Sentence Correction Flashcards
When I see to research
I know that it is the idiom “to research - X” go straight into the what you want to research
When I see a preposition (to, about on) in the first underline
I know it is likely testing idioms
Preposition is
a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples of prepositions are words like “in,” “at,” “on,” “of,” and “to.”
When I see that following a verb
I know it is to start a new clause. Then the noun after “that” will be a subject of a new clause instead of what the verb before is affecting. ex: predict that john walks vs predict john second one is predicting john vs predicting the clause of john walking
When I see “would be”
I know it is conditional and needs to be dependent on some other event or condition. ex: would be if
When I see the marker “less”
I know it’s a comparison marker used in the form “X is less than Y”
When I see two comparison markers (less & compared to)
I know the answer is wrong for redundancy
The past perfect tense is
When something happened in the past but prior to another past event referenced, so it needs to be referencing something before the other time marker. Ex: Yesterday, I was thinking about how I “had acted” last year.
An adverbial modifier like “ ,with “
is a modifier that refers to the main action (verb) in the sentence, but does not explain the entire clause. ex: He jumped crazily on the trampoline, with arms and legs flying everywhere.
If there is no action verb (ex: walk, jump, talk etc.) it does not work.
When I see the marker “where as”
I know it’s the idiom “X where as Y” where X&Y are parrallel. Compare subject to subject or verb to verb
When the marker “or” is used in parallelism
It follows the structure “X or Y” and X & Y need to be the same type of word
When i see one -
It needs to be accompanied by another -
When I see the marker “both”
I know it’s “Both X and Y” only. No “as well as”
If I see a lot of commas in a question with an “and”
I should look for parallelism issues because it may be a list
If you see a “that” after a noun
It is a modifier describing the noun right before it
When I see the modifier “, which”
I check for the closest main noun before the comma it is supposed to be modifying
What does an adverb do?
It modifies a adjective, verb or other adverb or word group. It often is a descriptor ending in “ly”
It never should modify a noun
When I see a marker for parallelism like “and”
I make sure all items fit with the root phrase.
When I see the marker “neither”
I know it’s the idiom “neither X nor Y”
When I see the marker “between”
I know it’s “between X and Y”
When I see the marker “distinguish”
I know its “distinguish” X from Y
When I see the markers “different” or “similar”
I know it’s “ X Different from Y” and “X similar to Y”
When I see the marker “In Contrast”
I know it’s “X’s Z in contrast to/with Y’s Z” Both Zs are the same
When I see the marker “Like”
I know it’s used to compare nouns only!!! No comparing prepositional phrases or clauses
When I see “as” in comparisons
I know its used to compare clauses only!!! Both parts need verbs.
No Comparing nouns
When I see only two things being compared
I know to use the comparative form of (er) of an adjective or adverb ex:shorter
When I see a comparison with more than 2 things
I know to use superlative form of est ex: shortest
If I see the plural version of an adverb that ends in -ly
I know that you need use more and not the -er from to make a comparison ex: I eat more quickly than Tom
If I see a comparative word such as slower
I know it must be followed by “than” ex: I’m taller than tom
When I see a question with “It or It’s” and “they, them or theirs” in different options
I know it’s testing plurality in pronouns, so I need to find the antecedent
When I see “this or these” & “that or those”
I need to make sure that they are not replacing nouns which should use “it, they, them”
When I see the marker “Ability”
I think about the idiom “ability to”
When the Marker “neither” shows up
I know it’s the idiom “neither X nor Y”
When I see the marker “allow”
I know it’s one of these 3 forms
“Allows noun to verb”
“was allowed to “verb”
“Allows for noun”
When the marker “not or not only” shows up
I use the structure “not X but Y”
or
“Not only X but also Y”
When the marker “From” shows up
Use structure “From X to Y”
From always has to
If I see X and Y
I make sure that the X&Y are both the same type of word. (ex: nouns + nouns)
Also if X has in then Y needs in ex: in France and in Spain
When I see amount or less
I know it’s for something you can’t count
ex: amount of water or less water
When I see number or fewer
I know it’s for a quantifiable item
ex: Number of hours or fewer hours
When the marker “whether” shows up
I know it’s the idiom
“whether X or Y”
Or has to be there
When I see the marker “like or unlike”
I know it’s the either
“X like Y”
or
Like X, Y
When I see the marker “as” in parallelism
I know it’s the structure X, as Y
ex: Joe is tall, as is Niv
When I see the marker “As adj as”
I know it’s “X as adj as Y”
ex: I’m as tall as sam
When I see “View”
I know it’s “view X as Y”
ex: I view studying as hard
When I see “in contrast”
I know it’s “In contrast to X, Y”
Don’t forget the comma
When I see “ Mistake”
I know it’s “Mistake X for Y”
When I see “Estimate”
I know it’s “Estimate X to be Y”
When I see:
Consider
Declare
Make
Assume
I use the Idiom
“Consider XY”
ex: I declare Tom dumb
not
I consider Tom as dumb
When I see a Q with a adjective that turns into an adverb
I check for meaning and see if it should modify a noun or something else
When I see a modifier in between commas
I know it’s likely a non essential noun modifier
If I see a noun modifier preceded by “that”
I know that it is an essential noun modifier
If I see a which vs that split
I know it’s testing a noun modifier
What are the 3 most important types of modifiers?
- Prep Phrases
- -ing words
- -ed words
To find out what a prep phrase is modifying
You ask what it is describing
To find out if a -ing or -ed word is a noun or adverbial modifier
You check to see if it’s surrounded by commas. if it is then it an adverbial mod and not a noun mod
When I want to check if a -ing or -ed modifier is essential
I check to see if it’s surrounded by commas. If it is then it is not essential.
When I see a , which modifier
I know it needs to refer to a very nearby noun
When I see a , -ing modifier
I know it needs to refer to an action
When differentiating between a “, -ing” and a “, which” modifier
I check to see if it should modify an action or a noun
When I see a noun modifier
I know it needs to be placed as close to it’s noun as possible
When a noun has both an essential and non essential modifier
You put the noun next to the essential modifier first
If I see a noun modifier modifying a possessive noun like “bill’s”
I know it’s wrong because possessive nouns like “bill’s” are adjectives and not nouns
If I see a “which, who, whose, whom”
I know there should be a noun modifier
If I see a noun followed by “that”
I know “that” is signaling a noun modifier
If I see a “who/whom” and “which” split
I need to check to see if the noun is a person or not because “who/whom” only modify people and “which” does not
If I see the modifier marker “whose”
I know it can be for both people and things
If I see “which” or “whose” following a preposition (“through”, “for”)
I check to see it’s correct by inverting the sentence.
ex: The Senator for whom we worked
becomes: We worked for the Senator
When deciding between a “where” or “in which” split
I check to see if it’s modifying a real or metaphorical place.
Where = Real and in which = Metaphorical
When I see a split with “When” or “in which” or “during which”
I know they can be swapped interchangeably
If a prep phrase explains how, when, where or why an action occurred or answer a how much question
It is adverbial modifier
When a non verb -ing or -ed word is not separated by commas
I know it is a noun modifier
When I have two independent clauses and a modifier
I need to make sure the modifier is on the right side of the conjunction connecting the two modifiers
A subordinate clause is
almost a complete sentence except it has a subordinator at the beginning ex: although
So, instead it modifies the main clause and is always an adverbial modifier.
If there is a opening modifier
it should go along with the noun of the main clause that it precedes.
If I see two connection words in the same sentence such as “Yet” and “Although”
I know it’s wrong because of redundancy
If I see the word “Numbers” in the sentence
I know to use greater or less and not more than for comparisons
When deciding between increase and greater
I need to see if it is a comparison or not. If it’s a comparison you use greater or less.
If I see the word “and”
I know there is always parallelism with the structure:
X and Y or X,Y, and Z
What do And, or, but, from/to, and rather than have in common?
They are all markers of parralelism
When I see the marker “either”
I know it’s parallelism in the structure of “either X or Y”
No and allowed!!!
What are the closed markers of parallelism?
“Both/and”
“Either/ or”
“Not/But”
“Not only/But also”
“From/To”
When I see a closed marker of parallelism
I know that the X & Y elements need to be directly after each marker.
Ex: I saw both Tom and Jerry yesterday
If I see parallelism in a prepositional phrase
I know that the prepositions (in, on, under, etc.) do not have to be the same.
Ex: It was important to leave the money in the drawer rather than on the table
When I see a parallelism marker I know to
Check for the root phrases and distribute it to see if it’s well matched up
What are the open markers of parallelism?
“And”
“Or”
“But”
“Rather than”
With these comparisons there is no beginning marker that shows where the comparison starts.
What do you do when you recognize an open marker?
Step 1: Identify the parallelism marker
Step 2: Identify the Y element
Step 3: Use the Y element to identify the X element
Step 4: Identify the Root phrase and distribute it to each element.
When I see the marker “and” preceded by only one comma
I know it’s connecting two independent clauses
When I see the marker “and” preceded by two commas
I know it can be:
1) A list of 3 things
2) a comparison with a modifier in the middle offset by the commas.
ex: The baker looked at the wedding cake, which stood over 4 feet high, and beamed proudly.
The parallelism is between “looked” and “beamed”
When I see as X as
I know it is comparing clauses with X being an adjective or an adverb
ex: I am as tall as John
When I see “as” at the start of a prepositional phrase
I know that it is an adverbial modifier affecting clauses
ex: Liat worked “as a consultant” for seven years
as a consultant is a prep phrase and adverbial modifier.
When I see a more vs greater split
I know to use more for numbered quantities and greater for percentage and others
