SC Flashcards
Why is this statement wrong : Research has shown that bananas in a container with kiwis causes the kiwis to ripen quickly.
‘in a container with kiwis’ is a prepositional phrase hence it is not considered for subject verb agreement. The subject is bananas and verb is causes which is incorrect. It should be cause
Why is this statement wrong : The tennis shoes that Adele borrowed recently were taken from her car by a thief
This statement is ambiguous. We don’t know if the tennis shoes she borrowed recently were the ones a thief took from her car or if she shoes she borrowed recently were taken by a thief from her car.
Why is this statement wrong : Ostriches are able to run fast for very long distances, but they are able to escape predators such as hyenas that normally catch prey by exhausting the prey
This sentence is grammatically correct. However, since it is not logical (‘but’ is used to introduce contrast but here both the statements before and after ‘‘but’ mean the same thing.), it is considered incorrect.
What’s the best SC strategy?
You need to find 4 incorrect options and not 1 correct option. Check if option A has any grammar errors. If yes, eliminate A and all other options with the same grammatical error (scan vertically, don’t word match). If not, keep A and check other options for grammar errors (vertically) and eliminate other options with grammatical errors. Finally, use meaning to eliminate options that don’t make sense.
Why are the following statements wrong :
1) A twenty-page document containing a description of the room in which the possessions of the governor were found when the archeologists unearthed the long buried city.
2) A twenty-page document contains a description of the room from which the possessions of the governor were found when the archeologists unearthed the long buried city.
3) My brother who broke his foot.
1) Doesn’t convey a complete message/thought.
2) The possessions would be found ‘in’ a room and not ‘from’ a room.
3) Doesn’t convey a complete message/thought.
Note : The main verb of a sentence will never be found within a phrase modifying a noun.
Why are the following statements wrong:
1) Although it is clear that Koan meditation is becoming more widely used, though it is also clear that meditation of that form is unlikely to become the most popular with people in general
2) Although it is clear that Koan meditation is becoming more widely used, what is clear also is that that form of meditation is unlikely to become the most popular with people in general.
1) Although and though mean the same thing that is ‘in spite of’. So, this sentence structure is something like ‘in spite of’ X, ‘in spite of’ Y which is not fine for this case.
This however does NOT mean that you can’t use ‘although’ and ‘though’ together in a sentence. Eg: Although Jim is funny, and though I can afford to repair my car, I didn’t find the crash funny.
2) This statement is correct.
Other words that mean ‘in spite of’ : despite, even though. These expect a contradictory statement to follow.
What’s the difference between ‘if’ and ‘whether’
A “whether” is always about the uncertainty in a choice or alternative.
- ) Whether you study French or Spanish, you will encounter an unfamiliar language in Japan.
- ) Whether or not I get the raise, I am going to buy that new car.
- ) Whether you like jazz will influence your opinion of this new club.
- ) Whether I walk on her left or right side matters a great deal to her.
- ) I don’t know whether there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.
- ) He doesn’t care whether you serve broccoli or Brussels sprouts with dinner.
The word “if” is used for clauses that specify conditions or speculate on something hypothetical
What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?
Phrase or Clause :
1) Ali must be older than I
2) The delegation chosen by the council
3) That stress management can be more effective than drugs in some cases
4) over twenty two years after the release of the first version of the now well known author’s book
5) Only six remain
A clause has a subject and a FINITE verb. Finite verb answers the question ‘when did the action take place’
A phrase lacks either the subject, or a finite verb or both.
Every VALID English sentence must have at least one independent clause. The finite verb of the independent clause is called the ‘main verb’. Hence, every sentence must have a main verb which answers the question ‘when’ wrt the subject.
1) Clause (He must be busy : present tense, must have been : past tense)
2) Phrase
3) Clause
4) Phrase
5) Clause, independent at that.
An independent clause need not provide full context in order to be independent. It just needs to be a complete thought (a complete thought that you have need not contain the entire context or info`). Eg : Neither Mam nor her sisters are at the beach. Their health improves.
An independent clause : The primary question that the co-op board posed in response to the tenant’s petition was, of course, this.
If you remove the subordinating conjunction, a subordinating conjunction becomes a VALID INDEPENDANT clause.
1) Does this contain an independent clause? : The united states remaining a nation characterized by a spirit of capitalism despite the spread of socialism to much of the world.
1) No. There might be doubt regarding ‘characterized’. However, try adding a finite verb to understand that it’s not a finite verb that answers ‘when’. : Is characterized, was characterized, will be characterized.
1) What is a simple sentence ?
2) What is a compound sentence?
3) How should a colon be used in SC?
4) How to differentiate between past tense and past participle?
When a subordinate clause precedes an independent clause, the subordinate clause must be followed by a comma. When a subordinate clause comes after an independent clause, the comma between the two clauses is OPTIONAL.
For n clauses, you need max of n-1 conjunctions.
Joining a subordinate clause with an independent clause using ‘and’ makes it one giant subordinating clause.
Complex sentence : 1 independent clause and at least 1 subordinate clause
Compound Complex Sentence : more than 1 independent clause and at least one subordinate clause.
Whenever a subordinating conjunction immediately follows a coordinating conjunction, there must be at least three clauses in the sentence.
Eg : I wanted to go scuba diving, but because I was tired from our long run, I read a book instead. Here, ‘because I was tired from our long run’ (sub) is joined properly to ‘I read a book instead’ (ind) using ‘,’. This whole thing becomes an independent clause and is joined to ‘I wanted to go scuba diving’ (ind) using ‘,’ + FANBOYS.
You CANNOT join phrases to clauses using ‘but’ or ‘and’.
1) A simple sentence consists of a single independent clause followed by a period. Eg : I do.
2) It is composed of at least two independent clauses. Connected either by ‘ ‘,’ (PRESCENCE OF COMMA IS VITAL AND NOT OPTIONAL AT ALL) + FANBOYS ‘ or a semicolon ‘;’.
Note however that you can still use a dependent clause in place if you don’t have ‘ ‘,’ + FANBOYS ‘, it’s just an independent clause that is not allowed.
Eg : I ran, consequently, I fell. is INCORRECT.
CORRECT : I ran, and, consequently, I fell.
3) Whenever a colon is present, whatever precedes it must be able to stand on its own as a complete sentence (independent clause).
It can be followed by : an example or a series of examples or an independent clause or explanation or rules.
Eg : 1) I love everything about straw: the texture, the smell, and the taste.
2) Please tell us one thing: how many people will attend. (Note : ‘Please tell us one thing’ is an independent clause)
3) The team defined their goals for the week: to balance budget, to support women and to address sexism.
4) He said something absolutely outrageous : ‘Shut up, Mr. President’
(In (4) the quote is being used as a list item)
4) Past tense expresses an activity, past participle expresses a quality. Try adding a finite verb to verify. Eg : Aadith, the dancer, singer and songwriter known as kurt kobain… . To check ‘known’, add ‘is’/’was’/’will be’ . Since it still makes logical sense and adding the finite verb changes the answer to ‘when’ , ‘known’ is not a finite verb.
Difference between ‘since’ and ‘ever since’ and ‘since then’?
Ever since is used when you want to emphasize that something has been true from “from that time to this”. The “ever” can suggest a continuous thing and suggest against the possibility that something has happened only intermittently since:
It’s been years since I rode a bike. (intermittent)
Since joining the company, I’ve been promoted twice. (intermittent)
My back has been aching since I fell off the ladder.
(you fell off once, intermittent)
Ever since I fell off the ladder, my back aches (the ache is continuous)
1) Difference between ‘since’ and ‘from’ ?
2) Difference between ‘due to’ and ‘because of’
1) Although both these words present the starting time of an action, they cannot be used interchangeably.
The doctor will be here from 10 am tomorrow – Correct
The doctor will be here since 10 am tomorrow – Incorrect
The doctor has been waiting for you since 10 am – Correct
The doctor has been waiting for you from 10 am – Incorrect
Since vs From – Takeaways
Since is used to present the starting point of an action that continues in the present and takes the usage of the present perfect or present perfect continuous tense verb.
From is used to present the starting point of action.
2) Replace ‘due to’ by ‘caused by’, if it still makes sense ‘due to’ is correct, else use ‘because of’
Relative pronouns to know for GMAT : that, which, who, whom, whose, where, when
Relative pronouns always appear in clauses.
Relative clauses always appear embedded within other clauses. They are unable to stand alone as sentences.
Every relative clause must have a subject and a finite verb
When the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause, it may NOT be omitted from the clause. When the relative pronoun is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted from the sentence (optional).
Before checking if clause etc. , CANCEL all the relative clauses, makes the job easier and safer. You can have multiple relative clauses joined by an ‘and’. All of which you need to cancel out.
Eg : Guadalupe Island, an island off the Pacific coast of Mexico, where about 366 unique great white sharks have been identified, and where the water visibility is among some of the best in the world, allowing for amazing scuba diving. ‘where about…identified’ is the 1st relative clause and ‘where the water…scuba diving’ is the 2nd relative clause. Both of these need to be cancelled.
A sentence’s main verb can never be located in the relative clause or the subordinate clause or the dependent clause.
Semicolons CAN be used to separate items in a list WHEN using commas would make the list confusing.
I need to purchase a dry erase board, a notebook, and a calculator to study for math; an iPad for English; and a leather journal for history. If you replace ; with , it won’t make sense. an ‘iPad for English’ is not same a ‘notebook’.
At the dinner will be Modi, India’s PM;JFK, the president of USA; and Nikita , premier of Russia. If you use ‘,’ then Modi and India’s PM will become two different entities. ‘;’ + coordinating conjunction is also valid to separate the last item from the remaining items in a list of 3 or more.
OG Q : https://gmatclub.com/forum/tropical-bats-play-important-roles-in-the-rain-forest-ecosystem-aidin-131457.html
Figuring out if the relative pronoun of a relative clause is implied or not shouldn’t cause issues. Here’s why : If it is absent, adding it won’t help since it won’t be the subject of the relative clause anyway (which is why it might have been implied in the first place) and the verb of the relative clause would be hooked to some other noun/pronoun of the relative clause (subject).
Before you conclude that something is a main verb, do a sanity check of making sure it doesn’t belong to a subordinate/relative/noun clause.
A noun clause can fulfil the role of a subject or direct object (noun/pronoun that receives the action of the finite verb in a clause) of a sentence.
In a noun clause, words such as ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘where’ etc that introduce the clause do not relate the clause back to a noun as the relative pronoun in relative clauses do.
In noun clauses that serve as direct objects, the word ‘that’ is often dropped.
Prepositions must be followed by some sort of noun/pronoun/noun clause.
A relative clause MUST follow the noun that the clause is modifying. (RELATIVE CLAUSE only not relative pronoun)
A clause that is not following a noun cannot be a relative clause.
A relative clause usually follows the patters : a clause within a clause right after a noun. Being a clause, it has to have a verb in it and convey one coherent meaning. IT HAS TO CONVEY ONE COHERENT MEANING, if it conveys an incomplete idea, the relative clause hasn’t ended yet. If a new idea is expressed, then it belongs to a different clause.
When three or more items appear IN A SERIES (both grammatically AND LOGICALLY), a comma and a coordinating conjunction must appear before the last item in the series. It’s called the oxford comma.
Surprisingly, many couples who have been married for decades say that the key to a lasting union is not open communication, unfailing honesty, or similar religious or political views but simply not to get divorced.
Here, the items in the list logically are open communication, unfailing honesty and similar religious/political views hence only these three need oxford comma plus coordinating conjunction (‘or’), the but that comes before ‘simply…’ is a different construct hence doesn’t need to comply with these rules.
Noun
Noun are naming words. These can be names for people, animals, places, objects, substances, qualities, emotions, actions, things, abstract ideas, feelings, experiences etc.
Weird noun example : 2005
Common noun is used for a class of person, place, thing : car, man, city
Proper noun is name of particular or specific person, place or thing. Proper noun always starts with capital letter.
Countable noun : Noun with both singular and plural form for anything/anyone you can count.
Non-countable noun : Does not have plural and something we cannot/would not count. Always takes singular form.
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable hair, room, light.
Collective noun : Noun naming a group of things, animals etc. You can count the individual members of the group but you usually think of the group as one unit.
“Majority” is a collective noun, and collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on whether you’re talking about a group of individuals or the individuals in the group.
In the sentence: “A majority of workers have access to some paid sick days but a substantial minority of them do not,” “majority” has been disbanded as a single unit and the situation of several workers within that unit is being spoken about. Hence, the subject (a majority of workers) takes a plural verb (have access).
As singular : The majority supports the new legislation.
Children is NOT a collective noun.
MUCH and related phrases such as ‘as much as’ can be used only for uncountable nouns
MANY and related can only be used for countable nouns.
Possessive noun : boy’s , boys’
Noun as an adjective (non gerund) : first noun acts as an adjective : race horse, war story, tennis ball, kitchen floor. Several nouns as adjectives one after the other : Argentina football team coach
To check if noun, try adding ‘a’ , ‘an’, or ‘the’ in front of the suspected noun. If it is still grammatical, you have a noun. You can also substitute it with another noun to check (the cheese test).
Pronoun
Word that replaces noun or another pronoun.
Relative pronoun : Relates to the word that it modifies and links one phrase/clause to another phrase/clause.
Personal pronoun : Refers to a specific person or thing
Indefinite pronoun (conveys the idea of any, all, none or some) : refers to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. Eg : Anybody, each, either , none, someone
Demonstrative pronoun : Points to and identifies. Eg : this, that, these, such, none, neither
Interrogative pronoun: Used to ask questions
Subjective case : doer of verbs. Eg : he, she, they, who
Objective case : receiver of verbs/ Eg : him, her, me, whom, them.
Possessive case : my, mine, her, his, theirs.
Note : who is subjective case, whom is objective case. Eg : He is the person who loves me. He is the person whom I love.
Pronouns require objective case in prepositional phrase.
Adjective
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying or quantifying words.
Weird Adjective Eg : 75 (as in 75 course meal etc.), third, your.
Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns : Japanese, Keynesian, United Nations (as in United Nations representative)
Comparative & superlative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives when talking about or comparing 2 things (NOT 3 or more things).
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme/highest degree of a quality. We can use superlative adjectives when talking about 3 or more things (NOT 2 things).
Usually, we get comparative by adding ‘-er’ and superlative by adding ‘-est’.
Important : Comparative and Superlatives apply ONLY TO ADJECTIVES and NOT TO ADVERBS.
So, ‘good’ is adjective and ‘well’ is adverb.
Verb
Tells us what a subject does or is. They tell us the action, event or the state.
Transitive verb : needs an object to complete its meaning and to receive the action expressed.
Eg : Kicked
Intransitive verb : complete in itself or which is does not require an object.
Eg : Talked
Active voice : Who does what. Object receives the action of the verb performed by the subject.
Passive voice : What was done by whom. Subject receives the action of the verb being performed by the object.
Adverb
Modifies verb, adjective or another adverb. Answers questions such as “how”, “why” “when”, “where”, “how much”.
USUALLY has a ‘-ly’ suffix.
Adverbs can modify clauses and sentences as well.
Clause :
1) Perhaps you are correct, but not at first glance.
‘Perhaps’ modifies the clause ‘you are correct’
2) Surely he will be on time, but I hope not.
‘Surely’ modifies ‘he will be on time’
Sentence :
1) Suddenly, she went home.
2) Today, we can have a vacation.
Preposition
Preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that a preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.
A preposition usually indicates the TEMPORAL, SPATIAL or LOGICAL relationship of it’s objects with the rest of the sentence.
Prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. It can function as a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
A preposition is ALWAYS followed by a noun and NEVER by a verb. (Eg : of good friends, for the final exam (can have a noun modifier before noun/pronoun but not verb))
A prepositional phrase can be removed and the remaining sentence will still make sense.
Some prepositions to REMEMBER : of, to, for, from, about, as
At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, the “object” of the preposition. The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe it. These are the patterns for a prepositional phrase:
preposition + noun, pronoun, gerund, or noun clause
preposition + modifier(s) + noun, pronoun, gerund, or noun clause
prepositional phrases act as adjectives or adverbs
A quick check for a propositional phrase is that it shouldn’t contain any verbs.
Conjunction
Used to link words, phrases ,and clauses. Types : coordinating and subordinating
Subject: Person or thing which carries out the verb
Object : Person or thing upon whom or which the action of the verb is carried out
Predicate : tells about what a person or a thing does or did.
Verbals : Gerunds, Participles and Infinitives
Gerund : End with -ing and function as a noun.
Participles : Act as adjectives. Past participles usually end with -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n. Present participles usually end with -ing.
Present participles usually describe what a thing does
Past participles usually describe what was done to a thing. Usually end with -ed or -en
The noun associated with a participle can be either 1) the agent doing the action of the participle or 2) the receiver of the effect of the participle.
Infinitive : ‘to’ + verb. Functions as noun, adjective or adverb. Can also function as a subject, direct object, etc.
Diff between infinitives and prepositional phrase :
Infinitives : to + verb. Eg : to fly, to draw
prepositional phrases : to + noun/pronoun. Eg : to him, TO THE COMMITTEE, TO THIS ADDRESS etc.
Neither prepositional phrases nor infinitives can act as the main verb.
‘this’ and ‘these’ refer to things that are nearby in space or time.
‘that’ and ‘those’ refer to things that are farther away in space or time.
As a relative pronoun, ‘that’ can refer to both singular and plural nouns. As a demonstrative, ‘that’ can refer only to singular nouns. For plural, use ‘THOSE’
As a demonstrative pronoun, ‘that’ can refer to both living and non living things. As a relative pronoun, ‘that’ can only refer to non-living things.
How to check if demonstrative or relative :
1) For relative, the noun being pointed to should be present as is.
2) For demonstrative, it just stands for a person, place, thing that must be pointed to. Need not be present previously in the sentence.
3) (if 1 and 2 do not work) between the two, if you can drop it [+maybe the verb that immediately follows it] and the sentence still makes sense, it’s acting as a relative pronoun.
Relative Clauses :
who/whom | which/that | where | when | whose
Person | Yes | X | X | X | Yes
Place | X | Yes | Yes | X | Yes
Thing | X | Yes | X | X | Yes
Idea | X | Yes | X | X | Yes
Time | X | X | X | Yes | X
NOTE : ‘where’ cannot be used for a ‘metaphorical’ place such as condition, situation, case, circumstance or arrangement. In such conditions, use ‘in which’ instead. Where is used only for actual physical places.
Eg :
1) We had an arrangement WHERE he cooked and I cleaned
2) We had an arrangement IN WHICH he cooked and I cleaned
2) is correct 1) is NOT
‘in which’ can also be used in place of ‘when’
that vs which (as relative pronouns)
1) That is essential, which is non-essential.
‘who’ is both essential and non essential, use commas to figure out
2) which modifies nearest grammatically eligible word, that modifies the nearest word OR PHRASE which makes both grammatical and logical sense
3) when the intent is to modify a list (2 or more), that is preferred
‘make’ and ‘dove’ are plural verbs. ‘many’ takes plural.
‘both…and’ is correct. ‘both..as well as…’ and ‘both….along with’ are NOT CORRECT due to redundancy.
‘atleast…or more’ is redundant
‘though….yet’ is also redundant
Remove prepositional phrases when checking for SV agreement.
Remove appositives when checking for SV agreement.
Appositives : An element of a sentence that modifies or further describes another element by renaming it.
Eg : My brother John. John is an appositive.
The uninvited guest, a large spider, was prattling about. A large spider is an appositive.
Inflation, the increase over time of goods and services, is a silent killer. ‘the increase..services’ is an appositive.
Aadith, the majestic gmat topper, is sleeping. ‘the..topper’ is an appositive.
If, when we replace a noun in a sentence with its modifier, the sentence retains its core meaning, the noun modifier is an appositive.
Abstract appositives rather than renaming and modifying specific words or phrases, rename and modify entire ideas presented in clauses.
Abstract appositives are sometimes used in place of relative clauses to make the sentences more effective since GMAT doesn’t prefer relative pronouns referring to entire clauses.
Eg :
After the judge announced her decision, {the governor spent much of the rest of the day ranting on social media}, [a spectacle that shocked not only his supporters but also his detractors]
[ ] demarcates the abstract appositive
{} is the clause which is modified.
Remove all relative clauses when checking for SV agreement
When two noun are joined by coordinating conjunction ‘and’, they demand plural verb unless the two nouns together name a single entity such as ‘bed and breakfast’ (the bed and breakfast was closed), ‘rice and beans’ (while rice and beans is a popular dish in my country) etc. in which case they demand singular verb. USE CONTEXT or the word which follows the verb in these cases to make out. dish is one thing hence rice and beans is also one thing/dish.
Eg : Strawberries and cream is a high calorie snack. Here, since we’re using singular ‘snack’, the context says that we’re talking about something singular.
Remove all additive phrases when checking for SV agreement.
Additive phrases which are phrases that begin with structures such as ‘along with’, ‘as well as’, ‘in addition to’, ‘accompanied by’, ‘together with’ do not create plural subjects.
They can be both before an after the subject.
Eg :
Ringo, [as well as other members or the band], HAS requested cocaine.
[Together with her coworkers], Lily has been planning to do cocaine.
An abstract appositive names what was stated in the preceding clause, adding information in the process.
Eg :I went to the restaurant with Alexa, an outing that was far more fun than staying at work.
The underlined part names what was stated in the preceding clause.
An absolute phrase does not name what was stated by preceding clause. It adds entirely new information.
Eg : The boxer bled profusely, his eyes swollen by successive blows from the opponent.
The underlined portion adds entirely new information about the scenario.
The verb in a clause or sentence containing a compound subject joined by the conjunctions ‘or’, ‘nor’, ‘either….or’ or ‘neither…nor’ must agree with the SUBJECT noun to which it is closest.
Note that SUBJECT NOUN need not be the same as the CLOSEST NOUN.
Eg : Either the manager in charge of the project or the members of the team [have] to claim responsibility for this oversight.
Here the closes noun to ‘have’ is team which is singular however the SUBJECT noun is the members (remove prepositional phrase ‘of the team’) which is plural.
In an inverted sentence, the main verb precedes the subject. Even for such sentences, using the strategy of identifying the main verb and using that to determine who or what is performing the action works. You can also try re-inverting the inverted sentence and see if that helps.
Collective nouns may be both singular and plural. When the members of the group in question act individually, we use plural. If the group is acting as one unit, then use singular. The usage depends on the context. Find the action and check if the action is done on individual level or can de done as a single group entity. If former, plural else, singular.
This type of errors are very tricky, you need to over index on the context to find the answer. If the action being talked about is an individual pursuit like awareness, receiving income, reading, listening then you need to split into individuals and thus use plural. [The above mentioned approach ‘using action’ works most of the time and is the one to prefer]
Another method you can use is checking if the sentence is meaningful after you split it to individuals, sometimes, the application of verb in these cases makes it weird. Eg The group is getting smaller. If you split to individuals, it will mean that the members of the group are getting smaller which doesn’t make sense.
Eg : The majority of the team fits/fit into one bus. Here, the action is fitting into a bus which is a group thing and not really an individual level thing (the sentence wants to talk about the majority of the team fitting, not an individual fitting)
‘police’ when used as a noun is always plural.
When a subject begins with ‘every’, ‘each’, ‘many a’, ‘many an’, the subject takes a singular verb irrespective of whether the subject is singular or plural .Eg : each of us, each of the votes
When relative pronoun refers to a singular noun, it takes a singular verb. and if it refers to a plural noun, it takes plural verb. The verb goes with the noun to which the pronoun refers to.
Try using synonyms in case you’re stuck. Eg : replace ‘various’ by ‘multiple’ to see that it is plural
Even journalists covering the conflict who have years of experience covering war torn regions [and] find the brutality of the violence that they encounter on a daily basis difficult to rationalize.
Here, if you add the ‘and’, you observe that it becomes one long relative clause starting from ‘who have…’ which modifies the journalists.
But, if you drop the ‘and’, you can stop the relative clause before ‘find the brutality’ and use ‘find’ as the main verb of the sentence which is not possible if you add ‘and’ since you cannot stop the relative clause before ‘find the brutality’ since it will have a hanging ‘and’.
Similar Example : The QE2, which operated as a cruise ship out of Goa, for nearly forty years, remaining among the most well-known ocean liners, [and] has taken on a second life as a floating hotel in Dubai.
Adding ‘and’ makes the whole thing after ‘which operated..’ into one long relative clause. Dropping it makes ‘has’ the main verb.
All pronouns except SANAMM which convey the idea of any, all, none or some are singular.
NOTE that while any and some belong to SANAMM, anyone and somebody DO NOT.
Eg : anybody, anyone, anything, another, each, either, every, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, something, whatever, whoever* always take singular verbs.
* : Neither when paired with nor uses different rules that we have already discussed. Already for Either or
When ‘whoever’ precedes a plural noun, the plural noun may be the subject of the sentence and take a plural verb.
Eg : Whoever the owners ARE, they are doing nothing at all.
Otherwise when used on a standalone basis, it is singular :
Whoever WINS the election will inherit quite a mess.
What are the SANAMM pronouns and what’s special about them?
The SANAMM indefinite pronouns : ‘some’, ‘any’, ‘none’, ‘all’, ‘more’, ‘most’. Or AANSMM : any, all, none, some, more, most. These pronouns can be singular or plural depending on their referents.
For these pronouns, you can’t remove the prepositional phrase because that is what we use to determine whether we need a singular verb or a plural verb. Also, we use only the prepositional phrase which contains the noun to which the indefinite pronoun refers to. Other prepositional phrases can be ignored.
Subjects that begin with ‘the number of’ take singular verbs. Subjects that begin with ‘a number of’ take plural verbs.
‘the percentage/proportion’ : singular
‘a percentage/proportion’ : depends on the ‘what’ which answers ‘the percentage/proportion of what’
The number of convicted felons who [return] to prison after completing their sentences, whether re-incarcerated only months after being released or several years later, [has] not declined in decades despite increasingly harsh sentencing practices and the implementation of mandatory minimums.
IMPORTANT : the verb ‘return’ corresponds to the pronoun ‘who’ which corresponds to the noun convicted felons which is plural hence we use plural. The verb has corresponds to the ‘the number of convicted felons’ which is as we know, singular.
There is a nuance to the usage of ‘a number/the number’ and ‘a percentage/the percentage’ : Using ‘the’ means that you are focused on the raw percentage/number and not the noun of the prepositional phrase that follows (percentage/number of what is not something we’re concerned with). In case you use ‘a’, you care about the object of the percentage/number (the ‘what’ for percentage/number of what). Hence, the usage of verb differs accordingly. In the former case, you can remove the prepositional phrase as usual and proceed. Not so much in the latter.
If a subject is a portion described using the word ‘percent’, whether the subject is singular or plural depends on whether what the portion is a portion of is singular or plural.
The same principle as above applies if we have a fraction eg : two thirds of x depends on x.
If you think about it, SANAMM also comes under this category. Other inclusions include majority, remainder, part etc.
Is this sentence grammatically correct? :
With close to 80 percent of the survey respondents who indicate that they take calls while driving, only about half of the respondents believe that doing so does not negatively impact their driving performance.
Yes, the first part ‘with….while driving’ is a prepositional PHRASE hence it need not have a subject/main verb/both. It does not have main verb here.
Singular | Plural Alumnus | Alumni Criterion | Criteria Datum* | Data* Fungus | Fungi Medium* | Media* Phenomenon | Phenomena Nucleus | Nuclei Syllabus | Syllabi
Plural indefinite pronouns always take plural verbs.
Eg : MANY, BOTH, FEW and SEVERAL (MANY A and MANY AN still take singular)
Datum/Data : Currently, data can be used for both singular and plural meaning.
Medium/media : When media refers to the press, it is often singular. A medium who is a person who talks to spirits is singular and plural is mediums. The size medium also is singular and plural is mediums : The jerseys are all mediums.
Fields of study such as mathematics, linguistics, politics, ethics, statistics are all singular.
However, some of them can be used to refer to a set of something, in those case, they are plural.
Eg : His politics GET in the way of his relationships. (Denotes a set)
There AREN’T any statistics to bolster the claim (denotes a set)
The ethics of eating meat ARE a major concern (Denotes a set)
The economics of car ownership MAKE it tough to own one (denotes a set)
When subjects are infinitives, gerunds, noun phrases and clauses, they all take singular verbs.
Note that the clauses can have SV within themselves but when the clause as a whole is considered a subject, the verb has to be singular.
Eg : [That the Gentle Barn actors have gained the respect of animal lovers across the United states] WAS no surprise. The noun clause within [] has SV agreement between Gentle Barn actors and have. The noun clause as a whole when used as a subject is singular hence takes WAS.
One of the noun[always plural] + that/who + PLURAL verb . since the verb refers to the pronoun that/who. ‘that/who + verb’ makes a relative clause that restrictively modifies the noun hence the whole thing becomes a noun phrase. So, since the noun is plural, the modifier also takes plural to modify the plural noun.
One of the noun[always plural] + SINGULAR verb . since the verb refers to one of … which follows the usual rule of always singular.
Sentences in the future tense always take the plural form.
Check for SV agreement :
1) Between main verb and subject
2) Between any verb and subjects that appear within relative clauses
‘on account of’ essentially means ‘because of’ or ‘as a consequence of’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Only a small percentage of people whose homes are in a flood zone choose that they purchase flood insurance on their homes.
The phrasing ‘choose that they purchase’ is not logical. ‘that they purchase flood insurance’ expresses an idea or fact as in ‘I believe that they purchase flood insurance’. The people would not choose an idea or fact. It should be ‘choose to purchase’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what's wrong? The class of kindergartners regularly donates for nearby soup kitchens.
This incorrectly means that the class is donating to someplace else on behalf of nearby soup kitchens. It should ideally be donates TO nearby kitchens, not FOR them.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) The city of Aspen, has proposed recently to increase the lodging tax, so longtime visitors are against the proposal.
2) The city of Aspen, is proposing that the tax for lodging recently increase.
3) The city of Aspen, proposed a recent increase in tax when lodging.
4) The city of Aspen has proposed recent increases for the tax when lodging.
All are wrong.
1) ‘so longtime visitors are against the proposal’ indicates that longtime visitors are against the proposal BECAUSE the city of Aspen recently proposed it.
2) ‘recently increase’ does not make sense since ‘recently’ indicates that something that has happened in the recent past but ‘increase’ is a present tense verb.
‘tax for lodging’ conveys unclear meaning, it the tax for the benefit of lodging? for the purpose of lodging? You propose a tax ON something.
3) ‘propose a recent increase’ does not make sense since ‘recent’ indicates that the increase already happened in the recent past but ‘propose’ is a present tense verb
‘tax’ when lodging conveys an unclear meaning that when the city is lodging, it proposes an increase in the taxes.
4) ‘has proposed recent increases’ does not make sense since ‘recent’ indicates that the increase has already happened while ‘has proposed’ indicates that the increases haven’t happened yet.
‘for the tax when lodging’ is unclear. Are the increases for the benefit of tax? Could it be that, when the city is lodging, it has proposed increases? etc.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) Whether one is familiar with the intense preparation and anxiety of taking and performing well on standardized exams largely depends on luck.
2) Intense preparation and anxiety with taking and performing well on standardized exams.
3) Intense preparation and anxiety from taking and performing well on standardized exams.
‘the intense preparation and anxiety OF taking and performing well on standardized exams’ does not convey clear meaning. Are ‘intense preparation and anxiety’ qualities that ‘taking and performing well on standardized exams’ possess? To elaborate : ‘the intense preparation of taking standardized examination’ doesn’t make sense.
2) Incorrectly conveys that ‘preparation and anxiety’ are simply ‘with’ the exams. To elaborate, do what we did in 1) : ‘the intense preparation with taking standardized exams’ doesn’t make sense
3) Incorrect meaning. Do what we did for 1) and 2). Is there ‘Intense preparation from performing well on standardized exams’ or ‘ anxiety from performing well’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
I don’t know the way by which gravity functions.
This structure makes it seem as if gravity ‘the way’ as a means to function. It should be ‘the way in which’ or ‘way that gravity functions’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) Although the new mayor believes that building an airport within the town limits is a sound idea, the townspeople worry about the airport’s increased noise and heavy pollution.
2) The mayor believes that building an airport within the town limits will be a good idea.
Both are wrong.
1) ‘the townspeople worry about airport’s increased noise and heavy pollution’ seems to indicate that the airport already exists which is not true from context.
2) This sentence implies that the mayor does not currently believe that building an airport is a good idea but does believe that, someday, building an airport will be a good idea.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) While I found that up to 10% of fish caught by men using a fly and lure method and then released back into the water survive and that catch and release of fish was associated with a low survival rate.
2) While I found that up to 10% of fish caught by men using a fly and lure method and then released back into the water survive and also found that catch and release of fish was associated with a low survival rate.
1) No independent clause, the whole thing is just one dependent clause.
2) No independent clause, the whole thing is just one dependent clause.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The effects of aerosols and clouds on each other, knowledge that is helpful to NASA has to be bought from me.
The ‘effects’ cannot BE knowledge. NASA may have knowledge OF the effects but the effects themselves are not knowledge.
Both ‘like’ and ‘as’ are used to present comparison.
While presenting comparison, ‘like’ must be followed by a noun entity.
While presenting comparison, ‘as’ must be followed by a clause or an SV pair.
‘As’ can also be used to present function (‘like’ cannot be used for this purpose) :
John has joined the organization as a researcher.
When ‘as’ is used to present function, it should follow ‘as’ + ‘noun’ structure
Note : it is very important to understand if the intention to present comparison or function before applying the above concepts
‘such as’ is also used to present examples of something.
Many species of the green lacewing are colloquially known as ‘stinkflies’, which refer to the unpleasant odor emitted by the insect.
The above statement has an SV agreement error because ‘which’ refers to ‘stinkflies’ which is a proper noun hence singular. Hence, it does not agree with the plural ‘refer’. -> THIS IS INCORRECT, PROPER NOUNS CAN BE PLURAL AS WELL. BUT THE CONCEPT BEING DESCRIBED BELOW IS CORRECT.
Similar but slightly different concept :
The failure of the predominant industry is often the reason a populated area becomes a ‘ghost town’, which is used to refer to a town, city, or other municipality deserted by their population…
The above statement differs from the ‘stinkflies’ example since in this, the proper noun is has ‘WHICH IS USED’. A proper name cannot be used to refer to something. The term ‘ghost town’ can be used. We can’t say ‘ghost town is used to refer to a town’ The right way would have been ‘becomes a ‘ghost town’ which refers to a town…’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The survival of woodpeckers depends on the presence of certain items on which woodpeckers feed, such as nuts, berries and seeds, and, in forests, many can be found on five continents.
Apart from the referent/antecedent of ‘many’ being unclear, the meaning of the statement states that ‘in forests’ many can be found on five continents as if the five continents are found in forests. To see this more clearly, move ‘in forests’ to the end of the sentence. This notion is nonsensical.
VERY KEY POINT : It is obvious that the prep phrase ‘in forests’ is acting adverbially. Hence, it modifies/adds info to the entire clause. Hence, it arches over and states that the 5 continents are in forests.
The antecedent of a pronoun can be the sentence subject, objects or part of the prepositional phrase.
Before we decide that a pronoun lacks a clear antecedent, we must take care to holistically evaluate the sentence, checking to determine whether the logic and meaning of the sentence make clear to which noun the pronoun refers to
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The mayor wants the contractors installing the new bike paths to finish before the start of the festival, but there is no practical way for them to do this.
‘this’ has no clear referent. Using ‘so’ in it’s place would be better.
An adjective can’t be the antecedent of a pronoun.
Examples where the adjective is being used as an antecedent. These are wrong :
1) Jason was nervous about the chemistry exam because it was not his best subject. Here, ‘chemistry’ modifies exam and is an adjective. Hence, it cannot be the antecedent
2) I wish the bread section were at the front of the store, so that I could purchase it more conveniently.
The below one, however, is correct :
1) While doing farm work, David, found the fossilized bones of a dinosaur, and he could tell it had been a big one.
Here, even though ‘of a dinosaur’ is a prepositional phrase and acts like an adjective as a whole, it has a noun ‘dinosaur’ in it which can be and is the antecedent here for ‘it’
2) The train that derailed was made up mostly of cars carrying coal, and tons of it was spilled all over the area near the tracks.
Here, even though ‘carrying coal’ is a participle phrase which acts as an adjective as a whole, it still has the noun ‘coal’ which is a noun and is the antecedent for ‘it’
One important exception to the previous rule is that nouns in the possessive form which act as adjectives can be the antecedents of a pronoun.
Eg : The boss’s dog is running fast, and his cat is taking a nap.
A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. A singular pronoun must refer to a singular antecedent, and a plural pronoun must refer to a plural antecedent.
Pronouns that correctly refer to ‘each’ or ‘every’ are always singular, regardless of whether ‘each’ or ‘every’ begins a phrase that contains a plural noun or that describes a group.
Incorrect statement : Everyone has their own problems.
Reason : Since everyone is always singular, their which requires a plural antecedent is incorrectly paired
If a sentence contains a noun and a pronoun that play the SAME ROLE or two pronouns that play the SAME ROLE, then the sentence contains a useless word and, thus, is illogically constructed.
Eg :
1) Tennis champion Boris, who thrilled fans with his flamboyant playing, he struggled after his early success and was declared bankrupt in 2017. ‘he’ is redundant since it plays the SAME ROLE as Boris which is the subject of the sentence.
2) Even after people brought the Wright brothers’ feats to the attention of the Daily News, one of the newspapers serving Ohio, it still did not cover the story.
The above statement is correct since ‘it’ plays the role of the subject and refers to Daily News which was NOT the subject of the previous clause.
When the word ‘term’/’label’/’moniker’/’name’ introduces a noun, we should be on the lookout for pronoun-antecedent errors.
Eg :
1) The label ‘socialism’ has long been avoided by many, but recent news stories have made it a more mainstream ideology.
Here the ‘it’ incorrectly refers to ‘the label’. We fix it by replacing ‘it’ with the noun it should ideally refer to i.e. socialism.
2) People often say the brand name Coke when they order it in a restaurant, but what they actually are asking for is any cola.
Here ‘it’ incorrectly refers to the ‘brand name Coke’. We fix it by replacing ‘it’ with the noun ‘cola’
CORNER CASES:
1) The brand name Kleenex has become so synonymous with facial tissues that many people use it to refer to tissues in general.
The above statement is correct. Here ‘it’ refers to the brand name which is what we want.
2) According to EPA, the designation ‘brownfield’, which signifies land that has been polluted by development and is currently not in use, applies to more than 400 sites countrywide, and the reclamation of it provides a lot of benefits.
Here, ‘it’ can refer to land but that would distort meaning since we don’t want to say that reclamation of ‘land’ will provide a lot of benefits. We want to convey that reclamation of BROWNFIELD land has a lot of benefit. However, ‘it’, in the current setting would refer to ‘the designation’ which is wrong. We fix it by replacing it by the noun brownfields.
When two facts are connected by ‘since’, the meaning expressed is that the first fact is an effect or results of the existence of the second fact.
Versions in which pronouns refer to entire clauses are not correct.
Eg :
1) My dog remained lost for days, which caused me to lose sleep until it was found.
The above is incorrect. The correct version is :
My dog remained lost for days, causing me to lose sleep until it was found.
2) The job was less difficult than Shane had expected it to be, but that didn’t make up for the lack of pay
The correct version replaces the pronoun with a noun as in 1) or with a noun phrase like below :
The job was less difficult than Shane had expected it to be, but the lack of difficulty didn’t make up for the lack of pay.
IMPORTANT : However, if all the other options are eliminated due to clear reasons and the option that is left has a pronoun referring to a clause, select it as correct.
If a clause begins with ‘because’, following it up with ‘it/this means that’ is redundant.
‘they/them/theirs’ : ‘subject/object/possessive’
If a pronoun is doing the action, subject pronoun must be used.
If the pronoun is being acted upon or is the object of a preposition, an object pronoun must be used.
If the pronoun is indicating ownership, a possessive pronoun must be used.
If the answer to the who/whom is I, he, she etc, use who (subject case). If it is me, him, her etc. then use whom (object case).
In the case of compound subjects and objects, we still need to use object pronouns with object and subject pronouns with subject.
Eg : Jack and I went snorkeling in Maui.
Would you like to eat dinner with Sara and me?
If neither he nor the director attends the event, we’ll use stock photographs of him and the other cast members.
One strategy that helps a lot is : When we have a pronoun as part of a compound subject/object, we can drop the part of the compound subject/object that is not the pronoun and then determine how the sentence would need to read with just the pronoun present.
Eg : The investigators assured the CEO that the team being sent would include the director and (they/them).
Here, to use the aforementioned strategy, drop ‘the director and’ to get : The investigators assured the CEO that the team being sent would include they/them.
Now you know that ‘them’ is better suited.
Whenever the same pronoun serves as both the subject and object for different phrases/clauses, use the SUBJECT case.
Eg :
1) When they walked into the bank to rob it, they hadn’t considered (who/whom) might be inside.
Here, who/whom is the object of the consideration but it also the subject of ‘being inside’, hence we use SUBJECT case and go with ‘who’.
2) The industry was growing so fast, and available workers were so scarce that companies were hiring (whoever/whomever) seemed reasonably competent and was willing to give the work a shot.
Again, we have a clash here. Hence, we go with the subject case and choose ‘whoever’
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The analyst had discovered the data breach, but he was not sure by who the system had been hacked into or why they had done so.
Incorrect
‘by’ is a preposition. So, the object of the preposition should always be in the objective case. So, ‘whom’ should be used. IT JUST NEEDS TO BE THE OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION, THERE NEED NOT BE A FULL PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
While Aaron had aspired to play the game of football professionally, he quit it upon discovering how much practice was required for learning how to kick it well enough.
This one is a doozy.
So, the first it should ideally refer to ‘the game of football’, if not, the sentence becomes wrong right there.
If it does, the second ‘it’ doesn’t have a logical antecedent since the football present in the sentence actually refers to the ‘game of football’ and not an actual football.
Here, the football is naming the game and not the object.
In some cases, we find a possessive pronoun + gerund structure in which you need to ascertain if the sentence means to point to the gerund and use the pronoun to indicate association or if the sentence means to point to the pronoun.
Eg :
1) During the meeting with the citizens, the mayor seemed to be surprised by their questioning the validity of the data.
Here, the mayor was surprised by the questioning of the citizens. Hence, we use possessive pronoun since it’s not the subject/object (in which case you would use they/them)
2) Elisa looked around for her father and eventually found him swimming in the pond.
Here, Elisa found her father, not his swimming. Hence, we use object case and choose him.
NOTE : The possessive pronoun has the entity whose possession is being talked about as the ANTECEDENT.
A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that points out or demonstrates the noun in the sentence. A demonstrative pronoun takes the place of a noun and always stands alone. Eg : this, that, these, those.
Difference between personal and demonstrative pronouns :
Personal pronouns directly and entirely refers o the antecedent it replaces.
Eg : Once the restored plane reached 100 knots, it gracefully lifted off the runway.
The personal pronoun ‘it’ refers to the ‘restored plane’
Demonstrative pronouns do not refer directly to the antecedent, they ARE SOMETIMES USED to create comparison to something. They are usually used to point something out.
Eg : The speed of today’s cars well exceeds that of cars in the 1950s.
The demonstrative pronoun replaces ‘speed’ but not the ‘speed of today’s cars’. It is used to compare it to THE SPEED of the cars of 1950s.
Non-comparison form :
Few people have sought to reach the summit of Everest, and of those who have reached it, only a small percentage have sought to do so a second time.
‘those’ which is a demonstrative pronoun is being used to point out a certain group of people. The people who have reached the summit.
IMPORTANT : Key Point : Since they ‘point to and identify’, they act like/become a subject themselves which is then used in the structure that follows. Thus they become a DIFFERENT INDEPENDENT subject/topic than what might have been discussed earlier in the sentence.
There is also something called demonstrative adjective.
Demonstrative adjectives are always immediately followed by a noun which they modify. THIS is used to differentiate them for demonstrative pronouns. They are used to point out and identify the nouns.
Eg : this, that, these and those
This bakery is good.
To highlight the difference between the two :
Demonstrative adjective:
1) This bakery has a better selection of breads, but that bakery has more exotic pastries.
‘this’ and ‘that’ are just being used to point and identify.
Demonstrative pronoun :
1) The pastries at the bakery on the corner are more exotic than those at the bakery across the street.
Here, the ‘those’ is setting up comparison with pastries from across the street.
Mixing up of demonstrative pronoun with personal pronoun causes the sentence to be incorrect (relative pronouns not being considered since they are always in relative clauses).
Eg:
While pandas may seem cuddly or endearing, these have exceedingly strong bites and large dexterous claws.
‘these’ which is demonstrative is wrong, use personal ‘they’.
To confirm that the pronoun ‘it’ without a referent is not being used correctly, we can check for the presence of a delayed subject. If there is a delayed subject that we can logically substitute for ‘it’, ‘it’ is an expletive. If there is no delayed subject that we can logically substitute for ‘it’, we can be confident that ‘it’ is not correctly used.
(Note : ‘there’ is also used as an expletive but that does not follow the above rule, use logic to see if it is expletive or not. substitution of delayed subject etc. does not work with ‘there’)
Eg : 1) For many people, it is challenging to make a change in career after spending decades in the same field.
Here, a cursory glance reveals that ‘it’ does not have a logical referent. But if you see, the phrase ‘to make a change in career after spending decades in the same field’ is a delayed subject. To verify, pick it up AS IS and replace ‘it’ with it to get :
‘For many people, to make a change in career after spending decades in the same field is challenging’ which makes perfect sense. HENCE, we have a delayed subject and the above sentence is correct.
2) Because there are little footprints on the plates, it seems likely that the missing apples were taken by monkeys.
Delayed subject : that the missing apples were taken by monkeys
After replacement : Because there are little footprints on the plates, that the missing apples were taken by monkeys seems likely : Correct
3) (Little tricky) Long before it was prevalent for African Americans to enter politics, Alexander Twilight became the first African American to serve in the state legislature.
Replace ‘it’ by ‘for African Americans to enter politics’
4) (Very tricky) While that people can lose weight and become more fit by exercising is well known, [it] is less well known that [it] can be that, as a result of a person’s over-exercising, the person gains weight.
Both of the ‘it’ have delayed subjects.
1) that it can be that…
2) that, as a result…
We can use ‘that’ this way since it’s in the demonstrative/relative form.
There are some exceptions to the above (ofc) but they are very common expressions which we know to be correct. Eg :
1) It is raining
2) It is two o’clock.
Use MEANING as well to understand if pronoun has a referent.
Eg : Despite the board of governors supporting the measure, they kept voting against it.
Here, you may think that ‘they’ can refer back to governors but it can’t. Since, if the board composed of governors is supporting the measure, why will the governors keep voting against it?
The above mentioned is wrong because the pronoun ‘they’ has no antecedent.
‘which’ doesn’t follow the usual ‘non-essential/refers to the noun immediately before’ logic when it is preceded by a preposition. Eg : in which, of which, from which etc.
In all other cases, it should be preceded by a comma and refer to the noun immediately before it
Don’t mix up ‘one’ and ‘you/he/they etc.’ when using them in statements.
Eg :
Incorrect : If one does not study, you should not be surprised when you do badly in the test.
Correct : 1) If one does not study, one should not be surprised when one does badly in the test.
2) If one does not study, he or she should not be surprised at having done badly in the test.
Although it is conceivable that man may someday be able to fly, there is no clear evidence at the moment [of his ability to do it]. A) of his ability to do it B) of his doing that C) to do so D) that he can do so E) of his ability to do that
‘it’ and ‘that’ if used will be ambiguous. To see that, replace ‘it’ by the closest possible antecedent ‘fly’ :
Although…there is no clear evidence at the moment of his ability to do fly : wrong.
In such cases, replace the pronouns with ‘so’.
Correct answer : D
ALWAYS fit the antecedent in place of the pronoun to verify that it make sense.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Exposure to sunlight prevents the beans’ outer layer from oxidizing and reducing its flavor.
Incorrect.
The phrasing attributes both the actions ‘oxidizing’ and ‘reducing’ to ‘the beans’ outer layer’. It does not make sense that the beans’ outer layer would be reducing its flavor which is nonsensical.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
By switching from consuming conventional produce to only consuming certified organic produce, one can drastically decrease the quantities of pesticides that enter the body.
Incorrect.
The phrasing ‘only consuming certified..’ , it conveys the non-sensical meaning that the person would engage in only consumption of organic produce and do nothing else like maybe sleeping etc. Ideally, we should move ‘only’ to after ‘consuming’
NOTE : if you replaced ‘one’ with a pronoun like ‘it’ or ‘this’, it would make it non-sensical since ‘by switching….’ expresses how something can be accomplished which is not a thing/noun. Hence, it (prepositional phrase btw) cannot be represented by a pronoun such as ‘this’.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Carbon primarily composes all living things.
Incorrect.
This sentence seems to indicate that the primary roles of carbon is that it composes all living things while also having a secondary action.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) The chairperson, along with the COO, who had worked diligently for months with members of the incoming team to finalize the sale of the company, was more than ready to turn over all aspects of its management to it.
2) The chairperson, along with the COO, who had worked diligently for months with members of the incoming team to finalize the sale of the company, was more than ready to turn over all aspects of their management to them.
Both are incorrect.
IMPORTANT :
In cases where you have the same pronoun repeated twice like ‘it/its’ in 1 and ‘their/them’ in 2, to convey a clear meaning, they should refer to the same noun. Else, ambiguity causes the sentence to be wrong.
Hence, if ‘it’ refers to the chairperson, then so should ‘its’.
Use this rule to ascertain if the resulting statement is logical or not.
DON’T GET HUNG UP ON THE POSITION OF THE PRONOUN. They can occur both before and after the referent. What we mean when we say there is no referent is that there is no LOGICAL referent. Further, the sentence will tell you what it is currently referring to, if that is not LOGICAL, then the sentence is wrong.
The colloquialism ‘coywolf’, which mirrors the hybridization of coyote and wolf, is not the preferred terminology of wildlife biologists, who know the hybrid as the ‘eastern coyote’ , though as [their] sightings of them in residential areas have become more frequent, laypeople have not adopted the accurate nomenclature.
Here, their can refer to BOTH laypeople and biologists. Hence, the position doesn’t matter.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The ministers are in favor of the new regulations, which require that each of the jet engines produced in the company’s Canadian factories must be re-inspected by US aviation propulsion engineers.
Incorrect.
It is redundant to say ‘the new regulations, which REQUIRE that’.. ‘MUST BE re-inspected’.
When we ‘require’ something, we are saying that it ‘must be’. So, the above essentially says ‘require that each of the jet engines is required to be re-inspected’
1) Considered it one of the best > Considered it to be one of the best. The former is succinct and clear.
I.e. Consider X Y > Consider X to be Y
2) Preferred > Preferred more than : Same reason as 1)
‘those’ is sometimes used to refer to a certain group of people without a specific antecedent for ‘those’.
Eg : Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it
Makes sense since ‘those’ can act as a demonstrative pronoun to function this way.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The Ocean Club, has many beachside cabanas. Most travel experts consider it one of the best in the world.
Incorrect.
Here ‘it’ can logically only refer to the club. However, a club is never mentioned. Only a specific club, the Ocean Club is mentioned. If ‘it’ refers to ‘the Ocean Club’, the sentence would say that the Ocean Club is one of the best in world without saying what the Ocean Club is one of the best of.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Even those not well versed in advanced mathematical concepts can learn to be a card counter.
Incorrect.
Nonsensical meaning that multiple people can learn to be a SINGLE card counter. people can learn to be card counters, not a card counter.
Another example of what’s incorrect :
People do not have to be a mathematician.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Those not well versed in math can learn to count cards. He or she does not have to be a genius to do so.
Incorrect.
The singular ‘he or she’ pronoun cannot refer back to plural ‘those’
Usage of with :
1) with + noun : acts as a modifier for the preceding subject. ALSO, the noun being used with ‘with’ must be a sub-component of the subject in some form. It basically cannot be equal to the subject.
Eg :
1) Emily and Nora fell asleep, with Emily still having wet hair : Wrong, Emily is not a sub-component of Emily
2) The thirteen original British colonies in North America, with some formed as commercial ventures, while others as religious havens, each had a written charter
Wrong : some refers to colonies. Colonies are not sub-components of colonies
3) Matt has a very full schedule this week, with every one of his available time slots occupied.
–> this sentence works, because “with” actually applies to Matt and/or his schedule – i.e., Matt is the person with those occupied time slots, and/or his schedule is actually the thing with those time slots.
4) James was injured badly in the accident, with three bones broken badly enough to require surgery. : Correct
Usage of with (cont.) :
2) “With” is used to give the result of the action in preceding clause.
For Eg:
i) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
Here “with” is used to give the result of the action in preceding clause === The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted.
So we can see that “Comma + With” acts as an adverbial Modifier
ii) Environmental groups have filed a mass of lawsuits against the government’s inaction, with the result that the Supreme Court plays a larger role in environmental protection than its equivalent does in any other big country - an odd way to set policy.
Here also “comma + with” is used to give the result of preceding action
When you say ‘more than one X’, X should always be singular.
It is WRONG to say : 1) I have more than one dogs.
2) Jim has more than one dogs
Dating apps normalized finding romantic partners through digital communications among single men and women who previously [regarded/regarding] a demeaning or disreputable activity for themselves to be online dating.
1) Using ‘regarding’ is wrong since it is present tense but ‘previously’ indicates that it happened in the past.
2) Even after using ‘regarded’, the sentence is wrong since it conveys the nonsensical meaning that single men and women considered ANY demeaning or disreputable activity for themselves as ‘online dating’
For eg : Getting wasted in public is online dating.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
The salamander and the newt possess the most impressive regenerative capabilities among tetrapods; if their tail or limb is amputated, they can regenerate it in as little as one to three months.
Incorrect.
The salamander and the newt do not have just a single tail or limb between them as is indicated by ‘their tail or limb’. Plural ‘tails or limbs’ must be used.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
A North American X-15 completed two suborbital flights in the summer of 1963, after which it became the first reused spacecraft in the history of flight
Incorrect
‘which’ ideally requires something like ‘completing two suborbital flights’. But we do not have that, what we have instead and what it can refer to is ‘summer of 1963’ which doesn’t make sense since X15 won’t become the first reused spacecraft after the summer of 1963. It would become that as soon as the second flight was completed.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) The term ‘McMansion’ is generally used pejoratively, and houses described as it, are likely to have been constructed in a cheap manner.
2) The term ‘McMansion’ is generally used pejoratively, and when a house is described like that, it is likely to have been constructed in a cheap manner.
Both are incorrect
1) Multiple houses cannot be described as a singular ‘McMansion’. It could have been ‘McMansion[s]’
2) ‘that’ can only refer to the term McMansion. But a house cannot be described LIKE the term McMansion
ALWAYS REPLACE ANTECEDENT TO CHECK
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
A bond’s valuation does not necessarily follow the trajectory of either stock prices or interest rates; at the same time as two of them are rising, it could fall.
Incorrect.
You can’t compare a time (at the same time…) to an event (it could fall)
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) Traffic is capable of being made worse through the widening of existing roads.
2) When existing roads are widened or new ones are constructed, it can worsen traffic.
Incorrect.
1) Conveys illogical meaning that traffic itself has some sort of ability to actively be made worse. It is as nonsensical as saying ‘traffic is skilled at being made worse’
2) ‘when…’ indicates a timestamp. A timestamp cannot make traffic worse.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) The zoologist now believes that a recently located band of gorillas had probably been hiding deep in the forest to avoid their being shot by poachers.
2) The data that the auditor presented establish unequivocally that the CEO committed fraud; in fact, it is so damning that he agreed to resign and repay the money immediately.
Collective nouns come back to haunt xD
1) Correct.
‘being shot’ is an individual action. you can’t shoot a band of gorillas. Hence, you need to use ‘their’ for the plural form.
2) Incorrect.
YOUR ANTENNAES NEED TO DETECT WHEN A COLLECTIVE NOUN is present to use context to check if it plural or singular. Here, ‘establish’ indicates that data is plural. Hence, it has a mismatch with ‘it’ which is singular.
Is this statement ambiguous?
All the people in the room gasped when Jacob and Hans revealed their evil plot.
Yes. MULTIPLE TAKEAWAYS:
The antecedent can be more than 1 word. Here, the possible antecedents are ‘all the people’ AND ‘Jacob and Hans’. Since, either is a fit, it is ambiguous.
The only rule is that pronouns can’t refer to entire clauses.
Pronouns can be used in place of a noun or noun PHRASES.
Compound nouns (noun as adjective + main noun : together acts are noun) contain more than one word where the first acts like an adjective : case study, post office, dog collar, nail-biter, attorney-at-law.
Countable | Uncountable Many | Much Few | Little Fewer | Less Fewest | Least Number | Amount Numerous | Great
Use context to check if countable or uncountable, NOT COMMON LOGIC.
Structures like : less X or Y means that ‘less’ applies to BOTH X and Y, hence both need to be uncountable.
Similar for ‘less X and Y’.
Unit nouns such as dollars or gallons etc. refer to underlying quantities such as money or volume which are uncountable hence we use uncountable modifiers with them.
We have [less] than 20 dollars.
if you convert them to items, we can count them
We have fewer than 20 dollar bills.
If you see something like ‘soda’ which is uncountable written as ‘sodas’ [PLURAL] then it is being talked about in a countable sense, maybe as servings. In that case, USE COUNTABLE MODIFIERS. otherwise, stick to the UNCOUNTABLE form
Indefinite pronouns (which convey any, all, none, some ,more, most, few, both, many, several, each, every, neither, one, either, ANOTHER ) will NOT have an antecedent. Other pronouns that don't have antecedents : one, you, it. Interrogative pronouns also don't need antecedents.
Hyphens are sometimes used to clarify ambiguous meaning.
Smelly cheese salesperson : can mean both a cheese salesperson who is smelly or a salesperson who sells smelly cheese
To clarify, we use smelly-cheese salesperson to indicate that he sells smelly-cheese.
absolute adjectives : cannot be intensified by adding ‘more’ in front or ‘-er’.
Eg : dead (no more dead or dead-er), square, circular, essential, universal, immortal, unique, absolute.
DON’T use ‘more fatal’, use ‘more likely fatal’
DON’T use ‘more circular’, use ‘more nearly circular’
Before using the above, make sure that you have an absolute adjective in the first place.
I made a mistake of thinking ‘adapted’ is an absolute adjective but it’s not. Since, it makes sense to say ‘better adapted to…’ and ‘more adapted for’. Hence, ‘more completely adapted’ is correct.
TRICKY
‘my’ is not a pronoun, it is an adjective. So is ‘our’, ‘her’ ‘their’ and ‘your’.
Possessive pronouns are : mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs
The pronoun should be able to stand on its own : The car is his, the car is theirs/ours/yours (and not their/our/your)
-ing and -ed words need a helper verb to become a complete, compound verb.
Helper verbs : is, was , has, does, will, should , can, be etc.
Eg: are planning, will be leaving etc.
Note : an adverb can separate the verbs within a compound verb. But it is still a verb.
Eg: has [frequently] defaced. will [you] be taking. will have [never so much as] touched
NOTE : Not all -ed/-ing words preceded by a possible helper verb are compound verbs. The -ing/-ed words can be adjectives as well.
Either way it shouldn’t be an issue if you cannot distinguish between helping and linking verb since you’ll only use the helping/linking verb and not the -ing/-ed part for SV agreement.
An -ing word without a helper verb isn’t a real verb.
IF YOU WANT TO CHECK IF SOMETHING IS A CERTAIN TYPE OF SPEECH, REPLACE IT BY WHAT YOU SUSPECT IT TO BE. IF IT MAKES GRAMMATICAL SENSE, IT IS THAT.
I don’t want [to pay taxes].
Is it Adjective : I don’t want happy. -> NO
Is it Adverb : I don’t want quickly -> NO
Is it Noun : I don’t want dogs -> YES
If you have a word that is suspected to be an adverb but does not end with ‘-ly’ that is modifying a verb and you want to check if it is correct, try asking ‘would this word make more sense with -ly on the end?’
If the answer is no, then the current form is an adverb form.
Eg : The boxer hit the opponent [hard].
Replacing ‘hard’ by ‘hardly’ doesn’t make sense. Hence, ‘hard’ is in an adverb form.
NOTE : not all ‘-ly’ words are adverbs. Eg : friendly, ugly.
NOTE : The analyst ascertained that the job was ,indeed, too good to be true. Here, ‘indeed’ is the adverb for the verb ‘was’.
‘thereby’ is also an adverb.
‘I feel bad’ vs ‘I feel badly’. In the first case, ‘bad’ is an adjective and ‘feel’ links the subject ‘I’ to the adjective ‘bad’.
In the second case, ‘badly’ is an adverb which modifies ‘feel’ and says that you suck at the action of feeling.
Present Perfect : Used to indicate actions that started in the past and are still continuing.
Structure : has/have + verb from
Past Perfect : Used to indicate double past.
Structure : had + verb form
Usage : 1) To indicate that one of the two events of the past occurred first. The second event always has to be in simple past.
Eg : By the time I learnt c++, Python had taken the world by storm.
First : Python ‘had taken’ over
Second : I ‘learnt’ c++
2) Past perfect can also be used with a time marker :
BY 2011. she had travelled to India twice. (Again, travelling to India happens before 2011)
You DON’T NEED to use past perfect always in such circumstances. Other wording can also be used instead.
Eg : After I earned my degree, I spent a year working at a bank. (sequence of events is clear)
Tricky example : The doctor told me that I had a heart attack.
Since the doctor telling you is the second of two examples, ‘told’ is simple past which is correct. However, ‘had’ should be ‘had had’ to indicate double past as per past perfect. Further, as per past perfect, ‘had’ alone does not work, you need ‘had’ + verb form.
Bottom Line : You can only legally use past perfect when a sentence is trying to talk about the first past event in a sequence of two or more past events or timeframes. If that circumstance doesn’t exist, but the sentence is trying to use past perfect, then that answer choice is wrong.
Correlative conjunctions : either/or, neither/nor, both/and, whether/or, not only/but also, not only/but, not only/but/as well, not/but, rather/than
MEMORIZE ALL OF THESE.
Both parts of a correlative conjunction must appear in a sentence. Do not accept correct sentences that partially use correlative conjunctions.
a/an/the are articles which are basically adjectives WHICH MODIFY NOUNS.
IMPORTANT
Acting as an object of a verb and being a modifier are very different things.
‘Aadith sat there and wondered which came first, the chicken or the egg’
Here ‘which came first’ is not a modifier of wondered, it is the object. That makes it a noun clause and not a relative clause
The professor was a supposed expert in illuminated manuscripts -> correct sentence.
Some people believe that true equality cannot be reached when people of different genders are educated and housed separately. Here ‘separately’ modifies both educated and housed.
Only rarely do people who are not looking for dinosaur fossils happen to find one : the verb is ‘do happen’
The department had planned to go out, but only recently did it get the funding that it needed to do so : the verb is ‘did get’
Some guitarists, when playing heavy metal, do so rather skillfully : here, the verb is ‘do’
Which of the two sentences mentioned below conveys this idea accurately :
Idea : Cosmologists have a theory that most of the universe is made up of dark energy, which is a mysterious force.
1) Cosmologists theorize that the universe consists mostly of dark energy, with anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of the universe composed of this mysterious force
2) Cosmologists theorize that the universe consists of mostly dark energy, with anywhere from two-thirds to three quarters of the universe composed of this mysterious force.
Sentence 1) is correct.
The placement of adverb ‘mostly’ creates a critical difference.
In 1) ‘mostly’ modifies ‘consists’ which fits with the idea that most of what makes up the universe is dark energy
In 2) ‘mostly’ modifies ‘dark’ which incorrectly implies that the energy in question is not quite/completely dark or dark only some of the time. Furthermore, this indicates that the universe consists of nothing else but this ‘mostly’ dark energy.
Idea: Even when the chess team goes on vacation, it practices on Saturday. It does not practice on any other day of the week.
1) The chess team, even while it is on vacation, practices on Saturday only.
2) Even while it is on vacation, the chess team only practices on Saturday
Sentence 1) is correct.
1) only modifies ‘on Saturday’ and properly communicates the idea that, of all the days of the week, Saturday is the one day when the chess team practices.
2) Does not match the idea as ‘only’ modifies ‘practices’. This placement makes the sentence convey that, on Saturdays, the chess team does nothing other than practice. IT ALSO, leaves open the possibility that the team practices on other days as well.
When you see an adverb, find which verb/adjective/ adverb it refers to AND IGNORE NOUN since it cannot refer to nouns to see if it makes sense
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Workers digging in NZ discovered an ancient waka, which is a Maori word for ‘canoe’, that partially had been completed and then buried.
Incorrect.
A Maori word for ‘canoe’ cannot be completed and buried.
Also, partially HAD BEEN completed doesn’t make sense. It should be ‘had been partially completed’.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
Justine still refuses to create an online profile, even though several of her friends met people on dating websites whom they ended up marrying
Incorrect.
‘on dating websites’ : a prepositional phrase can modify both ‘met’ and ‘people’ which makes this ambiguous.
It should ideally refer to ‘met’ but if it refers to ‘people’, it can convey the nonsensical meaning that the people whom Justine’s friends met and married were ‘people on dating websites’ as if these people are continuously on dating websites, even when getting married.
A modifying prepositional phrase must always be as close as possible to the word that it modifies.
Is this sentence correct? If not, what’s wrong?
1) Running fast along the shore, it was clear that the Shiba Inu was having a great time.
2) Having beaten the returns of S&P 500 over the past 10 years, it is likely that the Gemini Fund will soon close to new investors.
Both are incorrect.
Both use the expletive it but in a way that doesn’t make sense with the opening modifier.
1) After re-arrangement : Running fast along the shore, that the Shiba Inu was having a great time was clear.
‘Running fast along the shore’ incorrectly refers to ‘that’
2) After re-arrangement : Having beaten.., that the Gemini Fund will soon close to new investors is likely.
‘Having beaten…’ incorrectly refers to ‘that’
When an introductory modifier is a noun modifier, the noun that it modifies must appear right after the introductory modifier.
Noun can be a noun phrase/clause.
In a case of a dangling modifier, the noun that the modifier is supposed to describe is completely absent from the sentence. Such a sentence is always incorrect.
The modifiers can be very long and piled up also. All that maters is that the noun they’re modifying should be present. (Should be present right after if it’s an introductory modifier)
Eg : Having eaten at the Inn of the SR, an amazing eatery just NW of LA serving a wide assortment of culinary delights, the food at TK ,another amazing eatery in LA, is better.
NOTE : Here, ‘an amazing….delights’ modifies the Inn of the SR (PART OF A PARTICIPIAL PHRASE) but the modifier ‘having eaten…SR’ doesn’t have a noun to refer to. Hence, it is dangling.
Always seeking ways to improve, Jonathan’s work is commendable : Dangling modifier, ‘always…improve’ cannot modify the possessive Jonathan’s and further it is acting like an adjective in the compound noun Jonathan’s work which cannot be what is being modified.
Having maintained a strong connection to her Polish roots despite becoming a naturalized French citizen, the two time Nobel Prize winning chemist and physicist MC, named ….
The above statement is correct. ‘having maintained…’ correctly modifies the NOUN PHRASE/SUBJECT ‘the two time…MC’
