Patterns in SC ????

Question

"Pattern Recognition" is a commonly used term and a key skill for GMAT .By practice , I could observe clear patterns for right and wrong answers in RC and CR , but never in SC .I just observe splits/decision points and re-split after exclusion . Any advice ???

GMATPill · Answer

TheNona, There are definitely patterns in SC - I would argue they are even more easy to spot than CR/RC ones. But you need to look at the questions and answer choices the right way. Pay attention to structure, commas, -ING words, etc. You're lucky to find these patterns easily in RC/CR - usually it's the other way around. Here are two video examples you may find helpful: https://www.gmatpill.com/presentations/f ... lesson.mp4 https://www.gmatpill.com/presentations/f ... lesson.mp4

KyleWiddison · Answer

Sentence Correction is really full all about learning patterns of errors. Here are a few random "patterns" off the top of my head:

Parallelism and Modifiers are the most common error types
The word "and" is a very important word (parallelism)
Splits usually happen at the beginning or end of underline or after punctuation
Commas related to parallelism or modifier questions
"Leading modifiers" are often used incorrectly
When a sentence is completely underlined it's likely to have modifier problems
It/its/they/them/their are often used incorrectly
Verbs at the start of underlined often lead to Subject/Verb errors

I could go on, but the real takeaway is that there a tons of patterns to be aware of for Sentence Correction. Perhaps you know these patterns already and just didn't recognize them as patterns. As you get really comfortable with SC and the error types, you will start seeing a lot of these errors, or patterns, in the original sentence (or when the original is correct you will see areas where the answer choices may be incorrect).

KW

doe007 · Answer

As I have found, common patterns for SC are:

I. Rules Tested

** Structure/ Meaning/Concision  
All sentences must have a main subject and verb. 
Avoid: Redundancy, Having Been/Being, Awkward Gerund Phrases, Introduction of New Pronouns

** Subject/Verb Agreement  
The subject of the sentence must agree in number with the action it performs.

** Pronouns  
A pronoun must not only agree in number with the noun it replaces, but it must also unambiguously refer to the noun it replaces.

** Modifiers  
Modifying phrases must correctly modify the noun they refer to.

** Verb Tense  
The verbs in a sentence should be consistent in their tenses, unless, of course, the meaning of the sentence requires otherwise.
If different actions are performed at different time periods, make sure the tense is consistent for each of them.

** Comparisons  
Check for:
Unclear Comparisons 
Illogical Comparisons

** Parallel Construction  
The parts of a sentence should be similarly constructed.
The parallel structures should be grammatically, logically and idiomatically consistent.

** Idiomatic Expression  
Technically not a grammar rule, idiomatic expression relates to using the accepted forms of phrases.

II. Few check points

** Occurrences of active and passive in the same question 
** Countable and Uncountable
** Singular vs. Plural
** "Like" vs. "as" vs. "such as"
** "If" vs. "whether" vs. "whether or not"
** Word order: subject+ verb+ object+ complement
** Redundancy (to avoid)

rcfarhat · Answer

Hello Mr. Kyle, how are ?
I liked very much you answer on this post!!
Could you write down other patterns in SC that you remember ?

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Patterns in SC ????

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards