Transcript PSAT Tested Grammar Rules

PSAT Tested
Grammar Rules
Yes, you need to know these! You
need these for the PSAT in
October, AND you need these to
be a sound writer!
Verb Tense
• Consistency—verbs maintain
present, past, or future tense
– Incorrect: He walked down the hall and
drops his books.
– Correct: He walked down the hall and
dropped his books.
Verb Tense
• Historical/Literary Context– when talking
about geography, proven science methods
or theories, commonly accepted truisms,
or literature, always use present tense
– Correct: Honesty is the best policy.
– Incorrect: Romeo killed himself.
– Correct: Romeo kills himself.
During reading workshop, we choose
our own novels, and we had
conferences with the teacher about
our reading. As reading The
Odyssey, the students saw Odysseus
and consider how he revealed the
traits of a hero. When we studied
Animal Farm, students read quickly
and try to understand the allegory.
Practice
1. The child walked to school, and he drops
his books on the way.
2. As the cake was delivered, all the
children sing “Happy Birthday.”
3. The hero of the story tries to rescue the
child, but he was not successful.
4. His research was based on the concept
that light traveled faster than sound.
5. The concert finally ended, but all the
taxis are busy.
Practice
1. The main character has good intentions,
but he also had some bad traits.
2. Tom realized that San Francisco sat on
the western coast of America.
3. Alex went to the show, and then sits in
his living room and complains.
4. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Huck rescued Jim several times.
5. Our elementary teacher taught us that
blue and yellow made green.
Verb Tense
Up for a
Challenge?!
If verb tense is easy, move onto
the next verb tense rule!
Verb Tense
• Past Present Tense—this tense always
uses the helping verb had with the main
verb. It is used to indicate a time that
preceded another time mentioned in the
sentence. **The first action uses past
perfect!
– Example: I had seen the movie before I saw
Janet at the story.
Practice
1. By the time Kelly left, Mary ate the
whole cake.
2. David probably saw the error long
before he corrected it.
3. Jenny told us that she changed her
mind before coming to class.
4. After finding her absent, I knew
that she went to the concert.
S-V Agreement
Subject-verb agreement is fairly easy
to understand. The subject and the
verb of each sentence must agree with
each other in number.
Example: We are. He is.
However, be aware of the following
sentence structures that may make
agreement confusing.
S-V Agreement
• Subject followed by a Prepositional
Phrase—when a subject is followed by a
prep. phrase, be sure that you do not
confuse the noun in the phrase for the
subject of the sentence.
– Incorrect: One of the boats are sinking.
– Correct: One of the boats is sinking.
S-V Agreement
• Subject following There—the word
there can never be the subject of a
sentence. When you see there,
carefully consider what the subject of
the sentence is.
– Incorrect: There is always two men on
guard at this post.
– Correct: There are always two men on
guard at his post.
The students in English class at Langham
is taught many grammar lessons. The
most important lesson taught in these
classes include subject-verb agreement.
There seem to be a higher score on the
PSAT for these students.
Practice
1. The man with the two dogs are walking
down the street.
2. There goes three leaders of the program.
3. There was no results listed on the board.
4. One of the pictures of the mountains are
lost.
S-V Agreement
• Subject after the Verb—be cautious when
you notice that a sentence begins with a
verb. Locate the subject and consider
agreement.
– Incorrect: Far away from the rest of the crowd
stands the three men.
– Correct: Far away from the rest of the crows
stand the three men.
S-V Agreement
• Compound Subjects Joined by OR or
NOR—look at the subject that sits closest
to the verb. It determines the number
agreement
– Example: Neither the girl nor the two boys
want to go eat breakfast.
– Example: Neither the two boys nor the girl
wants to go eat breakfast.
Usually, either math or English is
challenging for students. In one of
these two subjects reside many
dilemmas. Helpful teachers nor
concerned parents can do all the
work to help kids. Students of high
school age must learn to seek out aid
and be pro-active in their attempt to
reach success.
Practice
1. Beneath those pictures on the wall
are the artist’s name.
2. Around the corner from my house
lives the old men.
3. Either Jane or Sally seem to be
quieter that usual.
4. Along the bank of the river flows
the logs.
Practice
1. Neither the book nor the paper
were disturbed on the desk.
2. Either Sam or the girls in the green
car ask a lot of questions.
3. Under the bed in his room was the
dog.
4. The lantern or the street light on the
road is shining brightly.