Sentence Correction Notes - A Always had a thought of

Question

Sentence Correction Notes - A

Always had a thought of returning something in the form of my writings/notes; so here, I go. I will add to this stuff in days to come.

Disclaimer: I am not a English Grammar wiz, so please take pleasure in rectifying my errors if you discover any.

Primary Target:
1 question in 60s

Secondary Target:
Not more than 90s on a question

Part A

A1. The meaning of the sentence must be obvious and unambiguous.

A2. Subject and Verb must make sense together, logically.

A3. Overall word order must make sense.

A4. The intent of the original sentence must NOT be lost in the correct choice.

A5. Should = “moral obligation”

A6. Must = “legally binding”

A7. “Concision” is the last choice. Do not simply pick the shortest. Long choice can be more correct.

A8. Avoid redundancy - use of words with same/similar meaning.

A9. A single word can alter the meaning of the sentence if its position is changed.

A10. When you see words of uncertainty (e.g. may, might, should, ought, would, can, could) in answer choices, you must check whether the meaning of the original sentence requires doubt or certainty.

A11. Avoid wordiness – sometimes a sentence can be said in less number of words. GMAT prefers that.

vix · Answer

So many views...and no kudos...that pretty bad :shock:

So guys...here is my next chunk... Sentence Correction Notes - B B1. If a sentence is missing subject or verb or both, it is a fragment, which is always a wrong answer choice. B2. Sentence must have a “working” verb, which can run a sentence by itself. B3. Clause – A group of words that contains a subject and a working verb. B4. Main clause is a clause that could stand alone as a sentence as is, with its own subject and verb. B5. Subordinate clause is a clause which cannot stand by itself. They are connected by subordinators such as “because” and “which”. B6. Subject and verb must agree in number. B7. Most of the time in construction such as …X of Y…, X is subject. B8. Prepositional phrase is a group of words headed by a preposition. E.g. of mice, for milk, to the shop. Normally the subject is just after the preposition. B9. Subordinate clauses that start with “who” or “which” must be eliminated. B10. Modifiers must be eliminated to get the subject. Addendum 1 - Valid Construction – One of the ‘noun’ (plural) + singular verb (is) E.g. One of the chairs is broken. B11. The meaning should guide to connect subject with verb. B12. ‘AND’ unites singular verbs to form compound plural subject. B13. Additive phrases do not form compound subjects: E.g. …along with zee …in addition to …as well as the boss …accompanied by me …together with a box …including ex and yai The number of subject remains same. E.g. Rajeev, as well as his friends, is going to disc. B14. Only the word AND can change a singular subject into a plural one. B15. Either, or….OR… neither, nor - look at the subject closest to verb. B16. ‘Either’ or ‘neither’ alone in a sentence are considered singular; take only singular verbs. B17. Collective Nouns are singular. E.g. Agency, army, audience, class, committee, crowd, orchestra, team. Also, following are singular – Baggage, citrus, equipment, fleet, fruit, furniture. Addendum 2 - Valid Construction – One of the X who/that Y… One(or Any) of the ‘noun’ (always plural) + that/who + plural verb. E.g. He is one of the students (plural) who study (plural) here. B18. Indefinite Pronouns are usually singular. Anyone, anybody, anything No one, nobody, nothing Everyone, everybody, everything Either, neither Someone, somebody, something Whatever, whoever, Each, every (as pronouns) B19. SANAM – Some, any, none, all, more/most – they are exception of the of-rule (see B7, B8, B9) B20. “Not one” is always singular. B21. Each and every – when placed before subject are singular. B22. The number of – Singular A number of – plural B23. Fractions are singular. B24. Quantities or parts – subject is in “of” part. B25. Majority, minority, plurality – are either singular or plural depending on the context. B26. Sometimes subject can be after the verb: E.g. - There are cats and dogs in the house. B27. When in doubt, select singular. B28. Subject phrases and clauses are always singular. E.g. - Whatever he wants to do is fine with me. B29. A majority… is always right. A majority of students are always right. B30. Ranging – moves from one “things” to other Range of – consist of many “things” B31. To quickly run (incorrect usage) When a word exists between ‘to’ and the ‘verb’, the choice is wrong. B32. SINGULAR SUBJECTS PLURAL SUBJECTS IT DEPENDS A singular subject linked to other nouns by an additive phrase. Use ‘and’ Subjects joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ Collective nouns SANAM Most indefinite pronouns Other numerical words or phrases Subjects preceded by each and every Subjects preceded by “the number of” “a number of” Subject phrases and clauses

vix · Answer

Incredibly...after 123 views no more comments or kudos!!!

Next chunk on parallelism...

C1. Comparable sentence parts must be structurally and logically similar/parallel.

C2. Parallel Markers
Marker Structure
And X and Y
 X, Y and Z
Both/And Both X and Y
Or X or Y
Either…Or… Either X or Y
Not…but… Not X but Y
Not only…but also… Not only X but also Y
Rather than X rather than Y
From…to… From X to Y

C3. Parallel Markers – Nouns, adjective, verbs, infinitives, participles, prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses

C4. Some verbs or forms derived from verbs have more than one word: …was opening…, …can lose…, …to increase… The expression can be split apart, so that first word(s) count across all elements.
E.g. The division was opening offices, hiring people, and investing in systems.

C5. Parallel clauses should start with the same word. E.g. I want to go to a place where X and where Y.

C6. Each element should be complete. E.g. Jay likes both those who are good and those who are not.

C7. Lists
X and Y
X, Y and Z
X, Y, Z and W

C8. GMAT needs a comma before the AND in lists of 3 or 4 items.

vix · Answer

Why is everyone so silent here

Some more stuff on parallelism: C9. If 2 clauses are joined comma is optional before AND. When clause is long we must put comma. E.g. X, and Y  list of clauses C10. If clauses have lists they must be parallel within the clause (respective). C11. Grammatical structures should be logically parallel before being structurally parallel. C12. Do NOT assume that all verbal forms in a sentence must be parallel. C13. Linking verbs – express what the subject is/or its condition. To be represent resemble Is, are appear seem Was become feel Were feel round Am, been grow stay Be look taste Being remain turn Two sides of the linking verb must be || in meaning and structure. C14. “to be” also forms the progressive tenses (I am watering the plants) and the passive voice (The plants were watered y’day). ||ism does not apply here. C15. Whereby – introduces sentence fragment; avoid it in between sentences. C16. “Although” introduces subordinate clause, which has a subject and verb. C17. In contrast with X, Y In contrast to X, Y Unlike X, Y C18. “Agree with” a person “Agree to” any in-animated C19. “Whether” – describes alternatives If – hypothetical situation C20. “Greater than” appropriate only when describing numbers alone. “More than” is used when describing numbers of objects or making comparisons. C21. “Less” is the word used to describe non-count nouns, but also used for sums of money, periods of time and distance and citation of numerical/statistical data. C22. Compare to – for unlike things Compare with – for like things

vix · Answer

Ok...some responded..

This time something on Pronouns... D1. The noun to which a pronoun “clearly” refers to is called ANTECEDENT of it. D2. The antecedent must exist, function as a noun; the antecedent and pronoun must make sense together. D3. The antecedent must be unambiguous. D4. The antecedent and the pronoun must agree in number. D5. Pronoun Case: a) ‘Subject’ pronouns can be subjects of sentences. I you he she it we they who b) ‘Object’ pronouns can be objects of verbs or prepositions. Me you him her it us them whom c) Possessive pronouns indicate ownership/similar relation. My/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, theirs/their, whose D6. A pronoun in ‘subject’ position in one clause may be presumed to refer to subject of || clause, even if subject is relatively far away. D7. Nouns in possessive case (with ‘s or s’) are poor antecedents. D8. Possessive nouns can serve as antecedents only to possessive pronouns, not to subject or object pronouns. D9. Third person personal pronouns – It, its, they, them, their, - check antecedent. D10. Demonstrative Pronouns – this, that, these and those – can be used as adjective in front of nouns. D11. That and those – for new copy (ies) of antecedent, new copy should be modified. The food eaten by Z is less than that eaten by Y.

01dynamic · Answer

Good work....Did you completed this list.......

vix · Answer

It is Work in Progress buddy...more to come

. Thanks anyways!!!

vix · Answer

Today's chunk guys... Close to 250 views - and only 2 kudos

? EA. Just as….so to… EB. Avoid “being” and “to be” EC. Avoid sentence which has structure – ED. “They” pronoun must refer to plural subject noun. E1. An adjective modifies only a noun or a pronoun. E2. An adverb modifies almost anything but a noun or pronoun. E3. A noun used to modify a noun is called an appositive. E4. A noun and its modifier must touch each other. E5. Unlike a noun modifier, a verb modifier does not have to touch the subject. E5A. If the noun we need to modify is not in the sentence, we have a dangling modifier. E6. Possessives – Wrong – Unskilled in Math, Bill’s score was poor. Right – Unskilled in Math, Bill did not score well. E7. Noun modifiers with Relative Pronouns – Which, that, who, whose, whom, where, when – are called relative clauses. E8. The pronouns WHO and WHOM must modify people. E9. The pronoun ‘WHICH’ must modify things. E10. Clauses led by THAT cannot modify people. E11. The pronoun WHOSE can modify people or things. e.g. the town whose sewage system is contaminated… E12. WHICH and WHOM sometimes follow prepositions E.g the canal thorough which water flows; the mayor for whom we worked. E13. WHO is the subject of relative clauses, while WHOM is the object of relative clauses.

vix · Answer

Some more stuff on modifiers:

E14. The pronoun WHERE can be used to modify a noun place, such as area, site, country etc. WHERE can’t modify a metaphorical place, such as a condition, situation, case, circumstances or arrangement – ‘in which’ must be used instead.

E15. WHEN can be used to modify time, event, year, etc. ‘in which’ can also be used.

E16. Use WHO, WHOM, WHOSE to modify people. Do not use THAT or WHICH to modify people.

E17. Essential modifies provide necessary info.
Non-essential modifiers provide extra info.

E18. Put commas between NE modifiers and their nouns.

E19. Put no commas between E modifiers and their nouns.

E20. Use WHICH and comma, if the modifier is NE.

E21. Use THAT and no commas, if the modifier is E.

E22. When WHICH is followed is followed with a preposition.
NE : This house, for WHICH I yearn, is owned by Raj.
E : This house for WHICH I yearn is owned by Raj.

E23. WHO can be used with E and NE modifiers.

vix · Answer

as if no one's listening...

E24. Use commas only with NE modifiers.

E25. Verb modifiers modify VERB -> they answer questions about verbs – how, when, where, why.

E26. Subordinators – include words such as because, although, if, unless, while, so that, which, so on.
I walk to home when my bike is broken.

E27. Verb modifiers may apply to both verb and verb’s subject. SUBJECT must make sense with modifier.

E28. Verb modifiers can generally be placed further away from what they modify than noun modifier can be placed.

E29. Use WHICH only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it, never to refer entire clause.

E30. The –ing form can directly modify entire clause, when the entire clause converted into noun phrase could function as the subject of the verb that is now in –ing form

E31. The –ing form can directly modify nouns. It can modify verbs and their subjects too.

E32. –ing form works best when you want to express the result of the main clause. Result – cause effect relationship

E33. Wrong Right
--do it --do so
The numbers of the number of
Whether or not whether

E34. ‘:’ can be replaced by  .
‘:’ second part of the sentence dependent on first.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Sentence Correction Notes - A Always had a thought of

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