<p>Get your hands on all the SAT grammar rules. Learn them.</p>
<p>Then follow these steps in order for every grammar question:</p>
<p>1) physically cross out “intruders,” non-integral parts of the sentence that don’t mess up grammatical flow if you delete them
i.e. The set of books were expensive…turns into…The set were expensive.
“were”…wrong subject-verb agreement. You should change to “was.” Kicking out intruders helps with S-V agreement.</p>
<p>2) physically circle all verbs and pronouns</p>
<p>3) use following “Nuclear Codes”</p>
<p>Nuclear Codes for Grammar:
These are to the SAT what the atomic bomb was to the world: an overwhelmingly devastating weapon for which there was no recourse. Complete annihilation of the target, which in this case is the grammar section. But please, use these nuclear codes liberally, frequently, and unforgettably.</p>
<p>Prelaunch sequence: you must first kick out all intruders, always. This is the first step to all grammar questions, no exceptions. After you’ve completed this prerequisite step, you may enter the launch codes as follow. Use one, use two, hell, use all codes…whatever is applicable and appropriate for the situation.</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #1: VERBS
If you see a verb:
• Check for subject-verb agreement/number agreement (did you cross out intruders first?)
• Check the tense</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #2: PRONOUNS
If you see a pronoun:
• Check for ambiguity/vagueness
• Check for number agreement (“their” vs. “him/her”)
• Check for pronoun consistency (i.e. doesn’t change from “you” to “one,” etc.)</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #3: DANGLING MODIFIERS
If you see a descriptive phrase followed by a comma:
• Check if the subject immediately following the comma is the thing being described by the descriptive phrase (called the modifier); if not, it’s wrong</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #4: COMMAS
If you see a comma:
• Check if the clauses before and after it are independent or dependent; then follow appropriate protocol regarding commas/clauses
• Remember sometimes commas are meant to create appositives (intruders created by two commas on either end of the intruder phrase). These commas do not follow the independent/dependent clause rules.
• Make sure you don’t introduce a comma mistake! Some answer choices will actually ADD a comma that shouldn’t be there. Some choices will DELETE a comma that should be there.</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #5: BEING/HAVING/IN REGARDS TO
If you see these words (being/having/in regards to):
• The choice containing those words is probably wrong because there is a simpler, cleaner way of expressing the same idea in another answer choice</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #6: OF (PREPOSITIONS)
If you spot the word “of” or other similar short prepositions:
• Check to see the intruder that is probably following immediately behind, and kick it out</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #7: THAN/BETWEEN (PARALLELISM)
If you spot these words (than/between):
• These two words necessarily mean there is a comparison happening in the sentence, so it behooves you to heed my words on illogical comparisons/parallelism
• Identify the two things being compared
• Check that the two things being compared are logical and parallel (apples to apples, oranges to oranges)</p>
<p>Nuclear Code #8: PARALLELSIM (LISTS)
If you see a pair, list, or series:
• Check to make sure everything is parallel
• Remember to identify the phrase setting the parallel tone for the rest of the sentence
• Beware of tricky crap where they try to get you to create parallelism with the wrong part of the sentence (add an example here)
• Sometimes the word “and” can sneak pass, so make sure the two things joined by “and” are parallel (add example)</p>
<p>Final note: if you think a phrase or word is unneeded, you may NOT identify it as an error…yet. Just because the sentence reads grammatically fine without the extra phrase/word you’ve identified doesn’t mean the sentence is wrong to include it. Only choose it as an error if there is a GRAMMATICAL error.</p>
<p>Get used to “weird sounding” phrases. They are often used in more sophisticated writing that you may not be used to or have even ever heard before. But they are not wrong.</p>
<p>You differentiate between “weird” and “wrong” by attributing a specific grammar error (like the ones listed above) to it. If you can’t, then it’s probably just weird but not wrong.</p>
Is there any way to improve? It seems to be the consensus on this board that Writing is the easiest and yet, for me, it would seem to be an obstacle.</p>