My Notes - 1

Chapter 4: Errors involving Verbs

1.       Phrases between the Subject and Verb

2.       The Subjects follows the verb

a.       An expletive construction occurs when a sentence begins with there, here or it and they invert the order of subject and verb:

                                                               i.      There are many reasons for the tax increase.

                                                             ii.      Here is the map.

b.      Sentence containing “there is” or “here is” should cause you to immediately confirm subject verb agreement.

3.       Compound Subject: Compound subjects are receives plural verbs. An exception to this rule occurs when the compound subject is joined by “or” or “nor”. The noun or pronoun closest to the verb determines the form of the verb.

a.       Each and every in front of compound subject must have a singular verb because each and every are singular.

4.       Indefinite Pronouns as the Subject:

a.       Each is always singular

5.       Subject verb agreement in Dependent Clauses

6.       Verb Tense :

a.       Simple Tenses:

                                                               i.      Simple Past: This form simply shows that the action occurred at some point in Past. E.g. I walked two miles.

                                                             ii.      Simple Present: This forms shows that what happens right now, at the moment the sentence is spoken or written. E.g. I walk the path every day.

                                                            iii.      Simple Future:  This form of future tense shows what will or what may happen at some point in the future. This need shall or will to convey that the events will occur in the future. E.g. I will walk to school tomorrow.

b.      Progressive Tenses:

                                                               i.      Past Progressive: This form simply shows that the action occurred at a specific point in past. The ongoing action occurred in the past and has been completed by the time the sentence is spoken or written. E.g. I was walking on the beach when you called.

                                                             ii.      Present Progressive: This form simply shows that the action happening now. E.g. I am walking to the store to get the milk.

                                                            iii.      Future Progressive: This form simply shows that the action will continue to happen in the future. E.g. I will still be walking to the party when you get there.

c.       Perfect Tenses:

                                                               i.      Past Perfect:

ü  This form used to show action that was started and completed in the past.

ü  It is often used in a sentence that discusses two past events that occurred at different time; past perfect is assigned to the first event to distinguish the time of its occurred from the most recent event.

ü  This form shows that the action occurred at some point in the past before another event in the past. So sentences with past perfect tense will have two verbs.

ü  E.g. I had walked to the store and back by the time you got off the phone.

                                                             ii.      Present Perfect:

ü  This form shows that has happened in the past, that may or may not yet be completed.

ü  It often suggests that the past action is influencing events in present.

ü  E.g. I have walked to work for over six years.

                                                            iii.      Future Perfect:

ü  This form shows an action or event that will be completed sometime in the future before another action or event occurs.

ü  E.g. I will have walked six miles by the time you get out of bed tomorrow.

d.      Perfect Progressive Tenses:

                                                               i.      Past Perfect Progressive: This form shows that the action started some point in the past, continued for a period of time , and was eventually interrupted or stopped by another event in past. E.g. I had been walking to school for months before I got my new car.

                                                             ii.      Present Perfect Progressive: This form shows that the action started in past and has continued. However, this tense stresses that action has continued and is not completed. E.g. I have been walking with you since we moved into the neighborhood.

                                                            iii.      Future Perfect Progressive: This form simply shows that the action began in the past, but will continue until a particular point in the future. E.g. they will have been walking together for six years next May.

7.       Conditional Verb :

a.       A conditional statement uses the word “if” in a dependent clause to state an outcome in an independent clause.

b.      Most conditional statements appear in two types of construction using the word if: If x occurs, then y occurs and y occurs if x occurs.

c.       Conditionals can also place the subject after the verb in the dependent clause. In this case, the word if is not needed.

d.      In order to determine the proper tenses of the two verbs in a conditional statement, we must first determine whether the sentence is factual or hypothetical.

                                                               i.      Factual:

ü  Factual Past Tense: Factual conditional statements in the past receive a past tense verb in both the conditional clause and the main clause. E.g. If we were in town for Labor Day, we always went to the Rossi’s party.

ü  Factual Present Tense: Present tense factual conditional use a present tense verb in both clauses. E.g. If the grill turns off, the bratwurst gets cold.

ü  Factual Future Tense: Real conditionals in the future use a present tense verb in the conditional clause and a simple future tense in the independent clause. E.g. If I play horseshoes, I will call you.

                                                             ii.      Hypothetical:

ü  Hypothetical Past Tense: Past tense hypothetical conditional statements take a step further back in past and use a past perfect verb in the conditional clause. E.g. If he had gone to the party, he would have had a great time.

ü  Hypothetical Present Tense: Present tense hypothetical conditionals step back and use a past tense verb in the conditional. E.g. If they played better, we might win this game.

ü  Hypothetical Future Tense: The future hypothetical conditional turn back the clock two steps and uses a past tense verb in the conditional clause and the word “would” with the verb in the independent clause. E.g. If unicorns came out of that forest, I would faint.

e.      Hypothetical is for far-fetched or impossible events.

8.       Irregular Verb: if you see the words had, has or have in a sentence correction question, beware of verb tense errors with both regular and irregular verbs.

9.       Verb Voice:

a.       Transitive verbs: Verbs that take a direct object are called transitive verbs. E.g. I set the table.

b.      Intransitive verbs: Verbs that do not take a direct object are called intransitive verbs. E.g. She smiles often.

c.       Active Voice: He typed the letter

d.      Passive Voice: The letter was typed by him.

Chapter5: Errors with Nouns & Pronouns

v  Nouns must agree in number to the noun they are referencing. This means that singular nouns must be used to refer to singular noun, and plural nouns must be used to refer to plural nouns.

v  An antecedent is the word a pronoun stands for in the sentence.

v  Personal pronouns are those that refer to particular people or things, such as I, you, he, her, we, they, me, and yourself.

v  Indefinite pronouns are just opposite. They do not refer to any particular people or things, and include words such as all, everyone, each, somebody, and something.

v  Relative pronouns are used to introduce a clause, such as who, which and that.

Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement

v  A singular antecedent must employ a singular pronoun.

v  The plural antecedent must use a plural pronoun.

v  Compound antecedent must also receive plural pronoun.

v  The indefinite pronouns anyone, anybody, each, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, no one, and nobody are always singular antecedents on the GMAT.

v  Few, many, and several are plural antecedents. The word few is always plural, so its pronoun stand-in must also be plural.

v  The final pronoun agreement error occurs with the use of misleading words, such as Army etc.

Relative Pronouns

v  Relative pronouns are appropriately named because they relate groups of words to another noun or pronoun. Relative pronouns includes who, whom, that, which, whoever, whomever, and whichever.

v  When referring to the people, use who, whom, whoever and whomever.

v  When referring to a place, a time or a things use that, which and whichever.

v  A clause beginning with a relative pronoun should be positioned as close as possible tp the noun it is modifying.

v  Who Vs Whom:

o   Use whom when it follows a preposition

o   Substitute he or him for who or whom in the clause or in the sentence. If he makes sense the answer is who and if him makes sense the answer is whom.

o   Some time we might have to rearrange the clause or the sentence in order for either one to make sense.

Ambiguous and Implied Pronouns

v  Ambiguous pronoun most often occurs when the pronoun can refer to more than one antecedent.

Chapter6: Errors Involving Modifiers

v  Adjective Vs Adverb

v  Quantifiers: Quantifiers are the modifying words that come before the noun and tell how many or how much.

o   Following quantifiers can be used only with countable nouns

§  Many

§  Both

§  Few

§  A few

§  Several

§  A couple of

§  None of the

§  Numerous

§  A number of

o   Following quantifiers can be used only with non-countable nouns

§  Much

§  A little

§  Little

§  A bit of

§  A good deal

§  No

§  An amount of

o   Following quantifiers can be used with both countable / non-countable nouns

§  All of the

§  Some

§  Most

§  A lot of

§  Plenty of

§  A lack of

v  Modifier Placement:

o   GMAC may test you on a single misplaced adjective or adverb, especially with barely, nearly, only and just because they often leech on the wrong word.

o   When an introductory phrase or clause is a modifier, the word immediately after the phrase or clause must be the referent.

o   A dangling modifier, which usually occurs in the introductory phrase or clause, doesn’t seem to have a logical connection to any word or phrase in the sentence.

o   Misplaced modifiers often occur with relative clauses, which are the clauses that begin with a relative pronoun such as that and which. Relative clause should occur immediately after the word or phrase they are modifying.

v  Verb Forms as Modifier:

o   A verb infinitive is the word to combine with the root form of verb. E.g. to cook

o   Although infinitives look like verbs, they are actually noun phrase, adjective phrase, and adverb phrase.

o   A present infinitive is used with another verb to describe a present situation. E.g. I like to cook.

o   A Perfect infinitive describes a time that occurred before the verb in the sentence. E.g. She was proud to have cooked for Elvis.

o   Participles are not verbs, either. They are also modifiers.

o   Present participle work with the verb to describe the action. E.g. I am cooking.

o   Past participle use a form of the helping verb has to describe past action. E.g. I had cooked a casserole that day.

Chapter7: Errors Involving Conjunctions

v  Coordinating Conjunctions:

o   And

o   But

o   Or

o   Yet

o   For

o   Nor

o   So

v  Correlating Conjunctions:

o   Either..or

o   Neither … nor

o   Both..and

o   Not only …but also

o   Not..but

o   Whether..or

o   As…as

v  Either must always with or and neither must always with nor. Neither should never be with or. Either should never be with and / nor.

v  Coordinating conjunctions and correlative conjunctions are also used to link items in a series.

v  Subordinating conjunctions connect a dependent clause to an independent clause, while stating the relationship between the two clauses.

v  Most common subordinating conjunctions are :

o   After

o   Although

o   As : should never be used to compare two things.

o   As if

o   As though

o   Because

o   Even if

o   Even though

o   How

o   If

o   Now that

o   Provided

o   Since

o   So that

o   Than

o   That

o   Though

o   till

o   unless

o   until

o   when

o   whenever

o   where

o   wherever

o   while

v  Like Vs As Vs Such As :

o   Like : used as prepositions and must be used to make comparison

o   Such As : is a conjunction and used to introduced example.

o   As : is a subordinating conjunctions are used to introduce dependent clause. As should never be used to compare two things.

o   As Vs Like
"She sings like her mother" - correct
"She sings as her mother does" - correct
Susan, like her mother, is a good singer. - correct
"She sings like her mother does" - wrong

Joe, like Mary, has a cat. - correct
Joe has a cat, as does Mary. - correct

There are fundamentally 4 differences between "as" and "like". 

1. As introduces clauses (which have verbs) and like introduces phrases (which don't have verbs). 

2. As clause construction is used to introduce comparisons that are real. Like phrase constructions are preferred when making comparisons that are not real but imaginary. (See the above McClintock example) 

3. "As" is also used as a substitute for "in the capacity of". Eg. As the president of USA, George Bush..... 

4. Idiomatic differences: Used as (Correct) Used Like (Incorrect) / Regarded as (Correct), Regarded Like (Incorrect). There is just one exception (that I have come across) to the idiomatic constructions using the verb "act", where one has to infer the meaning before using "as/like". "Act as" is used when a function of an inanimate object is described. Eg. In the flood, the wall acted as a dam. However, "act" is followed by like to mean to behave or comport oneself and describes the action of a person. Eg. He acted like a fool.