Reglas para el sat

www.methodtestprep.com Review of Grammar Rules Frequently tested on the SAT
The writing section of the SAT is extremely repetitive. The test makers ask you about the same grammar mistakes on every test. Subject-Verb Agreement The most common grammar mistake that students are tested on is subject-verb agreement. Here is an example: The committee, made up of several women, are deciding on theschool budget next week. No A B C D error. E The mistake is choice “C”. The subject of this sentence is “committee”, which is singular and therefore needs a singular verb. “Is” should replace “are” in this sentence. This sentence contains a clause. The clause is the fragment of the sentence between the two commas, and it separates the subject from the verb. Therefore, you are tricked to think that theverb (“are”) should agree with “women”. In this case, read the sentence and eliminate the clause, so that the subject and the verb come directly after each other. By doing this, you will be able to tell if the subject does not agree with the verb. Here is a second example: We enjoyed the brilliant sunshine of the beach so much that day that when A B we left there was only one couple and onelifeguard still there. No error. C D E The mistake is in choice C. “One couple and one lifeguard” is an example of a compound subject. A compound subject is when there is more than one person in the subject. A compound subject must always go with a plural verb. “Was” is a singular verb; “were” is a plural verb and should be used instead. Examples to reference in the book “The Official Guide to theSAT”: p. 480 #27, p. 539 #19, p. 540 #26, p. 603 #24, #26, #29, p. 660 #19, p. 661 #24, #27, p. 725 #20, #27, p. 782 #14, p. 783 #18, #21, #23, p. 846 #12, #14, #16, p. 847 #29

Subject-Pronoun Agreement Another grammar mistake they ask about constantly is subject-pronoun agreement. This is a lot easier to understand than it sounds. An example will help you understand exactly what to look out for: Asmart tennis player such as Samantha is someone who knows how to A B move around the court, can hit winners at the net, and controls their emotions. No error. C D E The mistake is in choice D. “Their” is a plural pronoun. The antecedent, and subject in the sentence, “player”, is singular. Instead of using “their”, the sentence should have used “her” as the pronoun. Examples to reference in thebook “The Official Guide to the SAT”: p. 479 #15, p. 480 #28, p. 539 #20, p. 540 #28, p. 602 #15, p.603 #20; p.725 #25, p. 783 #19, p. 847 #19, Parallel Sentence Structure A third grammar concept that is commonly tested on the SAT writing section is called parallel sentence structure. Here is an example of a sentence with a mistake in parallel sentence structure. In a survey of the school’s fifthgraders, playing in gym class, painting in art A class, participating in science labs and lunch time were all mentioned repeatedly as B C favorite activities in school. No error. D E In this sentence, “lunch time” should be changed to “eating lunch.” Each of the items that the fifth graders mentioned start with an “-ing” word. This is called parallel sentence structure. Each item in a series shouldbe written in the same grammatical form. Examples to reference in the book “The Official Guide to the SAT”: p. 413 #5; p. 415 #16, #18; p. 478 #6, #9, p. 480 #20, #22, p. 602 #18, p. 661 #23, p. 724 #19, p. 783 #22 Proper Verb Tense The SAT also tests students on proper verb tense. Here is a sentence that contains an improper verb tense: The three coaches decided not to pick the team right afterpractice that day, but they do talk on A B C the phone and made the final decisions that night. No error. D E

This entire sentence is written in the past tense. For example, “decided” is a verb used when something happened in the past. Choice C contains the mistake because “do” is in the present tense. “Do” should be changed to “did.” Examples to reference in the book “The Official Guide to...