13 GRAMMAR RULES
Guaranteed to Raise Your SAT Score!*
*Actual results may vary, depending on effort,
interest, and individual luck.
RULE 1: SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Subject and verb must agree in number, so
isolate the subject and the verb and make sure
they match. If the subject is singular, the verb
should be singular; if the subject is plural, the
verb should be plural.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Example 1:

The proctor, as well as the students, were overcome
by the tedious ticking of the timer and fell asleep.

Isolate: subject:
verb:

Combine: “The proctor were overcome.”
proctor (singular)
were overcome (plural)
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT


This should sound wrong to you. Proctor is
singular, so the verb should be singular—was
overcome. Don’t be tempted by the plural word
students; it is set off by a pair of commas, so it’s
not part of the subject.
Correct: The proctor, as well as the students,
was overcome by the tedious ticking of the timer
and fell asleep.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
 Three
expressions that are similar to
the as well as in the above example
are: in addition to, along with, and
together with. When you see one of
these expressions on the test,
chances are the test makers
are trying to make you
think that the subject is plural.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Example 2

Example 3
The anguish of the students have been
a source of pleasure to the ETS.



Isolate: subject:
verb:
anguish (singular)
have been (plural)
Combine: “The anguish have been a
source of pleasure.”
This should sound wrong to you. Don’t
get confused by the plural word
students, because it isn’t the subject.
Students, in this sentence, is an object.
You can tell because it comes after a
preposition, of. Whenever a word
comes after a preposition, it is an
object, not a subject.
Each of the streets were painted green.
Isolate: subject:
verb:
each (singular)
were (plural)
Combine: “Each were painted green.”
This one is a little trickier. You have to
realize that the subject of the sentence is
Each and not of the streets. (Streets is an
object of the preposition of.) Anytime you
see “of the ________,” the word that goes
in the blank is an object, not a subject.
Although streets is plural, the subject of
the sentence, Each, is singular. If you
replace the “of the ______” part of the
sentence with the word one, it is easier to
see why the subject is singular: “Each
one was painted green” sounds much
better than “Each one were painted
green.”
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Example 2

Correct: The anguish
of the students has
been a source of
pleasure to the ETS.
Example 3


Correct: Each of the streets
was painted green.
Note: There are 13 singular
subjects like each that you
should memorize: each,
every, either, neither, one, no
one, everyone, everybody,
someone, somebody, anyone,
anybody, and nobody.
Whenever you see one of
these words as the subject of
a sentence on the test, pay
careful attention to whether
the verb is singular.
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Incorrect: Neither of the streets were painted
green.
 Correct: Neither of the streets was painted
green.
 Incorrect: Either this street or that street were
painted green.
 Correct: Either this street or that street was
painted green.
 Incorrect: One of the streets were painted green.
 Correct: One of the streets was painted green.

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

There are also some pronouns that can go either
way. These are some, any, none, all, and most—
the SANAM pronouns. They can be either
singular or plural, depending on the noun they
refer to.
I didn’t know that some of the computers was not
working.
Correct: I didn’t know that some of the
computers were not working.
All of the pizza have been eaten.
Correct: All of the pizza has been eaten.
RULE 2: NOUN-PRONOUN AGREEMENT

Singular subjects take singular pronouns; plural
subjects take plural pronouns. You know the list
of singular subjects that you just memorized?
Well, each of these words takes a singular
pronoun. Whenever one of the words on the list
is the subject, the pronoun that refers to that
word has to be singular. This is a hard rule to
“hear” because so many people (including your
teacher on occasion) break this rule that we’re
used to hearing it the wrong way.
NOUN-PRONOUN AGREEMENT

Example 1:
Not one of the girls read their SAT study guide.
Isolate:
subject:
pronoun:
one (singular)
their (plural)
This sentence doesn’t sound awful to most people,
but it’s wrong. The subject one is singular, but
the pronoun their is plural. (Girls is plural, but
it’s an object— “of the _______” construction.)
NOUN-PRONOUN AGREEMENT
Correct:
Not one of the girls read her SAT study guide.
RULE 3: PRONOUN SUBJECTS & OBJECTS
Subjects
Objects
I
He
She
They
We
Who
Me
Him
Her
Them
Us
Whom
PRONOUNS SUBJECTS & OBJECTS
I like hot dogs, but hot dogs don’t like me.
She hit Susie, so Susie kicked her.
She is good enough for Grape-Nuts, but are GrapeNuts good enough for her?
Who hit Bozo? Bozo hit whom?
PRONOUN SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS

Example 1:
Julio and me were down by the schoolyard.
Always simplify these sentences. Does “Me was in the
schoolyard” sound right? No. “I was in the
schoolyard.”
Correct: Julio and I were down by the schoolyard.
PRONOUN SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS

Example 2:
The dog and him are eating pizza.
Does “Him is eating pizza” sound right? No. “He is
eating pizza.”
Correct: The dog and he are eating pizza.
PRONOUN SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS
Example 3:
The SAT Writing section was easy for Huey and
he because they had read Up Your Score.
“The SAT Writing section was easy for he” should
sound wrong to you.
Correct: The SAT writing section was easy for
Huey and him because they had read Up Your
Score.
RULE 4: PRONOUN CONSISTENCY
Pronouns should be consistent throughout a
sentence. When one starts with a particular
pronoun, one should continue with it, throughout
one’s whole sentence…or paragraph.
Example:
The more you study for the SAT, the more
one thinks about moving to Mongolia.
Correct:
The more one studies for the SAT, the more
one thinks about moving to Mongolia.
RULE 5: CORRECT TENSE
Make sure the time of an action is consistent.
Look for key “time words” such as when, while,
as, after, and so forth, and make sure the tenses
are logical in relation to them.
Example 1:
After he ate the newt and brushed his teeth, he
will read the newspaper.
Correct:
After he eats the newt and brushes his teeth, he
will read the newspaper.
or
After he ate the newt and brushed his teeth, he
read the newspaper.
CORRECT TENSE
Example 2:
While I was painting the fence,
she had tickled me.
Correct:
While I was painting the fence,
she tickled me.
RULE 6: ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Remember the difference between an adjective
and an adverb? If not, your sixth-grade teacher
will hunt you down and pinch you.
Adjectives describe nouns. An
adjective will always make
grammatical sense in the phrase
the __________ wombat (ex. sullen)
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives
or other adverbs. They usually, but
not always, end in “-ly.” An adverb
will always make sense in the
following sentence:
The wombat looked ________
at his dinner. (ex. sullenly)
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Example 1:
I ran slow.
The word slow is an adjective. You can tell
because it makes sense in the phrase “the slow
wombat.” However, in Example 1, it is being
used to describe the verb ran. This is impossible.
Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe
verbs. Use slowly instead.
Correct: I ran slowly.
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Example 2:
Poindexter juggles good.
Poindexter has problems. The word good is an
adjective, but it’s being used to describe the word
juggler, which is a verb. Again, you have to use
the adverb.
Correct: Poindexter juggles well.
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Example 3:
I hate lumpy fish on soporific afternoons.
The sentence is grammatically correct. If you
immediately jumped on this sentence and tried to
correct it, it means you’re too tense. Eat some
frozen yogurt.
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Another tricky aspect of adjectives and adverbs is
comparison of more than one person or object.
Take the adjective juicy. “This fruit is juicy.” If
you’re comparing two objects, you would use
juicier: “This apple is juicier than that pear.” If
you’re comparing more than two objects, you
would use juiciest: “Of the three fruits, the
orange is the juiciest.”
Example 4:
Dan is the older of the four athletes.
Correct : Dan is the oldest of the four athletes.
RULE 7: PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
Ideas that are parallel (related) should be expressed
in the same way.
Example 1:
I like spitting, drooling, and to slurp.
Spit, drool, and slurp are parallel activities. They
should be expressed in the same way:
Correct: I like spitting, drooling, and slurping.
Correct: I like to spit, to drool, and to slurp.
PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
Example 2:
You like spitting and drooling, but not to
slurp.
Just because you don’t like slurping does not
mean that it shouldn’t be parallel with spitting
and drooling, which you do like:
Correct: You like spitting and drooling, but not
slurping.
PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION
Example 3:
The juicer chops vegetables, squeezes
oranges, and proctors can be liquefied with it.
Chopping vegetables, squeezing oranges, and
liquefying proctors are all parallel actions. They
should be expressed in the same way.
Correct: The juicer chops vegetables,
squeezes oranges, and liquefies proctors.
RULE 8: RUN-ON SENTENCES AND
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
A run-on sentence is usually two complete
sentences that are incorrectly joined by a comma
instead of separated by a period or a semicolon.
Example 1:
J.P. ate the mysterious object, it was a noodle.
This is a run-on sentence. It could be broken into
two sentences:
1. J.P. ate the mysterious object.
2. It was a noodle.
It could also be combined into one sentence using
a semicolon: J.P. ate the mysterious object; it
was a noodle.
RUN-ON SENTENCES AND SENTENCE
FRAGMENTS
Sentence fragments are parts of sentences that
are made up to look like real sentences. They are
usually next to real sentences into which they
should be incorporated.
Example 2:
All the kids had rashes. Especially those with
uranium lunch boxes.
In this example, the first sentence is complete,
but the second is a fragment. The two could be
combined like this:
All the kids had rashes, especially those
with uranium lunch boxes.
RULE 9: TOTALLY BOGUS SIGHT
QUESTIONS
These questions don’t test anything that has to
do with your ability to write. They just test
whether you can see a single wrong word or
missing letter:
Late in the war, the Germans, retreating in
haste, left many of their prisoners go free.
The moral of the story: Read carefully!
RULE 10: DANGLING MODIFIERS
“Dangling modifier” is a fancy grammatical term
for a simple concept. Here are some sentences
with dangling modifiers:
Example 1:
Taking the test, his copy of Up Your Score
was in his pocket.
This sentence implies that the copy of Up Your
Score was taking the test. Whenever a sentence
begins with a phrase like “Taking the test,”
which is supposed to modify (that is, describe) a
word in the sentence, the word that it modifies
must be in the sentence, and it must come
right after the modifying phrase.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
Correct: Taking the test, he had his copy of Up
Your Score in his pocket.
The sentence can be corrected another way:
Correct: While he was taking the test, his copy of
Up Your Score was in his pocket.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
Example 2:
Conscientious about proper grammar,
dangling modifiers were always on Bertha’s
mind.
Were the dangling modifiers conscientious about
proper grammar? No, Bertha was. So she should
come right after the comma.
Correct: Conscientious about proper
grammar, Bertha always had dangling
modifiers on her mind.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
Example 3:
Parachuting over the Emerald City, the ant
gasped in awe.
Was the ant parachuting?
You betcha—so the sentence is correct!
RULE 11: SENTENCE LOGIC
On the sentence correction section of the test, there
are often sentences that are grammatically correct
but don’t say what the writer wants them to say.
Example:
There are often sentences that are
grammatically correct, and do not say what the
writer wants them to say.
(A) correct and do not say what
(B) correct and do not say that which
(C) correction but do not say what
(D) correct, with the exception that
(E) correct saying not what
SENTENCE LOGIC
The correct answer is (C). One would expect that
if the sentence is grammatically correct, it would
say what the author wanted it to say—but it
doesn’t. The word but indicates that the part of
the sentence after the comma contradicts what
you would expect after reading the first part of
the sentence.
RULE 12: COMMONLY MIXED-UP
EXPRESSIONS
Sometimes the ETS will deliberately mess up an
expression to try to foil you. The only way to
prepare for this type of question is by becoming
familiar with standard idiomatic expressions.
Example:
Since it’s a beautiful day, I’d just assume
walk.
The expression is “just as soon,” but it sounds a
lot like “just assume.”
Correct: Since it’s a beautiful day, I’d just
as soon walk.
RULE 12: LOGICAL COMPARISONS
Remember when your math teacher said, “You
can’t compare apples and oranges”? That’s
basically what this rule is about. Make sure that
when you make a comparison, you compare two
like things.
Example 1:
My mother’s salary is higher than Jane’s
mother.
Your mother’s salary is higher than Jane’s
mother’s salary, not higher than Jane’s mother.
Correct: My mother’s salary is higher than
Jane’s mother’s.
LOGICAL COMPARISONS
Example 2:
Harry raised more cows than Jim’s ranch.
Again, Jim raised more cows; his ranch did not
raise anything.
Correct: Harry raised more cows than Jim
did.
A FEW MORE THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:




Don’t split an infinitive. Instead of saying “to
slowly walk,” you should say “to walk slowly.”
Don’t use slang or cliches.
Either goes with or; neither goes with nor.
When referring to a country, don’t use they.
Example:
The United States is the richest country in
the world. They have the highest GNP.
Correct: It has the highest GNP.
A FEW MORE THINGS…


You can prefer something to something, but you
can’t prefer it over or more than.
Example:
Correct: I prefer science to math.
 Incorrect: I prefer science more than math.
 Incorrect: I prefer science over math.


Use the word fewer if you can count what you’re
describing; if not use the word less.
Example:
Now that there are fewer elephants milling around,
there is less dust being kicked into the air.
A FEW MORE THINGS…

Choices that begin with being are usually wrong.
Example:
Being that Larry is so old, he’s never heard of
Nelly.
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PREPARED WITH LOVE BY MS. PLAZA
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