{"id":6688,"date":"2011-04-12T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=6688"},"modified":"2011-03-24T11:21:47","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T19:21:47","slug":"kaplan-gmat-sentence-correction-question-type-modifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/kaplan-gmat-sentence-correction-question-type-modifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaplan: GMAT Sentence Correction question type – Modifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> Of all of the common errors that appear in the sentence correction<\/a> portion of the GMAT, modifiers are usually the last type for which test-takers look.\u00a0 However, modification errors are among the most common types of errors on the GMAT and finding these errors right away can often lead you directly to the correct answer.<\/p>\n

When checking for modifier errors, you should keep in mind that the GMAT will feature three kinds of modifiers.\u00a0 The first is adjectives.\u00a0 Adjectives are used to modify nouns. \u00a0For example, in the phrase, \u201cthe blue chair,\u201d \u2018blue\u2019 is an adjective modifying the noun \u2018chair.\u2019<\/p>\n

The second is adverbs.\u00a0 Adverbs are used to modify all parts of speech except nouns.\u00a0 Therefore, adverbs will be used to modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.\u00a0 Adverbs are usually created by adding \u2018ly\u2019 to the end of an adjective. \u00a0For example, the adjective, \u201cquick\u201d becomes the adverb, \u201cquickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whenever you encounter a modifying word on the GMAT, make sure it is in the correct form (adjective vs. adverb) and that it is unambiguous \u2013 you should know without a doubt what is being modified.<\/p>\n

The final type of modifier that appears on the GMAT is the modifying phrase. \u00a0Modifying phrases are dependent clauses that usually show up at the beginning of a sentence. \u00a0These phrases must be immediately followed by whatever it is they are modifying, and this type of question is the more common type of modifier issue you\u2019ll see on test day. \u00a0To see this in action, look back to the first sentence of this article.\u00a0 The phrase at the very beginning (\u2018Of all\u2026\u2019) is not an independent clause and is followed by a comma. \u00a0It is therefore a modifying phrase.\u00a0 Because the phrase refers to the word \u2018modifiers,\u2019 that word must come directly after the comma. \u00a0If, instead, the sentence were changed so that the comma was followed by, \u2018students usually look for modifiers last,\u2019 the sentence would be incorrect, as the initial phrase does not refer to \u2018students.\u2019<\/p>\n

By watching out for all three types of modifiers you will be able to quickly move through many sentence correction problems and the test more efficiently.<\/p>\n

~Bret Ruber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of all of the common errors that appear in the sentence correction portion of the GMAT, modifiers are usually the last type for which test-takers look.\u00a0 However, modification errors are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,558,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-kaplan-blog","category-sentence-correction-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6690,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6688\/revisions\/6690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}