basic sc

Question 1

object or complement

Answer 1

provides more info about the verb
answers the questions what, whom?
i.e Jack threw the stone far. (the stone)

Question 2

modifier

Answer 2

tells the time, place or manner of action
most commonly used is prepositional phrase (under the house, after breakfast…) and adverbial phrases (yesterday, quickly, last semester…)
answers the questions where, when or how?

Question 3

nouns

Answer 3

can be a person, place, or thing

can be a subject, an object or contained in the prepositional phrase

Question 4

count and non-count nouns

Answer 4

count nouns that can be counted
i.e chair, three boy, two dogs…
non-count nouns cannot be counted
i.e
1. WHOLE GROUPS CONSISTING OF SIMILAR ITEMS: jewelry, traffic, clothing, furniture, luggage,
scenery, mail, makeup, money, cash, food, fruit, equipment, etc.
2. FLUIDS: water, blood, oil, tea, milk, gasoline, soup, etc
3. SOLIDS: wood, meat, bread, butter, ice, gold, silver, glass, wool, paper, iron, etc.
4. GASES: air, smoke, pollution, nitrogen, oxygen, steam, etc.
5. PARTICLES: sand, salt, sugar, flour, dust, corn, wheat, grass, hair, chalk, dirt, etc.
6. ABSTRACTIONS: advice, beauty, courage, education, energy, fun, grammar, health, help,
homework, information, intelligence, knowledge, luck, music, news, peace, progress, slang,
sleep, space, time, truth, vocabulary, wealth, work, etc.
7. LANGUAGES: Chinese, English, German, Spanish, etc.
8. FIELDS OF STUDY: chemistry, history, literature, mathematics, etc.
9. RECREATIONAL SPORTS: baseball, chess, football, poker, soccer, tennis, etc.
10. ACTIVITIES (used as gerunds): driving, fishing, hiking, studying, swimming, etc.
11. NATURAL OCCURANCES: darkness, electricity, fire, fog, gravity, hail, heat, humidity, light,
lightning, rain, snow, sunshine, thunder, weather, wind, etc.

Question 5

a/an

Answer 5

a or an precede singular count nouns
an is used when the word starts with a vowel
exceptions when you pronounce the word differently (uniform, european, university- use a )

Question 6

article the is used

Answer 6

when you know or assume that the listener is familir with the same person, place or thing
- the with non-countable nouns only when it’s specific
i.e Water is cold.
the water in the stream is cold.
-plural count nouns the is used also when we are talking about something specifically

Question 7

other/another

Answer 7

other and another are not specific while the other is
i.e
The knife is dull. Please give me another (non specific, any other knife)
The knife is dull. Please give me the other one. (specific- the only other option)
These apples are bad, I want the other apples. or I want the others. - can be used when the subject is specific.

Question 8

collective nouns- singular

Answer 8

group of people or animals that are usually singular

i.e army, audience, band, choir, class, colony, committee, congress, family, police, team, staff

Question 9

nouns that are always plural

Answer 9

binoculars, goggles, pants, jeans, glasses, shorts, scissors

Question 10

verbs

Answer 10

present simple: used when something is always true and is happening at the moment
past simple- done, finished action
i.e I work
present perfect- 1 verb in present 1 in perfect (something started in the past and it is still happening or it finished now)
i.e I have worked
past perfect- 1 past perfect verb and 1 past simple (had finished… by the time I arrived)
i.e I had worked
future perfect- by the time i’m … I will…
I will have worked

Question 11

present simple

Answer 11

used for something that is true and happening atm

Fresh bread smells wonderful.

Question 12

present perfect

Answer 12

express an action that happens before another time, or event
subject+ has/have+ verb in past participle
i.e The boss has left the office.

Question 13

past simple

Answer 13

used when action began and ended at one particular time in past
Mike fell on the slippery ice.
george ate all his dinner

Question 14

past perfect

Answer 14

links an action which was started and finished before another past action occurred
subject+had+ver in past participle
used usually with words: before, when, after, since, by the time

Question 15

future perfect

Answer 15

is a future action that has started and finished before another future action occurs
used with words: beffore, since, by the time, when, after…
will+be+ past participle

Question 16

linking verbs

Answer 16

that can be followed by an adjective - links the adjective to the subject it describes
common verbs: be, feel, look, smell, sound, taste, appear, seem, become.
i.e This pie tastes delicious. (tastes delicious)
Ellen feels confident about the competition. (feels confident)

Question 17

here/there

Answer 17

when the sentence begins with here or there the subject is located after the verb
Here was the accident. (the accident is the subject, was- verb)

Question 18

say/tell

Answer 18

you say something
you tell someone something
say + to or that ( janice said that, bob said to…)
tell + object (bob told the boss, tom told me…)

Question 19

like/as

Answer 19

like is used to compare only nouns- the earth like the other planets, spins…

as is used to compare clauses- use as if two actions are similar - a globe spins around an axis, as does the earth.

1. you should have 2 verbs in a sentence with as comparison and one verb with like comparison
2. like is usually at the beginning of the sentence on gmat when the structure is correct

Question 20

between/among

Answer 20

between is used when talking about a distinct relationship of two individual items, groups, or people
i.e Sally had to choose between the red and white dresses.
among is used when talking about items, groups r people in general
i.e. disease spread among the earthquake survivors.

Question 21

USE OF PROBLEM VERBS

TRANSITIVE/INTRANSITIVE

Answer 21

TRANSITIVE 
raise, raised, raised
Tony raised his hand
INTRANSITIVE
rise, rose, risen
Tony rises early
TRANSITIVE 
set, set, set
Julie set the book on my desk
INTRANSITIVE 
sit, sat, sat
I sit in the third row
TRANSITIVE 
lay, laid, laid
Julie is laying the book on my desk
INTRANSITIVE 
lie, lay, lain
John is lying on the floor. (Notice the changed
spelling of lie when “ing” is added.)
NOTE: The verb lie, which means “not to tell the
truth”, is a regular verb