FI THE CRITICAL READER 11S& Sixth Edition THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GRAMMAR A co m p lete ch ap ter devoted to each co n ce p t FO R t h e , S trateg ies to im prove speed and accuracy d ig it a l Test-style exercises to apply what yo u ’ve learned SAT*J In -dep th explanations to help you identify rules tested in different ways Erica L. Meltzer author of The Critical Reader SAT ® is a tradem ark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, a n d does not endorse, this publication. The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar Sixth Edition Erica L. Meltzer P1THE CRITICAL READER New York Copyright © 2011-2023 The Critical Reader Cover © 2023 Tugboat Design All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information regarding bulk purchases, reprints, and foreign rights, please send correspondence to thecriticalreader1@gmail. SAT® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this publication. ISBN-13: 978-1-7335895-9-8 DEDICATION To Emma and Joey, for w hom these exercises were first written.
I know you never asked to have a grammar book dedicated to you, but I hope you'll accept the gesture. And to Jane, Joe, Lily, and Frisco, for food, company, inspiration, and hilarity. ALSO BY ERICA MELTZER The Ultimate Guide to SAT® Grammar W orkbook SAT® Vocabulary: A New Approach (with Larry Krieger) The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT ® Reading The Critical Reader: AP® English Language and Composition Edition The Complete Guide to ACT® English The Complete Guide to ACT ® Reading The Complete GMAT® Sentence Correction Guide GRE® Vocabulary in Practice How to Write fo r Class: A Student's Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Style IELTS® Writing: Grammar and Vocabulary Table of Contents Introduction: Howto Use This Book 7 Cheat Sheet 8 Part I: Non-Grammar Questions 9 1. Specific Focus (“Student Notes”) 27 Part II: Punctuation 37 Parts of Speech 39 3.
Sentences and Fragments 45 4. Joining and Separating Sentences 59 5. Joining Sentences and Fragments 72 6. Non-Essential & Essential Clauses 81 7.
Additional Comma Uses and Misuses 106 Cumulative Review: All Transitions and Punctuation 113 Part III: Grammar 119 8. Verbs: Agreement and Tense 121 9. Parallel Structure 169 Cumulative Review: Verbs, Pronouns, and Modification 174 Practice Sets: All Chapters 178 Appendix: Additional Concepts 193 A. Word Pairs and Comparisons 195 B.
Question Marks 199 vi Introduction: How to Use This Book The purpose of this book is to prepare you for the full range of concepts tested on the digital SAT®. More specifically, it is to teach you to apply those concepts to the specific ways in which they are tested on the exam. Instead of providing explanations and examples for a single version of a rule and leaving you to deduce its subtler or more complex applications, this book walks you through multiple versions of each concept, showing you how it can be tested from various angles and in combination with other concepts. The chapters are ordered in roughly the order of the frequency with which they appear on the test.
If you have limited time to study, you should focus on Parts I and II, as the principles covered there make up the vast majority of Writing questions. If you are attempting to cram for the SAT —something that, for the record, I strongly do not recommend—or have an extremely limited amount of study time, you should focus on Part I as the question types covered there are virtually guaranteed to appear on every exam. If you do not plan to take the SAT for a while, however, I encourage you to work through all of the chapters in order. Although that approach will obviously require more time, it will also allow you to acquire a very solid foundation.
Knowing why you are answering questions correctly, rather than simply relying on your ear, will improve both your speed and your confidence. Otherwise, you risk second-guessing yourself if a concept is tested in an unfamiliar way. While the shorter Writing portion on the digital SAT may make the testing process less tedious, the downside to this change is that each question counts more. If you are aiming for a very high score, you must also be prepared to encounter questions testing a fairly wide range of concepts, even if only a small number of them will appear on your exam.
Although the majority of questions focus on a few key areas, the remaining items are likely to be drawn from a fairly broad pool. The test, after all, cannot be made too predictable. Moreover, because of the adaptive nature of the exam, it is crucial that you answer as many questions as possible correctly in the first section, and there is no reason to lose what can be easy points. It is also important not to confuse having a lot of time to answer each question (more than a minute on the digital test versus just under 50 seconds on the paper-based version) with needing that time.
Regardless of how many seconds you technically have, you should aim to work efficiently. Remember that you do not need to answer the questions in order, and it is possible to use that fact to your advantage. If you read at a good speed and know precisely what you are looking for, some Writing questions can be answered in a matter of seconds. That leaves you plenty of time to return to more complex and time-consuming Reading questions, for example.
If you are very comfortable working out of order, you may even want to answer all the Writing questions first so that you can focus more fully on the Reading questions. Although this book sometimes goes into a fair amount of grammatical depth, its ultimate goal is to teach you to simplify—that is, to quickly identify just what each question type is testing so that you do not become distracted by irrelevant details, and to reduce seemingly complicated questions down to their essential terms. In addition, concepts that could plausibly be tested but that have not (yet) appeared on a released exam are noted as such in the text. Even in the new digital format, the Writing and Language Test remains one of the more predictable components of the SAT.
While the particular exam you take may contain a "wild card" question or two, in general, the vast majority of the material tested can be safely anticipated. The goal of this book is to teach you how to anticipate it. -Erica Meltzer 7 SAT Writing Cheat Sheet 1. Read the full passage, not just the portion surrounding the blank, and always plug your answer back into the passage to double-check it.
Transition questions: determine the relationship between the two sentences (continue, cause-and-effect, contradict") before vou look at the answer choices., however, therefore, moreover) at the start of a sentence follows a period, semicolon, colon, or dash. A conjunctive adverb in the middle of a sentence is surrounded by commas (Ch. "Student Notes": identify the key word/phrase in the question (what the "student" wants to emphasize, present, or introduce), and find the answer that rewords it. Avoid looking at the bullet points.
A transition in the middle or at the end of a sentence = relationship to the previous sentence. Period = Semicolon = Comma + and/ but. Comma + it, this, s/he, they usually (but not always) = comma splice = WRONG. Joining/separating sentences: check answers with a period or colon first.
Colon = Single Dash = Explanation or List. A full sentence is required before but not after. 2 Commas = 2 Dashes = 2 Parentheses = Non-Essential Clause. If the information between these punctuation marks is crossed out, the sentence will still make sense.
BUT commas, dashes, and parentheses cannot be mixed and matched. Singular verbs end in -s; plural verbs do not end in -s, e., it suggests, they suggest. Remember that the noun right before a verb may not be the subject. Subject-verb agreement questions may "pose" as tense questions.
If the answers include singular vs. plural verbs, focus on agreement. Keep verb tense/form consistent. An underlined verb should stay parallel to the surrounding verbs unless there is a clear reason for the tense to change.
Check other verbs for context. Pronoun agreement: singular nouns = it (things); plural nouns = they. Dangling modifier: a descriptive phrase set off by a comma must be followed by the noun described (Ch. 11) Part I: Non-Grammar Questions 10 Transitions Transition questions are the most common type of Writing question, with each test containing around eight to 10 such items —around 15-20% of the test.
As a result, you should make sure that you are comfortable working with both common and less common transitional words and phrases. (An extended list is provided on p.) / On the SAT, you must also be able to recognize when transitions do and do not create logical connections between two sentences or parts of a sentence. Usually, these questions contain four grammatically acceptable answers; the focus is on testing your ability to identify the most logical option in context. Let's start by looking at a typical example.
We're going to look at it without the answers for now. Eliot devoted several years to writing. Mark for Review “The Waste Land,” it sold only about 330 copies in the six months following its publication in 1922. Which choice completes the text with the most _____ Eliot was forced to seek other sources of logical transition? income.
In the mid-1920s, he took a job as the director of a new publishing firm called Faber & Faber. © © The fact that the blank begins with a transition tells us that the correct word must indicate the relationship between the sentence with the blank and the previous sentence or portion of the passage. Before we even look at the answer choices, we must back up and determine how the sentence begun by the blank relates to the information before it. 11 The first sentence states that Eliot's "The Waste Land" sold only about 330 copies in the months after it was published.
The second sentence —the sentence begun by the transition—states that Eliot was forced to search for other sources of income. Logically, the second statement indicates the result of the first statement, so the correct option must convey that relationship. Now we can look at the full set of answer choices. Eliot devoted several years to writing i \ Mark for Review “The Waste Land,” it sold only about 330 copies in the six months following its publication in 1922._____ Which choice completes the text with the most Eliot was forced to seek other sources of income.
In logical transition? the mid-1920s, he took a job as the director of a new publishing firm called Faber & Faber. ® Alternatively, herd immunity ® Consequently, aftermath, repercussion herd emotion © In fact, Moreover, The fastest way to answer this question is to look for the option that conveys a result: consequently clearly indicates that the second statement describes a result, i., a consequence, of the first, so (B) is a perfect fit. If we wanted to play process of elimination: Alternatively is used to indicate a contrasting relationship, so (A) does not fit. In fact is used to emphasize a preceding statement, so (C) does not fit either.
Moreover means "in addition" or "furthermore" and is used to introduce a new supporting idea. That's not quite what we're looking for here, so (D) can be eliminated as well. Again, that leaves us with (B). Notice that we were able to eliminate answers by using the purpose, or function, of each transition.