<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>gmat grammar – GMAT</title> <atom:link href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/tag/gmat-grammar/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat</link> <description>GMAT Prep Course, Best GMAT Class & Study Books | Manhattan Prep GMAT</description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:13:10 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2</generator> <item> <title>5 GMAT Grammar Mistakes We All Make</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/5-gmat-grammar-mistakes-we-all-make/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tom Anderson]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:31:42 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT grammar mistakes]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=18680</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Music and the GMAT Before we talk about grammar, let’s talk about music. Trust me. I’ll bring it back. When I turned 30, I started taking piano lessons. Beyond a vague recollection of butchering “Hot Cross Buns” on a plastic recorder in third grade, I’d never had any musical training whatsoever. I quickly discovered that […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/5-gmat-grammar-mistakes-we-all-make/">5 GMAT Grammar Mistakes We All Make</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" class="alignnone wp-image-18681 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/02/mprep-blogimages-wave1-48-e1582925278852.png" alt="GMAT grammar mistakes" width="1200" height="628" /></h3> <h3>Music and the GMAT</h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Before we talk about grammar, let’s talk about music. Trust me. I’ll bring it back.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When I turned 30, I started taking piano lessons. Beyond a vague recollection of butchering “Hot Cross Buns” on a plastic recorder in third grade, I’d never had any musical training whatsoever. I quickly discovered that music isn’t just about pressing buttons at the right time to make the notes come out; it’s also about learning to listen for rhythms, harmonies, and intervals between notes. When you learn to notice these things, you start hearing them everywhere and wondering how you ever missed them. Better yet, you start to notice your own musical successes and mistakes before someone else points them out to you.</span></p> <p><span id="more-18680"></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But here’s the challenge: how do you listen for a note out of place if you never had 4/4 time signature ingrained in your skull to begin with? My piano teacher will tell you that it’s simple – that you need to start with a metronome and listen to it tick so closely that its relentless tick follows you around even when you sleep. Okay, okay, he didn’t say it quite like that, but still…</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s bring it back to the test at hand. In any GMAT course I’ve taught, it’s only a matter of time before I have students say something like: “That choice doesn’t sound right,” or “I like the way that one feels.” Such students are using their “ear” the same way a musician does, instinctively sensing when something is off or not. This comes up throughout the test, but I sense it most acutely when we work on sentence correction questions (the ones where you fix the badly written sentences).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If there were such a thing as a “grammar metronome” it would be an incredibly helpful tool for spotting these missed beats. But English isn’t so regular. And you often can’t get by just by picking whichever choice “sounds best.” When the questions get tougher, all the sentences might sound terrible. Worse yet, the shortest, snappiest choice might be the most egregiously wrong. Therein lies the challenge: how do we train our ears to spot the mistakes that come up time and time again on the GMAT? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the remainder of this blog entry, we will work to develop that “grammar metronome” by examining five grammar rules that none of us follow anyway – at least in conversational English. Unless you spend all day hanging out with that annoying guy who refuses to end a sentence in a preposition, you likely hear these rules violated just about as often as you hear them followed. In fact, each of the bold statements below contains a mistake. Try to spot them before I point them out to you.</span></p> <h4><b>Common GMAT Grammar Mistake #1: I often misuse this word, which leads me to believe that you might too.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve already committed one grave error. Unless you’re deep into your GMAT studies, I bet you missed it. In the sentence above, examine the word “which.” What does it refer to? The word “which” is a pronoun. It needs to refer to a thing – a noun. I challenge you to find that noun in the sentence above. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s not “I.” It’s not “word.” Neither of those on its own would lead me to believe that you too are a grammar-rule-flouter. It’s a bigger idea, my misuse of the word, that makes me think you break the rule as well. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To fix this one, give “which” something to refer to or eliminate it entirely:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I often misuse this word, leading me to think that you might too.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I often misuse this word, which you probably misuse too.”</span></p> <h4><b>Common GMAT Grammar Mistake #2: Almost unnoticeable, I hear this mistake made all the time in conversation.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Found it? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That first phrase – “almost unnoticeable” is a description – an “opening modifier” in GMAT lingo. What is it describing? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Presumably, I meant it to describe the mistake. It’s the mistake that’s unnoticeable. That said, the placement of the phrase is important. Unfortunately, it’s closest to the word “I.” If “I” were unnoticeable, I’d make a great cat burglar. This sentence isn’t about me sneaking about through the night thieving valuables, though. It’s about a mistake that’s hard to notice.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To fix this one, place the noun to be modified right next to the opening modifier:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Almost unnoticeable, this mistake crops up often in conversation.”</span></p> <h4><b>Common GMAT Grammar Mistake #3: Being a common error, this one might slip past you too.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How’s that ear training going? Did you take a second to look for this one before I point it out to you?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Being” is a problematic word on the GMAT. Whenever I see it, my ears perk up in anticipation of something awry. This doesn’t mean there’s necessarily a mistake, it just cues me to look for one. Here’s the problem with “being” in this instance. It’s unnecessary. If a word does not contribute to the sentence in any way, get rid of it. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the olden days, some instructors supposedly told their students to hunt for any instance of the word “being” and cross out any answer choice that used it. I really doubt anyone gave such overreaching advice, but whatever the case, don’t go to this extreme. There are plenty of instances in which the GMAT question-writers use this word correctly. Like a note out of key or played on an off-beat, it might just be part of the music. The problem is when it’s unnecessary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The sentence works just fine without “being,” so cut it out:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“A common error, this one might slip past you too.”</span></p> <h4><b>Common GMAT Grammar Mistake #4: Do like I do, and you’ll be butchering your comparisons.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the sentence states, this one has to do with a botched comparison. If you need a hint, think about this popular (and correctly written) phrase:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Do as I say, not as I do.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you notice the difference between that phrase and the one in the bold sentence above it? I used the word “like” instead of the word “as.” This rule is simple: “like” compares two things, “as” compares two actions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To fix this sentence, then, we have a couple of options:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Do as I do, and you’ll be butchering your comparisons.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Write sentences like this one, and you’ll be butchering your comparisons.”</span></p> <h4><b>Common GMAT Grammar Mistake #5: Adjectives and adverbs sometimes have similar forms that we use interchangeable.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The sentence itself is another good hint here. Do you spot an adjective that should be an adverb? Both words are modifiers – they describe something else in the sentence. Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe verbs and some other stuff. In this sentence, the adjective “interchangeable” should be an adverb. “Interchangeably” describes the way we use the words, not the words themselves. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This error might seem simple enough here, but there are numerous examples in English where adjectives and adverbs are so similar that they do in fact seem to be interchangeable:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bad & Badly</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Interchangeable & Interchangeably</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Slower & More slowly</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Such words are often mistakenly swapped in conversational English. In the GMAT, they come up often in comparison questions too.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To fix this one, you’ve again got a couple of options:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Adjectives and adverbs sometimes have similar forms that we use interchangeably.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Adjectives and adverbs sometimes have seemingly interchangeable forms that we use mistakenly.”</span></p> <h3><b>Retrain your Ear</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Knowing your grammar is a crucial piece of GMAT mastery. No, you won’t ever have to conjugate a verb, identify a gerund, or label the independent and dependent clauses in a sentence. Regardless, you do need to know the rules well enough to spot the good grammar and cross out the bad. When you’re writing emails, surfing your news feed, or chatting with your friends, take a moment to notice the grammar. If you start spotting these mistakes “in the wild,” so to speak, your ears will learn to perk up whenever you see them. If you train your ears, you’ll spot them quickly on the GMAT, where seconds are precious and you want every point you can get.\</span></p> <p><strong>RELATED: </strong><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/im-bad-at-grammar-and-other-lies-you-tell-yourself/">“I’m Bad at Grammar” and Other Lies You Tell Yourself</a></p> <p><b><i>Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! </i></b><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/free/"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-12716 alignleft" src="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/01/tom-anderson-gre-hacks.png" alt="tom anderson gre hacks" width="150" height="150" /></p> <p><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/tom-anderson/"><b><i>Tom Anderson</i></b></a><b><i> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York, NY.</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> He has a B.A. in English and an M.S. in education. Tom started his teaching career as a New York City Teaching Fellow and is currently a Math for America Fellow. Outside of teaching the GRE and the GMAT, he is an avid runner who once (very unexpectedly) won a marathon. </span></i><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/#instructor/53"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check our Tom’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here. </span></i></a></p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/5-gmat-grammar-mistakes-we-all-make/">5 GMAT Grammar Mistakes We All Make</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>“I’m Bad at Grammar” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/im-bad-at-grammar-and-other-lies-you-tell-yourself/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Emily Madan]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:10:42 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Verbal]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=18633</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>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 […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/im-bad-at-grammar-and-other-lies-you-tell-yourself/">“I’m Bad at Grammar” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-18635 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/02/mprep-blogimages-wave1-51-e1581541660221.png" alt="GMAT grammar" width="1200" height="628" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span id="more-18633"></span></p> <h3><strong>The GMAT Grammar You Know</strong></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The grammar you know is largely instinctual at this point. When you hear the sentence:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The history of the Mayan people are rich and varied, but it’s interesting</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This instinct comes from decades of knowing and using correct grammar. You know Subject-Verb Agreement; </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The history…IS rich</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> because </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">history </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">are both singular. The inclusion of the word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">but</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 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:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The history of the Mayan people is rich and varied, as well as interesting</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <h3><strong>The GMAT Grammar You Don’t Know</strong></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <h3><strong>Applying it to GMAT Sentence Correction</strong></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">considering whether you are taking sufficient care of yourself</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> into the below sentence.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 .</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p> <p><strong>UP NEXT: </strong><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/im-bad-at-math-and-other-lies-you-tell-yourself/">“I’m Bad at Math” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself</a></p> <p><b><i>You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. </i></b><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-18571 alignleft" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/01/emily-madan-taking-the-gmat-225x300.jpg" alt="emily madan taking the gmat" width="135" height="180" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/01/emily-madan-taking-the-gmat-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/01/emily-madan-taking-the-gmat-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/01/emily-madan-taking-the-gmat.jpg 960w" sizes="(max-width: 135px) 100vw, 135px" /></p> <p><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/344"><b><i>Emily Madan</i></b></a><b><i> is a Manhattan Prep instructor located in Philadelphia, Pa. </i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></i><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/classes/#instructor/57"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out Emily’s upcoming LSAT courses here</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/im-bad-at-grammar-and-other-lies-you-tell-yourself/">“I’m Bad at Grammar” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Top 10 Tips for GMAT Sentence Correction</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-tips/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chelsey Cooley]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 01 Feb 2019 21:19:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT 101]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Resources]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parallelism]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=16877</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>GMAT Sentence Correction is all about grammar, but not every grammar rule is equally important. With these Sentence Correction tips, we’ll look at some of the most important—and most often overlooked—Sentence Correction techniques. 10. Worry about the small stuff. Sometimes, the most important words in a GMAT Sentence Correction problem are the smallest ones: Pronouns […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-tips/">Top 10 Tips for GMAT Sentence Correction</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16932" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/gmat-sentence-correction-tips.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Top 10 Tips for GMAT Sentence Correction by Chelsey Cooley" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/gmat-sentence-correction-tips.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/gmat-sentence-correction-tips-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/gmat-sentence-correction-tips-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/gmat-sentence-correction-tips-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">GMAT Sentence Correction is all about grammar, but not every grammar rule is equally important. With these Sentence Correction tips, we’ll look at some of the most important—and most often overlooked—Sentence Correction techniques.</span><span id="more-16877"></span></p> <h4><b>10. Worry about the small stuff.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sometimes, the most important words in a GMAT Sentence Correction problem are the smallest ones: </span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-pronoun-rules/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pronouns</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (it, its, they, them, their)</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prepositions (in, for, with, after)</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-weekly-fanboys/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conjunctions</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (and, or)</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Helping verbs (have, had, are, is, will be)</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A tough Sentence Correction problem might test a couple of complex grammar issues—such as modifiers and parallelism—in complicated ways. That same sentence might </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">also</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> test a small, simple issue, like using the correct pronoun or conjunction. If you focus on the tough issues, you could spend two minutes choosing the right answer. But if you spot the critical difference in a single, tiny word, you could sail through the problem in under a minute.</span></p> <h4><b>9. Parallelism: work from the end to the beginning.</b></h4> <p><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/whats-parallel-to-what-parallelism-and-meaning-in-gmatprep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The term “parallelism” refers to GMAT Sentence Correction rules that deal with lists</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. For instance, this sentence is parallel:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’m going to eat kale, drink a smoothie, and take my vitamins. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The best trick for parallelism is to start at the </span><b>end of the list</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, not the beginning. Find the </span><b>parallel marker—</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">the word that tells you there’s a list in the sentence, such as “and” or “or.” In this sentence, it’s the word “and.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once you find the parallel marker, look immediately to the right of it. That’s where you’ll find the last thing on the list! In this case, it’s “take my vitamins.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For a sentence to have good parallelism, everything on the list needs to look alike, grammatically speaking. Since we already know that “take my vitamins” is one of the things on the list, we just need to make sure that everything else on the list looks similar to it. </span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">eat kale</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">drink a smoothie</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">take my vitamins</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All of those are phrases about VERBing a NOUN, so they all look alike. That’s a good list! Here’s a sentence with a not-so-good list: </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’m going to eat kale, chickpeas, broccoli, and drink apple juice. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Using the rule we learned earlier, the last thing on the list is “drink apple juice.” Everything else on the list has to have that same verb-noun structure. But in this sentence, that’s not the case. Only “eat kale” matches, while “broccoli” and “chickpeas” are lonely nouns, stuck all by themselves. </span></p> <h4><b>8. Stop searching for the perfect sentence.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The right answer to a GMAT Sentence Correction problem will often “sound wrong.” When you get right down to it, a lot of sentences on the GMAT are just plain weird. We’re seeing these sentences totally out of context, and they deal with topics that we probably know nothing about. </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-tests-good-grammar-not-good-writing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plus, they’re </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">designed</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to be long, complicated, and not incredibly good at getting the point across</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you go into a Sentence Correction problem looking for the perfect sentence, you’ll be disappointed. </span><b>It’s always better to eliminate wrong answers than to search for the right answer.</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> After all, to prove that an answer is wrong, you only need to find </span><b>one</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> thing wrong with it. To prove that an answer is right, the whole thing has to be correct, all the way through. Plus, for every grammar error, there are a dozen different ways that it could be fixed. If there’s an error in one sentence, you don’t necessarily know what the “right” version will look like! The right answer can sometimes surprise you. </span></p> <h4><b>7. Stuck between two answer choices? Focus on the differences.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is a common issue on Verbal problems, and </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-verbal-getting-right-last-two/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">we’ve written about it before</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">! If you’re stuck between two Sentence Correction answer choices, </span><b>zero in on the differences between them</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, instead of just reading them one at a time. One of those two answer choices has to be wrong, so at least one of the differences must tell you something helpful. Pick the difference you’re most confident about, and go for it.</span></p> <h4><b>6. Still stuck? You might be missing a meaning issue.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When you focus on the differences between two answer choices, you could see a grammar error that you didn’t notice before. If you </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">don’t </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">see a grammar error, it’s also possible that the two answer choices have different meanings. <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/whats-tested-on-gmat-verbal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sentence Correction doesn’t just test grammar rules—it tests your knowledge of the way that grammar determines a sentence’s meaning</a>. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If one of the answer choices has a meaning that doesn’t make logical sense, or if it seems like it could mean two different things, eliminate it. But what if both meanings seem reasonable? You’ll rarely get to this point, but if you do, go with the meaning that’s closer to the original sentence.</span></p> <h4><b>5. Don’t forget the rest of the sentence.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t focus too much on just the underlined section. If you do that, you’ll miss all kinds of interesting grammar rules. Here are two answer choices from an imaginary Sentence Correction problem:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">(A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">(B) and that a memorandum describing the company’s charitable activities be prepared.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Without looking at the whole sentence, neither one of these looks wrong, although there are a couple of differences. You might eliminate (B) because it uses the passive voice, or you could eliminate (A) because it uses the wordy phrase “undertaken by the company.” In both cases, you’d be missing something crucial. Here are those answer choices in context: </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The CEO requested that managers become more cognizant of the relationship between the company and the surrounding community, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><u>and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.</u></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">(A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">(B) and that a memorandum describing the company’s charitable activities be prepared.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In context, only (B) can be correct! It gives you something that’s parallel to the first half of the sentence, while (A) is mismatched. If you eliminated it just because it used the passive voice—without checking the rest of the sentence—you would have missed that.</span></p> <h4><b>4. Think, but don’t overthink.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you read a tough sentence in a book or a news article, you probably don’t even notice anything out of the ordinary, unless it’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">really</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> complicated. But when you see that same sentence in a GMAT Sentence Correction problem, when the clock is ticking and you’re under pressure to choose the right answer, it suddenly seems incomprehensible.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To keep this from ruining your Sentence Correction flow, follow these steps:</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Glance at the answer choices </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">before</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> you read the original sentence. You’re not doing a full analysis—you just want to avoid missing any really obvious hints in the answers. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Take a breath. Your brain needs oxygen, and you need a second to center yourself. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read the entire sentence, beginning to end, exactly how you’d read it if you saw it in a magazine article. All you’re trying to do is “get” what it’s saying—not correct its grammar or identify its clauses. Just read, in a calm, relaxed manner.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t try to do too much at once! If you try to figure out every detail of the grammar of a sentence while also reading it for the first time, you’ll overwhelm and confuse yourself. It’s fine to read the sentence once just to get your head around it, then worry about the grammar afterwards. For more on the Sentence Correction process, check out our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/store/strategy-guides/sentence-correction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sentence Correction Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <h4><b>3. Use the best split, not the first split.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">GMAT instructor Ryan Jacobs </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-easy-decisions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">already summed this one up</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">! In a Sentence Correction problem, the answer choices will usually be different from each other in </span><b>multiple ways</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Some of those ways will be important, and others won’t. Some will be obvious, and others will be subtle. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t get hung up on the very first difference you see. If you don’t know the rule now, you’re not going to remember it within the next 80 seconds (that’s how long you have to do an average Sentence Correction problem). Instead, go searching for another rule that you </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">do</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> know.</span></p> <h4><b>2. Know what to ignore on GMAT Sentence Correction.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The key to solving a Sentence Correction problem can be anywhere in the sentence. However, there are times when you should ignore part of the sentence. </span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re having trouble figuring out what the sentence is saying, try ignoring the modifiers and finding just the main subject(s) and verb(s). Then, mentally add the modifiers back in, one at a time. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">If a verb changes between singular and plural across the different answer choices, start by finding the subject that goes with that verb. The subject is the only thing that determines whether a verb should be singular or plural. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ignoring adjectives and adverbs is often safe and can make a long, wordy sentence easier. </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Try summarizing jargon-y parts of the sentence in your own words or simplifying names and titles. Instead of “employees of a Fortune 500 corporation,” think “workers.” Instead of “the most valuable approach to solving any problem,” think “the best approach.”</span></li> </ul> <h4><b>1. Don’t use a new rule when an old rule will do.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The number-one mistake that students make while studying for GMAT Sentence Correction is being overly specific. For an example, let’s return to that problem from tip number 5:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The CEO requested that managers become more cognizant of the relationship between the company and the surrounding community, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><u>and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.</u></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">(A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">(B) and that a memorandum describing the company’s charitable activities be prepared.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Suppose that you just got this problem wrong and you wanted to review. The </span><b>wrong</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> thing to write in your problem log would be this: </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“that a memorandum… be prepared” is right; “to prepare a memorandum” is wrong.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s a slightly better takeaway, but this one </span><b>still isn’t perfect</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">: </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“that managers become more cognizant” is parallel to “that a memorandum be prepared.” </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Those takeaways </span><b>aren’t memorable</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and they </span><b>won’t help you on other problems</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">—unless you just so happen to see a problem about memos and managers on test day. Instead of these takeaways, think of a takeaway that will make you more likely to do the right thing on test day:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“and” plus verbs in different forms (“to prepare”, “that… be prepared”) tells you to look for parallelism with the first half of the sentence!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The key to improving your Sentence Correction game is taking what you learn from one sentence and applying it to other ones. It takes some time, but when you review, you should try boiling down every issue in a problem into a simple, general rule. Every sentence you see on test day will be brand-new—but the rules will be exactly the same as the ones you’ve studied. Learn to focus on those rules, and you’ll set yourself up to succeed. ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chelsey Cooley</a><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=CooleyBioGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft" title="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/11/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg" alt="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" width="150" height="150" data-pagespeed-url-hash="1615980074" data-pagespeed-onload="pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality(this);" data-pagespeed-loaded="1" /></a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.</strong> </em></i></b><i><em>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170/170 on the GRE. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/336" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here</a>.</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-tips/">Top 10 Tips for GMAT Sentence Correction</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-clauses-modifiers-founding-fathers/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Patrick Tyrrell]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 23 Mar 2018 15:21:44 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Clauses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Modifiers]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=15329</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Our Founding Fathers are routinely lionized for their heroic war for independence and their ingenious creation of our Constitutional democracy. But these boys also knew how to spit some […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-clauses-modifiers-founding-fathers/">GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15412" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/gmat-grammar-clasuses-modifiers-founding-fathers-patrick-tyrrell.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers by Patrick Tyrrell" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/gmat-grammar-clasuses-modifiers-founding-fathers-patrick-tyrrell.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/gmat-grammar-clasuses-modifiers-founding-fathers-patrick-tyrrell-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/gmat-grammar-clasuses-modifiers-founding-fathers-patrick-tyrrell-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/gmat-grammar-clasuses-modifiers-founding-fathers-patrick-tyrrell-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><b><i>Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></span></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our Founding Fathers are routinely lionized for their heroic war for independence and their ingenious creation of our Constitutional democracy.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">But these boys also knew how to spit some verse.</span><span id="more-15329"></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These days, we post our profound thoughts on social media and then frantically monitor our notifications to see if we are being adored. These guys just walked about town, orating with supreme eloquence and dropping soundbites like “I regret that I have but one life to give to my country.” Can you imagine how many LIKES that status update would get? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out this quote about nepotism from my main man, T.J. (aka “Thomas Jefferson”):</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views, nor can they ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.”</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Wow. Good luck saying that sentence out loud with appropriate color and rhythm. It has the sputtering gait of a car with a banged-up transmission. Its sheer density would give baklava and neutron stars a run for their money.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s unpack some of what’s going on there. When we read complicated sentences in Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, or Reading Comp, our first job is to </span><b>find the core sentence</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The core sentence is the simplest standalone version of the sentence we could get, if we stripped away all modifiers.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15330" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers by Patrick Tyrrell" width="365" height="64" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-1.png 365w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-1-300x53.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px" /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Could we just put a period at the end of that sentence? Not quite. We need to know </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">what </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the public will never believe. Some verbs, called transitive verbs, demand an object. We can say “Susan slept.”, but we can’t just say “Susan carried.” Carried </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">what</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? This verb needs an </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">object</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Similarly, the verb “to believe” needs an object. The object could be a noun, such as “The public will never believe </span><b>Josephine</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">”, or the object could be a clause, such as:</span></p> <p><i></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The public will never be made to believe</span></i><b><i> that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone</i></b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When we see a VERB + THAT, i.e. “believe that” / “discovered that” / “found that”, we get </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a reset button</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the start of a brand-new complete idea: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">An appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone. </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15331" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-2.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers by Patrick Tyrrell" width="780" height="66" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-2.png 780w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-2-300x25.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/pt-1-image-2-768x65.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Okay, meaning check: do we understand what this is saying?</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">If I were President, and I appointed my wife to be in charge of healthcare policy or appointed my son-in-law to be in charge of solving an opioid crisis, I could try to convince the public, “Hey, I appointed my wife Hillary to be in charge of healthcare policy purely on the ground of her merit. It has nothing to do with her being my wife! In fact, until a reporter brought that fact to my attention, I hadn’t even remembered such entanglements.”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Could the public be made to believe that Bill appointed Hillary or that Donald appointed Jared on the ground of merit </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">alone</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? Of course not! We know how nepotism works. Even if the President doesn’t realize that he/she is being influenced by nepotism, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">we </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">see it.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">(In case you’re wondering, “on the ground” and “on the grounds” are both acceptable.)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’ve got a main clause that works and that we understand. Let’s start adding onto that:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, </span></i><b><i>uninfluenced by family views</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">On Sentence Correction problems, </span><b>when we see a comma, we think modifiers. </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">The big rule to learn is the difference between a “, wh-“ noun modifier and a “, -ing / , -ed” adverbial modifier.</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The dog ran down </span></i><b><i>the street</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which </span></i><b><i>was covered in dirt. </i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">(noun modifiers modify the noun/complex noun before the comma)</span><b><i><br /> </i></b><b><i>The dog ran</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> down the street, </span></i><b><i>covered in dirt.</i></b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">(adverbial modifiers modify the Subj/Verb of the clause)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">When we see “</span><b>,</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> uninfluenc</span><b>ed</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by family views”, we start thinking, “It’s an adverbial modifier. What is the subject / verb of the clause it’s modifying?”</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The public will never be made to believe that </span></i><b><i>an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views.</i></b><b><br /> </b><b><br /> </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Remember, because of the “believe + that” reset button, the sentence that contains this “, uninfluenced” modifier begins with the words ‘an appointment’.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><b><i>An appointment of a relative is made</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on the ground of merit alone, </span></i><b><i>uninfluenced by family views.</i></b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This has a logical connection. Since the appointment is made based purely on merit, the appointment is made without any influence of family views. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Did Jefferson really need to add this modifier? Probably not. If we are saying an appointment is made on the ground of merit alone, then we can infer that it </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">isn’t </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being made on the ground of family views, monetary influence, ability to gargle peanut butter, etc. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">But T.J. (“Teej” to his friends) wanted to clarify the suspicion the public would always harbor. The public will never believe the appointment was </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">uninfluenced </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">by family. Hence, the public will always believe the appointment </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">was </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">influenced by family.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’ve been buried in the weeds for a while. Let’s take a step back and see the forest again:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views</span></i><b><i>, nor </i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">can they ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.”</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The next big moment in breaking down / interpreting this sentence is seeing the “, nor” as another reset button.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are a handful of conjunctions that we can use to join together two complete sentences. We often memorize them as FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. By far, on GMAT, we are mainly seeing “, and” / “, but” / “, yet”. Here are some quick examples:</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, for </span></i><b><i>the service I received was terrible</i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. (‘for’ indicates the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> idea is a reason for the 1st)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, and </span></i><b><i>I have ravaged them on Yelp</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (‘and’ indicates the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> idea goes with the 1st)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, nor </span></i><b><i>will I try Cajun fusion food again</i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. (‘nor’ indicates a 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> negative idea going with the 1</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">but </span></i><b><i>I will refrain from egging it</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (‘but’ indicates the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> idea contrasts with the 1</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, or </span></i><b><i>I will order something different</i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. (‘or’ indicates the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> idea is an alternative option to the 1</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, yet </span></i><b><i>I did enjoy my meal</i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. (‘yet’ is basically interchangeable with ‘but’)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will never return to that restaurant, so </span></i><b><i>you need to pick another place</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(‘so’ indicates the 1</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">st</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> idea is a reason for the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Notice that of all the bolded 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> sentences, only the one with the word ‘nor’ seems weird on its own: </span><b>Will I try Cajun fusion food again. </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sure, that works as a question, but why are all the other ones standalone statements?</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">When we see “nor will I try Cajun fusion food again,” the second half is really saying “I will </span><b>not</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> try Cajun fusion food again.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Basically, ‘nor’ just has a quirky form. The first half of the sentence has to say something negative, or else we’re not allowed to use ‘nor’. For example, we couldn’t say “I love chocolate ice cream, nor can I stand strawberry tarts.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> half takes on a weirder idiomatic form in which the verb comes right after “nor,” before the subject. If we want to hear the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> half as a normal sentence, we can just put the subject first and turn the verb into a negative.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I do not want to die, nor do I want to live forever.” Translating 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> half: “I do </span><b>not </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">want to live forever.” Sorry, now I need to take a few hours to mull over the impossible riddle of existence.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">[four hours later] Nevermind, solved it! But rather than bore you with the secret to existence, let’s return to the more important process of grammatically deconstructing Thomas Jefferson’s sentiment about nepotism.</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views, nor can they ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.”</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We need to understand the 2</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">nd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> half of the sentence, after the “, nor”:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">nor can they ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">That double-comma modifier needs to be ignored for a sec, so that we can process the core sentence.</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">nor can they ever see with approbation offices </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, <del>the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes,</del></span></i><del><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> divided out as family property.</span></i></del></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s translate the nor into a normal sentence:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">nor can they ever see with approbation offices divided out as family property</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Translation: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">They can </span></i><b><i>not </i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ever see with approbation offices divided out as family property. </span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That may still sound wrong, but it isn’t. Part of what makes it hard to like is that most of us don’t know the word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">approbation</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. It has the same root as </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">approval</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and it means the same thing. Approbation is the opposite of condemnation. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why didn’t T.J. just say “approval”? Because T.J. wears a powdered wig, and people who wear powdered wigs own thesauruses!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The other thing that makes it sound weird is where we placed the adverbial modifier “with approbation.” Which do you prefer:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She regarded my resolve to go back to clown college with approval.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">or</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">She regarded with approval my resolve to go back to clown college.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">I think most of us would say the first one sounds better, but grammatically, what is “with approval” modifying?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prepositional phrases can be noun modifiers or adverbial modifiers. If we place “with approval” right after the noun “clown college,” it might appear to be modifying that.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">But the intended meaning of the sentence is that “She regarded ___ with approval.” It’s adverbially modifying </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">how </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">she regarded something. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">So placing the adverbial modifier right after the verb is a pretty safe way to clarify what it’s modifying:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She </span><b>regarded</b> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">with approval</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> my resolve to go back to clown college.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Back to our translated core sentence:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">They can </span></i><b><i>not </i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ever see with approbation offices divided out as family property.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">i.e. “They can’t approve of seeing offices divided out as family property”. They won’t like the idea of someone becoming President, looking at all the available job vacancies (offices), and dividing them out to family members like the spoils of victory. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here, we see an –ed participle acting as a noun modifier.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When –ed or –ing words appear after a noun (without a comma), they act like noun modifiers.<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">When –ed or –ing words appear after a comma, they act like adverbial modifiers.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The noun “offices” is being “divided out as family property.”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">What can be confusing is that in this sentence, we will see the –ed appear after a comma, but it is NOT acting like an adverbial modifier. That’s because the comma doesn’t belong to the “-ed” thing, it belongs to the two-comma modifier.</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">nor can they ever see with approbation offices</span></i><del><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes,</span></i></del><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> divided out as family property.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our big core sentence, cleaned up, is as follows:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The public will never believe that appointments were made purely on merit, nor can they ever see with approval the dividing out of offices as family property. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s going on in the double-comma pause button modifier?</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">nor can they ever see with approbation offices</span></i><b><i>,</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the disposal </span></i><b><i>of which</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We see our good buddy “, which”! As we said before, “, wh-“ are always noun modifiers that modify the noun/complex noun that comes right before it. However, they can vary in terms of whether they’re making the noun before it the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">SUBJ of VERB: He lifted the box, which was full of poisonous cupcakes. (read: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the box was full of poisonous cupcakes</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">)<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">OBJ of VERB: He lifted the box, which Sally had filled with ‘tasty treats.’ (read: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sally filled the box with ‘tasty treats’</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">OBJ of PREP: He lifted the box, on which a sticker reading “Not Poison” was affixed. (read: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a sticker was affixed on the box</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">)</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">So how do we read: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">offices</span></i><b><i>,</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the disposal </span></i><b><i>of which</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes … </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? Read: They entrust to their Presidents the disposal of (these) offices for public purposes.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Public: “You’re dividing out those offices as family property? But …we entrusted you to dispose of those offices for </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">public</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> purposes! We can’t look on this with approbation. Ever. Yes, I know what ‘approbation’ means, and I’m like 73% sure I’m using it correctly!”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once again, in all her glory:</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The public will never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views, nor can they ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property.”</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you noticed the ‘they / they / their’ in that final idea and thought to yourself, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Red alert! Pronouns!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, then great work! Since ‘they’ and ‘their’ are plural pronouns, we’d need to find a plural noun (the </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">antecedent</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) to which they refer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The intended referent is “the public,” which in American English is a singular noun. On GMAT, “the public” would be referred to with an “it.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, British English regards (with approval) collective nouns as plural.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the USA:</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team is excited, and it is taking the field!</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the UK:</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team are ready for action, and they are taking the pitch!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Looks like Thomas Jefferson is still too fresh off the boat to be using “the public” as a singular. You can take the Brit out of Britain, but you can’t take the British treatment of collective nouns out of the ex-Brit.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As good as this quote was, my favorite quote from our 3</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">rd</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> President was uttered in many a Philadelphia alley, after a long night of drinking: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tommy </span></i><b><i>J</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> will “</span></i><b><i>effe</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">” you up, </span></i><b><i>son</i></b><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">!</span></i></p> <h4><b>TIME TO QUIZ YOURSELF ON GMAT GRAMMAR!</b></h4> <ol> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Think of an example of a verb that doesn’t need an object as well as one that does need an object.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">VERB + THAT = reset button ….what does that mean? </span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Which type of modifier is “, -ed” and what part(s) of a sentence does it modify?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">What do all the letters in FANBOYS stand for? How do they relate to reset buttons?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">How is “nor” unique among them? How can we translate the “nor” half of a sentence into a normal-sounding sentence?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Which type(s) of modifier is a prepositional phrase?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s the difference between “, which” and “, of which”?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">How can we tell whether “-ed” is being used as a noun modifier or an adverbial modifier?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">What do I need to check when I see a pronoun?</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Should the Federal Anti-Nepotism Law of 1967 be interpreted as applying to offices within the White House as well, or are those a special domain, as a 1993 Appeals Court ruled (paving the way for Hillary’s and Jared’s appointments)?</span></li> </ol> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Share your thoughts in the comments! ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Want some more GMAT tips from Patrick? Attend the first session of one of his </i></b><b><i><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/270" target="_blank" rel="noopener">upcoming GMAT courses</a> </i></b><b><i>absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><em><strong><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-15335 size-thumbnail" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/patrick-tyrell-150x150.png" alt="patrick-tyrrell" width="150" height="150" /><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/patrick-tyrrell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patrick Tyrrell</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California.</strong> He has a B.A. in philosophy, a 780 on the GMAT, and relentless enthusiasm for his work. In addition to teaching test prep since 2006, he’s also an avid songwriter/musician. <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/270" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Check out Patrick’s upcoming GMAT courses here!</a></em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-clauses-modifiers-founding-fathers/">GMAT Grammar: Clauses, Modifiers, and the Founding Fathers</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Grammar: Parts of Speech</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Elaine Loh]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jan 2018 19:07:35 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT 101]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Parts of Speech]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=15098</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. I promise you this will not be a diatribe directed towards the American school system, but I have to say that many of us were […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech/">GMAT Grammar: Parts of Speech</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15146" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Parts of Speech by Elaine Loh" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech-elaine-loh-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i></i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">I promise you this will not be a diatribe directed towards the American school system, but I have to say that many of us were not taught proper grammar when we were in—ahem—grammar school. Many of us were also not taught how to make funny puns on blog posts. ?</span><span id="more-15098"></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, if you feel like you don’t know some GMAT grammar fundamentals, never fear! You are actually in the great majority of people. That being said, you will only be doing yourself a favor on the GMAT if you learn that grammar now. Plus, you can </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2017/09/07/gmat-grammar-impress-friends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">impress all your nerd friends</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Today’s lesson is on parts of speech.</span></p> <h4><b>What are the main parts of speech?</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There is actually </span><a href="http://partofspeech.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">a website</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> dedicated solely to parts of speech. They say that there are eight parts of speech. For this blog, I only care about three of them. It is incredibly important to be able to identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Why is it important to be able to differentiate them? Well, it will come into play when you’re trying to do subject-verb agreement or parallel structure or core-vs-modifier… Knowing these parts of speech will help you in virtually all Sentence Correction strategies.</span></p> <h4><b>Nouns</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nouns: person, place, or thing. That’s how most people define nouns. I would add that a “thing” can also be something intangible, like an idea or a concept.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Simple example: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">My cat is funny.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here, the noun is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">cat</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Done.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harder example: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">My cat’s favorite pastime is meowing and to play with string.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here, we have several nouns. The easier ones are </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">cat</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">pastime</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">string</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. But there’s one more. The word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meowing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is also being used as a noun!! What?? I thought meowing was a verb (more on verbs in a second). Remember when we said that a “thing” could also be something intangible? Well, that’s how I would define </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meowing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. It’s not a “thing” we can touch, but it’s a concept or an idea. The grammatical term is that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meowing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is a gerund. A gerund is when a verb is used as a noun.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, now we have to decide if this sentence is okay. I would argue that it’s not. Because if we think of parallel structure, then my cat has to have pastimes that are logically and grammatically comparable. Here, my cat likes </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to play</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (which is an infinitive verb) and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meowing </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(which, as we just said, is a noun). That’s not okay!! So, just by knowing our parts of speech, we can eliminate this as a proper answer choice.</span></p> <h4><b>Verbs</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Verbs: action words or words that tell us a state of being.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Simple example:</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> My cat is funny.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is the verb here. This is an example of a state of being, what my cat “is”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harder example: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">My cat likes to play with string.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The main verb of the sentence is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">likes</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Likes</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is an example of an action word. It is paired with the main subject of the sentence, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">cat</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. But, as mentioned earlier, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to play</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is also a verb. We call this an infinitive. It’s a verb before it’s been conjugated. “To ______” is always the infinitive form. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">To run, to climb, to eat</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">…</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another quick rule to learn:</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> -ing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> words (like </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">fighting</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) can only be considered verbs if they are paired with a helping verb. For example, “My cat is fighting with the dog.” Now, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is fighting</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is the action of the sentence, and so it is a verb.</span></p> <h4><b>Adjectives</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Adjectives: provide extra information about nouns. We put adjectives under the general category of modifiers. Many things provide extra information, but adjectives only describe nouns.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s stick with my hilarious cat.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Simple example: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">My cat is funny.</span></i></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Funny</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is a descriptive word that gives us extra information about my cat. Therefore, it’s an adjective.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Harder example: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">My cat is funny, angry, and a monster.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What do you think? Is this sentence okay? Again, I would argue that it isn’t, based on parts of speech. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Funny</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">angry</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> both describe my cat. But </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a monster</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is a noun. While my cat might indeed be a monster, we can’t join two adjectives with a noun. It’s not parallel.</span></p> <h4><b>Other Parts of Speech</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, those are the three big parts of speech that I want you to know backwards and forwards for GMAT grammar. Of the other five listed on the parts of speech website I mentioned earlier, you should also be able to identify pronouns (particularly the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2017/11/30/quick-gmat-tips-top-5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Deadly 5</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">), prepositions (those small words: in, on, of, to…), and conjunctions (the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2016/01/15/gmat-grammar-weekly-fanboys/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">FANBOYS</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Will the GMAT actually ever ask you to identify these parts of speech? Of course not. But if you can speak about them knowledgeably and be able to identify them easily, then that means you have a greater chance of answering Sentence Correction questions correctly—and, you can come hang out with me and my comedic cat. ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Want more GMAT tips? Don’t forget to follow us on </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.facebook.com/ManhattanPrepGMAT/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Facebook</i></b></a><b><i>, </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://twitter.com/manhattangmat" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Twitter</i></b></a><b><i>, and </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/2525704/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>LinkedIn</i></b></a><b><i>!</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-12859 size-thumbnail" src="https://d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/01/elaine-loh-150x150.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Elaine Loh Bio Image" width="150" height="150" /><strong><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/elaine-loh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elaine Loh</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California. </em></strong></i></b><i><em>She graduated from Brown University with a degree in psychology and a desire to teach others. She can’t get enough of standardized tests and has been a test prep tutor and teacher for over half her life. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/361" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out Elaine’s upcoming GMAT courses here</a>.</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-parts-of-speech/">GMAT Grammar: Parts of Speech</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Grammar that Will Impress Your Friends</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-impress-friends/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Elaine Loh]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Sep 2017 14:44:16 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT 101]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[That]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=14582</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. I was at a dinner party the other night and we started discussing the four uses of the word “that”. Apparently, I hang out with […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-impress-friends/">GMAT Grammar that Will Impress Your Friends</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14672" src="//cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-grammar-impress-friends-elaine-loh.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar that Will Impress Your Friends by Elaine Loh" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-grammar-impress-friends-elaine-loh.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-grammar-impress-friends-elaine-loh-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-grammar-impress-friends-elaine-loh-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-grammar-impress-friends-elaine-loh-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I was at a dinner party the other night and we started discussing the four uses of the word “that”. Apparently, I hang out with a lot of nerds at dinner. Not only did I impress these nerds with my grammar skills, but I also came up with a great idea for a blog post! So, from time to time, I’m going to write about some of the important GMAT grammar rules that I like to cover in my classes. </span><span id="more-14582"></span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I always tell my students to look out for the small words—the words that we barely even read because we’re so used to them. “And” or “of”, or in this case, the word “that”. These small words are actually indicators of what the GMAT is testing. We just need to pay attention to them!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“That” can be used in four distinct ways, and we need to know which </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">way</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> it is being used in order to figure out if it’s being used correctly.</span></p> <h4><b>As a MODIFIER:</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The GMAT most frequently tests the word “that” as an introduction to modification. For example, check out this sentence:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The house that is red belongs to me.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the word “that” follows a noun, it must be functioning as a noun modifier. Here, we get a little extra description of the house: it is red. Clearly, we could not write, “The house belongs to me that is red.” This would be an example of a misplaced modifier. I am not red. Obviously, this sentence is short and easy. But the GMAT will test you in the exact same way, just with longer sentences and more garbage to sift through.</span></p> <h4><b>As a RESET:</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are used to sentences with a subject and verb. But what about sentences that have TWO subject-verb pairs? One way the GMAT likes to dazzle with this set-up is by using the word “that” to separate the independent and dependent clauses. In this scenario, “that” will come after a reporting verb. Check it out:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Moira proclaimed that she would not attend the party.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So did you figure out what a reporting verb is? It’s something that doesn’t sound quite done on its own. We wouldn’t say “Moira proclaimed.” If we did, someone is bound to ask, “WHAT did Moira proclaim?” We need more information. (Examples of other reporting verbs are </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">believed</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">responded</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">asserted</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, etc.)</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Notice in this configuration, “Moira” (the first subject) is paired with “proclaimed” (the first verb). Then we get the word “that”, and we reset for “she” (the second subject) and “would not attend” (the second verb). You can visualize it as </span><b>S – V – reset – S – V.</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The GMAT likes to see if you’re paying attention to all the subjects and verbs.</span></p> <h4><b>As a NEW COPY:</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You’ll see “that” functioning as a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">new copy</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> most frequently in questions that are testing parallelism. For example:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">My wealth is greater than that of my parents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">First of all, I hope this is true for you. But secondly, and more importantly, you’ll notice that the meaning of the sentence is that “My wealth is greater than the wealth of my parents.” But why would we want to say “wealth” twice? It’s clunky and it’s way too straightforward for the GMAT. Instead, they’ll put in a word that copies the meaning of wealth—in this case, “that”! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The GMAT will test you to see if you’re paying attention by giving you something like “My wealth is greater than </span><b>those</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of my parents.” Clearly, this doesn’t make sense. “Those” is plural! I’m sure you caught that easily. But again, the GMAT will complicate matters by making this sentence long and full of junk, so you might not notice what “those” is referring to.</span></p> <h4><b>As a DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN:</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Give me that book.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Which book?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Oh, THAT book.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You just learned what demonstrative pronouns are from that little exchange. Congratulations! Unfortunately, the GMAT will not test you on this use. But your nerd friends will LOVE you.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, in summary, pay attention to those little words that we often just skip over in our everyday lives. And let me know how your friends respond when you school them on the four uses of the word “that”. I think they’ll be stoked. ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Want more GMAT tips? Don’t forget to follow us on </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.facebook.com/ManhattanPrepGMAT/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Facebook</i></b></a><b><i>, </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://twitter.com/manhattangmat" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Twitter</i></b></a><b><i>, and </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/2525704/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>LinkedIn</i></b></a><b><i>!</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-12859 size-thumbnail" src="https://d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/01/elaine-loh-150x150.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Elaine Loh Bio Image" width="150" height="150" /><strong><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/elaine-loh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elaine Loh</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California. </em></strong></i></b><i><em>She graduated from Brown University with a degree in psychology and a desire to teach others. She can’t get enough of standardized tests and has been a test prep tutor and teacher for over half her life. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/361" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out Elaine’s upcoming GMAT courses here</a>.</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-impress-friends/">GMAT Grammar that Will Impress Your Friends</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Is Your GMAT Studying Worth $10 Million?</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-studying-oxford-comma-case-maine/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[James Brock]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:39:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[News]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Studying]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Oxford Comma]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=14478</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. It might be! And I’m not talking about the value of the top-10 MBA that your GMAT score might help you get—I’m talking about the […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-studying-oxford-comma-case-maine/">Is Your GMAT Studying Worth $10 Million?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14522" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-studying-worth-10-million-oxford-comma-james-brock.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Is Your GMAT Studying Worth $10 Million? by James Brock" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-studying-worth-10-million-oxford-comma-james-brock.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-studying-worth-10-million-oxford-comma-james-brock-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-studying-worth-10-million-oxford-comma-james-brock-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/08/gmat-studying-worth-10-million-oxford-comma-james-brock-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i></i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">It might be! And I’m not talking about the value of the top-10 MBA that your GMAT score might help you get—I’m talking about the knowledge that you gain from your GMAT studying. Check out this sentence:</span><span id="more-14478"></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Overtime laws do not apply to the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of certain perishable food products.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Did you catch the problem? If you’ve been studying GMAT Sentence Correction for a while, the end of that list probably stood out as a clear violation of parallelism. If you list out the activities to which overtime laws do not apply, you get:</span></p> <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Canning</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Processing</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Preserving</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Freezing</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Drying</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marketing</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Storing</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Packing for shipment or distribution</span></li> </ol> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But the list never gets finished! On the GMAT, a list is only finished off with </span><b>“, and”</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or “</span><b>, or”</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. You can’t just list off a bunch of things and then move on, nor can you assert that “distribution” here is really the 8th item in the list. The GMAT insists on the </span><a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-is-the-oxford-comma" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Oxford comma</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in its lists. So on the GMAT, that sentence is just wrong, and you would need to look for an answer choice that does it correctly.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The real-life problem, though, is that the sentence above (slightly modified) is part of Maine law! In fact, it was the subject of a court case brought by the truck drivers for Oakhurst Dairy. The drivers have been involved in the distribution of perishable food products but not the packing or any of the other activities listed. They asserted that “distribution” was not exempted from overtime law because it’s just part of the modifier on “packing.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Of course, the company argued that the Oxford Comma was unnecessary and that the legislators clearly meant to include distribution as the 8th exempt activity in the list. </span></p> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/oxford-comma-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The appeals court disagreed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, however, and ruled that the meaning was ambiguous. Since this wasn’t the GMAT, they couldn’t just look for an unambiguous sentence, but had to actually make a decision on the meaning of the sentence as written. Faced with the ambiguity, the court ruled the sentence to be read as I listed it out, deciding in favor of the truck drivers. That leaves the company on the hook for up to $10 million dollars of back overtime pay!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re ever doubting whether your GMAT studying is actually worth it, you can rest assured that the knowledge you gain will crop up in strange places! ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Want some more amazing GMAT tips from James? Attend the first session of one of his </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/245" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b><i>upcoming GMAT courses</i></b></a><b><i> absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/james-brock/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">James Brock</a><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/james-brock/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-13755 size-thumbnail" src="https://d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/05/james-brock-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Atlanta, Georgia.</strong> He holds a B.A. in mathematics and a Master of Divinity from Covenant Seminary. James has taught and tutored everything from calculus to chess, and his 780 GMAT score allows him to share his love of teaching and standardized tests with MPrep students. <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">You can check out James’s upcoming GMAT courses here.</a></em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-studying-oxford-comma-case-maine/">Is Your GMAT Studying Worth $10 Million?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Grammar: Using Nor Without Neither</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-using-nor-without-neither/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Emily Madan]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 11 Apr 2017 18:47:53 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Neither and Nor]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=13504</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. This is the first in what I hope will be many student-question inspired posts. Allyson from Philadelphia was wondering whether “nor” had to be paired […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-using-nor-without-neither/">GMAT Grammar: Using Nor Without Neither</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13575" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/4-11-17-social-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Using Nor Without Neither by Emily Madan" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/4-11-17-social-1.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/4-11-17-social-1-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/4-11-17-social-1-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/4-11-17-social-1-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i></i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is the first in what I hope will be many student-question inspired posts. Allyson from Philadelphia was wondering whether “nor” had to be paired with “neither” or whether it could be used on its own. The answer was far more complex than expected, so here it is. If you have an idea for a GMAT grammar blog post, or just have a question that you want answered, email me at </span><a href="mailto:emadan@manhattanprep.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">emadan@manhattanprep.com</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To begin, you’ll need to understand the essentials of parallelism. You can get in-depth coverage of parallelism in our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/store/strategy-guides/sentence-correction/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sentence Correction Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but here are the basics. Two (or more) things in a list have to be both structural and logically parallel. Let’s start with the positive form: either/or.</span><span id="more-13504"></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will either clean the bathroom or walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both are actions that I might do. The word “either,” generally speaking, is optional. If I remove it, the sentence still makes sense.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will clean the bathroom or walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sometimes you’ll need to keep it around because otherwise it’s unclear what the two things being listed are, but that’s not what we’re getting into today. Instead, let’s see what happens when we use the negative form: neither/nor.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will neither clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Same parallel elements, different meaning. It is clear that neither of these actions will occur if I have my way. That clarity disappears as soon as I remove the word “neither” from the sentence.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This meaning is ridiculous. There’s no way to know what I meant to say – it’s that bad. So in this case, “neither” is necessary, but why? The simple answer is that “neither” introduces a negative. Without it, I’m saying “I will…” when what I really mean is “I will not…” That’s why “either” is often optional while “neither” is often not.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But “neither” is not always needed. Sometimes you can clarify within the verb itself that we’re discussing negative actions. Let’s try to change our previous sentence to accommodate this. You would change the first parallel element to:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will not clean the bathroom…</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is clearly negative, even without the neither. I just substituted the word “not.” But it’s not quite that easy. If I bring back the second parallel element, unaltered, look what results:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will not clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This may or may not sound right to you – make sure you’re making note of what issues you’re able to catch by ear and what issues require you to rely on the rules – but I assure you, it is wrong. Let’s pinpoint why.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With only a hasty glance, you could break up the parallelism like so:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will not…</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;">1. clean the bathroom<br /> 2. walk the dog</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The two items are parallel, both are things I will not do, but I’ve neglected the “nor.” Just as neither does, nor negates the clause it’s referring to. So a more accurate breakdown would be:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will not…</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;">1. clean the bathroom<br /> 2. not walk the dog</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve accidentally created a double negative. The meaning of this sentence is closest to “I will not clean the bathroom or I will walk the dog.” That’s not at all what I meant. In order to fix this sentence, we’ll have to be incredibly clear about what I will and won’t do. Try this form:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I will not clean the bathroom, nor will I walk the dog.</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By repeating the verb “I will,” I allowed myself to clearly express the negative form “I will not” for both elements. It’s wordy, but correct. Try to combine these sentences both with and without “neither.”</span></p> <ol> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I do not like apples. I do not like pears.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I cannot swim. I cannot fly.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Magazines are not novels. Magazines are not stories.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The drink is not soda. The drink is not tea.</span></li> </ol> <p>Pausing to give you time before you look at my combinations…</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s combine!</span></p> <ol> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I do not like apples. I do not like pears.</span></li> </ol> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I like neither apples nor pears.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I do not like apples, nor do I like pears.</span></p> <ol start="2"> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I cannot swim. I cannot fly.</span></li> </ol> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I can neither swim nor fly.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I cannot swim, nor can I fly.</span></p> <ol start="3"> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Magazines are not novels. Magazines are not stories.</span></li> </ol> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Magazines are neither novels nor stories.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Magazines are not novels, nor are they stories.</span></p> <ol start="4"> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The drink is not soda. The drink is not tea.</span></li> </ol> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The drink is neither soda nor tea.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The drink is not soda nor is it tea.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In every case, you have to repeat the verb in both parallel elements in order to omit “neither.” You would be incorrect to simply pair nouns (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The drink is not soda nor tea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In sum, “neither” is not essential, but is entirely dependent on whether you are correctly negating each of the things on your list. The trap is an accidental double-negative.</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> It is not…nor X</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> should translate to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is not not X</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Beware of this and brush up on parallelism.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t forget to send any topics you’d like to see in a future grammar post to </span><a href="mailto:emadan@manhattanprep.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">emadan@manhattanprep.com</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">! ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>See that “SUBSCRIBE” button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GMAT blog updates straight to your inbox!</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><em><strong><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/emily-madan/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GMAT%20Blog%20Emily%20Madan%20Instructor%20Bio&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-10901 size-thumbnail" title="Emily Madan Manhattan Prep GMAT Instructor" src="https://d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2016/01/emily-madan-150x150.png" alt="Emily Madan Manhattan Prep GMAT Instructor" width="150" height="150" /></a></strong></em><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/emily-madan/" target="_blank">Emily Madan</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia. </strong></em></i></b><i><em>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential. In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/344" target="_blank">Check out Emily’s upcoming GMAT courses here</a>. Your first class is always free!</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-using-nor-without-neither/">GMAT Grammar: Using Nor Without Neither</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Grammar: Changing the Subject</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-changing-the-subject/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Emily Madan]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 14 Mar 2017 20:14:27 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[subject verb agreement]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=13279</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Subject-verb agreement is fundamental to correct sentence construction. It’s commonly tested on the GMAT, but is overlooked far too often. Today, we’re going to focus […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-changing-the-subject/">GMAT Grammar: Changing the Subject</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13401" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/3-14-17-social-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar: Changing the Subject by Emily Madan" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/3-14-17-social-1.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/3-14-17-social-1-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/3-14-17-social-1-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/03/3-14-17-social-1-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Subject-verb agreement is fundamental to correct sentence construction. It’s commonly tested on the GMAT, but is overlooked far too often. Today, we’re going to focus on the subject of the sentence in GMAT grammar. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The subject is the actor of the sentence. It performs the action described by the verb. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to use “subject” to mean the main subject of the sentence, used in an independent clause, though, of course, a sentence can contain multiple actors/subjects. For example:</span><span id="more-13279"></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I love to dance outside when it rains, but Annabelle prefers to stay indoors. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Both “I” and “Annabelle” are subjects, but </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> subject is “I.” I am the actor, and the action I am performing is loving. I love.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ok, time to come back to practical GMAT grammar applications. I, personally, am an avid believer in the value of the first glance. Don’t know what that is? Invest in our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/store/strategy-guides/sentence-correction/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sentence Correction Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to find out. Otherwise, read on to deepen your use of the first glance. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Consider these three hypothetical answer choices:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A) a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided by the committee<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">B) the committee was unable to come to a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">C) the committee’s conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While there are a variety of differences between these answers, one should jump out as most important. There is some variation in each answer choice’s subject. The subject matters. The question we need to ask ourselves is: Why? </span><b>How will changing the subject affect the overall sentence?</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Well, we have three likely reasons.</span></p> <h4><b>1. There is a disagreement between the subject and the verb in some answer choices.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is generally the easiest one to search for. Go find the corresponding verb for each answer choice to spot disagreement. The subjects and verbs are in bold:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">A)<b> a conclusion</b> <del><span style="font-weight: 400;">about the value of continuing to fund the research</span></del> <b>could not be decided</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;"><del>by the committee</del><br /> </span>B)<b> the committee was unable</b> <b>to come to a conclusion</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;"><del>about the value of continuing to fund the research</del><br /> </span>C)<b> the committee’s conclusion</b> <del><span style="font-weight: 400;">about the value of continuing to fund the research</span></del> <b>could not be decided</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While you may need practice before you quickly spot these sentence cores, once you do you should be able to recognize that for this example, there’s no disagreement. There might be some answers you prefer, but that’s a stylistic preference, not a definitive reason to eliminate. Ok, move on to the next possibility.</span></p> <h4><b>2. There is a modifier that describes a particular subject.</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is incredibly common with </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2016/03/16/gmat-grammar-biweekly-opening-modifiers/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">opening modifiers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. These must describe the subject of the sentence, so we should verify this. You’ll need the full sentence to determine whether this is the issue, but we can watch for a few typical signs. If the underlined portion begins or ends immediately before the first comma in the sentence, this is likely testing modifiers. That first clause could be an opening modifier, so it’s just a question of whether the modifier is set and you need to adjust the subject accordingly or vice-versa.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s our example with the full sentence included:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Without a deeper knowledge of the quantum mechanics driving the scientists’ hypothesis, </span><em>a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided by the committee</em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and therefore voted to delay judgement.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A) a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided by the committee<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">B) the committee was unable to come to a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">C) the committee’s conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is definitely an example of an opening modifier. Some entity is missing a deeper knowledge, as described by the first clause, and it’s up to us as test takers to decide which subject fits. For that reason alone, the subject cannot be “a conclusion.” The conclusion may be reached by uninformed people, but it is not, itself, missing knowledge. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That logic eliminates both A and C! Did you catch the possessive form of committee in C? The committee is describing whose conclusion it is, but is not actually the subject. Answer B is the only one with the correct subject, “the committee.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But don’t stop reading yet! If that opening modifier were not present, you could still use the subject to pinpoint the right answer. Let’s remove the modifier from the equation as we delve into the third reason the subject might be changed.</span></p> <h4><b>3. Changing the subject changes the meaning of the sentence.</b></h4> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">A conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided by the committee</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and therefore voted to delay judgement.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A) A conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided by the committee<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">B) The committee was unable to come to a conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">C) The committee’s conclusion about the value of continuing to fund the research could not be decided</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is the hardest to spot, so excellent job if you saw the meaning shift. Generally the meaning change becomes more obvious the more you strip the sentence down to its core. The core of the sentence as written is:</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A conclusion could not be decided and voted to delay judgement.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now we have a transparently nonsensical meaning. The conclusion voted to delay judgement? No. Only the committee could do that, so committee must be the subject. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In sum, if the subject changes, that matters! Try to figure out why it matters and what it’s testing to confidently eliminate answer choices. For more examples and more detail, check out our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/store/strategy-guides/sentence-correction/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sentence Correction Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>Of course, the most in-depth way to learn the ins-and-outs of the GMAT is to </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/" target="_blank"><b><i>take a complete course</i></b></a><b><i> with one of our master instructors. You can try out any first session for free! No strings attached. We promise.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><em><strong><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/emily-madan/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GMAT%20Blog%20Emily%20Madan%20Instructor%20Bio&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-10901 size-thumbnail" title="Emily Madan Manhattan Prep GMAT Instructor" src="https://d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2016/01/emily-madan-150x150.png" alt="Emily Madan Manhattan Prep GMAT Instructor" width="150" height="150" /></a></strong></em><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/emily-madan/" target="_blank">Emily Madan</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia. </strong></em></i></b><i><em>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential. In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/344" target="_blank">Check out Emily’s upcoming GMAT courses here</a>. Your first class is always free!</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-grammar-changing-the-subject/">GMAT Grammar: Changing the Subject</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>GMAT Sentence Correction: Spot the Trap! (Part 2)</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-spot-the-trap-part-2/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Stacey Koprince]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2017 17:00:32 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[For Current Studiers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GMAT Study Guide]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How to Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sentence Correction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat grammar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gmat sentence correction]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/?p=13190</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Last time, we talked about how to read for meaning and spot redundancy traps on GMAT Sentence Correction. I’ve got another trappy SC for you; […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-spot-the-trap-part-2/">GMAT Sentence Correction: Spot the Trap! (Part 2)</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13241" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/02/2-21-17-blog-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Sentence Correction: Spot the Trap! (Part 2) by Stacey Koprince" width="676" height="264" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/02/2-21-17-blog-1.png 676w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2017/02/2-21-17-blog-1-300x117.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px" /></p> <p><strong><em>Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GMAT%20Complete%20Courses%20Plug&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog" target="_blank">Check out our upcoming courses here</a>.</em></strong></p> <hr /> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last time, we talked about how to <a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2017/02/07/gmat-sentence-correction-spot-the-trap-part-1/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=SK%20404%20-%20GMAT%20Sentence%20Correction%3A%20Spot%20the%20Trap!%20(Part%202)%20-%20Link%20back%20to%20Part%201" target="_blank">read for meaning and spot redundancy traps</a> on GMAT Sentence Correction.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve got another trappy SC for you; this one is from the GMATPrep® free exams. Go for it!</span><span id="more-13190"></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">* “A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cane</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has been called one of the three best novels ever written by </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Black Americans—the others being Richard Wright, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and Ralph Ellison, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“(A) Black Americans—the others being Richard Wright, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and Ralph Ellison, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“(B) Black Americans—including </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by Richard Wright and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> by Ralph Ellison</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“(C) a Black American—including Richard Wright, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and Ralph Ellison, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“(D) a Black American—the others being Richard Wright, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and Ralph Ellison, author of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“(E) a Black American—the others being Richard Wright’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and Ralph Ellison’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Invisible Man</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What did you think?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My first glance at the beginning of each answer choice told me something was going on with singular vs. plural: should it be </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Black Americans</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a Black American</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? Keep an eye out for that as you read the original sentence.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s the language that leads into that singular vs. plural decision:</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“one of the three best novels ever written by…” (singular or plural?)</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It depends. Are we talking about multiple people who collaborate to write each novel? Or are we talking about three novels written by three individual authors?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The remainder of the sentence indicates that the latter scenario is the case, so the sentence needs to say </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Eliminate choices (A) and (B).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Or maybe you’re not sure what to do about that issue? I confess that I’m wondering whether it would be okay to use the plural </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Black Americans</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (even though the singular sounds better to my ear*). So let’s look for something else to make sure that we’re getting this right.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">*By the way, my ear is wrong in this case. ?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What else did you spot in the original sentence?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I know! </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">! Did you cross off the original sentence because of that word?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Careful. The word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is very easy to use incorrectly—that’s why it’s often wrong on GMAT problems—but </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> can be used correctly in a sentence, too.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We have two choices for this part of the sentence: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the others being </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">including</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. What’s the difference?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">comma including</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">** or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">hyphen including</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> structure is another way of saying “for example,” and the examples represent the noun that’s just before the comma or hyphen.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this case, the noun just before is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Black Americans</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a Black American</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">), so answer (B) can’t be right, since novels are not people.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Answer (C) is okay…if all you’re trying to do is give a couple of examples of Black Americans. Is that what the sentence is really trying to do?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">No, it’s not. The sentence first talked about one novel that is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">one of the three best novels—</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">so, later, it should be talking about the other two novels in this group of three. We could guess that the sentence is probably trying to say that these other two Black Americans are the authors of these other two best novels…but the sentence doesn’t actually say that. Eliminate choice (C).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That leaves us with </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the others being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in all three remaining choices! If you’d crossed them off because you’d heard that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is always wrong, you’d have crossed off the right answer. ?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lesson learned: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is often wrong—but not always. If you absolutely have to guess, then your odds are better if you choose an option that does not contain </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. But only go there if you have to guess. First, deal with everything that you can in the rest of the sentence.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Okay, so we’re stuck with </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Let’s go back to our insight about the meaning of the sentence: First, we learn about Jean Toomer’s novel </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cane</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">—one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American. The </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">others</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, then, are the other two </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">novels</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, not the other two </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">authors</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The sentence does not claim that these are the three best writers, only that certain novels are the three best novels.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Answer (E) has the correct meaning: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the others </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(two novels)</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> being</span></i> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Native Son</span></i> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">and Invisible Man</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Answers (A) and (D) both emphasize the authors, not the novels; eliminate these choices.</span></p> <p><strong>The correct answer is (E).</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Over the last decade, the GMAT has done a great job of moving away from testing super obscure and nitpicky rules and more towards testing something that really matters in day-to-day writing: the meaning that the sentence is trying to convey.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some of the older study material, though, still focuses more on the nitpicky stuff—and if that’s all you’re focused on, too, then you’re going to struggle with SC when you get to the real test. So start paying attention to meaning: you’re looking for clear, logical, unambiguous, and non-redundant sentences.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">**Note: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">comma including</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> looks like a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">comma –ing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> structure, but it isn’t. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Comma including </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">is a noun modifier; it’s an exception to the typical </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">comma –ing</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> adverbial modifier structure.</span></p> <h4><b>Key Takeaways for Meaning in Sentence Correction</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">(1) Sometimes, you need to back away from the screen a little bit and think about the overall meaning of a sentence or part of a sentence. Don’t be so focused on micro-portions that you lose sight of the big picture.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">(2) Know the difference between playing the odds and actually making a firm decision. It’s true that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is often wrong, but it </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">can</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> be right and it can be very hard to tell the difference. My rule: ignore and deal with everything else that I know how to do. If I still have to guess from there, and only some of the remaining choices have </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">being</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, then I’ll cross those off—but I know I’m just playing the odds at that point.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">(3) As you get better with handling meaning, it’s really important to be able to find the core sentence. Want more practice with that skill?</span><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2015/01/02/gmat-sentence-correction-find-core-sentence-part-1/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=SK%20404%20-%20GMAT%20Sentence%20Correction%3A%20Spot%20the%20Trap!%20(Part%202)%20-%20Link%20to%20GMAT%20SC%3A%20How%20to%20Find%20the%20Core%20Sentence%20(Part%201)" target="_blank"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out this series</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. ?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">* GMATPrep® questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.</span></p> <hr /> <p><em><strong>Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceCoursesLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog#instructor/86" target="_blank">her upcoming GMAT courses</a> absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. </strong></em></p> <hr /> <p><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-9719 size-thumbnail" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png" alt="stacey-koprince" width="150" height="150" /></a><em><strong><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog" target="_blank">Stacey Koprince</a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.</strong> Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceCoursesLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog#instructor/86" target="_blank">Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here</a>.</em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-sentence-correction-spot-the-trap-part-2/">GMAT Sentence Correction: Spot the Trap! (Part 2)</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat">GMAT</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>