- It is important that you understand how to properly combine independent clauses because
punctuation can play a key role in defining the meaning of a sentence.
A) Use a comma to separate independent clauses when you use a coordinating
conjunction. (and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet)
B) Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses if there are no coordinating
conjunctions.
C) Use a semicolon to separate independent clauses when you use a conjunctive adverb.
(however, therefore, thus, consequently, finally, nevertheless)
2. Misplaced and dangling modifiers often create humorous, illogical sentences that do not
reflect the desired meaning. While they might be good for a laugh, if your goal is clear and
concise writing it is imperative that you free your writing of such errors. Also, the SAT
loves to test your knowledge of this error on the Improving Sentences questions.
A) Misplaced Modifier – A word or phrase meant to modify one word in a sentence is
improperly placed so it ends up modifying the wrong word
a) Ex: Incorrect – Maya found her keys walking home.
Correct – While walking home Maya found her keys.
C) Dangling Modifier – A word or phrase meant to modify a word has been left out of
the sentence.
a) Ex: Incorrect – After several hours of searching, the lost homework was
found.
Correct – After several hours of searching, Billy found the lost homework.
3. Subject/Verb Agreement In any sentence, the subject and the verb must absolutely agree. The
sentence below exhibits good “subject/verb agreement:”
A) The boys like the new car.
a) Here, the subject is “the boys,” and the verb is “to like.” Since “the boys” is a
plural subject, “like” is the plural form of the verb and is therefore correct.
Likewise, the following sentence is incorrect:
b) Matthew cannot stands the new intern.
In this sentence, “Matthew” is the subject (singular) and “to stand” is the verb.
However, the singular conjugation of “to stand” is “stands,” not “stand.” The
sentence is therefore incorrect.
4. You may be tricked on subject/verb agreement in the following three ways (always check to
see if you are being “tricked” on a particular question):
A) The subject is very complex or convoluted: “The men, seeing that the tank is coming
in their direction, runs away.” Here, the subject is “the men.” The verbal phrase
“seeing that the tank…” is not a component of the subject, so ignore it. The verb is
“to run,” and the plural form is simply “run”
a) The subject seems to be singular but is actually plural, or the subject seems to be
plural but is actually singular: “Everyone in our house agree that the curfew shall be
set at midnight.” The subject is “everyone in our house,” which is singular even
though it seems to be plural (“every one”). The verb is “to agree,” so the singular
conjugation is “agrees”
b) Compound subjects – If two parts of a subject are separated by the word “and,” it is a
plural subject: “Bob and John like going to the beach together.”
c) Separate subjects – If two parts of a subject are separated by the word “or/nor,” the
subject is whichever form is closest to the verb: “Either the boys or I am going to the
new building.” The subject closest to the verb is “to go,” and the form is singular.
5. Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement and Ambiguity: The principle behind pronoun/antecedent
agreement is that a pronoun should match its antecedent in plurality, case, and gender (where
appropriate). For example, the following sentence is correct:
A) The man was worried that he would be late.
a)The pronoun “he” replaces the antecedent “the man.” A slightly confusing
example is:
B) Watching for his boss, the man was worried he would be late.
a) Here, it is unclear as to whether the “he” refers to “his boss” or “the man.” In
other words, there is AMBIGUITY.
6. Like the subject/verb agreement section, there are tricks in the pronoun/antecedent section.
Watch out for these and be careful!
A) Subjects that sound plural but are really singular: “Everyone has their own opinion.”
The plural pronoun “their” does not match the singular antecedent “everyone.” The
singular “his or her” should replace “their.”
B) Pronoun case errors: “Tell me to who you gave the papers.” The pronoun “who” is a
subject, but the pronoun you need should be a direct object. So, it should be “to
whom.” We know that is a bit confusing, so here is a strange sentence to help you
remember your case pronouns: I asked him to give it to whoever needs it the most,
and so she told me to whom he gave the papers.
C) Comparisons: “I am smarter than her.” Actually, if you talk like that, you’re probably
not. The correct sentence is “I am smarter than she.” Since you are comparing two
subjects, you need to use the subjective case “she.” An easy test: Add the word “is”
after the comparison: “I am smarter than her is” sounds wrong; “I am smarter than
she is” sounds right.
7. Tense and Conjugation Errors When you use a verb, you must conjugate it correctly.
A) For example: “I goes to the pool” is wrong as it is clearly a violation of subject/verb
agreement. Some verbs are not so obvious though, and require a careful study:
8. Tense and Conjugation Tricks:
A) Conditional formation: “If I was rich, I’d throw a party.” You wouldn’t, because you
can’t get rich with such bad grammar! It should be in the conditional formation: “If I
WERE rich, I WOULD throw a party.”
B) Perfect tenses: “Last week, I will have earned forty dollars.” The perfect future
conjugation “will have …” is not appropriate for the sentence, which appears to be
about the past “Last week.” It should read: “Last week, I had earned forty dollars” or
something to this effect.
9. Adjective and Modifier Errors Any word that modifies the meaning of another word is a
modifier. All adjectives are modifiers. For example: “The red cat is nice.” The word “red”
modifies the word “cat.”
10. Adjective errors typically occur in the following situations:
A) Incorrect comparisons: “Between Mike and I, Mike is the fastest.” Since you compare
two things, you should use the “-er” form of the superlative.
B) Adverb confusion: An adverb is a word that modifies another verb, adjective, or
adverb. You cannot replace adverbs with adjectives. For example: “You better get
there quick” is incorrect because “quick” is an adjective, but you need to describe
“getting there,” which is a verb. So, you will the adverbial form “quickly”
11. Parallelism Always watch out for parallelism errors. When you see a list, think about
parallelism. When you see repeated short sentences, think about parallelism. Repeated
gerund forms, also indicate possible parallelism errors. You see, when one statement or
element doesn’t conform to parallel structure, it makes the whole passage sound awkward (as
demonstrated above).
A) Here are some brief parallelism non-examples:
a) Verbals: “He likes to run, swim, jump, and also he can play football.” (“also
he can play football” ruined it)
b) Sentences: “If you believe in hope, you believe in socialism. If you believe in
progress, you believe in socialism. Socialism is also believed by people who
believe in God.” (guess what ruined the last one?)
c) Lists: “He plays basketball, tennis, hockey, and enjoys to play volleyball.”
(again, guess the error!)
12. Final Grammar Tips:
A) Watch out for questions with numbers: The words “much,” “amount,” “less,” “lots,”
“more” indicate non-countable sets. The words “many,” “fewer,” and “number” indicate
countable sets. For example, “Many people attended the much-anticipated dinner.”
B) Always have a good reason for choosing an error; do not just assume that an underlined
phrase is wrong because it sounds a little bit strange.