goalsnr wrote:
Adam,
Thank you so much. Your reply helped me a lot. I have another question on this point:
<<Subject-Verb Agreement can only be tested with present tense and present perfect tense verbs; other tenses, including future, past, and past perfect all use the same form regardless of the number of the subject>>
In Quant we have the PEMDAS rule to solve complex equations. In SC do we have any rule which specifies hierachy of errors. In the above example we have SVA and Tense errors. The order here was 1)tense 2)SVA. Please let me know if you have any generic recommendations/rules for errors. Thanks.
I would be wary of making a hierarchy like PEMDAS for SC, because there are a number of errors where everything has to be correct. Let me clarify what I said above: it's not that the Tense rule trumps the SVA rule, in the sense that it's okay to have an error in the latter as long as the former is correct; however, it is true that, once you get the tense right, the SVA doesn't matter because past perfect doesn't change with singular/plural. However, SVA is tested more often and more obviously than Tense issues, so in general, you should look for SVA rules first.
I will, however, suggest the following, in terms of how quickly you can pick up on errors:
Tier 1 -
Modification, Parallelism, Comparisons. I call these "Tier 1" because they are
easy to spot:
ANY sentence with comparison keywords, long modifying phrases, relative pronouns, or parallel constructions should jump out at you, and you should look for this first. A sentence
must be correct in this Tier -- no correct answer choice will make any such errors!
Tier 2 -
Subect-Verb Agreement, Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, Sentence Structure (run-ons and fragments). These are actually just as important as Tier 1, only they're sometimes harder to spot, and if you do spot them, it's through splits in the answer choices. Better to focus on Tier 1 first,
if it's a sentence where such an error is obvious. Then look for these. As with Tier 1, A sentence
must be correct in these ways to be correct at all -- no correct answer choice will make any such errors!
Tier 3 -
Verb Tense, Idioms. The reason you look for these last is that sometimes you think the tense or idiom is wrong, but in fact it isn't; in general, you shouldn't overcorrect here unless you're sure that this is the main rule being tested. If you can find anything other than Tense or Idioms to use to differentiate between two answer choices, use that instead.
Tier 4 -
Diction, Logic, Style. These are last because a sentence does
not have to be perfect in these categories in order to be correct. However, if it's the only difference between two or three answer choices, then you use it. Otherwise, don't even think about these issues!
I hope that helps. Above all else, keep this in mind:
Do not look for any errors in a sentence; use the differences between the answer choices and the "tells" in the sentence to figure out what they're asking for. This way, you won't go through a giant checklist in your head, but rather let the GMAT tell you what it wants you to think about on each SC question you see.