Concept

Question 1

Essential Modifier vs. Non-essential modifier

Answer 1

Essential Modifier: The modifier is necessary in order to understand the core sentence.

Non-essential modifier: If you take out the modifier, you can still understand the meaning of the core sentence.

Question 2

Core conjuctions

Answer 2

Core-conjuctions connect two parts of a sentence that are at the same level or serve the same functions.

Examples: and, for, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)

Question 3

Sub-Conjuctions

Answer 3

Modifiers can be connected to independent clause by sub conjuctions

Examples: Although, because, while, though, unless, before, after and if

Question 4

Compound Sentence

Answer 4

Two complete sentences can be connected using a comma puls a co-conjuction (but/and) to create a compound sentence

Question 5

What’s a typical Run-On Sentence?

Answer 5

Any GMAT choice that connects two indenpendent clauses via only a comma is Run-On Sentence, which is incorrect

Question 6

What are the most common Co-Conjunctions in GMAT? (FANBOYS)

Answer 6

For, And, But, Or, Nor, Yet, So

Question 7

What are the ways to connect two independent clauses?

Answer 7

1. Comma + Co-Conjunction
2. Smicolon (;)

Question 8

What’s transition expression?

Answer 8

However, therefore, in addition

Question 9

When to use semicolon?

Answer 9

1. To connect two independent clauses
2. Before a transition expression, such as however, therefore, in addition (vs. co-conjunctions such as FANBOYS)

Question 10

What’s relationship between commas and semicolons?

Answer 10

NEVER interchangeable

Question 11

Under what condition Comma and Semicolon would appear together?

Question 12

What are popular noun modifiers?

Answer 12

which

that

-ed, -ing modifiers that are not set off from the rest of the sentence by commas

Question 13

What are commonly tested adverbial modifiers?

Answer 13

-ing and -ed modifiers that are set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas

prep-phrase with commas

Question 14

What are placement rules about essential/nonessential/noun modifiers?

Answer 14

Place a noun and its modifier as close together as the sentence allows

In general, an essential modifier takes precedence over a nonessential modifier.

Question 15

When as a modifier….

Answer 15

When can be used to modify an event or a time, such as period, age, 1987 or decade.

During these circumanstance, it can also be replaced by in which or during which

Question 16

Preposition phrase as a modifier

Answer 16

Preposition phrase is a noun modifier, it will almost always follow the noun that it is modifying.

Question 17

What are the requirements for comma -ing and comma -ed modifiers?

Answer 17

The first piece of information leads to or results in the second piece of information.

Comma -ing and comma -ed are nonessential modifiers

Question 18

What’s Subordinate Clause? What are common subordinator markers?

Answer 18

It’s almost exactly like a complete sentence, but it has a subordinator (i.e. although) at the begining.

Common subordinator markers: after, although, because, before, if, since, so that, that, unless, until, when, while

Question 19

What does sub clauses usually modify?

Answer 19

Sub clauses modify the main clause to which they are attached

Sub clauses are always adverbial modifiers

Question 20

What are the requirement for opening mod to be correct?

Answer 20

An opening mod, by denifinition, doesn’t tell you what noun it is talking about. Therefore, the noun has to be the subject/main word right after the comma, otherwise you won’t understand the meaning of the sentence.

Question 21

What can’t be used with countable items? Is there any exception?

Answer 21

Do not use the word less with countable items. Fewer is the correct choice.

Question 22

Are unit nouns countable or uncountable? Name a few examples.

Answer 22

Countable unit nouns: dollars / gallons

Uncountable unit nouns: money, volume

Question 23

When compare the number/quanity, which word to use: greater than or more than?

For example, The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its NUMBERs are now suspected to be much___than before.

Answer 23

Greater: Number could be only greater while the quantity can be more.

Question 24

When and is preceded by exactly two commas, what “and” try to convey?

Answer 24

• Two commas will convey a list of three things (Parallelism)
• Two commas may also be there to offset a modifier (Parralelism)

Example: The baker looked at the wedding cake, which stood over four feet high, and beamed proudly.

Question 25

The blizzard deposited more than a foot of snow on the train tracks, prompting the transit authority to shut down service temporarily, causing discontent among communters who were left stranded for hours.

Answer 25

Two comma -ing modifiers in a row is almost never accpetable because it leads to an ambiguous meaning

Question 26

Like vs. as

Answer 26

Comparison Parallelism

Like: Noun to Noun comparison

As: Claus comparison

Question 27

Different use of “as”

Answer 27

1. Comparison: As X as (comparing clauses)
2. Convery a quantity: The temperature may drop as low as 20 degrees
3. Time marker: The new product may be available as soon as next week
4. Prep phrase (modifying clauses): Barry Bonds retired as the all-time home run leader
5. Conjunction (connecting clauses): When “as” is used as a conjunction, it most often means “at the same time that”: He looked down at his phone as he crossed street.
6. Idioms: X such as / such X as; So as to (in order to)

Question 28

What’s the condition to use comparative word such as: more likely, higher, less?

Answer 28

Do not use the comparative word unless the word than completes the comparison

Question 29

Usage of “this, that, these, and those”

Answer 29

This, that, these and those can be used as adjectives in front of nouns. Do not use this or these in place for nouns (WRONG: This is great).

i.e. these materials ⇐ These can be only used with a noun following.

“That” and “Those” may also be used to indicate a “new copy” of the antecedent. In contrast, ehrn you use it, they, or other personal pronouns, you mean the same actual thing as antecedent.

i.e. The money spent by Cersei’s parents is less than that spent by her children.

Here the “money” that represents is a new copy of the money spent by Cersei’s parents. Different money is spent.

Question 30

Requirements to use “that’ and “those” to indicate a new copy or copies.

Answer 30

The pronoun must include a modifier** that describes how the new copy is different from the previous versions. In addition, this new-copy usage has to **agree in numbers with the previous version.

i.e. The MONEY spent by Cersei’s parents is less than that spent by her children.

“…spent by her children” is the modifier

Question 31

What’s the exception that a pronoun refers only to noun?

Answer 31

It’s possible for a ponoun to refer to a possessive noun.

i.e. The company’s DIGITAL WATCH OFFERING is outperforming that of its competitor.

“Its” refer to “The company’s”

Question 32

Name several conditions (verb) doesn’t have to be parallel?

Answer 32

Different verb tenses

Active and Passive voices

Question 33

What are idioms to express purpose of doing/to do something?

Answer 33

In order to* is sometimes similar to *so that

Question 34

What’s difference between so that vs. so

i.e. I lifted weights so that I can gain muscle

The ring-tailed squirrel is more adept at surviving harsh winter conditions than its cousin, the golden-mantled squirrel, so the golden-mantled squirrel typically lives in warmer climates.

Answer 34

so that means in order to, which expresses a purpose

, so the… “So” is similar to therefore, which follows by a consequence

Question 35

What’s required by not this…but…?

Answer 35

Not this but requires parallel elements following not and but

i.e. not by…but by…

Question 36

Differences between: not a, b, and c vs. not a, b, or c

Answer 36

Not a, b, and c ⇒ not all of them

Not a, b, or c ⇒ not either of them

Question 37

What are the proposition “ways” should connect with?

Answer 37

The word ways suggest purpose, so ways should connect with to*** or ***of, rather than a athat clause to capture the intended meaning.

Question 38

What does “so that” express?

Answer 38

so that can express purpose

Question 39

Under what circumanstance passive voice is appropriate?

i.e. A joint Canadian–Russian study has found that…

or

…is found by a joint study

Answer 39

if you want to emphasize that a certain thing or person was acted upon, rather than some other thing or person, then you may want to use the passive voice, e.g., The window was what John broke, not the door.

Question 40

Regulators are likely to end what are, in effect, long-standing exemptions permitting pilots of small turboprop aircraft at small carriers to fly as much as 20 percent more hours per month than pilots at larger airlines fly, with the consequence that some carriers could be forced to hire additional pilots.

Anything Wrong? What’s tested? How to fix it?

Answer 40

as many as…more…than

not more…as

than pilots at larger airlines do ⇐ Do needs to immediately follow airlines to complete the clause

Regulators are likely to end what are, in effect, long-standing exemptions permitting pilots of small turboprop aircraft at small carriers to fly as many as 20 percent more hours per month than pilots at larger airlines do, and consequently some carriers could be forced to hire additional pilots.

Question 41

What’s the requirement for a clause to be conjoined (, and) with the first/another part of the sentence?

Answer 41

The clause has to be an independent clause

The company’s CEO backed away from her planning on dividing the firm into five parts, and saying that she meant still to spin off or sell two units but that the company would retain ownership of two others as well as the core company.

, and saying that… is not an independent cause and thus can’t be conjoined with the first part of the sentence.

Question 42

What’s the expression (sentence structure) of an explaynatory rewording of a clause?

Answer 42

Scientists believe that x - [in other words,] that Y. In this construction, X and Y are parallel clauses.

Question 43

Requirements to use subordinating conjunction

Answer 43

Subordinating conjunction such as although, is used only to introduce a subordinate clause, which is required to have its own verb.

Question 44

What are requirements to express comparisons, such as similar?

Answer 44

Words that express comparisons, such as similar, require either a plural object, with an optional expression of the entities being compared, or a singular object, in which case this explicit comparison is required.

Question 45

What’s the relaitonship of two clauses with and between them?

i.e. A mutual fund having billions of dollars in assets will typically invest that money in hundreds of companies and rarely does it hold more than one percent of the shares of any particular corporation.

Answer 45

The use of and between the clauses makes them both main clauses. Thus, the cause-and-effect relationship between investing and holding is lost.

Question 46

What does the participal pharase -ing (verb) refer to? When it’s one of a series of actions?

i.e. adapting itself earlier

Answer 46

The present participle could be used for an event that was simultaneous with, or part of, the event mentioned before the underlined portion.

Question 47

What’s the requirement for a clause like “When they…..”

Answer 47

The pronoun they should refer forward to a plural noun or pronoun

Question 48

What’s the difference between X and Y vs. …., and….

Answer 48

No comma before and: X and Y need to be parallel

and… is set off by comma: Parallel is not required

Question 49

What’s the correct verb tense to use if action/result B is depndent on an action A that may or may not occur?

i.e. if A were B….

Answer 49

conditional verb form: would simple tense verb…

Question 50

What do “themselves / herself” express?

Answer 50

These words would be either reflexive or emphatic.

Reflexive: The girl cut herself

Emphatic: The girl herself made the cake

Question 51

What’s the tense use when a sentence is a report of a past speech and a prediction made during the speech:

i.e. The central bank will lower the interest rate in the near future?

Answer 51

As the sentence is a port of a past speech, not of something that is currently occurring, so to accurately represent the past communication, we should use the past tense, i.e. would lower the interest rate

Question 52

What’s the normal way to express indirect speech (as distinguished from direct quotation)?

Answer 52

that-clause

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

.

Question 53

When we use demonstrative pronoun, i.e. these/those?

Answer 53

When we’d like to point out any particular set

Question 54

What’s the present participial pharase modifying, when it appears after the clause and is separated from the preceding clause by a comma?

i.e. A 7,000-watt solar energy system now costs around $15,000, being a price that many can afford.

Answer 54

“, bing a price..” modifies the entire preceding clause rather than the noun that immediately preceeds the phrase.

Question 55

How to use “due to..” in GMAT?

Answer 55

On the GMAT, and in most formal writting, “due to” is correctly used to begin a phrase that modifies a noun.

WRONG example: Sea and air travel are much safer now than they were in the past due to the use of computers that accurately make predictions based in part on detailed information on the formation of storms by weather forecasters.

Here “due to” incorrectly begins a pharase that cmodifies a verb, “are”

Question 56

What’s the comparison word paired with weight, when it’s used to express of quantities of weight?

Answer 56

Weight is uncountable thus less than xx pounds

Question 57

What’s the comparison word paired with time, when it’s used to express of quantities of time?

Answer 57

Time is uncountable.

Thus, less than 30 days

Question 58

What we need to pay attention for the sentence describing a cause-and-effect sequence?

Answer 58

the Causal Sequence or the causal chain of events

Question 59

What’s the difference when using “like” and “as” to introduce comparison?

Answer 59

Like (preposition): introduces nouns and noun phrases

as (conjunction): introduces verbs or clasues

Question 60

What’s the sentence structure to use “as” to introduce a comparison?

Answer 60

just as x so y

Question 61

What’s usually conveyd by the phrase “at least”? When it’s used with more than?

Answer 61

At least would normally be used to indicate that the writer does not know, or prefers not to say a whether X is Y

In contrast, And more usually signal a definite commitment to a claim

Thus, use both of them together results a conflict

Question 62

What’s usually required by an inverted structure as following?

Making things even more difficult has been general market inactivity lately, if not paralysis, which has ­provided little in the way of pricing guidance.

Answer 62

In this construction, the subject (general market inactivity) can be directly compared with paralysis.

Such contrasts are best made using phrases that are adjacent, not separated by other material (here, the adverb lately).

This inverted structure makes general market activity the subject of Making things even more difficult. This would be legitimate by itself, but it requires general market inactivity to be next to both if not paralysis (for contrast) and which (marking a relative clause modifying inactivity).

Question 63

What should immediately follow an opening adjectival phrase?

i.e. The largest of all the planets,….

Answer 63

The Noun described by the opening adjectival phrase

Question 64

What does “be to + verb” try to convey?

i.e. are to include…

Answer 64

The phrase are to include can convey either a future sense or an imperative sense

Question 65

What does progressive verb forms usually suggest?

• Having been born…*
• Being born…*

Answer 65

Suggest continuous action

Doesn’t establish a logical time sequence

Question 66

What’s parenthetical expression? What’s the better way to deal with the parenthetical expression in a sentence?

Answer 66

A parenthetical expression is a word or words added to a sentence without changing the meaning or grammar of the original sentence.

Parenthetical expressions give extra information but are not essential.

You can add and remove a parenthetical and the sentence works just the same.

In general, a parenthetical expression that needs to be set off from the rest of the clause, with some punctuation to indicate a pause at its end

i.e. Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument that emotions, including those deemed personal or private, are social phenomena that are inseparable from bodily response.

Question 67

What’s the requirement of a clause modifier like “…who….”?

Answer 67

When a relative clause acting as a modifier, it must be placed immediately after the noun or pronoun it modifies

Question 68

Intransitive verb and its usage?

Answer 68

An intransitive verb does not take an object.

Using an object immediately after an intransitive verb will create an incorrect sentence.

However, there may be other information after the verb, such as one or more prepositional phrases or an adverb.

Correct: The students arrived at the residency in Houston.

Incorrect: The students arrived Houston.

> he patient’s health deteriorated quickly.

> Ahmad voted in the local election.

> May I sit here?

> Attendance increased at the weekly study sessions as finals drew near.

> Susan laughed.

Question 69

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities.

vs.

its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by

Anything Wrong? What’s Wrong? How to fix it?

Answer 69

from having . . . by erroneously suggests that the boundaries in the ocean are attempting to dissipate sound energy.

Question 70

What’s the best way to present a multistep process?

Answer 70

These steps are most clearly presented in chronological order.

Question 71

What’s the common way to link two independent clauses in a sentence?

Answer 71

The clauses must normally be set off from each other (by a semicolon, for example)

Or else the second clause must be introduced by*** ***and*** ***or some other conjunction, not merely an adverb like thus.

Question 72

Is United States singular or prural?

Answer 72

Singular

Question 73

Which is more preferrable to describe an unfolding pattern of events?

being…

OR

becoming?

Answer 73

Becoming

Question 74

What rules we should follow to present a series of simultaneous events?

As a result of record low temperatures, the water pipes on the third floor froze, which caused the heads of the sprinkler system to burst, which released torrents of water into offices on the second floor.

Answer 74

Iit is best to present these events as actions attached to the same subject (heads of the sprinkler system)

Question 75

What’s the appositive phrase? How to use it?

Answer 75

AAn appositive noun or noun phrase follows another noun or noun phrase in apposition to it; that is, it provides information that further identifies or defines it. Such “bonus facts” are framed by commas unless the appositive is restrictive (i.e., provides essential information about the noun).

i.e. a part of,

My childhood friend, Anne-Marie, loved horses.

When in a sentence, appositive phrase like relative pronoun (which, who..) must have a noun or noun phrase as a clear antecedent

Question 76

noun + that

What’s the role of “that” playing? We should pay attention to…?

Answer 76

“That” is restrictive. It’s used to describe a particular one.

For examply: Floating in the waters of the equatorial Pacific, an array of buoys collects and transmits data on long-term interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere that affects global climate.

Using the restrictive that after atmosphere illogically suggests that there are many atmospheres to differentiate from and the one in question in this sentence is the one affecting global climate.

Question 77

What’s the other way of using “show that…”

Answer 77

• show +* noun phrase + ing verb
• show chemical insecticides spreading many miles*

But there should be no pause in the middle of a construction of this latter type.

If there is such a pause, then chemical insecticides becomes the direct object of show,

and the following verb-ingphraseis an awkward attempt at amodifier of this object.

Question 78

one-third of apples

Plural or Singular?

Answer 78

Plural

Question 79

What’s usually indicated by conjunction “so”? Or what should follow “so”?

Answer 79

The conjunction so typically indicates that a consequence will follow

Question 80

What to use when we seperate several parallel elements in a long sentence?

Comma: “,”

OR

Selicon: “;”

Answer 80

We can use both.

For example: Tropical bats play an important role in the rain forest ecosystem, aiding in the dispersal of cashew, date, and fig seeds;** pollinating banana, breadfruit, and mango trees_;_** and indirectly helping to produce tequila by pollinating agave plants.

Question 81

What’s the most succinct way to express the two options?

Answer 81

whether X or Y…

Question 82

Difference btw like vs. just as

Answer 82

The word like is a preposition that is normally followed by a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun (she, he. it) that it governs;

just as is normally used as a conjunction, introducing a subordinate clause.

Question 83

X, Y and Z as a subject should be followed by prural or singular verb?

Answer 83

X, Y and Z is compound subject that should be followed by prural verb

Question 84

When we shoudn’t use past perfect times?

Answer 84

When the chronology is clear because of terms such as “before/after/when/earlier/later”…or because of clear mention of dates, use past perfect tense is not required, though not incorrect either.

Question 85

What does the sentence try to say when we have two “past perfect tense events” in a sentence?

i.e. “had been released” and “had migrated”

Answer 85

If we have both “had been released” and “had migrated” in the past perfect tense, then the sentence is saying that these things both happened at the same time.

Question 86

The construction of ,…., is not approriate for?

Answer 86

Information that is vital to the core meaning of the sentence cannot be placed between two commas.

Question 87

How to join two/three elements in a sentence?

Answer 87

If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined by conjunction; the “comma + and construction” (oxford comma) is used for the last element in a list of three or more elements.

Question 88

What precedes verb result?

X results in….

Answer 88

Noun can’t results in sth…

ONLY Action can result in sth…

Question 89

What’s the mood of “predicted + that + something be done?

Answer 89

Command as hypothetical future action indicates Subjunctive Mood

Question 90

What’s the preferred way for referring to the purpose/intent of action?

Answer 90

The infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb”) is preferred over the present participle (“verb+ing”) for referring to the purpose/intent of action.

Question 91

What does the introduction of the “present participle after comma” generally leads to?

Answer 91

Cause-effect relationship

For instance: As a novelist, Selma Lagerlöf turned away from literary realism and wrote romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, in 1909 becoming the first woman and also the first Swedish writer that won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The construction above incorrectly implies that Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and as a result, in 1909, she became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Question 92

In comparison, which pronoun to use when you compare A with B?

How to compare A vs. itself (i.e. in the past?)

Answer 92

In comparisons, if you want to compare one thing vs. another use “that**,” and if you want to **compare something to itself, use “it”:

For example: “The seat of chair A is more worn than that of chair B.”

v.s.

“The seat of chair A is more worn than it was last week.”