Sentence Correction

GMAT Verbal

General Strategy

• Grammar: does the sentence adhere to rules of standard written English?
• Meaning: is the meaning obvious and unambiguous?
• Concision: is it written as economically as possible?

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• Begin by looking for meaning issues
• Then look for errors in grammar
• Finally choose the remaining choice that is most concise.

Meaning

• Choice of words
• Placement of words
• Matching of words

Choice of words

• Should – “moral obligation” not “likelihood”

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• Such as – for instance
• Used for giving examples.
• Like – similar to.
• Never used for examples!

Placement of words

• Example:
• All the children are covered in mud.
• The children are all covered in mud.

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• Changing the placement of all shifts the intent from the number of children to the extent to which the children are covered in mud.

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• Beware of quantifiers and other short words that can shift the meaning of the original sentence.

• Overall word order – attention!
• English normally puts subjects in front of the verb.

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• Awkward: A referendum is a general public vote through which is passed a law or other proposal.
• Better: A referendum is a general public vote through which a law or other proposal is passed.

Subject-Verb Agreement

• Must make sense together
• Must agree in number (singular/plural)

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• If subject is ‘hidden’, eliminate the following to find it:
• Prepositional phrases
• Subordinate clauses
• Other modifiers (e.g. present/past participles)

Either…Or & Neither…Nor

• Such phrases link two nouns
• If one noun is singular and the other in plural, find the noun nearest to the verb, and make sure that the verb agrees in number with this noun

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• Examples:
• Neither the coach nor the players are going to the beach.
• Neither the players nor the coach is going to the beach.

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• Note: when either or neither are used alone (i.e. without or or nor), they are considered singular, and require singular verb forms.

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Collective Nouns

• Examples: army, baggage, fruit, furniture, crowd, team.
• Referred to as plural in British English.
• Referred to (almost always) as singular in American English, and hence on the GMAT.

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• Examples:
• The crowd in the stands is cheering loudly as the home team takes the field.
• Our army of a thousand soldiers is attacking the enemy.

Flip It!

• Flip the order to match the subject and the verb correctly.
• Then flip it back.

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• Uncertain: There is a young man and an older woman at the bus stop.
• Flip it: A young man and an older woman are there at the bus stop.
• Correct: There are a young man and an older woman at the bus stop.

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Confusing subjects are more often singular than plural.

So when in doubt, think singular.

Important Phrases

• Not…but
• NOT apples BUT pears.
• Not only…but also
• We would like NOT ONLY to hear your side of the story BUT ALSO to provide a response.
• Rather than
• It was important to leave the money in the drawer RATHER THAN on the table.

Parallelism

• X acts as Y

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• As X, so Y..

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• Between X and Y…

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• Mistake X for Y

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• Not only X (,) but also Y

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• Regard X as Y

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• Both X and Y (not as well!)

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• Whether X or Y..

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• In contrast to X, Y…

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• View X as Y

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• X is good, and so too is Y

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• X, such as Y, (example)

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• X is thought to be Y

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• X instead of Y…

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Noun Modifiers and Relative Pronouns

• Do not use that or which to modify people.

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• The pronoun where can be used to modify a noun place, such as area, site, country, etc. Where cannot modify a “metaphorical” place, such as condition, situation, case, arrangement, circumstance.
• Incorrect: We had an arrangement where he cooked and I cleaned.
• Correct: We had an arrangement in which he cooked and I cleaned.

Verb Tense

Present + future

OR

Past + conditional.

• Avoid mixing them up!

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• Correct:
• The scientist believes that the machine will be wonderful.
• The scientist believed that the machine would be wonderful.
• Incorrect:
• The scientist believes that the machine would be wonderful.
• The scientist believed that the machine will be wonderful.

Active vs. Passive

• Active: The hungry students ate the pizza.
• Passive: The pizza was eaten by the hungry students.

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• Whoever performs the action may follow the verb in a phrase using by.
• Use by only for the actual doers of the action.
• Use through or because of to describe any instrument or means.

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• Incorrect: The pizza was accidentally eaten by a quirk of fate.
• Correct: Through a quirk of fate, the pizza was accidentally eaten.

Comparatives and Superlatives

• When comparing two things, use the comparative form.
• When comparing more than two things, use the superlative form.

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• Examples:
• She is shorter than her sister.
• She is the shortest of her five siblings.
• You are less interesting than she.
• You are the least interesting person here.

• Do not use a comparative adjective unless you have a than in the sentence.

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• Incorrect: With winter coming, I will have higher energy bills.

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• The sentence implies the comparison than now. On the GMAT, you must make the comparison explicit.

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• Correct: I will have higher bills than last year.

Possessives

• Possessive cases are used only with names of living things.

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• Examples:
• Correct: The president’s bodyguard…
• Incorrect: The table’s leg… (it should be the leg of the table…).

Like vs. As

• Like must be followed by nouns, pronouns or noun phrases.

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• Correct: Like her brother, Ava aced the test.

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• As can be used either with a preposition (appearing with a noun) or a conjunction (appearing with a clause).

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• Incorrect: Like her brother did, Ava aced the test.
• Correct: As her brother did, Ava aced the test.

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• Determine usage – whether author intends metaphorical comparison (=like) or actual function (=as).

Idioms List

• ACT
• Correct: The bay acted as a funnel for the tide. (=functioned as).
• Correct: My friend acted like a fool. (=behaved in a similar fashion)

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• AS…SO
• Correct: Just as you practice, so shall you play.
• Incorrect: Just like you practice, so shall you play.

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• BASED ON
• Correct: The jury reached a verdict based on the evidence.
• Incorrect: Based on the evidence, the jury reached a decision. (the jury was not itself based on the evidence)

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• BECAUSE
• Correct: Plants grow because the sun shines.
• Correct: Because of the sun, plants grow.
• Incorrect: Plants grow as a result of the sun shining.

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• BETWEEN/AMONG
• Correct: A battle ensued between the reactionaries and the radicals.
• Incorrect: A battle ensued among the reactionaries and the radicals. (use among for more than 2 parties only)

• BOTH…AND
• Correct: She was interested in both plants and animals.
• Correct: She was interested both in plants and in animals.
• Incorrect: She was interested both in plants and animals.
• Incorrect: She was interested both in plants as well as animals.

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• CHANCE
• Correct: I have one chance in a thousand of winning tonight.
• Incorrect: I have one in a thousand chances to win tonight.

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• DATE
• Correct: The artifact was dated at three centuries old.
• Incorrect: The artifact was dated to be three centuries old.

• DEMAND
• Correct: They demanded that the store be closed.
• Incorrect: They demanded the store to be closed.

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• REASON
• Correct: I have a reason to work.
• Correct: This observation indicates a reason that he’s here.
• Incorrect: The reason he is here is because he wants to be. (reason and because are both not required)

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• REQUIRE
• Correct: She requires of her friends that work be done.
• Incorrect: In this hostel, there is a requirement of work by guests.

• RESULT
• Correct: Wealth results from work. Work results in wealth.
• Incorrect: Because of the result from our work, our wealth grew.

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• SAME
• Correct: I drove to the store at the same time as you (did).
• Incorrect: I drove to the store at the same time you did.

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• SECURE
• Correct: Our authority is secure.
• Incorrect: We are secure about our authority.

• SEEM
• Correct: This result seems to demonstrate the new theory.
• Incorrect: This result seems like it demonstrates the new theory.

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• SIGNIFICANT
• Correct: Your edits have significantly improved the book.
• Incorrect: Your edits have been significant in improving the book.

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• SO THAT
• Correct: She gave money so that the school could offer scholarships.
• Incorrect: She gave money so the school could offer scholarships. (so MUST be used with that.)

• THAN
• Correct: His books are more impressive than those of other writers.
• Incorrect: This paper is more impressive instead of that one.
• Incorrect: This paper is more impressive rather than that one.

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• TWICE
• Correct: Naomi wrote ten letters, double the number that Sara wrote.
• Incorrect: Naomi wrote double the letters that Sara did.

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• WHETHER
• Correct: I do not know whether I will go.
• Incorrect: I do not know if I will go (if requires a consequence. BEWARE!)

Quantity

• Words used for countable things e.g. hats:
• Many
• Not many
• Few
• Fewer
• Fewest
• Number of
• Fewer than
• Numerous
• More numerous

• Words used for uncountable things e.g. patience:
• Much
• Not much
• Little
• Less
• Least
• Amount
• Less than a certain amount
• Great
• Greater

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• ‘The number of’ is singular.
• ‘A number of’ is plural.

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• Examples:
• The number of dogs is greater than the number of cats.
• A number of dogs are chasing away the cats.

Concision: V-A-N

• Verb > Adjective (or Adverb) > Noun

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• Pattern 1: Prefer verbs
• Wordy: The townspeople's revolution was against the king.
• Better: The townspeople revolted against the king.

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• Pattern 2: Prefer a That-clause (with verbs) to a series of phrases (with nouns)
• Wordy: The hypothesis about the composition of the universe as largely dark energy seems strange.
• Better: The hypothesis that the universe is largely composed of dark energy seems strange.

• Pattern 3: Prefer a verb to an adjective
• Wordy: This signal is indicative of a problem.
• Better: This signal indicates a problem.

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• Pattern 4: Prefer an adjective to a noun.
• Wordy: There is an abundance of funds for school construction.
• Better: Funds for school construction are abundant.

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• Pattern 5: Prefer an adverb to a prepositional phrase.
• Wordy: to a considerable extent, to a significant degree.
• Better: considerably, significantly.

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• Pattern 6: Prefer an adjective to a clause with be.
• Wordy: Joan, who is a firefighter, works in New York.
• Better: Joan, a firefighter, works in New York.

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Numbers in Comparison

• Use times without as or than to indicate direct multiplication
• Example: The concert was attended by 300 people, twice the previous attendance.

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• Use times with as or than to relate two quantities by multiplication.
• Example: The man is five times as old as his grandson.

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• The words more and less are flexible; they can be used as pronouns, nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
• Correct: My bills are lower than they were last year
• Incorrect: I spend lower than I did last year.
• Correct: I spend less than I did last year.

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• Position of more/less alters the meaning of the sentence.
• We have even more efficient engines than before.

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• Greater quantity of efficient engines or engines that are more efficient? Get rid of ambiguity.

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• Correct: We have even more engines that are efficient than before.
• Correct: We have engines even more efficient than before.