Transcript Learning tough English words for GRE & CAT

Free Online Class taken Live on June 3th 2011
Introduction to Grammar for GMAT /
CAT: Strategy for success (Class 1)
http://www.freegregmatclass.com/
By: Satyadhar Joshi
[email protected]
Content of Presentation
 Introduction to Grammar for GMAT
 Structure and strategy of the course
 Basics of Articles, Prepositions, Conjunctions and
Verbs
 Common mistakes
 Pronoun Errors
 Parallelism
 References
 More to read…..
Structure of My Course on Grammar
 The most comprehensive strategy to get you a top
score
 1/3 questions in GMAT based on grammar*
 Before going to GMAT grammar lets learn basic grammar
and terminologies (Class 1: today). This glossary will help
you to understand grammar so that we can jump to specifics
in GMAT grammar
 Specific GMAT grammar (Class 2)
 Questions Basic Level (Class 3)
 Questions Advanced Level (Class 4)
(Course targeted from Feb to March)
Also Applicable for AWA Essays
Scaling with CAT may bring it down
closer to pattern of GMAT in 2011
 In order to ensure appropriate interpretation of an equated
raw score, the scores must be placed on a common scale or
metric. A linear transformation was used for this scaling
process, which is an industry standard practice (Kolen &
Brennan, 2004)
 The IIM scaling model is as follows: Section Scores =
(Mean of 40 and Standard deviation of 24) 0-150
 Total Exam Score = (Summation of three section scores) 0450
http://www.catiim.in/dev_scorind_equityprocess.html
www.catiim.in/pdf/cat_scores_methodology.pdf
Introduction
 Areas of class includes: Articles, Preposition,
Common mistakes and important rules.
 Today my aim is to introduce you good enough so
that you can take this area on yourself
 Also I will be talking about the toughest questions,
RCs, critical reasoning and fill in the Blanks of Bigbook in future
 Our focus here is on sentence correction
 Book Reviews: GMAT Verbal Princeton, Manhatten,
and Winners guide
 References are very useful to understand this
presentation
Grammar areas in GMAT / CAT
Pronoun Errors
2. Misplaced modifiers
3. Parallel Construction
4. Tense
5. Subject Verb Agreement
6. Idiom
7. Applies & Oranges
8. Quantity Words’
9. Comparison
*Application in sentence correction
1.
Page 200-210 of Book: Cracking the GMAT CAT, Princeton Review
Strategy for Grammar Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Train yourself with all the skills you need to understand the
fundamentals of grammar
Never rewrite question in your brain and look for the
options matching in the choices
Take the hints from the answers and remove the wrong
sentences
Use power of elimination to remove the choices very
carefully
When reduced into two choices don’t leave the question at
that point, get it done to a 100% (the destination is nearby
so don’t give up)
Page 9-13, Book:Verbal workout for GMAT Princeton
Restate: Five imp points for Sentence
Correction
1. Don’t rewrite sentence in mind and look for
2.
3.
4.
5.
match, but use power of elimination
Learn Grammar to catch grammatical errors
Get rid of choices with same error ( keep looking
and fine-tuning and improving your scope)
USE POE (process of elimination)
If you are down to two choices , find flaw in wrong
one
Page 17-19, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
Common Mistakes
 Apostrophe: Omitted when the word becomes a
proper noun. Ex. Technical teachers convention.
Avoid adding apostrophe to any kind of noun. Ex.
Society’s well being vs. well being of society
 Countable and uncountable
 A collective noun
 Conjunction & Verb
Removing the Middleman
 Remove the unwanted information and cut down sentence is
shorter for effective scrutiny of the errors
 Sometimes picking only one aspect is a good strategy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyb7zUmaG4U
Page 19-20,Book: Manhattan GMAT sentence correction Guide
Physics of Grammar: An attempt to
develop energy for learning
 Grammar can be understood as Physics, where we can break






the complex things into simpler laws
I have been trying to build some analogy which I will discuss
in the future classes in details
Constrains of areas that comes under the exam domain
Logic always prevails
Law of conservation of momentum is like parallelism
Law of optics like convergence of focus can be seen as
convergence of all ideas at the subject
Misplaced modifiers can be seen as free body diagram
Articles
 a/an (used before the singular noun which is countable (i.e. of which






there is more than one) Ex. I live in a flat, they live in a flat, he bought
a flat. Also used with complement ex. He will be a good actor. Also
used when ratios are used like Rs 5 a kilo. And in exclamations
Omission a/an (i) before plural if a noun ex. Plural of a dog is dogs (ii)
before uncountable nouns
Be careful in replacing one with a
One is used with the combination of another/other Ex. Onw wanted
to read, another/other wanted to watch TV
A little(uncountable)/ a few (countable) & little/few
The (the definite articles): It is mostly used when the objective is
unique. Also used before names
The is also called the definite article
Book: Chandresh Agrawal, CAT Priyanka Prakshan
From Wiki
 In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a
prepositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat
sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing
the prepositional phrase "on the sofa". In English, the most used
prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", "with" and "on".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition
Examples of Prepositions
http://www.towson.edu/ows/prepositions.htm
Preposition
 Omission of to and for before indirect objects: Ex. I gave the book to Priya = I gave Priya the
book (we omitted to); I will find a job for Priya vs I will find Priya a job (we can omit for).
 Position : the people with whom I was traveling (better) vs. the people I was traveling with
 Use and omission of to with verbs of communications. Ex. Verbs of commands needs to
whereas verbs of complain don’t necessarily require to Ex. They advised him to wait vs. Ajay
(to her ) complained about the food.
 Time and date: at, on, be, before, in
 At a time: at midnight; at an age. On the morning/afternoon/evening/night
 On time (at the time arranged), in time (not late), in good time (with comfortable margin)
 At the beginning (of) /end (of), in the beginning/end, at first / at last : Ex. At the beginning
of the book there is often a table of contents
 Time: from, since, for, during. From is normally used with to or till/until.
 Time: to, till/until, after, afterwards. After must be followed by a noun or pronoun
 Travel and movement: from, to, at, in, by, on. Onto, off, out, out of. Ex We traveled from our
starting home to our destination.
Book: Chandresh Agrawal, CAT Priyanka Prakshan
More prepositions
 At, in; in, into ; on, onto
 Above, over
 Preposition used with adjectives and participles
 Verbs and preposition
 Adverbs and preposition
Apostrophe: The Most Common Mistakes
 Mixing up it's and its




Wrong: The dog wagged it's tail.
Right: The dog wagged its tail.
Wrong: Each program has it's own quirks.
Right: Each program has its own quirks.
 Pluralizing words with apostrophes




Wrong: Piano's for Sale!
Right: Pianos for Sale!
Wrong: I design web site's.
Right: I design web sites.
 Using improper contractions




Wrong:Your going to be in trouble.
Right:You're going to be in trouble.
Wrong: He let's his son run wild.
Right: He lets his son run wild.
http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/ffjh/thompson/apostro/npractic.htm
Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns
Countable
(use a/an or a number in front of
countable nouns)
Uncountable
(there is no a/an or number with
uncountable nouns)
An Apple / 1 Apple
Rice
I eat an apple every day.
I eat rice every day. (not I eat a rice
every day.)
Add (s) to make a countable noun
plural
There is no plural form for an
uncountable noun
apples
rice
I eat an apple every day. Apples are
good for you.
I eat rice every day. Rice is good for you.
http://www.learn-english-online.org/Lesson37/Lesson37.htm
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/noununcount.htm
Possessives




Add an apostrophe and an s to singular nouns to indication possession. According
to several current grammar texts, add the apostrophe after the letter s to indicate a
plural possessive, unless the dual s sounds are pronounced. It is also standard to use
the “apostrophe s” with Biblical names, probably out of tradition more than for
reasons of phonology or grammar.
He located the cat’s toy under the chair.
The cats’ toys were tattered after years of play.
The Smiths’ two cats chased the Wilsons’ dog.
Plural possessives can be challenging:
The Williamses’s dogs chase cats. (Strunk &White style)
The Williamses’ dogs chase cats. (AP Stylebook and MLA version)
The first version of the last example looks odd to many readers. Strunk andWhite
suggest the apostrophe plus s, AP Style omits the last s. We tend to pronounce the -ez
sound instinctively when it helps clarify the quantity of the noun. The last s desired
by Strunk and White is seldom vocalized. The second version, without the s, is more
common and closer to the spoken version of the sentence.
http://www.tameri.com/edit/gramerrors.html
Introductions to Conjunctions
 A conjunction is a word which merely joins together sentences,
and sometimes words.
 Until: As long as
 Until expresses time before, as long as expresses period of time
In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated CONJ or CNJ) is a part
of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses
together. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of
speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" should be defined for
each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable
grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the
items it conjoins. (From Wikipedia)
http://gmattoughies.blogspot.com/2009/07/conjunctions.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjunction
Some Conjunction
 Below is a list of subordinating conjunctions used to introduce adverb clauses.
TIME
after
as
once
every time (that)
before
as soon as
as/so long as
the first time (that)
when since
whenever
the last time (that)
while until
by the time (that)
the next time (that)
Tense: Basic and advanced
 Present past and future
 Past prefect, present perfect and future perfect
 Use present to express habit or routine
 In adverb clause of time and condition, the present tense is used for
future. Ex. If you will be going to Madras, you will meet him vs. If you
go to madras, you will meet him
 In the same sentence, care must be taken that there is no shifting of
tense
 Historical Present: Asoka is one of the greatest of king
 The Had tense: When two events of the past are related through time,
the earlier of the two events is indicated by had-tense. Ex. When I
went to his house, he went to his office vs. When I went to his house,
he had gone to his office(correct)
Page 48-50, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
Subject Verb Agreement
 It is the most seen subject in the GMAT
 The simplicity entangled with the complexity of questions in
this area makes it an all time favorite.
 The number of arrests of drunken drivers are increasing
every year: (wrong)
 The number (of arrests of drunken drivers) is increasing
every year: (correct)
 Most asked question in Indian Exams
List of Singular Subjects
Nouns
 The Netherlands
 The family
 The audience
 Politics
 Measles
 The Number
 The amount
Pronouns:
 Each
 Everyone
 Everyone
 Nobody
Pronoun: An Introduction
 A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, known as the antecedent
of the pronoun. The key point for the use of pronouns is this: pronouns
must agree with their antecedents in both number (singular or plural)
and person (first, second, or third).
 Example:
Steve has yet to receive his degree.
Here, the pronoun his refers to the noun Steve.
 Each pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces
 Each pronoun must refer directly and unambiguously to the noun it
replaces
 It, its, they their
Examples of
Pronoun Errors
 Subject verb agreement
Modifiers
 Adjective
 Preposition
 Appositives
 Misplaced modifier is the major questions we are going to get
MISPLACED MODIFIERS
As a general rule, a modifier should be placed as close as possible to what it modifies.
Example:
 Following are some useful tips for protecting your person and property from the FBI.
As written, the sentence implies that the FBI is a threat to your person and property. To
correct the sentence put the modifier from the FBI next to the word it modifies, tips:
 Following are some useful tips from the FBI for protecting your person and property.
Parallelism
 Question type: sentences which aren’t
parallel
 Individual parts must be parallel
 We cannot compares apples with oranges
Page 30-32, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
Page 77; Boook:Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual
Example of Parallelism
Youtube Series
 6 Errors
References & More readings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Book: Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual
Book: Manhattan GMAT sentence correction Guide
Verbal workout for GMAT Princeton
Winners guide to GMAT Grammar
Chandresh Agrawal, CAT Priyanka Prakshan
English Grammer by Wren & Martin
Websites
 http://www.scribd.com/doc/17337550/Grammar-Strategies






GMAT
http://novapress.net/gmat/gmat-strategies/gmat-grammarstrategies
http://outbeat-the-gmat.blogspot.com/2007/03/englishgrammar.html
http://www.majon.com/testprep/strat-gmatg.html
http://www.wepapers.com/Papers/10372/GMAT_Grammar_
Notes
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tu
torial/page_76.htm
http://gmat-grammar.blogspot.com/
Etc…
Youtube videos
 http://www.youtube.com/user/ManhattanReview
 http://www.youtube.com/user/MBAPodcaster
 http://www.youtube.com/user/gmaxonline
 http://www.youtube.com/user/gmatpill
 Etc…