Advanced grammar points

This post is a part of a Verbal Post Collection


I'd like to open this topic for us to chip in grammar points which we think are notable and can benefit other members. It is easy to google grammar sites but still is sharing on forum the best way to spread our knowledge and to gain from others'

Active verbs with a passive meaning:
Example:
Normal form: A large painting by Jasper Johns was sold for US$ 2 mil.
--> We can also say: A large paitning by Jasper Johns sold for US$ 2 mil.

Verbs of this kind: clean, sell, show, wash, let and etc..

What we can use before "more"?

+ For uncountable nouns: some more, any more, hardly any more, a little more, a lot more, much more, no more + Noun
+ For countable nouns: some more, any more, a few more, hardly any more, a lot more, many more, no more + Noun.

Word order: subject+ verb+ object+ complement: " call him a fool"

Verbs of this kind: appoint, baptize, call, consider, crown, declare, elect, label, make, name and vote.

For example: They labelled him a charlatan.
NOTE: never use "as" after the object.

(to be continued)

Also, check out GMAT Club's Grammar EBook

Edit by Paul: Great initiative Laxie!

Great idea Laxie!

Here is one more. Absolute constructions --> Don't confuse them with Dangling modifiers

Absolute constructions consist of a noun and some kind of modifier, the most common being a participle. Because they often come at the beginning of a sentence, they are easily confused with dangling participles. But an absolute construction modifies the rest of the sentence, not the subject of the sentence (as a participial phrase does). You can use absolute constructions to compress two sentences into one and to vary sentence structure as a means of holding a reader’s interest. Here are some examples:

No other business arising, the meeting was adjourned.
The paint now dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck.
The truck finally loaded, they said goodbye to their neighbors and drove off.
The horse loped across the yard, her foal trailing behind her.

Constructions like these are used more often in writing than in speaking, where it is more common to use a full clause: When the paint was dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck. There are, however, many fixed absolute constructions that occur frequently in speech:

The picnic is scheduled for Saturday, weather permitting.
Barring bad weather, we plan to go to the beach tomorrow.
All things considered, it’s not a bad idea.

Source: http://bartleby.com/64/C001/001.html

You might want to consider turning this into a sticky so it does not get lost among the new threads.

By the way, your idea is very good. I'm sure it will benefit a lot of other members.

I concur with ywilfred's ideas and feedback

This is great initiative Laxie, I'm sure this will help all of us

Subjunctive Mood (GMAT favorite)

Watch out for:
suggest, demand, insist, require, mandate, advocate, propose, ask etc.

How does this work?
eg:
Laxie requires club members to learn grammar.
Laxie requires that club members learn grammar.

Other famous subjunctive sentences are:
If I were you, If she were here etc.

Hi Vivek , you posted this in one of the SC's : Weeds posted by me,



Can you plz explain the use of being that is usually disliked in GMAT.
Thanks

By the way, nice initiative Laxie

Some Notes on Quantifiers:

The following quantifiers will work with count nouns:
many trees
a few trees
few trees
several trees
a couple of trees
none of the trees

The following quantifiers will work with non-count nouns:
not much dancing
a little dancing
little dancing
a bit of dancing
a good deal of dancing
a great deal of dancing
no dancing

The following quantifiers will work with both count and non-count nouns:
all of the trees/dancing
some trees/dancing
most of the trees/dancing
enough trees/dancing
a lot of trees/dancing
lots of trees/dancing
plenty of trees/dancing
a lack of trees/dancing

My SC note

I edited some grammar stuff that can be usefull is not finished and adjusted yet. I want to add more stuff on it and organize it but will take tike I will then update it periodically ... have fun....

Thank you buddy for supporting me!!! ^_^
I know this idea may not be accepted at first sight since it seems not so direct to the review. But it does benefit us in a long-run. As we are typing down what we just learned, we can recall the knowledge. Moreover, a grammatical mastery does not all come from a certain source which one comes across, but it comes from diverse sources provided by various people with eclectic readings.

Word order: subject+ verb+ object+ complement: " call him a fool"

Verbs of this kind: appoint, baptize, call, consider, crown, declare, elect, label, make, name and vote.

For example: They labelled him a charlatan.
NOTE: never use "as" after the object.

(to be continued)[/quote]

Does it mean...

They considered him as the most hardworking boy in the class....is wrong
They considered him the most hardworking boy in the class.....is right...

Please elaborate.

Hi Vivek,Can you please elaborate the use of subjunctive mood...I have come across..if I were you...earlier...
but out the two senetence u hav writen...both of them are correct?if yes, which one to use under wat condition...?

Found this notes on a forum ..

Does it mean...

They considered him as the most hardworking boy in the class....is wrong
They considered him the most hardworking boy in the class.....is right...

Please elaborate.[/quote]

yes, the bold one is correct

" Have" + object +"ing" form : "have something going on"

We sometimes use this structure to refer to things that happen beyond our control

For example: I have the neighbor's dog barking all night long.

Thank you for your supportive words, buddy!!

Compare to VS compare with

Compare usually takes the preposition to when it refers to the activity of describing the resemblances between unlike things:

+Example: He compared her to a summer day. Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer.

It takes with when it refers to the act of examining two like things in order to discern their similarities or differences:

+Example: The police compared the forged signature with the original.

Hey Gaurav,
I'm not a grammar guru, so may not be able to give exact grammatical explanation

Ok, what I have observed is, in GMAT most of the time (almost always) "being" choice is wrong if it comes in the following form.

"As measured by the Commerce Department, corporate profits peaked in the fourth quarter of 1988 and slipped since then, many companies being unable to pass on higher costs."

Somebody can add grammatical explanation for this, if possible!

Thank you, buddies, for your participation!!! ^_^

GMAT likes testing REDUNDANCY:

If you encounter any of the following, cross the answer choice right away


Some typical redundancy:
+ regain ......again ......
+ rise ........up ............
+ decline ....down ...
+ It is likely that ……may …….
+ soar ......up ............
+ decrease .....down
+ re- Verb .....again .....
and so forth

If you find out more, please chip in!!

Here is to add to the list of redundancies:

the reason ... is because
the reason why .. is because
close proximity
true fact
circulate around