Verbal GMAT Sentence Correction Flashcards
What are the two fundamental types of sentence structures?
A. Phrases - collections of words that alone do not make a sentence because there is no subject-verb relationship
B. Clauses - contain a subject-verb relationship & the verb indicates when the action occurred (a finite verb).
Define an independent Clause. How can you determine whether a clause is independent?
a collection of words that contain both a subject and a finite verb that together can stand alone as a sentence.
Capitalize the first letter of the clause and put a period at the end - does it make sense by itself?
A clause that cannot by itself be a sentence is called…?
Name the 3 types of this clause.
Dependent Clauses
1. Subordinate Clauses
2. Relative Clauses
3. Noun Clauses
A Subordinate Clause looks suspiciously like an Independent Clause. What is the key difference?
Give at least 5 examples of the type of word that make an Independent Clause into a Subordinate Clause.
Subordinate clauses have a connective (conjunction) in front of the independent clause.
After, Before, Until, Once, While, Although, Whereas, Because, If, Unless, Though, Even though, As much as, Just as, Whenever
List the 4 types of sentence structure and define each type.
a) Simple sentences - 1 independent clause.
b) compound sentences - at 2 two independent clauses.
c) complex sentences - composed of >= 1 independent clause and 1 subordinate clause
d) compound-complex sentence - sentence with >1 Independent Clause and >= 1 subordinate clause
What is comma splice?
FANBOYS is an acronym that solves this issue. What do the letters stand for?
Which punctuation mark can also solve this problem?
- 2 independent clauses are linked by only 1 comma - a coordinating conjunction is missing
- For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
- semi-colon
Define a Relative Clause (6Ws 1T). Which family of clauses does it belong to?
Relative Clauses begin with relative pronouns which take away their independence: That, Which, Who, Whom, Whose, Where, When.
They cannot stand alone as sentences; they are a type of Dependent Clause.
What is a Noun Clause?
What words do they begin with? (9)
A clause that plays the role of a noun.
That, Which, How, Who, Whom, Where, Whether, What, Why
Define prepositions and give 2 examples.
Prepositions are words that express relationships.
About & By
When a finite verb is used, what are the two roles nouns, pronouns, and noun clauses can take? Define each role.
Direct Object. A noun or pronoun that is receiving the action of the finite verb. The steamboat hit the large WHALE.
Subject. A noun, pronoun, or noun clause doing or being something. What Jeff said is confusing.
Subject-verb agreement is a well-understood concept. In what way do they agree?
Describe how you can make a subject agree with a verb and vice versa.
The subject & verb must agree in number. Singular vs Plural.
a singular subject matches with a singular verb which has an s on the end
plural subjects match with plural verbs, remove s at the end of a plural verb
What is a prepositional phrase and which prepositions do they begin with?
A phrase that modifies a verb or noun.
Often begin with “by” “for” “in”
Name the 7 examples of illogical comparisons.
- Different types of items.
- Mistakenly compared with itself.
- Verbs in comparisons
- Ellipsis in comparisons.
- Ambiguous comparisons.
- Incomplete comparisons.
- Comparisons with Quantity nouns and (un)countable nouns
What is an appositive?
Appositives modify or further describe another element of the sentence by renaming it
e.g. My brother John loves to make sales.
Define a compound subject.
Because there are multiple words, do they require plural verbs?
A subject that is made up of many nouns which are connected by a conjunction such as and, or, nor.
No. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they do not.
What type of verb typically matches with a compound subject where two nouns are connected by the word “and”?
Give an example when this is not the case.
Plural verbs.
Sometimes a compound subject that connects two nouns with the word and requires a singular verb. The bed and breakfast is open today.
A certain type of phrase resembles the word “and”, what is it? Give at least 3 examples
Do these phrases create singular or plural subjects?
What happens when a singular subject is followed by this type of phrase?
Can the subject of a sentence appear with this phrase?
Additive phrases. As well as, in conjunction with, together with, accompanied by, in addition to, as well as.
They create singular subjects.
It remains singular.
No. Never.
Sentences & clauses containing compound subjects joined by a special type of conjunction abide by their own subject-verb agreement rule…
What is the rule and what words follow this rule?
The verb in a sentence/clause containing a compound subject joined by or, neither nor, nor, either or, must agree with the subject noun to which it is closest
Where is a subject typically placed in relation to the verb?
What is the name of the structure when the subject is not placed in that position? Charlie Munger.
Subjects typically come before the finite verb because the subject performs the action.
Inverted sentences. Yoda speak.
Give examples of collective nouns.
They are almost always considered to be singular or plural?
Team, group, collection, people, band, army
Singular
Collective nouns sometimes require an atypical verb form. Which form is atypical and why is it used?
Collective nouns require plural verbs when the group members act individually.
Two examples of collective nouns frequently can be considered as either plural or singular. What are they?
Majority & Minority.
When a subject begins with “every”, “each”, or “many a” is that subject plural or singular?
Singular.
Define a pronoun.
A word that takes the place of a noun.
Name the 3 examples of relative pronouns.
Are they singular or plural?
That, which, who.
They can be singular or plural depending on the noun to which they refer.
Define an indefinite pronoun.
A pronoun that doesn’t refer to any one thing in particular.
Name the 18 indefinite Pronouns. Are they always singular or plural? AAA EEEEE NNNN O SSS WW
ONE WE SEEN SEA SAW NAN
One, neither, each
Whatever, either
Somebody, everybody, everyone, nobody
Someone, everything, anything
Something, anybody, whoever
No one, anyone, nothing
Four indefinite pronouns are always plural. Name them.
Both, Few, Many, Several.
Some really tricky indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. SANAMM Pharmacy.
When SANAMM appears, what can we not ignore?
Some, Any, None, All, More, Most.
A prepositional phrase that comes between the pronoun and the clause’s main verb.
When Numbers & Percentages are preceded by “the”, is the subject always singular or plural?
When Numbers & Percentages are preceded by “a”, is the subject singular, plural, or it depends?
What about fractions?
“the” percentage & “the” number are always singular.
A number is always plural, a percentage of + noun can be singular or plural depending on the noun.
Fractions can take plural or singular verbs, half of, one-third of (don’t ignore the prepositional phrase that comes after the fraction).
The following 8 nouns are irregular. What are their plural forms?
Alumnus
Criterion
Datum
Fungus
Medium
Phenomenon
Nucleus
Syllabus
Alumni
Criteria
Data
Fungi
Media
Phenomena
Nuclei
Syllabi
Nouns ending in -ics appear to be plural but are actually?
Give at least 3 examples.
Singular.
Politics, statistics, mathematics, econometrics.
Infinitives, gerunds, and noun phrases & clauses can all be subjects. Are they singular or plural?
Singular.
Define a gerund. Give one example.
A verb that is acting as a noun when it ends with -ing. e.g. swimming. Swimming is a good exercise.
Define an antecedent. What are they also referred to as?
The noun that the pronoun refers to. Referent.
Which pronoun is typically used in speech without a clear referent?
They.
Name the 8 pronoun issues.
- Multiple possible antecedents
- A pronoun’s antecedent is missing from the sentence
- Pronoun has an adjective as its antecedent
- Pronoun doesn’t agree in number with its antecedent
- Sentence contains an unneeded pronoun
- Sentence contains illogical Antecedents
- Pronoun is referring to a clause
- Sentence uses an incorrect pronoun case.
Pronouns that refer to the words “each” or “every” must always be singular or plural?
Give examples of at least 3 other indefinite pronouns which are always singular.
Singular.
Anyone. Someone. No one. Nobody.
Certain antecedents are illogical even though they sound correct in everyday speech. Name them.
Word such as “term” “label” “name” introduces a proper noun be on the lookout for antecedent-pronoun errors.
What 3 functions can a pronoun have in a sentence?
Subject. Do the action.
Object. Receive the action.
Possessive. Express ownership.
What is an error in pronoun case?
When an object pronoun is used when the pronoun is actually acting as the subject (doing the action) of the sentence or clause.
How can we determine the correct pronoun when it is part of a compound subject or compound object?
The investigators assured the CEO that the team being sent would include the director and (they/them)
Drop the part of the compound subject or compound object that is not the pronoun and then determine how the sentence would need to read with only the pronoun present.
The investigators assured the CEO that the team being sent would include the director and them.
Sometimes it is unclear whether we should use the pronoun “who” or “whom” and “whoever” or “whomever.”
What is an effective strategy we can use to decide which one to use?
Explain this in grammar terms, when the pronoun is the subject we must use x and when the pronoun is the object we must y.
Replace the pronoun with “he” / “him” (“she” / “they”)
Subject = who/whoever Object = whom/whomever
A possessive pronoun combined with a unique type of word often sounds wrong in speech but is dramatically correct. What is this combination?
Give one example.
Possessive pronoun and gerund combination.
The janitor was sure that the salespeople would not notice his cleaning up the mess.
Define a Demonstrative Pronoun.
Give an example of the main demonstrative pronouns.
Use one in a sentence.
A demonstrative pronoun takes the place of a noun and always stands alone; it does not modify a noun. Replicate and relate to a noun already in the sentence.
This, That, These, Those.
The shoulders of this gym brah are wider than those of his friends.
Define a demonstrative adjective.
How close are nouns and demonstrative adjectives in the sentence?
A word that modifies a noun, indicates which noun is being described.
Demonstrative adjectives are followed directly by the noun.
