Topic Stop Signs What to check Good Example

SVA S & V must agree in number correct verb is used John is a tall man

In the waning days of the

emperor's life, the conquest of new
A long, complex subject or great lands on the borders of the empire
SVA distance between S & V S&V was considered vital
A plural subject made up of
singular nouns that are
SVA connected by and the verb is plural John and Jane are lovers
Mathematics is a mandatory high-
SVA Pseudo-plural singular subject Nouns that end with -s: news, thesis, crisis. school subject
Collective nouns: audience, committee,
family, team. POLICE is an exception its The police are looking for the
SVA a collective noun actually plural criminal.
A subject in the form of Verb+ing
SVA or to+verb the subject is always singular Swimming is very healthy

Verbs must agree with the X part of the Three members of an organization
SVA an X of Y subject subject are waiting outside
the verb comes before the
SVA subject S&V There are boys in the playground

Verbs must agree with the noun nearest to Neither the coach nor the players
SVA Or, Either… Or, & Neither .. Nor the verb are going to the game

Indefinite pronouns that end with

-one, -body, -thing (someone,
SVA nobody, anything) The verb is singular everybody loves dogs
SANAM pronouns - Some, Any the of pharse which usually follows the Some of the money was stolen
SVA None, All, More/Most pronoun from the vault.
singular verb for a subject following
SVA Each, Every Each/Every Every dog HAS paws

The number of hardworking

SVA The number of.. singular verb only students in this class is quite large
 quantites or parts: A number of, A number of students in the class
SVA half of,the majority of the noun in the of-prepositional phrase are hard workers.
Having good friends IS a
SVA subject pharses and clauses always singular wonderful thing

A list of 3 items or more, Jane likes skiing, watching movies

separated by commas and and/or all item must belong to the same part of and reading books, magazines and
Parallelism before the last item speech dictionaries

if the list items are verbs, all verbs should be

A list of 3 items or more, conjugated or unconjungated, if the verbs are
separated by commas and and/or unconjugated, they must be of the same type
Parallelism before the last item (to verb, verb+ing, or V3) I like to eat, to swim and to run

Not only A but Also B, (n)either A I want to retire to a place where I

(n) B, A is/means B, A rather than can relax AND where the taxes are
Parallelism B, A and/or/but B A and B must be of the same part of speech low

. According to one expert, the

Not only A but Also B, (n)either A
(n) B, A is/means B, A rather than
Parallelism B, A and/or/but B, So much A as B
cause of genetic irregularities in
many breeds of dog is not so
much that dogs are being bred for
looks or to meet other narrow
criteria as that the breeds have
A and B must be logically parallel relatively few

Not only A but Also B, (n)either A

(n) B, A is/means B, A rather than Either/Neither cannot be followed by nor/or, He met them Either at the park or
Parallelism B, A and/or/but B Not only/but also cannot be alone at the train station

Every pronoun in the underlined a pronoun must agree with the noun to which Bill Clinton is a former president.
Pronouns part of the sentence or after it it refers in number, gender and person He is no longer a president.
 New papers incorporating tiny
cellulose fibers, which allegedly
Check for ambiguity for every if the pronoun can refer to more than one give these materials the strength
Pronouns pronoun antecedent and it is a logical one. of cast iron.
The word precipatioation does not
a word/term should refer to something, to only mean rain. It also refers to
Pronouns The word/term … it is … describe something, or to mean something snow and hail.
John is playing tennis. He enjoys
Pronouns the pronoun it refering to a verb use the pharse to do so or doing so instead doing so.
One must work hard for one to
Pronouns the pronoun one one agrees only with itself succeed
It - referring to a singular non-
human noun / as a subject it may switch roles between answer choices - The baby is asleep. It was tired
Pronouns replacement as a pronoun or as a subject after eating.

That/those indicating a new copy must be Her Company is outperforming

Pronouns This, That, These and Those modfied THAT OF her competitor

That/those must agree in number with the Her Company is outperforming THE
Pronouns That/Those previous version. COMPANIES OF her competitors

do not use this or these in place of nouns, and Her products are unusual; many
Pronouns This/These unless modified That or those also. consider THEM unique

Able to synthesize chemical energy

or obtain it from an external
source in both the presence and
the absence of oxygen, kingdom
Eubacteria is the only one of the
six-kingdom classification
the entity that is singular mus be one of systems who displays the full
Pronouns one of something plural range of metabolic diversity
 verb+ing or V3, at the beginning
of the sentence, and separated the modifier must appear immediately before Bursting with fascination, the
Modifiers by a comma or after the noun it describes professor read the old book

A noun and its modifier should touch each Resigned to the bad news, the
Modifiers Noun modifier other office workers made no commotion

Which,That,Who,Whose,Whom,W clauses led by the pronoun that cannot modify The scientists WHO made the
Modifiers here,When people discovery were rewarded
Who is used as the subject of the verb, The security guard WHOM we met
Modifiers Who/Whom whereas whom is used as the object was nice

That or Whom can be dropped when the The movie (THAT) we watched last
Modifiers That/Whom modified noun is the object of the clause Friday was scary

where can modify a noun place but not a

"metaphorical" one (condition,situation) use in we had an arrangement IN WHICH
Modifiers Where which instead he cooked and I cleaned
when can modify a noun event or time, you I went to the park when the clouds
Modifiers When can also use in which instead. became dark.

Modifiers That Which That which is always incorrect -

Financial success often results

from certain decisions made by
check if the modifying clause is essential or individuals, specifically, decisions
not. When the clause is not essential it will be that differ from those made by the
Modifiers That/Which usually separated by commas majority of the market.
 Recently documented examples of
neurogenesis, the production of
new brain cells, include. brain
growth in mice that are placed in
a stimulating environment or an
When + PAST PARTICIPLE vs. when + PAST PARTICIPLE refers to the subject increase in neurons in canaries
Modifiers That of the sentence. Check if it is a logical one. that learn new songs.

must modify the immediately preceding noun Crime has recently decreased in
only, it cannot modify the action of an entire our negihborhood, leading to a rise
Modifiers Which vs. the -Ing form clause. To modify a clause use the -ing form. in propery values
Adjective must modify only noun or pronouns.
Adverbs modify anything but noun and
pronouns. (pay attention to the -ly added in James Joyce is Max's supposed
Modifiers Adjective/Adverb (-ly) answer choices) irish ancestor

Although his early critics had

viewed Christopher Marlowe as a
talented and brilliant writer and
had often compared his plays to
those of Shakespeare, it was not
the adverb can only modify one verb/infinitive, until almost 1950 that modern
if it logically can modify both sourronding critics and biographers seriously
Verb/infinitive - Adverb - verbs/infinitives than it is ambigous and began considering the literary
Modifiers Verb/infinitive should be placed where it is not. merits of his works.
 the flooding resulting from the
abnormally strong storms had
'resulting from' after a comma is generally left six inches of standing water in
Modifiers Resulting from considered unacceptable the street.

is the noun abstract or not. Abstract noun is the coach tried to put 5 receivers
allowed to stand for the ENTIRE IDEA OF THE on the line, a strategy that failed.
PRECEDING CLAUSE. while concreate nouns OR i went to the bar with john
usually stands for the DIRECTLY PRECEDING smith, a consultant in los
Modifiers Comma + Noun (, Noun) NOUN. angeles.
If the object is a concrete noun - something
tangible, can be sensed with one of the five
Modifiers 's or s' senses The dog's hair is curly.

Present Simple - the first Verb is action that occurs in a certain frequency/facts
Tenses in V1 & generalizations/"eternal" states it rains here all the time

Present Progressive - am/is/are +

Tenses Verb+ing actions that are in progress at present I am eating my dinner now
Past Simple - the first Verb is in describe historical facts/actions that occurred John missed the bus to work
Tenses V2 at a specific point in the past yesterday
an action that was in progress: at a certain
Past Progressive - was/were + point the past/when another action
Tenses Verb+ing occurred/took place last night at ten I was training

Verbs that express general state: these verbs are not using the progressive The inscription SIGNIFIES the
Tenses know or signify form emperor's birth

actions that occurred at [an unknown or

Tenses Present Perfect - has/have + V3 unspecified time/several times] in the past John has had his tonsils removed
The child DREW a square in the
actions that began in the past and are still sand, but the ocean HAS ERASED
Tenses Present Perfect - has/have + V3 relevant/in progress at present it.
 An examination of scandals within
the past few years involving
insider
trading reveals that most accused
employees have chosen to leave
their jobs
Indicates an action that started in the past preemptively rather than face the
Within the past [some time and continues in the present, hence the verb embarrassment of being fired.
Tenses frame] should be in the present perfect.
actions that had been completed before [a
certain point in time/another action] in the John had moved to Seattle before
Tenses Past perfect - had + V3 past he met Jane
if the reporting verb is in the past tense,
reported Speech with reporting present -> past, past -> past perfect, future Jane said that she would arrive at
Tenses verb in Past tense -> conditional noon
PRRR IS MAD -
propose/recommend/require/requ
est/insist/suggest/mandate/ask/d The law mandates that a person
Tenses emand that the next verb must be in its base form be tried by a jury of one's peers

if/unless should never be followed by will or IF you study diligently, you will
Tenses if/unless would score highly

was is never used in the condition part; use IF she ate pizza tomorrow, then
Tenses if/unless were instead she would become ill

Conditional 1 - future situations; condition in present, result in IF john drops the pen, it will land
Tenses the result is realistic or possible future/present on the floor
Conditional 2-hypothetical
situations; the result is unrealistic
because the condition is never condition in past simple, result in future IF john owned a dog, it would be
Tenses fulfilled past (conditional) a Labrador
 Conditional 3-situations that
could have happened but did not; condition in past perfect, result in future If john had met Jane 5 years ago,
Tenses result is "too late" past perfect (conditional perfect) she would have married him

1. The comparison uses equality/inequality

words 2. The things being compared are
logically comparable and grammatically
parallel 3. Preferably there is a conjugated Jane is a better painter than John
Comparisons Like,Unlike,Than,As verb in the second part of the comparison. is.
Comparing the essence of two nouns, must
always be followed by a noun, the section
beginning with like/unlike must never Like skiing, snowboarding is a
Comparisons Like/Unlike include a conjugated verb. winter sport.
comparing verbs (actions), the section
beginning with as must always include a As John once did, Jane is now
Comparisons As conjugated verb starting her training

In even upper middle-class

Amercan homes during the Great
Depression, the potato was the
staple of the family diet, just as it
had once been in relatively well-off
English households during the
Comparisons As/Like When comparing two clauses use as Industrial Revolution.

The seat of chair A is more worn

if you want to compare one thing to another than that of chair B / The seat of
use that, and if you want to compare chair A is more worn than it was
Comparisons That/It something to itself, use it last week
 Although, according to several
studies, the costs of treating acute
otitis media (AOM) episodes
amounted to greater than 2
percent of the estimated $3 billion
the nation spent on illness last
year, doctors say that these costs
When describing the magnitude of a quantity, can be mitigated if parents take
use great and greater; one such magnitude preventative measures for their
Comparisons Greater / Higher includes the portion of a whole, a percent. children.
the most adjective or the adjective-est.,
include a definition of the group being Jane is the most pleasant person
Comparisons Superlatives - most compared in town

or not after whether/ if without a answer choice that uses whether (preferred to Jane is not sure whether John is
Redundancy condition and result if) without the or not making dinner tonight.

Though/Although/Even
though/Despite/In spite of...
later followed by
but/yet/however/still/neverth two opposition conjunctions when John is tall, nevertheless he is
Redundancy eless referring to the same relation is redundant shorter than jack
Because/Since/Due to/As later
followed by using both a reason conjunction and a
so/therefore/thus/consequent conclusion conjunction referring to the Since Jane cannot fly, she takes
Redundancy ly same relation. the train

The reason Airline X is closing

using both the reason and "is because" is
redudndant. The correct sentence will use
Redundancy The reason .. Is because only one of these two expressions
it is redundant to use both annual and a
Redundancy annual + year year - should always be corrected
down after 30 years is that it
cannot afford to upgrade its planes
to meet the new safety
regulations.
John's annual salary is ten
thousand dollars.
 to such a large degree / to a John is so scared of spiders that he
Redundancy large enough degree should be replaced with so freezes when he sees one.

should be replaced by the expression at least

Redundancy x or (even) more than x - should always be corrected I want to lose at least ten pounds

the annual fees amount to ten

Redundancy amount to a sum should be amount to million dollars

two or more negation words: no,not-

neither,never,none-nothing,nobody,no one-
Redundancy more than one negation word hardly,seldom,rarely,scarcely,barely John does not know anything
use
once,double,twice,triple,thrice,quadrupl John won the running competition
Redundancy one/two/three/four times e instead twice.

John like collecting stamps and

Redundancy as well as use and instead - should always be corrected model trains
Maybe is a forbidden word, use perhaps,
Redundancy Maybe possibly or probably Maybe I will go to the park.

Many/Much, Few/Less, is the noun countable or not (Countable/Non There were fewer Numidian kings
Odds & Ends Number/Amount, More/Great Countable) than roman emperors

I mediated a dispute among Maya,

Odds & Ends relating 2 things or more 2 things - between, 3 or more - among Logan and Kalen
connects 2 closely related statements. Each Earl walked to school; he later ate
Odds & Ends ; must be able to stand alone. his lunch

Post MBA compensation for

1. separate an aooisutuve from items in a list. investment bankers tend to surge
2. Restate or explain an earlier part of the far ahead of that for management
sentence. 3. Unlike the colon (:) the dash does consultants - by tens, if not
not need to be immediately preceded by the hundereds , of thousnds of dollars
Odds & Ends - part needing explanation a year
provides further explanation for what comes
before it. The words preceding the colon can I love listening to many kinds of
Odds & Ends : stand alone as a sentence. music: classical, rock and pop.
 To meet the rising marketing
demand for fish and seafood,
suppliers are growing fish twice as
rate can't be fast the rate can be high, the fast as they grow naturally,
increase itself can be fast. similarly,a height cutting their feed allotment by
can't be tall (a person can be tall, or a height nearly half and raising them on
Odds & Ends rate / height can be greater than...) . special diets.

I never read this book, but I read

Odds & Ends THE the cannot be followed by a list of items the other books on the shelf.

the shipping company was

understaffed last holiday season,
a comma followed by a FANBOYS the "FANBOYS" can only connect two and it decided to hire more
Odds & Ends - For And Nor But Or Yet So indepdent clauses employees
 Bad Example
The kids plays football

The tidal forces to which an

object falling into a black
hole is subjected is sufficient
to tear the object apart

John and Jane is lovers

The news are very
interesting

The audience enjoy the

show bening played.

Swimming are very healthy

A test of 150 questions are

long
There are a boy in the
playground

Neither the players nor the

coach are going to the game

everybody love dogs

Some of the documents
was stolen from me.
Each of these shirts are
pretty

the number of companies

which are affected by
software piracy is huge.
In the Senate, the majority
have coalesced into a unifed
voting block
Whatever they want to do
are fine with me

Jane likes skiing, watching

movies, reading books,
magazines and dictionaries

I like to eat, to swim and

running

Ralph likes both those who

are popular AND who are not

. According to one expert, the

cause of genetic irregularities
in many breeds of dog is not
as much their being bred for
looks or meeting other
narrow criteria as much as
that the breeds have
relatively few

He met them at the park but

also at the train station
Bill Clinton is a former
president. She is no longer a
president.
John told the boy that he was
quick.
The word precipaitation is not
only rain. It is also snow and
hail.
John is playing tennis. He
enjoys it.
One must work hard for him
to succeed

The baby is asleep.she was

tired after eating.

Her Company is
outperforming THOSE OF her
competitors

Her products are unusual;

many consider THESE unique

Able to synthesize chemical

energy or obtain it from an
external source in both the
presence and the absence of
oxygen, kingdom Eubacteria
is the only one of the six-
kingdom classification
system who displays the full
range of metabolic diversity
Bursting with fascination, the
old book was read by the
professor
Resigned to the bad news,
there was no commotion in
the office

The scientists THAT made the

discovery were rewarded
The security guard WHO we
met was nice

We had an arrangement
WHERE he cooked and I
cleaned

the growth of the global

economy between 1990 and
2000 exceeds that which
had been for 10,000 years
from the beginning of
agriculture to 1950

Financial success often

results from certain decisions
made by individuals,
specifically, decisions which
differ from those made by
the majority of the market.
 Recently documented
examples of neurogenesis,
the production of new brain
cells, include. the brain
growth in mice when placed
in a stimulating environment
or the increase in canaries'
neurons when they learn new
songs.

the textbook's chapter on

genetics is surprisingly
tentative, which leads one to
doubt the author's
scholarship in that particular
area.

James Joyce is Max's

supposedly irish ancestor

Although his early critics had

viewed Christopher Marlowe
as a talented and brilliant
writer and had often
compared his plays to those
of Shakespeare, until almost
1950, modern critics and
biographers did not begin
seriously to consider the
literary merits of his works.
creatures of the seabed were
suffering from dwindling food
supplies, possibly resulting
from increasing sea surface
temperatures during the
same period.

one goal of semiconductor

research is to develop a
silicon chip that can transmit
and receive light signals
directly , which may one day
lead to smaller, faster
semiconductors.

The festival's week actually

lasted more than seven days.

The earth is revolving

around the sun

Quentin IS MEETING Harvey

for lunch tomorrow

John had met Jane in 2005

Sandy is playing soccer

yesterday

The inscription is signifying

the emperor's birth

they had known each other

since 1987
The child HAS DRAWN a
square in the sand, but the
ocean HAS ERASED it.
An examination of scandals
within the past few years
involving insider
trading reveals that most
accused employees had
chosen to leave their jobs
preemptively rather than
face the embarrassment of
being fired.

John moved to Seattle before

he met Jane

Jane said that she will arrive

at noon

The law mandates that a

person will be tried by a jury
of one's peers

IF you will study diligently,

you will score highly

students will take ethics only

if it would be taught as a
separate, required course

IF Sophie will eat pizza,

then she will become ill

IF john owned a dog, it will

be a Labrador
If john had met Jane 5 years
ago, she would marry him

Jane is a better painter than

John's paintings.

Like skiing is, snowboarding

is a winter sport

As John, Jane is now starting

her training

In even upper middle-class

Amercan homes during the
Great Depression, the potato
was the staple of the family
diet, just like it once had
been in relatively well-off
English households during
the Industrial Revolution.

Between 1990 and 2000 the

growth of the global economy
was more than that (it did)
during 10,000 years, from
when agriculture began to
1950
 Although, according to
several studies, the costs of
treating acute otitis media
(AOM) episodes amounted to
higher than 2 percent of the
estimated $3 billion the
nation spent on illness last
year, doctors say that these
costs can be mitigated if
parents take preventative
measures for their children.

Jane is the most pleasant

person
Jane is not sure if John is
making dinner tonight or
not.

Although John is tall,

nevertheless he is shorter
than jack

Since Jane cannot fly, so she

takes the train

The reason Airline X is

closing down after 30 years
is because it cannot afford
to upgrade its planes to meet
the new safety regulations.
John annual salary is ten
thousand dollars a year.
 John is scared of spiders to
such a large degree that
he freezes when he sees one

I want to lose ten or even

more than ten pounds

the annual fees amount to a

sum of ten million dollars

John does not know nothing

John won the running

competition two times.

John like collecting stamps as

well as model trains

Perhaps I will go to the park

There were less Numidian

kings than roman emperors
I mediated a dispute
between Maya, Logan and
Kalen
Earl walked to school, he
later ate his lunch

I love listening to: classical,

rock, rap and pop music.
To meet the rising marketing
demand for fish and seafood,
suppliers are growing fish
twice as fast as their natural
growth rate, cutting their feed
allotment by nearly half and
raising them on special diets.

I never read this book, but I

read the other books on the
shelf, such as "Right Hand,
Left Hand" and "The Rise and
Fall of the Third Reich."

the shipping company was

understaffed last holiday
season, it decided to hire
more employees