Please provide a list of preferences for GMAT Sentence Correction

Here's another preference: When a noun form of a verb is available, the GMAT prefers that to the gerund (the 'verb-ing' form).

For example, the GMAT may prefer Preparation to Preparing, Conquest to Conquering, and so on.

So this first sentence is not wrong, but the second is better:
1. The conquering of Orissa caused a lot of suffering.
2. The conquest of Orissa caused a lot of suffering.

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Actually, any list of GMAT preferences will probably be never-ending.

Also, many GMAT rules are really GMAT preferences, because there are very few hard-and-fast black-and-white rules in the English language.

An example of a black-and-white rule is that the subject must agree with the verb. (Even this rule may have exceptions, though we are unlikely to see them in the GMAT.)

Some GMAT preferences are things that the GMAT does not seem to accept, even though people commonly use them in speech and in writing.

One example of such a preference is the use of THAT or WHICH to refer to people. Dictionaries say this is acceptable. The GMAT does not seem to approve of such usage: the right answers in SC use WHO or WHOM instead of THAT or WHICH.

Does that mean the right answer will never (in the future) use THAT/WHICH to refer to a person?
Don't know!

Does that mean we can confidently eliminate any answer that uses THAT/WHICH to refer to people?
If the only difference between two answer choices is that one uses WHO/WHOM and the other users THAT/WHICH, then we can eliminate the latter. But if there are other differences, we need to be careful. I wouldn't automatically eliminate the THAT/WHICH answer.

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