Grammar Tips v 1.1 DO NOT DUPLICATE UNDER THREAT OF OUBLIATION. I.

Subject - Verb Agreement A. Misplaced Modier Incorrect: "Walking across the street, a car almost hit me" Correct: "Walking across the street, I was almost hit by a car."

Rule: If a sentence starts with -ing or -ed , make sure the word following the comma is doing the action. B. Singular - Plural agreement Incorrect: "Amy, along with her friends, are seeing Bicentennial Man." Correct: "Amy, along with her friends, is seeing Being John Malkovich."

Rule: If a second subject is set off by commas, ignore it and use the rst subject to conjugate the verb. Also, avoid Bicentennial Man. MINOR EXCEPTION: Incorrect: "Either Amy or her friends is seeing Being John Malkovich." Correct: "Either Amy or her friends are seeing Being John Malkovich." Rule: With the following structures, use the second subect to conjugate Either...or Neither...nor Not only...but also

the verb:

Incorrect: "Each of the players want to win." Correct: Each of the players wants to win."

Rule: When looking for the subject, ignore prepositional phrases. They are there to trap you. Rule: Either, each, neither are all singular. MINOR EXCEPTION: Incorrect: "Each of the players who wants to win needs to play well. Correct: "Each of the players who want to win needs to play well."

Rule: 1. Circle the word before who or which and make sure it's a noun. If it is, go on to step 2. or which. 2. Make sure the circled noun agrees with the verb directly following who

Another example of above rule: Incorrect: "There is a man in this movie who wears a patch over his eye." Correct: "In this movie, there is a man who wears a patch over his eye."

II. Verb Tense A. Past Perfect Incorrect: "He suddenly remembered that he promised to meet her at noon." Correct: "He suddenly remembered that he had promised to meet her at noon."

Incorrect: "I had read every book in the library." Correct: "I read every book in the library." OR "I had read every book in the library, until they bought more." Rule: Use "had" for the earlier of two past actions. Incorrect: I had a pony, until it ran away. Correct: I had had a pony, until I sold it to the glue factory. B. Present vs. Past Incorrect: "Being late three days in a row, I was kept after school today." Correct: "Having been late three days in a row, I was kept after school today." Rule: "Being" implies present tense and is not preferred by the testwriters. C. Conditional tense Incorrect: "If I was a rich man, I would buy Buddy Holly's guitar." Correct: "If I were a rich man, I would buy Buddy Holly's guitar." Rule: For conditional statements, use "were" and "would."

III. Pronouns: SUBJECT I you he/she/it we they who OBJECT me you it/him/her us them their whom POSSESSIVE my your its/his/her our whose

Incorrect: "You and her used to be good friends." Correct: "You and she used to be good friends." Incorrect: "Between you and I, you will do well on the test." Correct: "Between you and me, you will do well on the test."

 Rules: 1. Drop one pronoun at a time and sound the sentence out. 2. Replace the pronoun/noun with "they" and "them". Decide which one sounds better and pull from the same list. Incorrect: "It is us who are the champions." Correct: "It is we who are the champions." Rule: After is, am, are, was, were, use the Subject list. Incorrect: "His skin was so pale that the light passed right through he." Correct: "His skin was so pale that the light passed right through him." Rule: Use the object list after prepositions (in, through, from, besides). Incorrect: "I can't stand you chewing on that gum." Correct: "I can't stand your chewing on that gum." Rule: Use the possessive list before -ing words (gerunds).

Incorrect: "If an applicant cannot attend the meeting, they must inform the ofce." Incorrect: "If an applicant cannot attend the meeting, he or she must inform the office." Rule: "They" can't be used as a gender-neutral singular. Make sure to keep plural nouns matched with plural pronouns and singular nouns matched with singular pronouns. Incorrect: "In France, they eat a lot of cheese." Correct: "In France, the French eat a lot of cheese." Rule: Avoid ambiguous pronouns.

IV. Parallel Construction lary." lary." Incorrect: "Chuck likes sleeping late, watching basketball, and to study vocabuCorrect: "Chuck likes sleeping late, watching basketball, and studying vocabuRule: Make sure things being listed are comparable and have the same form. Incorrect: "I prefer seeing movies to TV." Correct: "I prefer seeing movies to watching TV."

 Rule: Verbs don't carry over in terms of parallel construction when using a structure such as "prefer x to y", "either x or y", "neither x nor y," "not only x but also y" or "just as x, so does y". Incorrect: "Arun's serve is faster than his opponent." Correct: "Arun's serve is faster than his opponent's." OR "Arun's serve is faster than his opponent's serve." OR "Arun's serve is faster than that of his opponent." Rule: The word "than" indicates a comparison; make sure the things you're comparing actually can be compared. Incorrect: "R. Crumb draws better than any cartoonist in the world." Correct: "R. Crumb draws better than any other cartoonist in the world."

Rule: Use "other" to make the statement logically possible; without it, the example above is saying that R. Crumb draws better than himself. Incorrect: "Eric is as good, if not better than, Chris at writing." Correct: "Eric is as good as, if not better than, Chris at writing." OR "Eric is at least as good as Chris at writing." Rule: when comparing, use the correct idiom: as __ as same __ as better, shorter, bigger __ than

V. Miscellaneous idioms Incorrect: "I saw the three triplets beating each other up." Correct: "I saw the triplets beating up one another." Incorrect: "Of the two kittens, the smallest is the cutest." Correct: "Of the two kittens, the smaller is the cuter." Rules: 1. Avoid redundancies like "three triplets" 2. Don't end a sentence with a preposition. 3. Distinguish between lists of two and lists of three or more: 2 items each other between -er words more 3 items one another among -est words most

Incorrect: "There is too many traffic because there are too much cars." Correct: "There is too much traffic because there are too many cars." Rule: Distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable (raindrops) number fewer many

Uncountable (rain) amount less much

Incorrect: "I can't decide if I should go out or not." Correct: "I can't decide whether to go out or not." Rule: "If" is for conditions (i.e., like if-then). Whether implies a clause. Incorrect: "I enjoy comic books, like Eightball and Acme Novelty Library." Correct: "I enjoy comic books, such as Eightball and Acme Novelty Library."

Rule: To introduce an example, use "such as", not "like." Use "like" to compare nouns, and "as" to compare verbs. An easy test: if "such as" or "as" sounds okay, it probably is. If not, use "like". ` Incorrect: "The bus went in the tunnel." Correct: "The bus went into the tunnel." Rule: "In" is a state of being. "Into" implies motion. Incorrect: "I consider Joe to be a friend." Correct: "I consider Joe a friend." Rule: [consider x y]. Incorrect: "I regard Joe to be a friend." Correct: "I regard Joe as a friend." Rule: [regard x as y]. Incorrect: "You must choose between coffee or tea." Correct: "You must choose between coffee and tea." Rule: [between x and y]. Incorrect: "The coal supply was gradually deleted by waste." Correct: "The coal supply was gradually depleted by waste."

Rule: (SAT II ONLY) Look out for words that sound like the word they're supposed to be, but aren't.