grammar Flashcards
singular verb
singular verbs have an -s on the end.
e.g. Ellie drives to the dentist. My friend drives downtown.
plural verb
plural nouns have no -s on the end.
e.g. They all sang along. Daisy and Monica sang.
what does the verb always have to agree with?
the number of nouns it modifies. If multiple people are performing this verb, then the verb will be in the plural form. If one person is performing this verb, then the verb will be in the singular form.
e.g. Alice and Daisy enjoy music ✓
Alice and Daisy enjoys music ✕
When asked to pick tenses of verbs…
the sentence you make should have a logical sequence of events.
For example, this is unacceptable on the SAT: My Grandma died. I will love my Grandma.
This is acceptable: My grandma died. I loved my grandma.
what two forms of a verb typically function as nouns?
the infinitive, “to verb”
the gerund “-ing” form
*you don’t need to know technical names
adverb
adverbs modify words that aren’t nouns. They always end in -ly (e.g. slowly, quickly)
what are some pronouns that people don’t typically think of as pronouns?
we, us, me, one, who, which, that
subject
the thing that performs the action
what do pronouns have to agree with?
the noun they are replacing (in terms of singular or plural)
object
the thing that receives the action
subject pronouns
replace the subject of the verb (e.g. I, you, he, they, what, who)
object pronouns
replace words that are the object of verbs (e.g. me, you, him, her, what, whom)
when do you use who and when do you use whom? :-)
who is a subject pronoun
whom is an object pronoun
“This is the man who taught me how to ride a bike.” Who is used because the man did the action, he is the subject of the sentence.
“He is also the man whom I accidentally hit with my car.”
Whom is used because the man is receiving the action (the hitting), he is the object
personal pronouns
personal pronouns are pronouns that refer to people. The ones you need to know are who, whom, and one. When other types of pronouns are used to refer to people, it is unacceptable.
E.g.
This is my teacher that got me interested in chemistry ✕ “That” is not a personal pronoun.
This is my teacher who got me interested in chemistry. ✓
what is the general rule regarding pronoun ambiguity?
if one answer choice uses a pronoun when it is not clear which noun it refers to, then that option is incorrect. no pronoun ambiguity
possessive pronouns
my, his, her, your, its, etc.
Possessive pronouns NEVER have apostrophes. Don’t get them confused with words like “it’s”, “you’re”, “who’s” etc.
how do you make a noun possessive?
add an apostrophe and an s.
e.g. The cat’s toy. The monkey’s stash.
how do you make a plural noun (Ending in s) possessive?
add an apostrophe after the word, nothing else
e.g. Those are the girls’ bikes.
This rule is very specific to plural nouns, so even if you have a singular noun ending in s you still add both the apostrophe and the s. Abacus’s, for example
what do two ideas linked by a conjunction always need to have?
parallel structure
for example, this is unacceptable: Sarah likes to sing, dancing, and acting.
But this is good: “Sarah likes singing, dancing, and acting.” because all of the joined phrases are in the same form, the infinitive form
*finish the correlative conjunction
both…
…and
either…
…or
just as…
…so
neither…
…nor
no sooner…
…than
not only…
…but (also), the also doesn’t HAVE to appear and when it does it doesn’t have to be immediately after the but
whether…
…or
clause
includes a subject noun phrase, a verb phrase, and sometimes (but not necessarily) an object noun phrase
Independent clause
a clause that is a complete sentence. it can stand on its own.
e.g. I collect wombats
dependent clause
can not stand on its own as a sentence
e.g. and now I only eat mushrooms from Japan
what type of words do dependent clauses generally begin with?
conjunctions or relative pronouns
e.g. after, although, and, as, provided that, whether, FANBOYS, etc
what do all correct sentences on the SAT need at least one of?
they need at least one independent clause. Otherwise, it becomes a sentence fragment and that is never correct on the SAT
when a dependent clause precedes an independent clause, what do you need?
a comma after the dependent clause
e.g. Until I get my score back, i’m not going to breathe.
when an independent clause precedes a dependent clause, what do you need?
nothing. e.g. I’m not going to breathe until I get my score back.
One exception is when the dependent clause begins with which or who, in which case you need a comma before the dependent clause. e.g. The explosion was caused by my great aunt, who was making gravy.
What punctuation can separate two independent clauses?
a semicolon or a period, but NEVER a comma
When is a colon used?
everything before the colon must be able to stand on its own (i.e. an independent clause). The colon should provide examples of something mentioned in the independent clause or it should elaborate on an idea presented in the independent clause.
commas in lists
use commas to divide items in a list of three or more things. always use the oxford comma
a list of two things is joined only by the word “And”, do not use a comma in this scenario
commas and quotations
use commas to introduce a quotation, as long as it’s being introduced with a word like said, remarked, commented, etc. If the quote is integrated naturally, do not use a comma. (e.g. The man said that “a gentleman knows neither sorrow nor fear.” – no comma necessary here)
if a quote appears in the middle of a sentence and it has no ending punctuation of its own, then a comma is used before the closing quotation. (e.g. My coach used to say, “defense wins championships,” but he also said, “the best defense is good offense,” so I never understood what he meant.)
comma sandwiches
phrases that are sandwiches between 2 commas, or a comma and a period. It gives extra info about something in the sentence.
when comma sandwiches are correct, they can be removed and the remaining sentence should still stand.
profession before name
no comma
e.g. We read about famous astronaut Buzz Aldrin in class.
profession after name
comma sandwich needed
e.g. Buzz Aldrin, a famous astronaut, was the subject of an article we read.
when do you use dashes?
there are only two scenarios where you can use a dash:
- to create a punctuation sandwich (functions exactly like a comma sandwich)
- or to replace a colon (I.e. to elaborate on an idea or provide an example)
participle phrases
for the SAT, think of participles as the verb form ending in “-ing”. Participle phrases are phrases that begin with one of these “-ing” verbs
what do participle phrases always refer to ?
participle phrases always refer to the first noun in the independent clause that follows them. If the participle phrase is trying to refer to any other noun, it is used incorrectly.
e.g. this is good use of a participle phrase: “screaming for help, the mailman ran away from the rabid dog.” the participle phrase “screaming for help” refers to the first noun, the mailman.
this is wrong: “screaming for help, the rabid dog chased the mailman.”
descriptive phrases that do not begin with -ing
with any other types of descriptive phrases, you still want the phrase as close as possible to the thing it is describing. DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES THAT DO NOT BEGIN WITH -ING MODIFY THE CLOSEST NOUN PHRASE
this is good “as the event coordinator, John mainly worries about flower arrangements.”
this is not good “as the event coordinator, flower arrangements are the main thing John worries about.” since technically, the descriptive phrase “as the event coordinator” is incorrectly trying to modify “flower arrangements”
then vs than
then is an adverb for when something happens (E.g. “then it happened”). Then is also used in the if/then conditional statement.
Than is used for comparisons (e.g. “this dog is nice than that one.”)
there vs their vs they’re
there indicates location
their is a possessive pronoun (e.g. their makeup/their trampoline)
they’re is always short for “they are”
its vs it’s
its is a possessive pronouns (e.g. its smell/its length)
it’s is always short for “it is”
your vs you’re
your is a possessive pronouns
you’re is always short for “you are”
redundancy
avoid answer choices that restate something that is clearly stated nearby.
consider this sentence: “John always chose the aisle seat every time he flew.”
The word “always” can be removed since the phrase “Every time he flew” tells us he is picking this seat constantly. (you could also remove “every time he flew” and keep “Always” if u wanted to)
joining two sentences
follow 2 rules:
- maintain original meaning of both original sentences
- follow all the grammatical rules covered here :-)
rule about sentence length
shorter is better, all else being equal - if there are two options that are both truly grammatically correct, pick the shorter option.
rule about functionally identical answer choices
you will find questions with two or even three answer choices that do essentially the same thing in the sentence.
A good example would be:
a. per year
b. every year
c. each year
these answer choices are essentially the same, but they can’t all be correct, therefore none of them are correct.
