SC RULES

Question 1

Plural or singular?

ethnic groups / families dynasties / sports team names

Answer 1

plural

Question 2

Plural or singular?

Country Names (ie “The Netherlands”)

Answer 2

singular

Question 3

Plural or singular?

“X and Y” subject

Answer 3

Plural

Question 4

When to use WHICH vs THAT

Answer 4

“Which” is non-essential / “that” is essential = to understanding the meaning of the sentence

Question 5

“as . . .as or worse than.”

Answer 5

**always need the TWO “as” for this construction.

Question 6

Which is correct completion of the verb phrase?

“doing this” vs. “doing it” vs. “doing so”

Answer 6

“doing so” is correct. Can never follow “doing” with a pronoun.

ex: “I enjoy swimming at night, but doing so is dangerous” is preferable to “I enjoy swimming at night, but doing it is dangerous.”

Question 7

“due to” or “because of” ?

His failure was _______ ___ his laziness.

Answer 7

His failure was due to his laziness.

“Due to” modifies a noun.

Question 8

“due to” or “because of”?

He failed _______ ___ his laziness

Answer 8

He failed because of his laziness.

“Because of” modifies a verb or verb phrase

Question 9

“greater than” and “less than” can only be used when?

Answer 9

when two things are being compared.

NEED: X is greater/less ….THAN Y

Question 10

“is expected to / will”

OR

“is expected … should”

Answer 10

Correct: “is expected to / will”

Wrong: “is expected … should”

Question 11

“X is to Y… ______ Z is to A”

Answer 11

“X is to Y… WHAT Z is to A”

Question 12

What does this modify:

“….that…”

Answer 12

a preceding noun.

ex: “….books that continue to be read today”

Used for essential information.

Question 13

What does this modify:

” …. , who….”

Answer 13

A preceding person.

ex: “… Jacob, who napped”

Question 14

What does this modify:

“… , which…”

Answer 14

A preceding thing.

“…the school, which was recently opened.”

NON essential information.

Question 15

The movement or disappearance of a time marker signals?

Answer 15

a change in the meaning of the sentence.

*pay attention to when things are happening (now vs. some other time)

Question 16

Long underlined SC signals what?

Answer 16

issues with sentence structure, meaning, modifiers, or parallelism

Question 17

Short underlined SC signals to do what?

Answer 17

compare the answers in full before reading the original sentence

= probably NOT testing meaning!

Question 18

“and” signals?

Answer 18

Parallelism: “X and Y” OR “X, Y, and Z”

look if there is a comma before the “and” for if signals only 2 elements in the list.

Question 19

3 main categories being tested for MEANING issues:

Answer 19

1- words don’t properly match in meaning (“yesterday she will buy milk”)

2- redundant words (“she loves movies, and in addition is a big fan of rom coms”)

3- words in wrong place (“she tended to the gardens daily vs. she tended to the daily gardens”)

Question 20

When I see these markers of time, I look for redundancy / meaning issues in SC:

Answer 20

Previously, formerly, in the past, before now

Now, currently, presently, at present

Annual, each year, a year

Question 21

If I see short words (ie ONLY or ALL) moving around a lot in answer choices, it signals:

Answer 21

A meaning issue in SC.

Ex: ALL the kids are covered in mud.
vs. The kids are ALL covered in mud.

Question 22

“Had” and “If” at the beginning of a sentence signal what?

Answer 22

A hypothetical - so verb tenses needs to match!

Question 23

Singular or plural verb to follow?

“neither X nor Y….”

Answer 23

ALWAYS singular (if linking two singular nouns, which the test will most likely do)

Question 24

Does “each” need a singular or plural verb?

Answer 24

“each” is a SINGULAR subject, so needs a singular matching verb.

Ex: Each of the team members has a new jersey.

Question 25

“Much less” vs “nonetheless”

Answer 25

“much less” uses the pattern: “X doesn’t do Y, MUCH LESS something more extreme”

vs NONETHELESS means “however”

Question 26

What is the difference between these used at the beginning of a sentence:

“For all” vs “Given”

Answer 26

“For all” means “despite” - essentially meaning the opposite of XYZ

“Given” means “considering” or “since”

Question 27

What are 4 markers for a PREMISE in CR?

Answer 27

Because

Since

For

After All

Question 28

What are some markers for a CONCLUSION in CR?

Answer 28

Therefore

Thus

For this reason

Consequently

As a result

We can conclude

This fact provides evidence for the hypothesis that

Question 29

“neither X ____ Y” ?

Answer 29

“neither X NOR. Y”