<p>Does anyone have any ideas for a crash course in grammar - for tomorrow's SATs?</p>
<p>I have some trouble with identifying mistakes, and I would greatly appreciate any resource that has a comprehensive list of grammar rules that the SAT uses.</p>
<p>Sometimes I "over-correct" and make style changes, instead of fixing grammar mistakes.</p>
<p>Help!</p>
<p>I used the McGraw and Hill SAT guide for the writing. Found it really helpful because it gives you a complete list of all that could be wrong in the grammar section.</p>
<p>Well... if you still have time get Kaplan's Writing workbook. Spend all the time you can reviewing the stuff you have problems with and do practice questions (I know it's really late, but it doesn't take much time to master these concepts). Honestly, though I don't know where your score is at, the stuff in that book accounts for 95% of the test EVERY TIME and it is generally very easy to learn. Even the day before, the stuff in that book is straight forward and easy to learn, simply because that's the way the writing section is!</p>
<p>Specifically, if you can't get the book, random concepts that come to mind are (all covered more in depth in the book): </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Modification errors. This is a HUGE DEAL in sentence correction. You can't say "Unlike many authors of her day, Jane's novels have many unique..." Because the phrase "Unlike many authors of her day should modify Jane and not "Jane's novels" (in which case the subject would be "novels" and not "Jane") This is a common error and knowledge of it can be very helpful in process of elimination (it sometimes only leaves 2 or 3 choices).
Another example "Barking loudly, Bob took his dog to the store." Bob wasn't barking loudly, so it should be "Barking loudly, Bob's dog..."</p></li>
<li><p>Parallelism is another common identifying sentence. Do a google search for "Parallelism Grammar" and the first link is to Wikipedia, which has a good article about it.</p></li>
<li><p>If you don't know this, it can get you a quick 10 or so points (there is usually one question on it every time). You can't say "If one wants to be successful, than you have to be smart" because it switches pronoun from "one" to "you". Whichever one is underlined is the right answer.</p></li>
<li><p>Faulty Comparison is another one. You can't say "This years game drew more people than all of last year." Because you're comparing "This years game" to "last year."</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is the stuff in the writing workbook (there are about 15 for identifying errors and 15 for improving sentences). I hope you didn't know all of these!</p>
<p>then there's the adjective/adverb error that always shows up, where an adjective is modifying another adjective, but it should be in adverbial form. then there's the as/as comparison. "as beautiful as a rose" not "as beautiful like a rose".</p>
<p>Of course. And they'll always try to mask the adjective/adverb problem by putting it in a dense, complicated sentence. Just know that you can't say (paraphrased from an actually sat) "News, which contradicted earlier findings, of a rapid spreading sea floor was a great...</p>
<p>Although it can be easily missed, it should be "rapidly spreading sea floor".</p>
<p>at PR class they said that the word 'being' is always used wrong on the SAT. Unless of course its not an answer choice, then its right.</p>
<p>I was able to get Kaplan's book and improved my writing score from -9 this morning to -4 (all identifying sentence errors). A lot of these tips are really good, thanks a lot for everyone's response.</p>
<p>The book mentions diction errors, but the practice tests I've been taking haven't had many of these, so should I be expecting this tomorrow?</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about it. It rarely comes up and it would be obvious if it did. Just be sure to take an official practice test after your studying as to not be over confident and for more practice. Good luck!</p>
<p>Diction choices are not that hard if you know to look out for them.</p>
<p>Just times when there's not an VERY obvious error you can jump on, maybe look out for them. Some are very common like "effect" versus "affect"</p>
<p>here is something i posted in another thread but it might be useful to you.</p>
<p>
<p>Example: The proctor, as well as the students, were overcome by the tedious timer and fell asleep.</p>
<p>Isolate the subject (the proctor) and the verb (were overcome) and combine: "The proctor were overcome." This is incorrect because proctor is singular and the verb should also be singular (was overcome). The word students is set off by a pair of commas and is not a part of the subject.</p>
<p>Rule 2) noun-pronoun agreement Singular subjects take singular pronouns; plural subjects take plural pronouns. Memorize this list of singular subjects: each, every, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, and nobody. Each of these words takes a singular pronoun. This is a hard rule to "hear" because so many people break it that we are used to hearing it the wrong way.</p>
<p>Example: Not one of the boys read their SAT study guide.</p>
<p>This sentence is incorrect because the subject "one" is singular, but the pronoun "their" is plural. (Although "boys" is plural, it is the object of the sentence rather than the subject.) The correct pronoun would be "his".</p>
<p>Rule 3) pronoun subjects and objects Subjects: I, he, she, they, we, who. Objects: me, him, her, them, us, whom. You must know when to use subjects and when to use objects. Simplify the sentences and see if they still sound correct.</p>
<p>Example: Julio and me were down by the schoolyard.</p>
<p>Does "Me was down by the schoolyard" sound right? No, it should be "I was down by the schoolyard", and the sentence should read "Julio and I were down by the schoolyard."</p>
<p>Rule 4) pronoun consistency Pronouns should be consistent throughout a sentence. When ONE starts with a particular pronoun, ONE should continue to use that pronoun, or a pronoun that is consistent with it, throughout ONE's entire sentence.</p>
<p>Example: The more you study for the SAT, the more one thinks about moving to Mongolia.</p>
<p>This sentence starts with the pronoun "you" and then ends with the pronoun "one". This is inconsistent and the sentence should read either: "The more you study for the SAT, the more you think about moving to Mongolia." or "The more one studies for the SAT, the more one thinks about moving to Mongolia."</p>
<p>Rule 5) correct tense Make sure the time of an action is consistent. Look for key "time words" such as when, while, as, after, and so forth, and make sure the tenses make sense.</p>
<p>Example: While I was painting his feet, he had tickled me.</p>
<p>Presumably, he interrupted the feet painting with his tickling, so to make this sentence consistent it should read "While I was painting his feet, he tickled me."</p>
<p>Rule 6) adjectives and adverbs Remember the difference between adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives describe nouns, and they will always make grammatical sense in the phrase "the ______ badger". (ex. beautiful) Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives or other adverbs, and they often, but not always, end in -ly. An adverb will always make grammatical sense in the phrase "the badger did it ______" (ex. beautifully)</p>
<p>Example: I ran slow.</p>
<p>The word slow is an adjective, but an adverb is needed to modify the verb "ran", so "slowly" should be used rather than "slow".</p>
<p>Rule 7) parallelism Ideas that are parallel (related) should be expressed in the same way.</p>
<p>Example: I like spitting, drooling, and to slurp.</p>
<p>Spit, drool, and slurp are parallel activities and they should be expressed in the same way. Correct: I like spitting, drooling, and slurping. Correct: I like to spit, to drool, and to slurp. Correct: I like to spit, drool, and slurp.</p>
<p>Rule 8) run-on sentences and sentence fragments A run-on sentence is usually two complete sentences that are incorrectly joined by a comma instead of separated by a period or a semicolon.</p>
<p>Example: All the kids had rashes on their bodies. Especially those with uranium lunch boxes.</p>
<p>The first sentence is complete, but the second is a fragment. The two sentences could be combined into one sentence like this: All the kids had rashes on their bodies, especially those with uranium lunch boxes.</p>
<p>Note: Usage questions on the SAT don't test for run-on sentences or fragments.</p>
<p>Rule 9) totally bogus sight questions These questions don't actually test anything that has to do with your ability to write, they just test whether or not you can see a single wrong or missing letter.</p>
<p>Example: Late in the war, the Germans, retreating in haste, left many of their prisoners go free.</p>
<p>You need to read the sentence carefully and see that "left" should actually be "let".</p>
<p>Rule 10) dangling modifiers "Dangling modifier" is a fancy grammatical term for a simple concept.</p>
<p>Example: Taking the test, his copy of Up Your Score was in his pocket.</p>
<p>This sentence does not mean what the person who wrote it wanted it to mean. This sentence implies that the copy of Up Your Score was taking the test. Whenever a sentence begins with a phrase like "Taking the test," the word that it modifies must come right after the modifying phrase. So a correct sentence would be "Taking the test, he had his copy of Up Your Score in his pocket."</p>
<p>Rule 11) sentence logic On the sentence correction section of the test, there are often sentences that are grammatically correct but don't do a good job of saying what the author wants them to say.</p>
<p>Example: It was dark in the closet, and they managed to find the exit.</p>
<p>Although this sentence is technically grammatically correct, to properly convey the author's meaning it would need to be revised. A sample correct sentence would be "Although it was dark in the closet, they managed to find the exit."</p>
<p>Rule 12) fixing commonly messed-up expressions Sometimes the ETS will deliberately mess up an expression to try to foil you.</p>
<p>Example: Since it's a beautiful day, I'd just assume walk.</p>
<p>The expression is actually "just as soon", but it sounds a lot like "just assume". You just have to be able to see that it is wrong.</p>
<p>Rule 13) logical comparison Make sure that when you make a comparison, you compare two like things.</p>
<p>Example: My mother's salary is higher than Jane's mother.</p>
<p>Your mother's salary is higher than Jane's mother's salary, not higher than Jane's mother. How could a salary be higher than a person?</p>
<p>That is the end of the rules, but it has a few more things to watch out for.</p>
<ul> <li>Don't split an infinitive. Instead of saying "to slowly walk", you should say "to walk slowly".</li> <li>Don't use slang or clichés.</li> <li>Either goes with or, neither goes with nor.</li> <li>When referring to a country, don't use they.</li> <li>You can prefer something TO something, but you can't prefer it OVER or MORE than something.</li> <li>Use the word fewer if you can count what you are describing; if not, use the word less.</li> <li>Choices that begin a sentence with "being" are usually wrong.
</li>
</ul>
<p>thanks andrea...it's very useful!</p>
<p>Yeah... "being" is usually wrong (I've learned from experience). Some helpful stuff there, andrea. Thanks! Where did you get it?</p>
<p>oh its from the "up your score" prep book.</p>