THE CRITICAL READER THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SAT GRAMMAR devoted to each concept speed and accuracy to apply what you’ve learned to help you recognize errors in multiple formats Erica L. Meltzer author of The Critical Reader The Ultimate Guide to SAT* Grammar Fourth Edition Erica L. Meltzer MATHE CRITICAL READER New York Copyright © 2011-2017 The Critical Reader Cover © 2017 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 author.
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: 978-0-9975178-6-6 ISBN-10: 0997517867 DEDICATION To Emma and Joey, for whom these exercises were first written. | know you never asked to have a granunar 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 Workbook The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT® Reading SAT® Vocabulary: A New Approach (with Larry Krieger) The Complete Guide to ACT® English The Complete Guide to ACT® Reading The Complete GMAT® Sentence Correction Guide GRE® Vocabulary in Practice Table of Contents Introduction: How to Use This Book SAT® Writing Cheat Sheet Parts of Speech Preliminary Exercise 12 Is it Relevant? Adding, Deleting, and Revising 16 Sentence and Paragraph Order 31 Infographics 40 Shorter is Better 53 Diction, Idioms, and Register 61 Sentences and Fragments 71 Combining & Separating Sentences 85 Transitions 95 Non-Essential & Essential Clauses 113 10. Additional Comma Uses and Misuses 134 11. Colons and Dashes 139 12.
Apostrophes: Plural vs. Pronoun and Noun Agreement 153 Cumulative Review: All Punctuation and Transitions 163 hoy Verbs: Agreement and Tense 170 16. Word Pairs and Comparisons 193 17. Parallel Structure 200 18 Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers 210 19.
Relative Pronouns 218 Practice Test 225 Answer Key 239 Appendix A: Official Guide Questions by Category 252 Appendix B: Official Guide Questions by Test 257 About the Author 263 vi Introduction: How to Use This Book This purpose of this book is to prepare you for the full range of grammar and rhetoric (style) concepts covered on the redesigned 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. At the same time, however, this book is intended 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.
Concepts guaranteed to be tested on every exam are presented first, while less frequently tested ones are presented later. In addition, concepts that could plausibly be tested but that have not (yet) appeared ona released exam are noted as such in the text. In order to make your transition to the actual test as smooth as possible, this book is designed to complement the eight exams in The Official SAT Study Guide, 2018 Edition (also available online through Khan Academy at https://www.org/test-prep/sat/full-length-sat-1/ paper-sat-tests/a/full- length-sats-to-take-on-paper). If you have a limited amount of time to prepare for the SAT, you should work as follows: 1.
Take a diagnostic Writing and Language Test from The Official SAT Study Guide. (1 recommend choosing from among Tests 5-8 in the 2018 Edition because those tests, unlike Tests 1-4, were actually administered. Mark your errors, and compare them to the list of questions by test on p. Note the category of each error.
3, Read the explanations in the appropriate chapter, and do the corresponding exercises. If you want to look at some authentic examples as well, you can use the list of questions by category on p. 252 to find specific College Board-produced questions that test particular error types. 4, When you feel comfortable with those concepts, take another test and repeat the process.
Keep working this way until you are consistently scoring in your target range on timed, full-length exams, If you do not plan to take the SAT for a while, however, I strongly encourage you to work through this book 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 College Board is still in the process of making adjustments to the redesigned exam, the Writing and Language Test is likely to remain one of its more predictable components. It is of course possible that the particular exam you take will contain a “wild card” question or two, but 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 SAT Writing Cheat Sheet Shorter is better (grammar questions only).
4) Comma + it, this, he, she, they usually (but not always) = comma splice = WRONG. 7) Period = semicolon = comma + and/but. 7) 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. 9) Its, their = possessive; it’s = it is; they’re = they are; there = a place. 13) Colon = list or explanation. A complete, standalone sentence is required before but not after.
11) All items in a list must match, e., noun, noun, noun; verb, verb, verb. 17) Comma before preposition = WRONG. Affect = verb, effect = noun; than = comparison, then = next. Singular verbs end in -s; plural verbs do not end in -s, e., it suggests, they suggest.
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 verbs in the sentence/ paragraph for context. Add/Delete/ Revise: Reread the surrounding sentences, and state the topic in your own words before checking the answers.
If the sentence is directly relevant to that topic, it belongs. If not, it doesn’t belong. Transition questions: physically cross out the transition and determine the relationship (continue, contradict, cause-and-effect) between the two sentences/halves of a sentence before checking the answers, Eliminate synonyms + answers from incorrect transition categories. Infographics: Take a moment and determine the “point” of the graphic before you start to answer the question.
You can sometimes eliminate answers based on a big-picture understanding. 3) And two general points: First, make sure you actually read the passage. You don’t need to read closely, but you shouldn't just skip from question to question. Otherwise, you’re likely to miss important information.
Second, before you choose an answer, plug it back into the passage to make sure that it fits. An answer that makes perfect sense on its own may create an error in the context of the passage. Parts of Speech There are eight parts of speech in the English language, seven of which are directly relevant to the SAT. If you are not comfortable identifying them, you should begin by reviewing this section.
Although portions of these definitions are repeated throughout the guide, familiarizing yourself with these terms before you begin will help you move through the explanations and exercises more easily. The seven parts of speech tested on the SAT are as follows: 1. Verb Verbs indicate actions or states of being. Examples: To be To have To seem To go To study To believe The “to” form of a verb is known as the infinitive.
All of the verbs listed above are infinitives. If you are uncertain whether a word can be used as a verb, try placing to in front of it to form an infinitive. Verbs are not always used as infinitives. In order to indicate who is performing an action, we must conjugate the verb and provide its subject.
To be and to have are the most common English verbs. As a result, they are tested frequently on the SAT. Because they are irregular, their conjugated forms are different from their infinitives. To be is also unique in that it is conjugated in both the present and past.
To answer many verb questions accurately, you must be able to recognize and distinguish between these verbs’ singular and plural forms. Conjugation of fo be, present: Conjugation of fo be, past: Singular Plural Singular Plural Tam We are I was We were You are You (pl.) are You were You (pl.) were It, (s)he, one is They are It, (s)he, one was They were Conjugation of to have, present and past: Singular - Plural I have We have You have You (pl.) have It, (s)he, one has They have The number of a verb indicates whether it is singular or plural. I, she, lic, it and one are always singular, and we and they are always plural. You can be either singular or plural.
Note that third-person singular verbs end in -s, whereas third-person plural verbs do not end in -s, e., it works, they work, SAT verb questions also focus on this distinction. The tense of a verb indicates when an action occurred. It is = Present {it would be = Conditional It has been = Present perfect It would have been = Past conditional It was = Simple past It will be = Future It had been = Past perfect Tt will have been = Future perfect 2. Noun Nouns indicate people, places, objects, and ideas, and can always be preceded by a(1) or the.
Note that in addition to physical objects, nouns can refer to ideas/concepts and things that cannot be touched. These nouns, known as abstract nouns, frequently end in -ment, -tion, and -tude. Examples: bicycle, supervisor, Amelia Earhart, Chicago, notion, development, latitude ¢ The bicycle is an affordable and convenient form of transportation. ° Until the early nineteenth century, most scientists held the belief that meteorites could not exist.
Pronoun Pronouns replace nouns. Examples: she, you, one, we, him, it(s), their, this, that, these, those, which, both, some, few, many * Astronomers study the universe. They observe it through telescopes. * Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.
He was born in 1475. Personal pronouns are often referred to in the following manner: | Singular | Plural | 1%“ person =Ï 1st person = We | 2"d person = You 2"d person = You 3'4 person = S/he, It, One 3'4 person = They 10 4. Preposition Prepositions are time and location words. They indicate where things and people are, where they’re going, and when events happened.
They are always followed by nouns. Example: The dog ran under the fence and into the neighboring yard in a matter of seconds. About Among Beside In Opposite Above Around Between Inside Outside Across Before By Near Toward After Behind During Next to Under Against Below For Off With Along Beneath From On Without 5. Conjunction Conjunctions indicate relationships between words, phrases, and clauses.
Examples: and, but, however, therefore, so, although, yet, when, because, since * Holland was once home to 10,000 windmills, but only 1,000 remain today.