresstheconfusionofherstudentsmoreclosely.

∙Thetrainrunninglate,wedecidedtogetoffatthenextstopandtakeataxihome.

∙TherearemanyindustriesinCaliforniavitaltoitseconomy,withtechnologybeingoneofthemostimportant.

Comparethesesentenceswiththeverbsandconjunctionsinthem:

∙Thequestionwasstillunanswered,andtheteacherdecidedtoaddresstheconfusionofherstudentsmoreclosely.

∙Thetrainwasrunninglate,sowedecidedtogetoffatthenextstopandtakeataxihome.

∙TherearemanyindustriesinCaliforniavitaltoitseconomy,andtechnologyisoneofthemostimportant.

Similarly,having+pastparticipleisoftensosemanticallysimilartothesentencewithoutitthatmanysentencesarewrittenwithouthaving+pastparticiple.

Anexamplewouldbeverygoodhere:

∙Havingbeenchosentoheadthecommittee,AngusNgthoughtabouthowhecouldhelpraisemoneyforhischessclubatHarvard.

Thissentencecouldlooklikethis:

∙Chosentoheadthecommittee,AngusNgthoughtabouthowhecouldhelpraisemoneyforhischessclubatHarvard.

ThisconceptisimportantfortheSentenceCorrectionsectionoftheGMAT,soifyou'repreparingforthattest,payattentiontothis!

3.noun+adjective

Anotherpatternistouseanadjectiveafterthenounitmodifies.

Lookattheseexamples:

∙Theirmealstillnotreadyafter45minutes,thehungryandangrycustomerslefttherestaurant.

∙Hishatinhandandprideincheck,Horaceaskedhisformerbossforhisjobback.

∙Thepreviewsstillshowing,KellyandChrisdecidedtoleavethetheaterandenjoythesunnyday.

3）ParallelConstruction

a.Istherealist?

b.Isthesentenceintwoparts?

Bothtypesmusthaveparalleltypesofverbiage.

to____,to____orate_____,slept____,drank____.

Badconstructionmightlooklike

to____,_____orate_____,sleep_____,drank____.

c.Comparisonsmustbelogical

Findthetwothingsbeingcomparedandseeifthesentenceisstructuredinbalance.Don’tbeafraidtoconsiderchangingverbsoradjectivestogetthebalance.

d.Parallelismisnotjustaboutclauses,butverbusage

Example:

-ingand–ing,to……to……,either…..or,neither…….nor.

e.Thewords"like,""unlike,""similarto,""as…so",“when”and"incontrastto"arethemostcommonindicatorsofcomparisons.Incomparisons,compatibilityisdeterminedbysubjectmatter.Forexample:

Asdomesticatedanimals,indoorcatstypicallylosetheirabilitytohuntfortheirownfood,sotoododomesticateddogscometorelyexclusivelyontheirownersforsustenance.

Here,domesticatedcatsarecomparedtodomesticateddogs,andthecomparisonworksbecausetheyarebothdomesticatedanimals—theyareliketerms.Wheneveryouseeacomparisonbeingsetupinasentence,checktoseethatthetermsofthecomparisonarecompatible.

4）VerbTense

a.Isthewholesentenceinthesametense

b.Somemajorcategoriesoftense:

Don’tneedtomemorizetypes.Justbefamiliar

Presenttenseexample:

Hewalksthreemilesaday.

SimplePastexample:

Whenhewasyounger,hewalkedthreemilesaday.

PresentPerfectexample:

Hehaswalked.

PastPerfectexample:

Hehadwalked.

Futureexample:

Hewillwork.

PresentPerfect–Describesactionthatbeganinthepastbutcontinuesuntilthepresent

Keyidentifier–“has”“have”

Sidenote:

Sometimesusedwhendeadlineexists.

PastPerfect–Describesactionthatstartedandstoppedinthepast

Keyidentifier–“had”

PresentProgressive–Usedasemphasisbythespeakerthattheactionishappeningthisveryminute

Keyidentifier–verb‘tobe’+averbwithan–ingending.

PerfectProgressive–Occupiesmorethanonemomentinthepast.Inotherwords,ongoingforaperiodoftime.

Keyidentifier–“hadbeen”

c.Twoeventsthathavetakenplace,aretakingplaceorwilltakeplaceatthesametimemusthavethesametenseinthesentence.

d.Passiveverbsbeginwiththeformof“tobe”（Example:

tobe,were,was）andendwithadifferentverbinthepasttense.

5）Subject-Verbagreementerrors.

a.Singular+Pluralagreement.Dothetwoagreeinplurality?

Canbemadeverycomplexwhenprepositionalphrasesseparateverbfromnoun/subjectby5ormorewords.Easytooverlookcrossreferencedsubject-verbrelationship.

b.Totellifaver