You know what are verbs, they are the action words. However, when it comes to the working rules of the verbs, there is so much complexity that you do not remember beyond a few working principles like tenses or the subject-verb agreement. In the current post, we have summarized the rules of working with verbs and this will be followed by a quick practice exercise on the same.

Rule I: When two or more subjects are joined by “as well as, like, besides, with, in addition to, together with and along with”, the verb is used according to the first subject. For example:

• The director as well as the troupe of dancers was honored by the public.
• The father, and not his children, has been arrested for committing theft. Read more…

One of the biggest mistakes that students preparing to take the SAT tend to make is to confuse quantity of studying with quality of studying. I can’t count the number of times students who repeatedly score in the same range have told me that all they need to do to improve is get comfortable with the test. It’s a reasonable assumption if you buy the idea that doing well on the SAT is just about learning the tricks of the exam. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

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Choose the word that is nearest in meaning to the given word:

1. Fluctuation

a) Increase                  b) Change

c) Stability                   d) Decrease

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SAT adjectives constitute a major part of the SAT exam, mainly the critical reading and writing sections. Here is a list of SAT adjective types and degree of comparisons that will help you in scoring higher SAT score.

Kinds of Adjective

1. Adjectives of Quality: Shows the traits of a person or a thing.

Eg.(a)  Flowers were plucked fresh.

Confusing Words:

(a) Verbal/oral: Verbal pertains to words. Oral refers to mouth.

(b) Oral means mouth.

Ex. His verbal words spoken orally are more dangerous than his figures on paper.

(b) Common/Mutual:

Common means shared by all concerned. Mutual means in relation to each other.

Ex. It is common to everyone that the two girls do not share a very good mutual understanding.

2. Adjective of Quantity

It shows how much of a thing is meant.

Confusing Words:

Little/ a little/ the little

Little has a negative meaning and means hardly anything. (He has little hope of recovery)

A Little has a positive meaning. It means some, though not much. (He has a little hope of recovery).

The Little means not much but all that there is. (The little money Andrew had has gone to his stepbrother) Read more…

You may have read ‘English Language’ all your life, but still unable to comprehend its structure and rules. You may be getting ready to take the SAT and need to know what SAT grammar beholds. Most importantly, anyone looking to carve or figure what SAT grammar is needs to exactly know where to start.

The below mentioned diagram explains the ‘English Grammar’, its rules and terminology and other knick knacks. You can read it as a Table of Content as well.

While a lot of people dread SAT grammar, the monster is not as terrifying as it looks. It is relatively simple if one can avoid the most common errors in grammar. Sometimes, the pressure of taking an exam can make us forget some of the easiest things that we have learned.

One of the first things that people mess up is the pronouns.  While pronouns look to be the simplest parts in a grammar test, it is one place where you have a high chance of going wrong. You must learn to distinguish pronoun usage, whether it is subjective or objective.  While practicing for pronouns, make sure that you thoroughly read up on the usage of pronouns and what constitutes the objective and the subjective case. That will teach you to get your “I”s and your “me”s  right.

Voice problems are another thing. Passive voice is obsolete and it is so in SAT as well. Always avoid passive voice and stick to the active. If you use passive voice, sentences become longer and you might end up making grammatical mistakes. The shorter the sentence, the sweeter and the better. Read more…

SAT Grammar: Understanding Parallelism in Sentences

In grammar, parallelism is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases or clauses. In a simpler language, when there is parallelism between two things, there are similarities between them. Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level.  In SAT Writing, the most basic kind of sentence may consist of a single clause. More complicated sentences may contain multiple clauses, including clauses contained within clauses.

For your SAT, you can find all the important SAT Grammar topics you need to cover here.

The usual way to join parallel structures is with the use of coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, but, nor, so, for and yet.

SAT Tip: Try to skim through your SAT sentences, pausing at conjunctions and, or, but etc. Check on each side of these words to see whether the items joined are parallel. If not, make them parallel. The important point to remember is that both forms must be the same

Example: (Incorrect) Either you must stay here or go with us.

(Correct)    You must either stay here or go with us.

(Incorrect) John writes poetry and also short stories.

(Correct)     John writes poetry and short stories.

(Incorrect) This bike is not only fast but also it is safe to drive.

(Correct)   This bike is not only fast but also safe.

Understanding Parallelism in Words and Phrases

Rule #1 Use similar grammatical form when offering several ideas :

a)     With the –ing (gerund) form of words

Example:

(Parallel) Jessica likes running, swimming and travelling.

(Not Parallel) Jessica likes running, swimming and to travel.

(Parallel) My friends and I went to Mauritius for Christmas and spent our time surfing, sunbathing, and hiking.

(Not Parallel) My friends and I went to Mauritius for Christmas and spent our time surfing, sunbathing and on hikes.

Explanation:  Here there a series of “-ing” words beginning each item. Keep it that way.

SAT Tip: If you have several items in a list, put them in a column to see if they are parallel.

Read more…

SAT…Grammar? Oh no!

A lot of students get concerned when they hear “grammar.” After all, these are rules that you haven’t seen since 9th grade…and you probably weren’t paying close attention!

Fear not! Here are two major tips to help you with the “rules” on the SAT.

1) Go with what you know!

Unless you’re the kind of student who learns by “remembering rules and applying them on test day” (a rare brand of student indeed), your best bet on the SAT is to go with what you know. Most of the time, you can eliminate the majority of the wrong answer choices simply because they “sound wrong.” If you regularly read (fiction, nonfiction, etc.), you’re in especially good shape with this strategy. For those who spend a lot of time reading, you can often spot the right and wrong answers without knowing the rules.

“But…what if I don’t read all the time? It’s a little late to start, isn’t it!” Not a problem!

For both those of you who read all the time and those of you who never read at all, the biggest thing will be practice. Practice practice practice. Take practice tests, practice quizzes, practice questions. Check the answers you got wrong, and see what the right answer was. The more often you see these things, the better acclimated you’ll become to the test. After all, each student is taking a different test…and yet, the test is standardized, which means that it’s the same across the board! Because of this, you’ll start to notice patterns in the right and wrong answers. You’ll begin to spot wrong answers more quickly, because you’ll recognize them from the times you saw them before. You’ll spot right answers right away, and you’ll maximize your score! Read more…