Prepositions, conjunctions, and mixed drills Flashcards
What is the function of preposition?
Construct modifiers, which provide additional information about something else in the sentence.
Many preposition prepare information about timing (after, around, before, until, or till) and local (beneath, inside, beside, above, near, against, on, underneath, around, upon, at, within, behind, below, or in) of something
What are the most common prepositions?
of
in
on
at
to
for
What are complex preposition?
They consist in two or more word, at least one of which is a preposition
What is a prepositional phrase?
Is a group of words with two major components: the preposition itself and the object attached to it (a noun, pronoun, gerund, even a clause). E.g.:
into the garden
under the table
until next Thursday
by committing murder
from him
Is there a verb and a subject in a prepositional phrase?
No, none of the prepositional phrases contains a main or working verb nor a subject.
For the test, you may know that a prepositional phrase is over when you hit the verb or the subject of the sentence
He wants to go
He went to the store
In which phrases is “to” used as a preposition?
Only in the second. “To” followed by a verb is part of an infinitive (to go), but “to” followed by a noun (to the store) is a preposition used in a prepositional phrase
How to spot prepositional phrases?
Start by spotting a preposition which should have an object that will be a noun, pronoun, or gerund. There is no subject or verb in a prepositional phrase.
Note that prepositional phrases are short, but can come together with other prepositional phrases (without containing any subject or verb in between).
Once you recognize the prepositional phrases, you can temporarily ignore them in order to concentrate on the core sentence.
What is the importance of recognizing prepositional phrases?
To temporarily ignore them, as they often separate a subject and a verb and makes difficult to identify whether they are matching
Is it correct to end a sentence with a preposition?
There is no issue by ending a sentence with a preposition.
What is a conjunction?
Conjunctions link words, phrases, and clauses, allowing you to make lists or contrasts. E.g.:
and
but
yet
either…or
not only…but also
if
when
because
What is a coordinating conjunction?
Are conjunctions used to join anything from a single word to entire sentences or complete ideas. The coordinating conjunction shows proper casual relationship between two ideas.
They can be remembers by the acronym FANBOYS:
for
and
nor
but
or
yet
so
What does GMAT test about coordinating conjunction?
The GMAT tests whether the use of a conjunction is appropriate. E.g.:
Many whale species are endangered, but they are overhunted [the conjunction “but” does not make sense because it does not show the proper causal relationship]
What is a correlative conjunction?
Is a conjunction that has two parts. After one of each part could be a noun, a phrase, or an entire simple sentence.
Both items after each of the two parts need to be the same part of speech or type of phrase
Either/or
Neither/nor
Both/and
Whether/or
Not only/but (also)
I like to eat not only berries but also cherries, peaches, and apples
vs.
I like not only to eat berries but also cherries, peaches, and apples
The second one is incorrect because it has an infinitive (to eat) in the first part versus several nouns in the second part. The first is correct because it is matching nouns in the two different parts.
The king wishes to express that he is neither a despot nor oblivious to the concerns of the people
Incorrect.
Neither is followed by a despot (despot is a noun) an nor is followed by oblivious (an adjective). A correct version could read “neither despotic nor oblivious” (despotic is an adjective).
= noun + noun
= adjective + adjective
so on and so forth
