Some basic rules that are tested on GMAT:

1. Subject/Verb Agreement: The subject of the sentence must agree in number with the action it performs.
2. Pronouns: A pronoun must not only agree in number with the noun it replaces, but it must also unambiguously refer to the noun it replaces.
3. Modifiers: Modifying phrases must correctly modify the noun they refer to.
4. Verb Tense: The verbs in a sentence should be consistent in their tenses, unless, of course, the meaning of the sentence requires otherwise.
5. Parallel Construction: The parts of a sentence should be similarly constructed.
6. Idiomatic Expression: Technically not a grammar rule, idiomatic expression relates to using the accepted forms of phrases.

Analyze a sentence and break it down into its component parts

1. Subject-Verb Agreement:

1. Singular subjects require singular verbs, while plural subjects require plural verbs.
2. By analyzing the sentence and breaking it down to a subject and a verb, the error becomes apparent.
3. But some sentences have more than one verb and every verb in a sentence has a subject.
4. Isolate the verbs and their subjects and ignore the modifiers and prepositional phrases that obscure the relationship between the subject and the verb.

1. Prepositional Phrases: Prepositions are, as their name suggests, words that indicate the position or relationship between nouns,  verbs, and adjectives.
2. Modifiers: A modifier is a word or phrase that describes or qualifies another word or phrase in the sentence.

5. Singular subjects require singular verbs, while plural subjects require plural verbs.
6. Some sentences have more than one verb and every verb in a sentence has a subject.
7. Compound Subjects:

1. use conjunctions such as and, neither…nor and either…or
2. singular subjects joined by the word and are always plural.
3. when using neither…nor or either…or , the verb must agree with the noun closest to the verb.

8. Collective Nouns:

1. Collective nouns treat entities made up of many parts as a single unit, therefore, they are singular.

9. Indefinite Pronouns:

1. refer to an unknown or unidentified person or thing

1. everyone, anyone, anybody, everything, nothing, somebody, someone, and each.

2. Most indefinite pronouns are singular. There are only a handful of plural indefinite pronouns.

1. both, few, many, and several

3. Some indefinite pronouns may be either singular or plural. These are singular when the noun they refer to is singular and plural when the noun they refer to is plural

1. all, any, more, most, none, and some

2. Pronouns

1. pronouns can cause problems when they don’t agree properly with the verb they take

1. Pronoun agreement errors:

1. must not only agree with the verbs they take, but also with the nouns and other pronouns they replace

2. Pronoun referent errors:

1. must refer to a noun in the sentence
2. must clearly and unambiguously refer to only one noun

2. Singular Pronouns : everyone, anyone, someone, no one, anybody, everybody, somebody, every thing, something, nothing, either, neither, much, each
3. Plural Pronouns : few, many, both, several
4. Singular or Plural : all, more, most, some, none, any, less

1. If the noun is countable, then the pronoun is plural
2. If the pronoun refers to a noun that isn’t countable, then the pronoun is singular

5. Pronouns referring to specific class of objects:

1. Which refers to things
2. When refers to times
3. Who refers to people
4. Where refers to places

6. Pronoun referent errors typically occur when:

1. there is some ambiguity as to which noun the pronoun replaces
2. the pronoun has no antecedent at all

7. Focus on finding the pronoun and then figuring out if there are any other nouns it could potentially refer to, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense.

3. Modifiers:

1. A modifier can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause
2. the modifier serves to add information to the sentence
3. Adjectives: Words that modify nouns
4. Adverbs: Words that describe an action
5. Phrase:

1. a group of grammatically linked words
2. do not express a complete thought
3. does not contain a subject and a verb.
4. participial phrase: takes a verb and turns it into an adjective
5. prepositional phrase

6. modifiers must be placed in such a way as to preserve the meaning of the sentence and avoid ambiguity
7. a modifier should be as close as possible to the noun or verb modified

1. If you place the modifier closer to the noun modified, the sentence is clear

8. clause: A group of words that contains both a subject and a verb
9. Dependent clauses be used in a way that preserves the clarity of the sentence and prevents ambiguity.
10. In some instances, the meaning of the sentence is still apparent, but the placement of the modifier is clumsy or awkward. In other sentences, the misplaced modifier actually distorts or changes the meaning of the sentence.
11. Make sure you ask yourself what noun the phrase is modifying, then place the phrase as close to that noun as possible.

4. Verb Tenses

1. Verbs express actions and have three basic tenses: past, present, and future.
2. Each tense has four forms: Simple, Progressive, Perfect, and Perfect Progressive
3. Present Tenses:

1. Simple Present is used to express

1. present conditions
2. habitual actions
3. and general truths

2. Use of the simple present implies that the precise beginning and the precise ending of the action is unknown or not relevant to the meaning of the sentence.
3. When discussing works of art, the simple present tense is appropriate

4. Present progressive should be used for an ongoing action.
5. Present perfect should be used when an action occurred at some unspecified time in the past and continues up to the present time.
6. Present Perfect Progressive emphasizes the continuing nature of the action started in the past.

4. Past Tenses:

1. Simple Past describes a completed action in the past.
2. Past Progressive indicates an ongoing action in the past. The past progressive is often used when an ongoing action in the past is interrupted by another action
3. Past Perfect describes an action that was completed before another completed action in the past.
4. Past perfect progressive is used when an ongoing action in the past was interrupted by another action that was also in the past

5. Future Tenses:

1. Simple Future expresses an action that will take place after the time of the sentence
2. Future Progressive indicates an ongoing action in the future
3. Future perfect is used when the action in the future is complete before another action
4. Future perfect progressive is used to express a continuing action that will be completed in the future

6. The Subjunctive Tense

1. This tense is used in two specific instances:

1. when making a statement that is contrary to the current state of affairs

1. If clause + were + infinitive form of verb
2. If clause + past tense of verb
3. If clause + adjective
4. do not use the word “would” in the initial “if” clause.

2. when giving a command or order

1. “command word” + that + infinitive verb (without the “to” part)
2. ordered, mandated, required, commanded, demanded

7. common mistake: changing the verb tense when the sentence does not require it.

1. Switching verb tenses without justification confuses the meaning

8. The basic principle with verb tense issues is to keep the tenses in a sentence consistent and logical.
9. The tense used should logically fit the sentence and there shouldn’t be any change in verb tense unless the meaning of the sentence requires it.
10. pay close attention to words in the sentence that indicate time. For example, words such as “since,” “before,” “now,” “always,” and “once” can help you determine which tense is appropriate.
11. the best answer on the GMAT keeps the tenses of the verbs consistent, so when in doubt, eliminate answer choices that mix and match the verbs

5. Parallelism

1. When assembling a complex sentence, keep the various elements parallel to each other.
2. Parallel structure means that clauses and phrases that serve the same role in a sentence must share the same form.
3. Parallelism errors occur most frequently in two situations: lists and comparisons.
4. Whenever a sentence makes a comparison, things being compared should follow the same logical and grammatical construction.
5. parallelism errors often occur with lists of verbs, so break down  a sentence into subject, verb, and modifiers.
6. isolate the comparison being made and check to see that both parts of the comparison have the same form

6. Idioms list

SC Strategy

SC questions are designed to:

1. test correctness and effectiveness of expression
2. your control of “standard written English.”

Two important things:

1. knowing and recognizing the most common grammatical errors tested
2. knowing the phrases and constructions that the test writers consider “awkward” and “ineffective”

The GMAT repeats a lot of the same patterns over and over

Follow a consistent approach to the questions.

1. Read the entire sentence. 

• You should understand how the underlined part functions in the whole sentence.

2. Attempt to identify an error in the sentence. 

• When looking for errors, keep an eye out for the error types

3. Regardless of whether you find an error in the underlined portion, proceed to the answer choices.

• The underlined portion could be grammatically correct, but another choice may express the ideas in the sentence more effectively

4. After comparing the choices, pick the best answer

Some important points:

1. There may not be an error.

1. Do not convince yourself that there’s an error in the sentence.
2. If no other choices look good, then reconsider (A)

2. Focus on what you know.

1. If you don’t know a grammatical rule, there is no point in focusing on it.
2. Look for definite error which you can identify.

3. When struck on a question, go to answer choices.

1. Some changes are relevant, some are not.
2. Focus on the changes that fit your grammatical knowledge.

4. Process of elimination.

1. Eliminate answer choices that are wrong.
2. Pick the best answer choice and move on.

5. Some things to avoid (but not every time)

1. “-ing” constructions
2. answer choices with many pronouns
3. lengthy and passive constructions
4. answer choices that change the meaning of the sentence.

Notes 1

Notes 2

Notes 3

Notes 4

Notes 5

Notes 6