Transcript PSAT Prep - Bremen High School District 228

Attacking the Monster:
Grammar on the PSAT
Weapon #1 – Knowing the Test
Multiple-choice portion of the test:
14 identifying sentence errors
39
questions
20 improving sentences
5 improving paragraphs
Contain one or more grammar or usage errors
Your job is to find and sometimes fix the mistakes
in 30 minutes
NO TERMINOLOGY! You don’t have to know what
it’s called!
SAT QUESTIONS INCLUDE:
-Errors in Basic Grammar
(rely upon knowledge of correct use of parts of speech,
punctuation, etc.)
-Errors in Sentence Structure
(rely upon knowledge of phrases, clauses, punctuation, etc.)
-Errors in Word Choice
(rely upon knowledge of usage and ear for diction)
-Errors in Idiomatic Expressions
(rely upon knowledge of English idioms and colloquialisms)
Identifying Sentence Errors
Two important tips:

About 20% (1 in 5) should be “no
error” (choice E)

What creates the error is usually in a
part of the sentence that is NOT
underlined!
The Big 5
Pronouns
Subject-verb agreement
Verb forms and tenses
Parallelism
Modifiers and Comparisons
Pronoun Case
Every pronoun has a case (type) that
fits the job it will do in the sentence.
Subjective Case
Objective Case
Possessive Case
( ___ go/goes.)
(… to ____.)
( It is ___ car.)
I
We
Me
Us
My
Our
You
You
You
You
Your
Your
He,
They
Him,
Them
His,
Their(s)
She
Her
Her
It
It
Its
Basic errors in pronoun case
BAD:
Just between you and I this steak is terrible.
BAD:
Me and her like to go to the movies every Friday.
The Tarzan Rule
Common problem: You have two words
joined by “and.” Is the pronoun in the
correct case?
Solution:
Use it by
itself!
Don’t talk like Tarzan!
My friends and me went to the park.
Me went to the park.
The teacher gave good grades to my friend and I.
My teacher gave a good grade to I.
Now YOU try it:
The other delegates and him immediately
A
B
C
accepted the resolution drafted by the
D
neutral states. No error.
E
Pronoun shift
If you begin with “one,” stick
with “one.”
(In other words, don’t
change pronouns in
mid-sentence.)
YOU try it again:
To become a world figure-skating champion
A
like Kristi Yamaguchi, one must be so dedicated
B
that you will practice six hours a day. No error
C
D
E
Note “one” just before B! Alarm bells!
Pronoun/Antecedent Error
The antecedent is the word to which
a pronoun refers and with which it
must agree in terms of number.
Ex. A
Each of the girls on those teams did their best to represent the school
from which she came.
Ex. B
The average college student has difficulty adjusting to academic
standards much higher than those of their school.
Ex. C
Most infants, even unusually quiet ones, will cry with greater
intensity when it begins teething.
Words to Watch For
Indefinite pronouns: Combinations of each, every,
some, no, and any with body, thing, and one.
Ex. Everybody is bringing his or her own lunch.
Collective nouns: Although they mean everybody, they
are in singular form.
Ex. A doctor should be careful when he or she
prescribes medication.
Now YOU try it:
The reason first novels are so often their writers’
A
B
best work is that it draws upon all the
C
experiences of the writers’ childhood. No error
D
E
Watch for vague antecendents
Who is “it”?
Who are “they”?
YOU try it again:
Karen, James and Sam were hiking when, stumbling
over a rock, he fell down a steep embankment.
(A) when, stumbling over a rock, he fell down a steep
embankment
(B) and then he fell down a steep embankment after
he stumbled over a rock
(C) when Sam fell down over a steep embankment
after stumbling over a rock
(D) when Sam fell down a steep embankment, since
he stumbled over a rock
(E) and, since Sam has stumbled over a rock, he fell
down a steep embankment
Subject-Verb Agreement
Subjects and verbs must agree in
number.
BAD
The local congressman, a reliable
representative of both community
and local interests, are among the
most respected persons in the
public sector.
Watch out for
Distractions between the subject and the verb
(prepositional phrases, relative clauses)
Ex: High levels of air pollution cause damage to the
respiratory tract
Levels is the subject; of air pollution is a prepositional
phrase; the verb must be plural.
Now you try it
The scientific writings of Edward O Wilson, Stephen
Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins, which have continued
A
the discussion of genetic issues raised by Charles
B
C
Darwin, is familiar to many high school and college
D
students. No error.
E
Watch out for
When a sentence begins with “There,” the subject
comes after the verb.
Ex. There are a fire truck, an ambulance, and four
police cars at the scene of the accident.
The subject is a fire truck, an ambulance, and four
police cars; the verb must be plural.
Now you try it
There was a social worker and a crew of
A
B
20 volunteers who were sent to the
C
D
disaster area. No error
E
Who, which, that
Can be singular or plural depending on what you’re
talking about.
Our ability to use language is one of the things that set
us apart from animals.
(How many things set us apart from animals?)
Dr. Barker knew that Frank was the only one of his sons
who was responsible enough to handle the estate.
(How many sons were responsible?)
Now YOU try it:
The scientific writings of Edward O Wilson, Stephen
Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins, which has continued
A
B
the discussion of genetic issues raised by Charles
C
Darwin, are familiar to many high school and college
D
students. No error.
E
Verb tense errors
Verb tenses show when things happen.
There are six verb tenses.
• Present: Dogs bite
• Past: The dog bit the man yesterday.
• Future: The dog will bite the man tomorrow.
• Present perfect: The dog has bitten the man every day this
week.
• Past perfect: The dog had bitten the man several times before
I found him.
• Future perfect: By the time you get here, the man will have
bitten the dog several times.
The two problem tenses
Present perfect shows an action beginning in the
past but continuing into the present.
EX: I have been to Disney World several times.
(And I might go again tomorrow. . . .)
Past perfect shows an act that was completed in
the past before another past event.
EX: I had eaten half the sandwich before I
realized the cheese was bad. (Ate first, then
realized.)
Verb Tense Error: Two questions
BAD
Does it make
Over the last half-century, the building of
passenger airliners had grown into a
multi-billion-dollar industry.
BAD
Does it stay
the same?
Many superb tennis players turn
professional at an alarmingly early age,
but because of their lack of physical
stamina, suffered early in their careers.
sense?
Now YOU Try It:
No matter where they came from or what
A
B
their previous lifestyle is, the refugees were
C
grateful for having been granted political
D
asylum in the United States. No error.
E
Conditionals
. . . are something else you’re expected
to know.
REMEMBER: “If I were a rich man. . . .”
Now you try it
The teacher, if she was so inclined,
A
could give everyone a bad grade on
B
C
his or her paper. No error.
D
E
Faulty Parallelism
Lists of things doing the same job in
a sentence must look alike.
BAD
I love running, swimming, and to ride a bike.
Things being compared or contrasted
must look alike.
BAD
A healthy economy can be measured not only by business
growth but it has a psychological effect on people.
Now YOU try it:
A talented and versatile artist, Twyla Tharp has been
A
B
a dancer, choreographer, and collaborated on various
C
D
productions. No error.
E
Common Sentence Construction Mistake –
Bad subordination
Some SAT questions ask the reader to
revise for clarity (clearness).
BEWARE OF “AND”!
BAD
Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book and
she was the age of sixty-five years old then.
The SAT hates “and;” you almost always have to
replace it with a subordinating conjunction.
GOOD
Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book when
she was sixty-five.
Now YOU try it:
Roger had just walked into his office and that was
when he was told that his plan had finally been
approved.
(A) and that was when he was told
(B) and then he learned
(C) when it was learned by him
(D) and then they told him
(E) when he learned
When in doubt, go with the shortest answer on
these!
Improving Sentence Questions:
* Relate to a small number of grammatical issues
* Generally concern structure rather than just correctness.
•Sentence fragments
•Misplaced Modifiers
•Faulty
coordination/subordination
•Run-on sentences
On these questions, A is the no
error answer.
Sentence fragments =
Sentences that lack an independent
clause because of a missing verb
or because they begin with a
subordinating conjunction
Ex. A
Whereas many office managers are growing more and more
dependent on facsimile machines, others resisting this latest
technological breakthrough.
Ex. B
In the summertime the kindergarten class that plays on the rope
swing beneath the crooked oak tree at the bottom of the hill.
… often comes away with an abundance of skinned knees and hair
smelling of sunshine.
Watch out for
-ing words (They’re not verbs!)
Going to the store
Dependent clause words
When, if, because, though, after, while,
until, during, since, who, which, that
The conversation starter tip
You can’t start a conversation with a sentence
fragment!
“Hi, there!
When I
went to the
store.”
Now you try it:
Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans, which are
realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner.
A. Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans, which are
realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner.
B. Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans being
realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner.
C. The paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner realistically depict scenes
from the everyday lives of African Americans.
D. Henry Ossawa Turner, in his realistic paintings, depicting scenes
from the everyday lives of African Americans.
E. Henry Ossawa Turner, whose paintings realistically depict scenes
from the everyday lives of African Americans.
Misplaced modifiers =
modifiers whose distance from the
word they are describing creates in
the reader mistaken impressions
BAD
When flashing, you should not speed through a yellow light.
Probably good advice, but likely not what the writer intended.
REMEMBER: An –ing phrase at the beginning of a sentence must
always describe the subject!
BAD
An advertisement was withdrawn by the producer of the local news
program that was considered offensive by the city’s minority
communities.
What was considered offensive here? The ad? The producer? The
program?
Now you try it
Looking up from the base of the
mountain, the trail seemed more
treacherous than it really was.
A Looking up
B While looking up
C By looking up
D Viewing
E Viewed
Faulty coordination/subordination =
when sentence clauses
are joined incorrectly
BAD
Ben Franklin was a respected and talented statesman, and he
was most famous for his discovery of electricity.
Remember that SAT hates “and”!
Ex. B
Since the small electronics industry is one of the world’s fastest
growing sectors, but demand for the computer chip continues
to be high.
You only use a coordinating conjunction between two
groups of words that are the same thing.
Now you try it
The students, discovering they can address issues more effectively
through letter-writing campaigns, so they avoid public
demonstrations.
A The students, discovering they can address issues more
effectively through letter-writing campaigns, so they avoid
public demonstrations.
B The students have discovered they can address issues more
effectively through letter-writing campaigns, so they avoid
public demonstrations.
C Now that the students have discovered they can address issues
more effectively through letter-writing campaigns, and so they
avoid public demonstrations.
D Discovering they can address issues more effectively through
letter-writing campaigns, so the students avoid public
demonstrations.
E The students discovered they can address issues more effectively
through letter-writing campaigns, but they avoid public
demonstrations.
Run-on sentences =
two independent clauses incorrectly
joined together
(Your teacher may also call them comma
splices or fused sentences.)
Ex.A
The decrease in crime can be attributed to a rise in the number of police
officers, more than 500 joined the force in the last year alone.
Corrected –
The decrease in crime can be attributed to a rise in the number of police
officers. More than 500 joined the force in the last year alone.
Ex. B
The Humber Bridge in Britain was completed in 1981 it is the longest
single-span suspension bridge in the world.
Corrected –
The Humber Bridge in Britain, the longest single-span suspension bridge in
the world, was completed in 1981.
Improving Paragraphs Questions:
* General organization questions
Skills
overlap
with
general
grammar
(reviewed
in section
one)
* Revising sentences questions
* Combining sentences questions
Improving Paragraphs Questions:
Now YOU try it:
Take a look at the following paragraph and question.
(6) Albert Einstein was a great physicist. (7) He won a Nobel Prize in
Physics. (8) He got the prize for his research into the photoelectric
effect. (9) Later physicists demonstrated the validity of Einstein’s ideas.
Which of the following is the best way to combine sentences 7 and 8?
(A) The Nobel Prize in Physics that he won was for his research into the
photoelectric effect.
(B) Having researched the photoelectric effect, he won a Nobel Prize in
Physics.
(C) He won a Nobel Prize in Physics for his research into the photoelectric
effect.
(D) He got the prize in physics, the Nobel Prize in Physics, for his research
into the photoelectric effect.
(E) Because of his research into the photoelectric effect he got the Nobel
Prize in physics.
You are now armed and ready
to slay the SAT dragon!