A primer on GMAT and GRE reading

A graduate level reader and writer is expected to be a master of the sentence...a master of all
parts of the sentence and a master of all types of sentences. Make sure that you hit this level of
proficiency.
It all starts with the simple premise that a single complete thought is the fundamental building
block in reading. If this is in fact true, then it follows that the sentence, not the letter, word,
paragraph, or passage, is the basic unit of communication in the English language.
At its most basic and unsophisticated level, a complete sentence will be a simple sentence, in
that it conveys a single, simple thought. As the sophistication of writing increases, a sentence
is used to convey more than just a single, simple thought: multiple simple thoughts are combined
and/or main thoughts are combined with supporting thoughts. And all of these distinct parts are
physically inter-connected according to the basic rules of sentence structure.
Attached is a PDF which provides the technical and instructional guidance required to reach this
basic grammatical proficiency. Look at the most important parts (identified below), and you'll be
able to identify and absorb the technical foundations of a great writer and reader. Ill help you
pull all of the info together to truly make you a stronger, more precise and more focused reader.
Ignore all the references to APA guidelines.
The basic idea you need to understand and be able to apply is that a sentence is a combination of
parts and some parts are more important than others, but all parts work together.
Specifically, know what the following terms mean and understand how they alone help to
convey a message...or to understand someone else's message. In most cases (maybe all), you'll
see that you already understand and know the terms. But, do you know how to use them to make
you a better writer and a better reader? This is the point. Understanding these terms and
deliberately using that knowledge will make you a master of the English sentence, and therefore,
masterful at verbal communication.
Simple sentence pg. 19-21 (in the PDF)
Complex sentence pg. 19 -21, 23
Compound sentence Pg. 19 -21, 23
Conjunction

in general pg. 21 - 22, 24

'FANBOYS' pg. 21 - 22
Clause
in general pg. pg. 20
independent pg. 20 -24
dependent (subordinate) pg. 20 -24

Phrase
in general pg. 20
prepositional pg. 15 - 17
Prepositions (obviously, part of the prep. phrase)
Agreements
in general (gender, number, person etc...)
subject-verb pg. 13
pronoun-noun pg. 5
Modifiers pg. 39-40
Parallel construction pg. 31, 36, 43
Comma pg. 74, 50 - 56
Semi-colon pg. 56 - 57
Colon pg. 57

For me, these are the most relevant pages of the PDF though, you may find other pages to be just
as helpful.
Try to a develop a masterful command of the basic concepts. Nothing fancy...just know the
basics but know them very well. From there, you only need a bit of demonstration to see how to
use all these parts to effectively write or read any tough sentence. This will lead to far greater
retention and understanding of everything you learn.