<p>I have a lot of difficulty in the "Identifying Sentence Errors" portion of the SAT. How can I improve on this? Are there any books or websites that can help?</p>
<p>Hey Rachhel,</p>
<p>To improve in the grammar portion, it’s really about learning the core 20 to 25 errors and then becoming proficient at spotting them and correcting them. Here is a sampling of the most popular errors:</p>
<ol>
<li>Subject Verb Agreement Errors</li>
<li>Verb Tense Errors (i.e. “is” vs “was” and the presence of two "had"s in a sentence)</li>
<li>Verb Form Errors (watch for verbs ending in -ing that are not really verbs)</li>
<li>Noun Agreement Errors (i.e., “platypuses are the only mammal that lays eggs” vs. “platypuses are the only mammals that lay eggs”)</li>
<li>Pronoun Antecedent Agreement Errors</li>
<li>Pronoun Choice Errors (i.e. I vs me)</li>
<li>Pronoun Reference Errors (ambiguous and implied pronouns)</li>
<li>Modifier Choice Errors (i.e. calm vs calmly)</li>
<li>Modifier Placement Errors (misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers) MORE COMMON IN IMPROVING SENTENCES</li>
<li>Coordinating Conjunction Errors (and, but, or)</li>
<li>Subordinating Conjunction Errors (although, despite, etc.)</li>
<li>Correlating Conjunction Errors (either…or vs either…and)</li>
<li>Parallel Structure Errors (“types and signs” vs “types and will be signing”)</li>
<li>Comparison Errors (comparative degree, double comparisons, and parallelism)</li>
<li>Run-Ons, Fragments, and Comma Splices Errors</li>
<li>Idiom Errors (“right at that moment” vs “right on that moment”)</li>
</ol>
<p>I suggest working through the Official SAT Study Guide and categorizing each Writing question by error type. You will start to see patterns emerge quickly!</p>
<p>The real key to this–as with much of the SAT–is to read as much good prose as you possibly can. If the test is next month, that won’t work, of course. But if you’re a sophomore, or a junior in high school, don’t spend all your time with test guides and vocab lists–those can be helpful, but only reading will allow you to internalize how English words are used and sentences are built.</p>