SAT GRAMMARJONATHAN EISEN

Types of Questions

Improving SentencesIdentifying Sentence ErrorImproving Paragraphs

Skills and Strategy

Grammar is a game of matching

Questions in each “question type” section get harder as they go along

Find the answer yourself first before you read the answers

Know your skip strategy

Parts of Speech

Noun

Verb

Adjective

Adverb

Preposition

Conjunction

Coordinating, Subordinating, Conjunctive Adverb

Gerund

Participle

Parts of a Sentence

Subject Versus Object

Mike hit the baseball.

The baseball hit Mike.

Active voice versus Passive Voice

Active Voice The subject of the sentence is

performing the action expressed in the verb

Ex: Mike round-house kicked Tom in the face.

Passive Voice The subject of the sentence is acted

upon by the verb

Ex. Tom was round-house kicked in the face by Mike.

Passive Voice: Sometimes it is OK

When the object in the sentence is more important than the subject

Ex: Now a popular television series on HBO, Game of Thrones was written by author George R. R. Martin.

EX: Pi is widely considered to be the most important number in geometry.

Pronouns

1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person

Subjective

Objective

Conjunction Junction

Coordinating Conjunctions

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

afteralthoughasbecausebeforeeven ifeven thoughifin order that onceprovided thatrather thansinceso that

thanthatthoughunless untilwhenwheneverwherewhereaswhereverwhetherwhilewhy

Subordinate Conjunctions

Practice Sentences

Ben Franklin was a respected and talented statesman, and he was most famous for his scientific discovery of electricity.

Since the small electronic industry is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors, because demand for the computer chip continues to be high.

Yeats eventually created a unique voice in his poetry, but he was able to shake off the restricting influences of the British literary tradition.

Infinitive versus Gerund

Team officials heralded Cap Day as an attempt at attracting a larger turnout of fans.

Surveillance cameras are frequently placed in convenience stores to prevent customers to shoplift.

Any parent would see the value to set a curfew for their child.

The trade agreement is designed to prevent Japan from limiting the amount of their imports.

Dangling Participles

Hiking the trail, the birds chirped loudly.

Wishing I could sing, the high notes seemed to haunt me.

Flying for the first time, the roar of the jet engines intimidated the small child and he grew frightened as the plane roared down the runway.

Wrong Words! Common Diction errors

Accept/Except

Adapt/Adopt

Affect/Effect

Afflict/Inflict

Allusion/Illusion

Eminent/Imminent

Lay/Lie

allude/elude

Disinterested/uninterested

Proceed/precede

Desirous/desirable

Wrong Words!

Raise/Rise

Set/Sit

Regardless/Irregardless

Ingenuous/ingenious

Empathetic/emphatic

Perspective/prospective

Implicate/imply

Deduce/induce

compliment/complement

Commonly Tested Prepositions

Abide by

Abide in

Accuse of

Agree to

Agree with

Agree on

Apologize for

Apply for

Apply to

Approve of

Argue about

Arrive at

Rely (up)on

Blame for

Believe in

Care about

Care for

Charge for

Charge with

Compare to

Compare with

Complain about

Consist of

Contribute to

Count (up)on

Cover with

Decide (up)on

Depend (up)on

Differ about

Differ from

Differ over

Differ with

Discriminate against

Distinguish from

Dream about

Dream of

Escape from

Excel in

Excuse for

Forget about

Forgive for

Hide from

Hope for

Insist (up)on

Object to

Participate in

Pray for

Prevent from

Prohibit from

Protect from

Provide with

Recover from

More Prepositions

Rescue from

Respond to

Stare at

Stop from

Subscribe to

Substitute for

Succeed in

Thank for

Vote for

Wait for

Wait on

Work with

Worry about

Comparison Errors: Comparing Apples and Oranges

I like both tea and coffee, but I drink more tea than coffee

The players on my team are better than your team

Skateboarding in New York, unlike California, is usually hampered by busy streets and crowded sidewalks.

It is generally thought that a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times betters than humans.

More Apples and Oranges

The introduction of elevators in hotels meant that previously undesirable rooms on the top floors, away from the bustle and noise of the street, because sought after and more expensive than the lower floors.

The language of the Navajo people, like their Apache cousins, are classified in the Athabascan language family.

The legend of Admiral Nelson, like other Naval heroes, is based only partially on fact.

Mixed Constructions

Rising health care costs decrease health insurance for many people.

The fact that the marathon is twenty-six miles, a length that explains why I never have finished it.

The most valued trait in an employee is a person who is loyal.

Indigestion is when you cannot digest food

The reason I enjoy horseback riding is because it provides outdoor exercise.

A mixed construction is a sentence containing parts that do not sensibly fit together. It may contain phrases or clauses that do not fit together logically or a subject that does not work grammatically with a predicate.

More M.C.s

In their effort to save time on the road caused them to get a speeding ticket.

 By studying hard, partying less, and working less will give me better grades this semester.

Those six pounds that a woman desperately wants to shed or a man wanting to fill out the arms of his shirts have become the latest trend in America.

A compromise between Disneyland and Hawaii would be an ideal place to vacation.

Her greatest accomplishment at the volleyball tournament was when she aced seven serves in a row.

Faulty Parallelism

The French, the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese

In spring, summer, or in winter

It was both a long ceremony and very tedious.

A time not for words, but action

My income is smaller than my wife.

More Faulty Parallelism

The crowd that had gathered outside the court was loud and they were angry.

Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated English chemist, was an excellent literary critic as well as being a great scientist.

A company is not only responsible to its shareholders but also customers and employees as well.

Annie's dress was old, faded, and it had wrinkles.

By the time she was two, the child was not only active but also she was well coordinated.