What to expect on the gmat 7 docx

singular subject, plural verb Correct: Robin wants to meet us later.. singular subject, plural verbs Correct: He does whatever he wants.. singular subject, singular verbs Of course, to m

besides between beyond by

Parallel Structure

Parallel structure means that words and phrases in a sentence follow the same grammatical pattern

When-ever a sentence has a series of actions, a list of items, or a not only/but also construction, it should have

par-allel structure Parpar-allelism makes ideas easier to follow and expresses ideas more gracefully Notice how parallelism works in the following examples:

Not parallel: We came, we saw, and it was conquered by us (The first two clauses use the active we  past tense verb construction; the third uses a passive structure with a prepositional phrase.) Parallel: We came, we saw, we conquered (All three clauses start with we and use a past tense verb.)

Not parallel: Please be sure to throw out your trash, place your silverware in the bin, and your tray should go on the counter (Two verbs follow the to  verb  your  noun pattern; the third puts the

noun first and then the verb.)

Parallel: Please be sure to throw out your trash, place your silverware in the pin, and put your tray on the counter (All three items follow the to  verb  your  noun  prepositional phrase pattern.)

The following are two more examples of sentences with correct parallel structure:

Hermione’s nervousness was exacerbated not only by the large crowd but also by the bright lights (Each

phrase has a preposition, an adjective, and a noun.)

Their idea was not only the most original; it was also the most practical (Each phrase uses the

superla-tive form of an adjecsuperla-tive [see page 126 for more information on superlasuperla-tives].)

Rule #5: Use parallel structure for any series of actions or items or the not only/but also construction.

 G r a m m a r a n d U s a g e

Grammar and usage refer to the rules that govern the forms of words people use and the special combina-tions of words that create specific meanings In this section, you will review the following areas of basic gram-mar and usage:

■ subject-verb agreement

■ consistent verb tense

■ pronoun cases

■ pronoun agreement

■ pronoun consistency

■ adjectives and adverbs

■ idioms

Agreement

In English grammar, agreement means that sentence elements are balanced Verbs, for example, should agree

in number with their subjects If the subject is singular, the verb should be singular; if the subject is plural, the verb should be plural

Incorrect: Robin want to meet us later (singular subject, plural verb)

Correct: Robin wants to meet us later (singular subject, singular verb)

Incorrect: He do whatever he want (singular subject, plural verbs)

Correct: He does whatever he wants (singular subject, singular verbs)

Of course, to make sure subjects and verbs agree, you need to be clear about who or what is the subject

of the sentence This can be tricky in sentences with indefinite pronouns and in inverted sentences Use the following guidelines for proper subject-verb agreement:

■ Remember that subjects are never found in prepositional phrases, so the subject must be elsewhere in the

sentence Sometimes the subject is the antecedent of a noun found in a prepositional phrase, as in the following example:

Only one of the students was officially registered for the class.

The pronoun one is the subject of the sentence, not students, because students is part of the preposi-tional phrase of the students The verb must therefore be singular (was).

■ If a compound, singular subject is connected by and, the verb must be plural.

Both Vanessa and Xui want to join the committee.

■ If a compound, singular subject is connected by or or nor, the verb must be singular.

Neither Vanessa nor Xiu wants to join the committee.

– S E N T E N C E C O R R E C T I O N –

If English is your second language, a quick review of verb conjugation and usage rules might be in order Turn

to Chapter 11 for an overview of verb forms, a list of irregular verbs, and a review of troublesome verbs such

as lay/lie.

■ If one plural and one singular subject are connected by or or nor, the verb agrees with the closest

subject

Neither Vanessa nor the treasurers want to join the committee.

Neither the treasurers nor Vanessa wants to join the committee.

■ In an inverted sentence, the subject comes after the verb, so the first step is to clearly identify the

sub-ject (Sentences that begin with there is and there are, for example, and questions are inverted

sen-tences.) Once you correctly identify the subject, then you can make sure your verb agrees The correct subjects and verbs are underlined in the following examples:

Incorrect: There is plenty of reasons to go.

Correct: There are plenty of reasons to go.

Incorrect: Here is the results you have been waiting for.

Correct: Here are the results you have been waiting for.

Incorrect: What is the side effects of this medication?

Correct: What are the side effects of this medication?

Rule #6: Make sure verbs agree in number with their subjects.

Consistent Tense

One of the quickest ways to confuse readers, especially if you are telling a story or describing an event, is to shift verb tenses To help readers be clear about when actions occur, make sure verb tenses are consistent If you begin telling the story in the present tense, for example, stay in the present tense; do not mix tenses as you write Otherwise, you will leave your readers wondering whether actions are taking place in the present

or took place in the past:

Incorrect: She left the house and forgets her keys again.

Correct: She left the house and forgot her keys again.

Incorrect: When we work together, we got better results.

Correct: When we work together, we get better results.

When we worked together, we got better results.

Rule #7: Keep verb tenses consistent.

Pronouns, as noted earlier, replace nouns, so you don’t have to repeat names and objects over and over There are several different kinds of pronouns, and each kind of pronoun follows different rules

Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things They can be either singular (I) or plural (we); they can

be subjects (I) or objects (me) Pronouns reflect three points of view: first person (I, we), second person (you), and third person (he, she, it, them).

Pronoun mistakes are often made when you use the subject form when you really need the object form Here are two guidelines to follow:

■ Always use the object pronoun in a prepositional phrase Pronouns and nouns in prepositional

phrases are always objects:

He promised to bring a souvenir for Betty and me.

Please keep this between us.

■ Always use the subject pronoun in a than construction (comparison) When a pronoun follows than, it

is usually part of a clause that omits the verb to avoid redundancy:

I realize that Alonzo is more talented than I [than I am]

Sandra is much more reliable than he [than he is]

Rule #8: Use the correct subject or object form of personal pronouns Determine whether a pronoun is

functioning as a subject or object in the sentence

– S E N T E N C E C O R R E C T I O N –

P OSSESSIVE P RONOUNS

The possessive pronouns its, your, their, and whose are often confused with the contractions it’s (it is or it has),

you’re (you are), they’re (they are), and who’s (who is) Because writers use apostrophes to show possession in nouns (Louise’s truck, the rug’s pattern), many people make the mistake of thinking that pronouns use trophes for possession, too But possessive pronouns do not take apostrophes When a pronoun has an

apos-trophe, it always shows contraction.

POSSESSIVE

its belonging to it The dog chased its tail.

your belonging to you Your time is up.

their belonging to them Their words were comforting.

whose belonging to who Whose tickets are these?

CONTRACTION

you’re you are You’re not going to believe your eyes.

they’re they are They’re getting their tickets now.

Rule #9: Use apostrophes with pronouns to show contraction only Pronouns do not need apostrophes to

show possession

The pronouns who, that, and which are also often confused The following lists the general guidelines

for using these pronouns correctly:

■ Use who or whom when referring to people:

She is the one who should make that decision, not I.

■ Use that when referring to things:

This is the most important decision that she will make as director.

■ Use which when introducing clauses that are not essential to the information in the sentence

(nonre-strictive), unless they refer to people In that case, use who.

Sam bought a suit to wear to his new job, which will begin on Monday.

Emily married Sonny, who has been in love with her since first grade.

Antoinette, who is a computer programmer, would be a good match for Daniel.

Rule #10: Use who for people, that for things, and which for nonessential clauses that do not refer to

people

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Just as subjects (both nouns and pronouns) must agree with their verbs, pronouns must also agree with their antecedents—the words they replace For example, consider the following sentence:

Children will often believe everything their parents tell them.

The word children is the antecedent and is replaced by their and them in the sentence Because children

is plural, the pronouns must also be plural

Indefinite pronouns can also be antecedents Singular indefinite pronouns require singular pronouns:

Everyone has his or her own reasons for coming.

Neither of the physicists could explain what she saw.

Plural indefinite pronouns, on the other hand, require plural pronouns, just like they require plural verbs:

Both of them have finished their work.

Only a few are still in their original cases.

Contraction Confusion

It is easy to make a mistake with pronouns and contractions because apostrophes are used to show

posses-sion of nouns (Ralph’s car) With pronouns, however, possesposses-sion does not require an apostrophe If you get con-fused, think of a possessive pronoun that doesn’t get confused with contractions, such as my or our These

do not have apostrophes; other possessive pronouns should not either

Here is one way to remember to use that when referring to things: both words begin with the letters th.