grammar ques

Test Preparation
1

<p>Okay I've my SAT this Saturday so I just wanted to make myself clear on a few grammar rules...</p>

<p>Is it always wrong to start a sentence with "Due to..."? </p>

<p>Are these correct? :</p>

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<p>And if you have other grammar tips that you think could be helpful, please share. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>first is wrong, second is right</p>

3

<p>You can start with "due to," but you need to be careful and make sure you have an independent clause because "due to" is usually used as a dependent clause, and if there is not an independent clause afterwards, it is incorrect.</p>

<p>Example:
Dependent clause: Due to the increase in traffic.
With independent: Due to the increase in traffic, we took the bus. </p>

<p>Hope that helps some.</p>

4

<p>Of course a dependent clause would never be correct on its own.
But the Gruber's book I have says, "Do not begin with the words due to. Due is an adjective. As an adjective, it must have a noun to modify."</p>

<p>The sentence was:
Due to the meat boycott, the butchers were doing about half of the business that they were doing previous to the boycott. No error</p>

5

<p>"Two and two are four." is an example I took straight out of the Gruber book! I'm beginning to doubt the book.</p>

6

<p>Using</a> "Due To".</p>

<p>Apparently, you're not supposed to use "due to" to begin a prepositional phrase in a verbless dependant clause since the meaning of "due to" is "caused by". It would be wrong to say "Caused by the increase in traffic, we took the bus". However using "due to" is okay in a case like "The delay was due to the rain" because saying "The delay was caused by the rain" is correct.</p>

7

<p>The first one is right. The conjunction "and" is used, implying several objects, which takes the plural form of the verb. If you wish, you can think of "two and two" as being "he and she." (e.g. He and she are siblings.)</p>

<p>The second one is right. The word "minority" is a collective noun- so you have to be careful. If you want to emphasize the group as a whole, a singular verb is used. If you want to emphasize the members of a group, a plural verb is used. In this case, "are" is used because the sentence refers to a specific group of people. </p>

<p>See [url=<a href="http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/l2agr.html%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/l2agr.html]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;] for very helpful information about collective nouns and other special cases.</p>

8

<p>Thanks! It's a lot clearer now.</p>