Verbal Strategy Flashcards
What jumps out at me when I see this question?
IDIOM pairing:
- Proper Idiom is Regard X AS Y
- NOT Regard X TO BE Y
See correct answer
What do you want to ensure you’re checking when you first look at a sentence?
- Subject / Verb Agreement (Are they singular or plural?)
- Noun / Verb Agreement (Are they singular or plural?)
- Parallelism
- Idiomatic structure
- Diction
- What is the sentence trying to say?
Even if the verb is at the end of the sentence (Are)
What do you want to ensure you’re checking when you first look at a sentence?
- Subject / Verb Agreement (Are they singular or plural?)
- Noun / Verb Agreement (Are they singular or plural?)
- Parallelism
- Idiomatic structure
- Diction
- What is the sentence trying to say?
In this example:
- Parallelism: THAT world markets, THAT events
- Idiom: MORE THAN
- Conjunction: And
What should jump out at you first when you read this sentence?
Diction! There is a diction problme in saying “Undergoing being converted”.
- This is both redundent and awkward
What do I want to ask myself when reading this sentence?
- What is the point of the sentence / What is the sentence trying to say?
- Is there a more concise way that it can be presented?
The point of this sentence is to contrast how people feel about their computer skills or other technical skills with how they feel about their analytical skills. However, the awkward, wordy construction that begins with there is confuses this comparison, so that computer skills… are illogically contrasted with disinclination. Making the sentence more concise allows the contrast to be clear.
What should I immediately think of when I see the beginning of a sentence like this?
Unlike leads the sentence. This is a COMPARISON.
- What’s being compared
- Does the underlined portion make sense?
A comparison or contrast evaluates two parallel elements. The point of this sentence is to contrast two kinds of loans, but the sentence has been written so that a typical automobile loan is contrasted with the lease-loan buyer. The correct contrast is between a typical automobile loan and a lease-loan. This change makes the two verbs active voice (requires… does not require) and parallel.
What do I want to remember when I see a sentence that has an opening modifier, like this example?
The subject should immediately follow the opening modifier
- And in this case, should be the cause for the opening modifier
- If the Opening modifier is the “Stymieing of the Armada’s Plans” then the subject following the modifier should be the cause for stymeing, (the defeat), not the reason for the defeat
What’s the first thing I want to recognize when I see this question and look at the answer choices?
- Recognize that it’s testing parallelism
- Identify the semi-colon in the answer choices
- A semi-colon requires a following complete sentence
The inclusion of “would” in the hypothetical form doesn’t rule answer choices out because sentence identifies that the cases would not be tested if they needed to occur manually.
What answer choices to I want to ensure I avoid on a CR Weaken the Argument question like this?
Ensure that you’re not making a selection that doesnt’ change anything in the argument
- Option 2 states that “Some of Brown’s delegates switched their commitment to Abhukar”
- This was already identified in the passage as 28 of Brown’s 32 votes went to Smolenski
- As such, this doesn’t effect the argument at all
What is the first thing I want to remember when I see the answer types, as shown in this example?
The answer choices clearly identify that we’re testing verb tenses
- MAKE SURE YOU READ THE ENTIRE SENTENCE!
- The later part of the sentence identifies the time frame over the last few years
- Thus the verb must be in the past tense
What’s the first thing I want to remember when evaluating this CR question?
Read the passage carefully. Remember to Identify the question!
- This is a weaken the argument question
- The argument states that profits are declining, and notes that the engineer needs to find a new source for raw materials, to remedy this issue
What weakens this argument? New competitors which are driving price wars could be a cause for profit decreases, that haven’t been considered by the engineer, and which wouldn’t be remedied by switching sources. Perfect answer
What’s the first thing I want to remember when I see this Sentence correction problem?
This is clearly a comparison and modifier sentence.
- The verb in comparison must be properly matched with an appropriate noun
- The appropriate adjective must come before the modifier
“what residents pay” indicates price. If we were to mentione price again, it would be redundent and suggest that the price itself has a price
What’s the first thing I want to notice when I see a sentence like the one provided?
- Much is the wrong term when refering to a countable category. STUDENTS are countable, so the correct term would be “Many”
- “AS 1981” incorrectly compares the # of students to the year 1981
What should jump out at me at first glance at the proposed sentence?
Incorrect Idiom: “Made possible because of” is an incorrect idiom.
- “MADE POSSIBLE BY” is the correct idiom.
What do I want to remember when addressing CR questions like this?
At times, we’ll have to deduce the correct answer. It won’t have to be directly stated in the passage
- You can back into the 30% of budget that Making Hits Records spent on Overhead cost
- You can identify that Song Factor Record spent 80% of it’s budget on things other than Overhead
- With that in mind, the most Song Factory records could have spend on Overhead would be 20%
With that in mind we can conclude that Making Hit’s Records spent more of it’s budget (30%) on Overhead costs, than Song Factory Records did (≤ 20%)
What’s the first thing I want to notice when I see a sentence correction sentence like this?
The structure of the sentence identifies that this is a “Comparisons” question
- What is being compared?
- Is the comparison logical?
- The original sentence accurately compares counterfeiting “counterfeiting is more difficult than it was”
- Option D compares an act “counterfeiting” to a time period “counterfeiting is more difficult than when it was estimated”. THIS CANNOT BE THE RIGHT ANSWER
What’s the first thing I want to notice when seeing a sentence correction problem like this?
The sentence begins with a dangling modifier
- A modifier that leaves absent who will be applying the optimization technique
Option B, identifies who will be applying the technique, and reduces the unnecessary wordiness in the first sentence
What’s wrong with this sentence right from the start?
The modifier “which inflates” applies to the preceding suject “the blown film technique” illogically suggesting that the technique itself, rather than a machine or it’s operators is performing the action.
What do I want to remember when I see a difficult Weaken the Argument question like this one?
When the passage is complex, it’s important that your map identifies what the passage is really saying, in order to assess the answer questions:
- New Disc. Department Store - existing disc. stores will close
- But new stores will open
- Becasue 5 years ago, a non discount store opened - competitors closed, new stores opened
Now that you have that understanding which answer works?
- Complicated thought process
What do I want to remember, when reading this sentence and the answer options?
The sentence begins with an opening modifier referring to something written!
- Whatever follows the opening modifier should be something that was written
- Although the author of the titles is the first thing mentioned after the modifier, it’s showing possession, and is not the main noun
- The titles, which immediately follow the possessive authors name are the appropriate main nouns
Also remember the correct Idiom “Attributed X to Y”
What do I want to notice immediately when evaluating the answer choices on a sentence correction question like this?
- Only the first sentence uses the word “grow” as a verb
- Grow appears as a noun in the other sentences (growth)
- The GMAT loves this kind of split, the same root word as noun/verb/adjective —- over 95% of the time, the verb form will be correct.
- Two of the answer choises also have the incorrect tense when referencing a prior period of time
What do I want to recognize when I see a sentence correction question like this?
Proper Idioms “Such As”.
- Answer choice B references “Such Like” which is incorrect
What do I want to recognize immediately when I see a sentence like this?
The sentence describes things that Joan Philkill did as the chair of the planning board
- With that in mind it would be improper to say she did things “As the former”
- We need to find the answer which identifies what she did “during the time of being” chair
- Sentence E clearly identifies that with the leading “As the”
What do I want to identify when I see a SC problem like this?
Identify the verb and ensure they are parallel
- Sentence describes corporations and employees committing crimes
- The action (verb) commit must be parallel in mentioning both
What do I want to remember when I see a SC problem like this?
Watch out for answer choices that change the meaning of the sentence
- Answer choice D changes the meaning to women delivered babies, rather than babies being born
Although Answer A is the most simple, it makes the most sense
What do I want to remember when I see a “Find the Assumption” question like this?
Don’t get too caught up in trying to calculate hypothetical based upon the answer choices:
- In order for the pounds of production waste to be a logical comparison YoY, we need the number of workers to be relatively similar
- It doesn’t matter if it’s higher or lower, in the wording of the sentence, we need it to be relatively similar
- Option E includes that option
What do I want to jump out at me first when I see the following SC problem?
This is a COMPARISONS QUESTION so we have to ensure the following:
- Things are being compared appropriately,
- Other SC matters are correct: Verb tense, parallelism, subject verb agreement, noun verb agreement
- Execs assume something will / would happen?
- Because there referencing another matter as a leading indicator of something to come, the correction option is WILL rather than WOULD
- Remove options B, D, E
- Because there referencing another matter as a leading indicator of something to come, the correction option is WILL rather than WOULD
- Option C, is missing a consideration of what airline execs are convinced of. We need the “that” to clearly connect what they are convinced of.
- Option A works
What proces should I take to address all Sentence Correction questions?
- Take a first glance (how long is the underline, what are the splits in the answer choices)
- Read the sentence for meaning
- Find a starting point in the answer choices
- Eliminate (everything you can)
- Repeat (until you have eliminated all wrong answers)
- Aim to spend 1:20 on sentence correction questions
- Be aware that your testing grammar and meaning
- Who (subject), Did what (verb)
What do I want to keep in mind when I see this SC question?
What is the point of the sentence? What are the options giving me?
- “Capable of being” and “albe to be” in the first, second, and fourth sentences provides ambiguity
- Which answer gives us the most clear and concise answer?
What do I want to recognize when evaluating this SC problem?
Subject verb agreement. The singular subject “force” must agree with the correlating verb causes (plural)
- Answer choice C is the only option that gives us this singular / singular reflection.
What do I want to remember when I see a Sentence Corection problem like this?
What is the sentence explaining? Why Narwhals are called whales of the ice.
-
The following will be two examples, of why they are called whales of the ice, connected by the AND
- Don’t be mistaken that the second section is referring to the migration of the killer whale
What do I want to remember when I see a SC problem like this?
Don’t eliminate choices too early.
- Remember idiom Not only, but also
- If the “Not only” isn’t included, “but it also” would work
What do I want to remember when I see a SC question like this?
Remember that we need to test that the subject performing the action agrees with the verb performing it:
- Carcinogens = plural
- Exceeds = singular
- Correct answer will have “exceed” which is the plural version of the verb
What do I want to remember when solving an evaluate the argument question?
Remember that the correct answer must have two potential outcomes, beneficial / negatively, which would help in assessing the argument.
- Answer D provides those two potential outcomes, dependent on the action of the supermarkets
What do I want to remember when I see this question?
The question is testing “Becasue of” vs. “Since”
- “Because of” must be following by noun or pronoun
- e.g. Because of you, I am awake
- “Since” can be followed by a clause
Additionally, the appropriate idiom is REACH OF rather than REACH FOR
What do I want to remember when I see a SC question like this?
Remember to consider noun adjective agreement
- Noun = Skills
- Adjective should be “Few” which is a count adjective rather than “Little” which is a bulk adjective
What do I want to remember when I see a construction question like this?
If something is being compared to another thing within it’s category, you need to include the word “other” or something similar to categorically compare.
What do I want to remember when I see a SC problem like this?
Remember that you’re looking for the most clear and concise version of the sentence that removes ambiguity
What do I want to remember when I see an SC problem like this?
Beware of colloquilism (A word or phrase that is not formal, typically one used in ordinary familiar conversation)
- The answer choices may sound (to the ear) correct, but are not necessary
What’s the simple correct answer?
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC question like this?
- When comparing a change, the most direct way to structure is from x to y
- Make sure your selected answer has pronouns that properly refer to something
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
- Remember to find the most clear and consise answer that includes the correct parallelism, subject/noun verb agreement, and comparison
What do I want to remember when I see a SC Problem like this?
Always look at WHO DID WHAT, to identify the Subject / Verb agreement
- In this case, we see in the underline area that the verb variations are was/were
- Singular or plural of the “be” verb
- With that in mind,
- WHO = Women’s absenteeism
- Did = Was / Were
- What = a 5th of men
- Can’t compare Women’s absenteeism to men, so correct answer must include men’s
- Women’s absenteeism is singular (category: women’s possessive not plural)
- Correct verb would have to be the singular version of be = was
What do I want to remember when I see a SC problem like this?
Ensure the modifier is referring to the appropriate noun (subject), and that there’s no confusion.
What do I want to remember when I see an SC problem like this?
Who, Did, What
- Properly identify the subject / verb and ensure they agree
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
Remember to ensure that the sentence makes sense:
- If you’re referenceing the wants and needs of custmers and following it with “one another” than you could confusingly mean either the firms compete for wants and needs of customers or firms compete for wants over needs
- Leveraging “than the others” has a clear meaning
What do I want to remember when I see a Comparison Meaning SC question like this?
- “Compared with” and “Compared to” are equivalent idioms form the point of view of the GMAT; either is correct
- Ensure that the sentence removes ambiguity and has a clear meaning
What do I want to remember when facing a Parallelism SC question like this?
- A list of items suggests the sentence is testing parallelism
- Adverb can come before or after the verb
- In this case “Increasingly” can come before or after “are”
What do I want to remember when solving a SC question like this?
- Dearth means: Scarcity or lack of something
- A prepositional phrase cannot have a noun + a verb-ing as it’s object
- e.g. “of increasing energy prices driving
- The placement of “thus far” is important
- Ensure it’s place appropriately to avoid ambiguity
What do I want to remember when reviewing a CR problem like this?
- Read carefully
- What must be true based upon the statement
- Think logically
What do I want to remember when I see a SC question like this?
- The dashes around a modifier set it off from the rest of the sentence. As such, we can read the part outside of the dashes for meaning
- Wording before a colon must be a standalone (complete with a verb and object)
What do I want to remember when addressing a CR problem like this?
- As this is a supports the argument question, we need to identify the conclusion, and subsequently identify which answer choice would make that conclusion stronger / most strongly support
- Conclusion: Despite efforts the animals cannot be considered safe
- Which answer would support that these animals aren’t safe regardless of the listed efforts?
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC question like this?
- When then underline portion is almost the complete sentence, identify what the sentence is trying to say, and select the answer that is both correct grammatically, while conveying that same message
- Remember that “, which” modifiers must relate to what comes directly before them!
What do I want to remember when facing a SC question like this?
- Parallelism allows for a change in verb tense if the items following the initial parallel matter, are a result or consequence
- e.g Einstein attended the Swiss Ferederal Polytechnic SChool in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developing a foundation for his future work in mathemtical physics
- If you do not leverage this approach it changes meaning (i.e. Einstein attended, received, and develop) received and developed are not a result or consequence of him attending the school
What do I want to remember when addressing a CR problem like this?
- What is the argument saying, what happened / why?
- Which answer choice would assist in evaluating that decision?
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
- Collective nouns (e.g. Team / Family) are singular not plural, unless they are referring to multiple (e.g. Teams / Families)
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
The sentence describes an action taken under one set of circumstances but not under another. This indicates PARALLELISM
- When parallelism is on the table, ensure that the two actions are parallel and that the modifiers, if present are referring to the appropriate subject
What do I want to remember when facing an RC question like this?
What’s being asked? What’s been given?
- What conclusion can be taken from the argument? (Must be represented in the paragraph)
What do I want to remember when addressing a CR problem like this?
Read the question carefully. Question asking for the assumption of the columnists opponent rather than the columnist
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
- Ensure you’re accurately identifying the subject of the sentence
- Based on the leading non underlined portion, the subject must be the “textbook” rather than the textbook chapter
- With that in mind, ensure that you select the appropriate answer tha accurately refers to the subject
- Ensure that the verbs are parallel, LEADS must be subordinate to IS which precedes it
- In order to do so leads must be LEADING in order to be parallel
- IS LEADING rather than IS LEADS
- In order to do so leads must be LEADING in order to be parallel
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC question like this?
- Remember that comparisons, must logically compare like items
- The sentence must compare either roses to roses or thorns to thorns, you cant compare roses to thorns
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
- Read for meaning. The government did some something and the government will do something
- The two actions by the government must be parallel
- “the commision said THAT…” and despite… THAT it would”
- it will is missing the THAT for parallelism, and will is the simple future tense rather than the conditional tense of would
- The two actions by the government must be parallel
What do I want to rememeber when addressing a SC problem like this?
- Not only, but also suggests two things that support each other or agree
- It wouldn’t make sense if the two things contrast
- But ALSO can be used without NOT ONLY
What do I want to remember when addressing a problem solving question like this?
- Subject Verb agreement
- Meaning
- Remember that you can ignore a statement engulfed in hypghens - x - when assessing for meaning
- Because the contrasting items, are not opposing, then you can’t use contrasting phrases such as “Despite” “Although” etc.
What do I want to remembe when addressing a SC question like this?
- Read for meaning
- Ensure that the parallelism makes sense
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
A “, which” modifier refers to the NOUN that immediately precedes it, not the whole noun phrase
What do I want to remember when addressing an SC question like this?
Although indicates a comparison. Ensure that things are appropriately compared and parallel
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC problem like this?
Who, Did, What
- Identify the subject: a species
- Verbs: Lessen
- What: vulnerability
“A species” refers to a singular species, not plural species, so “their” would not be applicable as their is plural
What do I want to remember when addressing a SC question like this?
Remember to read for meaning
- If there are time sensitive events, mentioned in a sentence, they must be in logical order in order to be the correct selection
What do I want to remember when addressing a CR problem like this?
The solution to an explain the difference question must completely address the difference. Logic your way through the answer selections
What do I want to remember when addressing an SC problem like this?
Who, Did, What
