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<p>If you are using “group” (or similar words, such as “crowd”) to refer to the group as a whole, you “that” or “which.” If you are using “group” to refer to the members of the group (as in “The group have very different opinions on that issue”), use “who.” </p>
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<p>Yes, “which” can be a subject or object.</p>
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<p>Yes, that is fine.</p>
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<p>“characteristic” is indeed being used as an adjective there and, thus, cannot be pluralized. The structure of “have become characteristic of” is “[auxiliary verb] [linking verb] [adjective complement].”</p>
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<p>The primary sources: knowledgeable parents on CC (e.g., alumni interviewers with close connections to admissions officers), college information sessions, discussions I’ve had with admissions officers, inferential analyses of results threads on CC, and data released by the colleges. I’ve talked to one MIT admissions officer about the guide since its posting and he didn’t seem to have any problems with what’s in it.</p>
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<p>Incorrect, correct, incorrect, respectively. I agree with crazybandit’s excellent explanations in post #1184.</p>
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<p>Colleges want students who volunteer. Some students who volunteer might be doing it merely for college admissions and, thus, would not have done it otherwise; but all students who don’t volunteer would not do it if colleges were to not look for it. So do what you can in the time that you have left.</p>
<p>What’s the difference between “…and…” and “…, and…”?</p>
<p>
The comma is usually needed when there are two (or more) independent clauses. I say “usually” because the comma can be omitted in some cases when the clauses are short and balanced and, I guess, sound better without the pause: “I came and I conquered.” There should be no comma if there is only one explicit subject unless there are more than two elements, in which case a comma should be between every two elements: “I came and conquered.” “I came, saw, and conquered.” (It would be wrong most of the time to use the construction “I came, and conquered.” You would have to say, “I came, and I conquered.” It could be right sometimes, I think, maybe, if the pause is needed for stylistic reasons.) Comma usage is in part a stylistic thing as opposed to a strict set of grammatical rules.</p>
<p>CORRECT: “I came, and I conquered.”
CORRECT: “I came and I conquered.” (short clauses only)
CORRECT: “I came, I saw, and I conquered.”
INCORRECT: “I came, I saw and I conquered.”
CORRECT: "I came, saw, and conquered.
INCORRECT: “I came, saw and conquered.”
CORRECT: “I came and conquered.”
INCORRECT: “I came, and conquered.”</p>
<p>Now that I think about it, “I came, and conquered” could be considered correct–although maybe not technically–because the pause gives the sentence a certain effect when you say it out loud. I hope you get my point, though, that you generally need to repeat the subject (“I”), or introduce another one, if you want to use a comma.</p>
<p>in addition to what cb said, a comma precedes “and” only when “and” introduces the last item of a series of three or more items, or when it is functioning as a coordinating conjunction connecting two independent clauses. Without the comma, and is used to form compound subjects and objects. </p>
<p>“I came, and conquered” would be incorrect outside of indicating a pause in a manuscript of some kind; “and conquered” is not a clause as it lacks a subject. It could be considered an elliptical clause, but that is, by definition, grammatically incomplete (though the meaning is clear).</p>
<p>Some grammarians argue that “I A, B and C” is not necessarily incorrect. Not all writers place a comma before the and introducing the last of a series of three or more.</p>
<p>As for short sentences: a writer will never be considered incorrect in placing a comma before and in “I came, and I conquered.” Some but not all grammarians accept the omission of the comma in short sentences comprising clauses that share a subject.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the ets wants.</p>
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<p>That isn’t a selection. The actual selection is </p>
<p>[is a nineteenth-century technique “wherein”…or…“in which”]</p>
<p>However, this changes the meaning since the name is not a nineteenth-century technique; the name comes from a nineteenth century technique.</p>
<p>The annual National Concrete Canoe Competition attracts teams of engineering students having designed canoes that promote the versatility of concrete.
(A) having designed
(B) who have designed
(C) for designing
(D) to be designing
(E) and they designed </p>
<p>B is correct, but can a team/group be referred to as “who”? Shouldn’t “which”/“that” be used to identify the team, instead?</p>
<p>Persistent use of antibacterial soaps in homes (both kills) (many innocuous) bacteria and (encourages) harmful ones to develop (even more resistant) strains. No error</p>
<p>There is no error in this sentence… But, is “many” the correct modifier for “bacteria”? Isn’t many used for countable nouns?</p>
<p>How do you guys go about checking your work for the CR section? I find that I usually have around 4-5 minutes left on each section, but can’t really spot any ‘critical’ errors that I’ve made. </p>
<p>Do you guys try to check every single answer, or do you focus on a couple of questions that are troublesome?</p>
<p>^^^^^^Lol. Sorry I ought to have been more careful reading that.</p>
<p>silverturtle, please have a look at the two questions I asked :)</p>
<p>One more question:
'none’s pluarlity or singularity depends on the preceding word, such as
None of them are good.
None of it is good.</p>
<p>What about ‘anyone’?
Does it follow the same rule?
Anyone of them are good?
Or is it always singular? Shed some light on this and words like this. Thanks!</p>
<p>@silverturtle awesome guide! you really don’t know how awesome you are for putting this up :P.
One little thing though, in the part where you talk about logical conjunctions (under the writing section…section, end of first page).
You give wrong, illogical examples:
"I am hungry, and I do not eat.</p>
<p>I am hungry, but I am about to go buy food."
and correct them:
"I am hungry, but I do not eat.</p>
<p>I am hungry, so I am about to go buy food."</p>
<p>and right after you give these examples (and state that they’re correct):
"I bought a llama, but I could afford it.</p>
<p>I bought a llama. However, I could not afford it."
I really love how you have hilarious examples, probably so as to not bore the readers (and they really do work), but the llama examples both seem illogical (thus incorrect…?) and they’re kind of confusing especially when they’re right after you just finished explaining illogical conjunctions and how they’re wrong.
I’ll be glad if you could also point out any errors you spot in this post. My exams are next week, I can’t afford typing errors 
great guide man.</p>
<p>How do you guys mark a question you want to go back to?</p>
<p>I generally circle the questions that I want to look at again on the actual answer sheet… Is that okay, it’s not going to like mess up my score with the computer or anything right?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Nope.</p>
<p>tanchar</p>
<p>@silverturtle,
This sounds like a really stupid question but is the sentence always incorrect if there are two different verb tenses (ex. present and past) in that same sentence? </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>^Not really; whether the sentence is correct or not should always depend on the context.</p>