SERIOUSLY, IT AIN’T ROCKET SCIENCE! SAT-TYPE GRAMMAR ISSUES

1. PASSIVE VOICE My dog ate a bunch of grass. In the sentence above, you immediately know who (my dog) performed the action (ate). That sentence is in active voice. In passive voice, the performer of the action is identified late, and sometimes not at all. A bunch of grass was eaten by my dog. The performer (dog) is identified late in the sentence. This sentence is in passive voice.

PASSIVE VOICE IDENTIFIERS If a sentence is in passive voice, you’ll often see the words is, was, were, are (or any other version of the verb to be) and the word by. If you see these words, ask yourself, What’s the action and who’s doing it? If the person (or entity) committing the action appears only at the end of the sentence, or doesn’t appear at all, you’ve got passive voice.

2. RUN-ON SENTENCES You know what they are. To correct them, use a semicolon, add a conjunction, or make the clauses relate more clearly.

THE SEMICOLON The SAT LOVES LOVES LOVES the semicolon. Master it! A semicolon used to separate independent clauses implies that the clauses grammatically separate but closely related. Example: I walked into the pet store and asked the clerk if she had any talking parrots; this made her roll her eyes. 2 independent clauses (they could stand on their own) that are related. The action in the second clause is a result of the action in the first.

ADD A CONJUNCTION In her incredible eagerness to cheer her team to victory, Amy the cheerleader has lost her voice, therefore her performance at the games is a silent one. The sentence above is a comma splice. To fix it, simply add a conjunction: In her incredible eagerness to cheer her team to victory, Amy the cheerleader has lost her voice and therefore her performance at the games is a silent one.

MAKE THE CLAUSES RELATE CLEARLY The student council attempted to lure people to the dance with free food, most people attended the field hockey game. This is another comma splice. In this case, the two ideas (the student council offered food, most folks went to the game) are related in a specific way. Add a conjunction THAT MAKES SENSE to show how they’re related: Although the student council attempted to lure people to the dance with free food, most people attended the field hockey game. OR The student council attempted to lure people to the dance with free food, but most people attended the field hockey game.

3. MISPLACED MODIFIERS A modifying phrase is a phrase that explains or describes a word. Modifiers usually appear right next to the word they explain or describe. When modifiers are placed far away from the word they describe, the sentence becomes confusing because it’s often unclear which word the modifying phrase is referring to. Eating six cheeseburgers, nausea overwhelmed Jane. Didn’t know nausea could eat…

4. PARALLELISM In every sentence, all of the different components must start, continue, and end in the same, or parallel, way. It’s especially common to find errors of parallelism in sentences that list actions or items. In the pool area, there is no spitting, no running, and don’t toss your half-eaten candy bars in the water. In this list, the third item is not in the same form as the first two. So… In the pool area, there is no spitting, no running, and no tossing your half-eaten candy bars in the water.

5. WORDINESS Don’t forget this one. Often, the problem with a sample sentence will be that it is not expressed concisely. In addition, a wordy sentence often tends to wander into passive voice. Michael practiced his jump shots and free throws, and this practice paid off, as his scoring percentage rose dramatically. How about: Practicing his jump shots and free throws made Michael’s scoring percentage rise dramatically.

OTHER THINGS TO LOOK FOR 1. Conjunctions: Use them to connect choppy sentences that are clearly related. Don’t overuse them and create clunky sentences. 2. Fragments. Every sentence must have a subject and a predicate AND complete a thought. Watch out for dependent-clause fragments. I made an A on my midterm. Because I studied all night long. 3. Subordination and coordination: Make sure the conjunctions used make sense given the meaning of the sentence, and don’t make the sentence clunky. Ex: I made an A on my midterm, but had an A for the marking period. The “but” makes no sense. 4. Pronouns. Aaah. Our favorite.

PRONOUN AGREEMENT Agreement: Pronouns must agree with the nouns they’re replacing. Plural nouns take plural pronouns. Sounds easy enough, but it’s tricky. Every student at the party tried to look their best. Student is singular, and their is plural, so we’ve got a problem. To fix: Every student at the party tried to look his best. Every student at the party tried to look her best. Every student at the party tried to look his or her best. All the students at the party tried to look their best.

TRY THIS ONE… Even though some possess the flexibility to put their A legs over their heads, most people vary in his or her B C ability to achieve this feat. No error. D E

PRONOUN CASE Only subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they… and WHO) can be subjects. Only object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them and WHOM) can be objects. Her and I went to the mall. Nope. She and I. A trick: if you have a compound subject, eliminate the one that’s not a pronoun and see what makes sense: A package arrived for my friend and I. Eliminate “my friend” and you have: A package arrived for I. Sounds wrong and is, so it’s: A package arrived for my friend and me.

WHO/WHOM Who is a subject pronoun. Whom is an object pronoun. Use whom when it is a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition. When in doubt…. If you’d say he, use who. If you’d say him, use whom. Ask not for whom the bell tolls. (obj. of prep) Whom did you insult? (direct object) You gave whom the pencil? (indirect object) Who is going to make an 800? (subject)

PRONOUN SHIFT A sentence should start, continue, and end with the same kind of pronouns. Pronoun shift occurs when the pronoun type changes over the course of the sentence. When one first begins to arm wrestle, it’s important to work on your endurance and to make your biceps appear “swole.” If you start talking about one, you have to keep talking about one for the duration of the sentence. Therefore, the sentence could read. So: When one first begins to arm wrestle, it’s important to work on one’s endurance. OR, When you first begin to arm wrestle, it’s important to work on your endurance.

-SELF, -SELVES Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, themselves) must agree with their antecedents, too. Did the witness perjure himself? Did the witnesses perjure themselves? And remember: THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS THEIRSELVES !

COMPARISONS USING PRONOUNS When a pronoun is involved in a comparison, it must match the case of the other pronoun involved: I’m much stronger than her. I is subject case; her is object case, so there’s a problem. I’m much stronger than she. Here’s a trick: In situations like this, the word ‘is’ is often implied. If you put the ‘is’ into the sentence, it’ll guide you to the right answer. I’m much stronger than her is. Sounds wrong, and is. I’m much stronger than she is. That’s the ticket!