SAT Essential Grammar

1 CHAPTER 15511!ESSENTIALGRAMMAR and Misplaced Misplaced Modifier Subjunctive IdeasFinding VerbsThe verb is the most important part of a sentence, butverbs aren t always easy to spot. Consider the wordswimin the sentences The ducks swim in the pond andThe ducks love to swim. In the first sentence, swimisthe verb. In the second sentence, swimis part of anoun phrase. (To swimis the thingthat the duckslove.) So how do we spot verbs?A verb is what conveys the Essential meaning ofa clause(a string of words that convey an idea).Every idea requires a verb. The sentence Theducks swim in the pondsays that Somethingswims somewhere,so the verb is ducks love to swimsays thatSomething loves something,so the verb is verb requires a subject, that is, whatdoesthe verb. In both sentences , the subject verb may also require an object,thatis, what receivesthe verb. In The ducks love toswim,the object is to swim,because that is thethingthat is :When David approached third base, the coachwaved him sentence contains two related ideas, so it containstwo clauses, and therefore two verbs:Clause 1:When Davidapproachedthird baseVerb:approachedSubject:DavidObject:t hird baseClause 2:the coachwavedhim homeVerb:wavedSubject:the coachObject:himSubject-Verb Disagreement (SVD)Every verb must agree in number(singular orplural)with its subject.

2 Subject-verb disagreementis one of the most common errors tested for onthe SAT. If you are a native speaker of English,the best way to check for subject-verb disagree-ment is to find the subject and verb (ignoring allthe intervening words) and say them :The people, who are easily persuaded by corporate-sponsored media, spends very little time subject of the verb spendssounds wrong, because spendsis the512 McGRAW-HILL S SAT third person singular form as in he spends butpeopleis plural, so the phrase should be Plurals and SingularsThese rules will help you to check whether a verbagrees in number with its subject: phrases like Sam and Bobareplural, but phraseslikeSam, in addition to Bob,aresingular. Phrasesthat start as well as .. , together with .. , alongwith .. ,orin addition to ..areinterrupters,which are not part of the main words are singular:each, anyone, any-body, anything, another, neither, either, every,everyone, someone, no one, somebody, every-thing, little, check for SVD, youcan replace any of them with words are plural:phenomena(singular:phenomenon),me dia(singular:medium),data(singular:datum ), and criteria(singular:crite-rion).

3 To check for SVD, you can replace anyof them with of the following can be either singular orplural, according to the noun that follows theof: none (of), any (of), some (of), most (of),more (of),andall (of).Verbs that follow subjects of the form either Aor Bandneither A nor Bmustagree with B, thenoun closer to the SentencesUsually the subject comes beforethe verb, but in-vertedclauses have the subject afterthe verb. Forinstance, sentences that start There is ..orThereare ..are inverted. To check subject-verb agree-ment in these sentences , first uninvert :There aremany fliesin the barn.(inverted)VSMany fliesarein the barn.(uninverted)SVLesson 1: Subject-Verb DisagreementCHAPTER 15 / Essential Grammar SKILLS513 Concept Review 1: Subject-Verb DisagreementNext to each noun or noun phrase, write S if it is singular or P if it is rain nor of rowdy or of the the subject in each sentence, and choose the correct of the cars (is/are) equipped with antilock flock of geese (was/were) startled by the shotgun data on my computer (was/were) completely erased when the power and history (is/are) my favorite of the roast (was/were) of the games (was/were) played on real grass and Prejudice (is/are) my favorite Jane Austen of the twins (is/are) allergic to of what I hear in those lectures (goes/go) in one ear and out the , along with Jamie and Jen, (is/are) applying to Mount of the books (was/were) considered fit for public of the eggplant (was/were) used to make the the lilies and wildflowers (was/were) one solitary Ben or his brothers (is/are) in charge of bringing the (is/are)

4 Hardly even a speck of dirt left on the Stop right there! (shouts/shout) the Bailey brothers, who are standing in front of the Donovans or Dave (is/are) going to bring the (is/are) at least a hundred people here. Uninvert the following sentences so that the verb follows the subject, then choose the correct verb (is/are), in my opinion, far too many smokers in this that hill (is/are) thousands of on the bus among the children (was/were) over a dozen before (has/have) there been such voices heard from the article (was/were) any mention of the director s previous Broadway 1: Subject-Verb Disagreement514 MCGRAW-HILL S SATL abel each verb in the following sentences with a V and each subject with an S. If any verbs are incorrect,cross them out and write the correct form in the were horrified to discover that there was more than three mice living in the the president or one of her aides are going to coordinate the is nearly always two or three guards posted at each player on both the Falcons and the Rockets were at the party after the has been a theater and a toy store in the mall ever since it Eric or his brother is hosting the party this is no fewer than six crayons in this therapy can resume as planned because neither of the twins are allergic to proceeds from the sale of every auctioned item goes to , particularly with its dependence on the behavior of consumers and producers.

5 Has always struck me as more of a human science than a mathematical is more than three years remaining on her of the girls were frightened by the wild animals that scurried incessantly past their technology behind high-definition television, DVDs, and CDs have transformed nearly every aspect of the home entertainment player on both teams were concerned about the goalie s company s sponsorship of charitable foundations and mentorship programs have garnered many commendations from philanthropic the children nor their parents utters a word when Mrs. Denny tells her important is your strength training and your diet to your daily regimen?_____Lesson 2: Trimming Sentences516 MCGRAW-HILL S SATM odifiers are adjectivesandadverbs, as well as modi-fying phrases like participial phrases (see Lesson 7).Most modifiers are not Essential to a sentence, butsome are. Use your best judgment. One kind of essen-tial adjective is a predicate adjective, that is, an adjec-tive that is linked to the subject by a linking verb, as inMartha is a sentence helps you to spot SVD :My chief concern with this budgetand the other proposals on thetable are the cuts in school :My concern are the :My concern isthe Kicked Whom?

6 When you write, trim your sentences to play the Whokicked whom? exercise. Look at the subject-verb-object ( Who kicked whom? ) core, and see if itclearly and forcefully conveys the thought you wantto :The lack of economic programsand no big country s being ready tojoin it symbolized the problems theLeague of Nations had in :The lack and no country s beingready symbolized the ! That doesn t make a shred of sense;rewrite :Two problems plagued the estab-lishment of the League of Nations:its lack of viable economic pro-grams and its lack of support fromthe larger Trim?Spotting SVD errors is often easier when you trim the sentence, that is, eliminate nonessen-tialmodifiers to leave the core of the remains after you trim a sentenceshould still be a grammatically correct andcomplete to Trim a SentenceStep 1:Cross out all nonessential preposi-tional ,The bird in the cagebegan a word that shows relative positionor direction.

7 It can complete one of the followingsentences:The squirrel ran_____the is government_____the include to, from, of, for, by, in, before, with,beyond, phrase is the preposition and the nounphrase that follows, including its ,from sea to shining seain the beginning with hat in handStep 2:Cross out all interrupting ,The committee, ignoring tradition, willapprove the phraseis a modifying phrase that in-terrupts the flow of the sentence. Interrupters are gen-erally separated from the main sentence by commasor 3:Cross out all other nonessential mod-ifiers and modifying ,Having traveled so far,the baseballteamhardly wanted to forfeit the 15 / Essential Grammar SKILLS517 Concept Review 2: Trimming Sentences1. What are the three types of words or phrases that can be eliminated when trimming a sentence?_____2. Why is it sometimes helpful to trim a sentence?_____3. Circle all of the prepositions in the list beyond for and with the an without some along below4.

8 What is a prepositional phrase?_____5. Write four examples of prepositional the trimmed version of each sentence on the line below it, correcting any verb team of advisors, arriving ahead of schedule, were met at the airport by the Assistant Prime flock of birds that darted over the lake were suddenly an opalescent , along with her three sisters, are unlikely to be swayed by arguments supporting David s the trimmed version of each sentence on the line below it, then rewrite the sentence to make it clearer andmore forceful, changing the subject and verb entirely, if inevitably, advancements, or those being popularly regarded as such, have to do with modifications, : _____Revised: development of the new country s governmental system was affected in a negative regard by the rebels lackof : _____Revised: _____Worksheet 2: Trimming Sentences518 MCGRAW-HILL S SATW rite the trimmed version of each sentence, circling the verbs and subjects and correcting any agreement the demands of both school and my social agenda often seem too much to on the committee, like the chairwoman Amanda Sanders, is concerned about the lack of attention givento school waiters professional demeanor particularly their keen knowledge, their attention to detail, and theircordiality are what makes dining there such a sublime culinary system by which candidates for local political offices are selected is archaic and, many contend, abundance of companies that fail in their first year of business contribute to an intimidating scientists theorize about the traits that all humans have come to share.

9 They must be keenly aware of thefact that these traits have evolved over millions of entire industry of tobacco companies and distributors has steadfastly maintained their position thattobacco is not addictive and that smoking is an inalienable right of challenge of Mount Everest, its conquerors claim, is far more the lack of oxygen at its rarefied heights thaneven the precarious ice falls or precipitous in every three Americans agree strongly with the statement: Anyone who would run for political office isnot worth voting for. fact that humans have committed so many atrocities have forced some historians to adopt a cynicalperspective on human 3: Parallelism520 MCGRAW-HILL S SATI like pizza. I like to like kind of word is pizza? Obviously a noun. Butnotice that in the sentences above, to swim(infinitive)andswimming(gerund) are playing the same role aspizzadid in the first sentence.

10 So they must be nounstoo!Usually, gerunds and infinitives are inter-changeable. But in some situations, one ispreferable to the other. The gerund often indicates a general classof ac-tivity, while the infinitive indicates a :Kayaking(notto kayak)is ahealthful sport, but can some-times be :Curtis and Dan wantto kayak(notkayaking)this afternoon. The infinitive indicates a stronger connectionbetween subject and actionthan does :Cara has always Cara simply like to watch dancing, ordoes she herself do the dancing?Clearer:Cara has always lovedto sentence clearly indicates that Caraherself dances. The infinitive often indicates purpose or inten-tionbetter than does the :We have supplied carsfor trans-portingthe guests back to theirhotel :We have supplied carsto trans-portthe guests back to their Law of ParallelismWhen you compareor list items in a sentence,the items should have the same grammaticalform.