“I’m Bad at Grammar” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself
I’ll be honest, when I started studying for the GMAT, I couldn’t tell the difference between an adjective and a verb. If you asked what my biggest weakness was, I would absolutely have said “Grammar. I’m awful at it.” But I was wrong, and if you think you’re bad at grammar, there’s a good chance you are wrong too.
The GMAT Grammar You Know
The grammar you know is largely instinctual at this point. When you hear the sentence:
The history of the Mayan people are rich and varied, but it’s interesting.
you should notice that something is wrong. You may have to say it aloud, but something will hit your ear wrong, even if you don’t know what it is.
This instinct comes from decades of knowing and using correct grammar. You know Subject-Verb Agreement; The history…IS rich because history and is are both singular. The inclusion of the word but distorts the sentence meaning. It implies there’s some kind of contrast, but the sentence is only discussing positive traits; why would there be a contrast? A more correct sentence would be:
The history of the Mayan people is rich and varied, as well as interesting.
Most of the grammar tested on the GMAT is grammar you are already completely comfortable with. The difference is that in your day-to-day life, you can get away with not thinking about it. In a testing situation, with the pressure on, you’re trying to put a name to concepts you haven’t directly considered in years. You’re likely to second guess yourself, though there are still probably many Sentence Correction questions you will get right just by ear.
As you study, note which concepts you tend to get right by ear. That way, when you know that rule is being tested, you can feel more confident in trusting your instincts.
The GMAT Grammar You Don’t Know
That said, there is grammar that shows up on the GMAT that, if you’ve ever learned it, you’ve probably forgotten. To master these rules, you’ll have to learn and practice them. This is incredibly common, and yet I see students get extremely discouraged by this process. It’s as if not naturally knowing the nuances of parallelism means your English is poor.
Luckily, this is simply not true. There are a finite number of rules that you’ll need to master, almost all of which are predictable. Modifiers, parallelism, and perhaps a few verb tenses are some fairly common ones, but everyone’s list will be a little different. It’s helpful to understand that there are several grammatical rules that the GMAT considers absolute, but would be completely unnecessary in spoken English.
I often get students whose native language is not English concerned that they will have significant difficulties with Sentence Correction. However, as long as those students speak English fluently, I find they are often some of the stronger SC students. Unlike native speakers, people who learn English as adults have had to consider grammatical rules recently, making it somewhat easier to recall and implement them on test day.
Applying it to GMAT Sentence Correction
Why is sentence correction so hard if you are actually good at grammar? Because the sentences test things in very specific ways. If someone were to point to a clause and ask you to position it so that the sentence has the right emphasis, you likely wouldn’t have too much of a problem. Try it here. Insert the clause considering whether you are taking sufficient care of yourself into the below sentence.
It is important to moisturize your hands daily, not only because of the hydrating effect moisturizers have, but also because it encourages you to take note of your hygiene routine.
It’s a strange clause in a detailed sentence that you have no prior familiarity with. However, the most logical place for that clause is at the end, making the sentence:
It is important to moisturize your hands daily, not only because of the hydrating effect moisturizers have, but also because it encourages you to take note of your hygiene routine considering whether you are taking sufficient care of yourself .
A sentence correction problem, however, won’t directly point out what you should focus on. Without knowing which rules to consider, there are simply too many grammatical restrictions to consider all of them in only a minute. The fix? Create an SC process that enables you to decode each question. It’s possible to read the original sentence with the foreknowledge of what is most likely being tested and where you should concentrate your energy.
To sum up, you have most of the content knowledge you need. There are a few new rules to learn, but they’re minimal. Your focus should be on learning how to bring your innate knowledge to the front of your mind and making logical decisions based in a high stress testing scenario.
UP NEXT: “I’m Bad at Math” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself
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Emily Madan is a Manhattan Prep instructor located in Philadelphia, Pa. She has a master’s degree in chemistry and tries to approach the GMAT and LSAT from a scientific perspective. These tests are puzzles with patterns that students can be taught to find. She has been teaching test prep for over ten years, scoring a 770 on the GMAT and 177 on the LSAT. Check out Emily’s upcoming LSAT courses here.