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GMAT-Grammar

Parts of Speech

Nouns

A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things common noun, or to name a particular one of these proper noun.

Pronouns

A word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this ).

Kinds of pronouns:

  • Personal pronouns
    • Personal pronouns always represent:
      • a very specific person
      • group of people
      • object
    • The thing represented by a personal pronoun is called the antecedent.
    • Forms:
      • Subjective:
        • I, he, she, they
        • Used as the subjects of verbs
      • Objective:
        • Me, him, her, them
        • Used as
          • Direct and direct objects
          • Objects of prepositional phrases
          • Subjects of infinitives
  • Demonstrative verbs
    • this, that, these, those
    • Also require an antecedent
  • Relative and Interrogative
    • who, whom, whose, what, which, that
    • Begin noun-modifying clauses:
      • The hand that signed the paper...
  • Indefinite
    • Everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, someone, etc..
    • Represent ambiguous or not clearly defined objects
    • Always singular:
      • every, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, someone, one, nothing, everything..
    • Always Plural:
      • both, many, several, few, fewer, others
    • Can be singular or plural:
      • none, all, some, any, most, more
      • Look for a noun modified or an "of" preposition
        • some soccer players
        • Most of the X are Y, but some are Z.

Pronoun Agreement

  • Collective nouns
    • Pronouns and their verbs must match
    • Some pronouns sound plural, but are singular and should take a singular verb
  • Ambiguous antecedents
    • Pronouns must be explicit as to what they refer to, even if the meaning is implied
  • Possessive
    • Under most conditions, the antecedent of a pronoun should not be in the possessive.
    • If a noun appears in the possessive, it must be repeated as a noun in another grammatical use.
      • Caesar's victories in Gaul significantly expanded the size of the Roman Republic, and triumphs over the legendarily fierce Celtic people to the north gave him a luster of heroism to the Roman people.
      • Caesar's victories in Gaul significantly expanded the size of the Roman Republic, and triumphs over the legendarily fierce Celtic people to the north gave Caesar a luster of heroism to the Roman people.
    • Exception: a noun in the possessive, can be the antecedent of a possessive pronoun.
      • Caesar's triumphs in Gaul significantly enhanced his reputation at home.

Subject

A noun phrase functioning as one of the main components of a clause, being the element about which the rest of the clause is predicated.

Adjectives

A word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.

Determiners

A modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, for example a, the, every.

Verbs

A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence (e.g., run, jump, dance).

Every sentence must have at least one verb.

Transitive vs. Intransitive:

  • Transitive verbs take a direct object
    • To buy, to steal, to take
  • Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object
    • Often are states of being
    • Have no effect on an external object
      • To laugh
      • To be
      • To prosper

Verb forms

Infinitive

  • The form of a verb that follows "to":
    • To buy a house
    • To sell a car
    • To jump
  • Infinitives have three uses:
    • To be the subject of a sentence
      • To err is human; to forgive, divine.
      • An infinitive or infinitive phrase can have its own subject.
        • The subject follows the preposition "for":
          • ** For me to tell her about the affair** would create a most awkward situation.
    • To be an "infinitive of purpose"
    • To be the direct object, by idiom, of certain verbs

Moods

  • Imperative (commands):
    • Won't be tested on the GMAT
    • Example: Say! Say it out loud!
  • Indicative (factual):
    • Indicates a factual statement.
      • He says, said, will say
  • Subjunctive (hypothetical):
    • Used for wishes, hopes, and hypothetical situations.
    • Just the infinitive form of the verb. There is no verb number.
      • ... that I sell my car.
      • ... that Henry by a house. (not buys)
      • ... that he be quiet.
    • Used after lest and after that clauses conveying commands and wishes:
      • ... ask that ...
      • ... demand that ...
      • It is crucial that ...
    • Past subjunctive is only used with the word "were":
      • If I were you...
      • If this were the seventeenth century

Tenses

  • Simple:
  • Progressive:
    • Formed by: [correct tense form of the verb "to be"] + [present participle]
    • Indicates an ongoing process or the simultaneity of actions
    • Examples:
      • He has been working on a project for the past year.
      • When you called, I was taking a bath.
    • Tips:
      • Use the present progressive only when necessary
      • Don't use the present progressive to discuss the future:
        • Tomorrow, he is departing for Laos.
        • Tomorrow, he will depart for Laos.
      • Don't use the present progressive for definitions and static facts
      • The past progressive can be used to put a past action behind another
        • The baby was crying when his father walked through the door
        • The baby cried when his father walked through the door.
  • Perfect:
    • Perfect = Fully completed or fully done
    • Three tenses: Past, Present, Future
    • Past perfect:
      • Formed by: "had" + [past participle]
        • I had walked
        • He had bought
        • They had sold
      • Used to indicate an event before another past event
        • Simple: He wrote his manifesto when the President imposed martial law.
        • Past perfect: He had written his manifesto when the President imposed martial law.
        • CAUTION: If the sentence was the following, then using the past perfect could be redundant, as before already explicitly states the action happened before the other.
          • He had written his manifesto before the President imposed martial aw.
    • Present perfect (rare on the GMAT):
      • Formed by: "has / have" + [past participle]
        • I have walked
        • He has bought
        • They have sold
      • Used to indicate an event that started in the past and continued up until the resent moment.
    • Future perfect:
      • Formed by "will have" + [past participle]
        • I will have walked
        • He will have bought
        • They will have sold
      • Used to indicate a future event that will be completed by the time of something else in the future.
        • By next Spring, when Thalia graduates, Matt will have joined an MBA program.
  • Perfect Progressive:
    • Present perfect progressive:
      • Formed by: "has/have been" + [present participle]
      • Carries the connotation of an action that started in the past and is ongoing to the present moment.
        • I have been reading.
    • Past perfect progressive:
      • Formed by: "had been" + [present participle]
    • Present perfect progressive:
      • Formed by: "will have been" + [present participle]

Sequence of Tense rules:

  • When a someone in the past reported (spoke, or thought, argued, believed, etc) on events in their past, their present, and their future:
    • Speaker's past = past perfect
    • Speaker's present = simple past
    • Speaker's future: conditional (would)
      • Ex: Geologist Charles Lyell believed that the theologians of previous centuries had vastly underestimated the age of the Earth and that evidence would justify a much older Earth then was previously suspected.

Voice

  • Active
    • [Do-er] [active verb / action] [direct object]
      • He bought the house.
    • Intransitive verbs are only active
    • GMAT prefers active voice
  • Passive
    • [Direct object] [passive verb] "by" [do-er]
      • The house was bought by him.
    • Formed by: form of the verb "to be" = [past participle]
      • He is seen.
      • He was seen.
    • Both transitive and intransitive verbs can have passive voice
    • The passive voice is grammatically correct.
    • The passive voice is acceptable if the identity of the "do-er" is unknown.
      • Overnight, the storefront was vandalized.
    • For rhetorical reasons, we may want to focus on the recipient of action.
      • Passive: The photoelectric effect, the basic principle of solar cells, having tremendous implications in the unfolding of quantum theory, was explained by Einstein in 1905.
      • Active: In 1905, Einstein explained the photoelectric effect, the basic principle of solar cells, having tremendous implications in the unfolding of quantum theory, hmm.
      • Focus of the sentence is the photoelectric effect. Passive might be preferred here.

Number

  • Singular
  • Plural

Auxillary verbs

  • A verb used in forming the tenses, moods, and voices of other verbs.

Participles

A word formed from a verb (e.g., going, gone, being, been) and used as an adjective (e.g., working woman, burned toast) or a noun (e.g., good breeding).

  • Participles and participial phrases can:

    • be placed in front of nouns to act as modifiers.
    • modify an entire clause.
      • Uber posted annual loss of $4 billion dollars, causing them to shut down.

  • Present:

    • -ing form of the verb
      • to walk: walking
      • to go: going
      • to be: being
    • Used in progressive tense
    • Is active in voice (can be transitive or intransitive)
      • the spinning wheel
      • the man throwing the ball
    • Has three roles:
      • As a part of a progressive verb
        • They are buying a house.
      • As a participle, a modifier
        • The couple buying the house across the street has two dogs.
      • As a gerund, in a noun role
        • Buying a new house is a very time consuming task.

  • Past:

    • -ed form of the verb
    • Used with "have" or "had" in the perfect tense
      • to walk: have walked
    • Some are irregular!
      • to go: have gone
      • to be: had been
    • Is passive in voice and transitive
      • the broken sword (who broke the sword?)

  • Perfect

    • Formed by: "having" + [past participle]
      • having seen
      • having heard
      • having sold
    • Is active in voice (can be transitive or intransitive)
    • Indicates an action that took place in the past and is completed
    • Almost always modifies only the subject of a sentence (unlike other participles which are more flexible)
    • It's one way to show a subject's sequence of actions, even a causal sequence
      • Lee, having suffered defeat at Gettysburg, returned to Virginia.

Participial phrase

  • Formed by: [participle] + [predicate]
    • petting a cat
    • blowing in the wind
  • Tense is determined by the tense of the main verb
    • Yesterday, I saw a man riding a unicycle.
    • Right now, I see a man riding a unicycle.
    • Tomorrow, I will see a man riding a unicycle.
  • If the action in the modifier happens at a different time from the action of the main clause, we cannot use a participle phrase
  • When the action of the sentence and the action of the object happen at two different times, we need two different clauses
    • Right now, I see the man yesterday riding a unicycle.
    • Right now, I see the man who yesterday was riding a unicycle.

Gerunds:

The "-ing" form of a verb (present participle) used as a noun.

  • I enjoy biking.
  • The law prevent convicts from voting.

Gerund phrase

  • Formed by: gerund + [predicate]
  • You can modify gerunds and gerund phrases with articles, adjectives, and possessives
    • the widening of the highway
    • energetic dancing
    • Mach's reasoning
  • Unlike an infinitive, gerunds and gerund phrases can play any noun role:
    • Subject
    • Direct object
    • object of a prepositional phrase

Adverbs

A word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there ).

Prepositions

A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause (e.g., “the man on the platform,” “she arrived after dinner,” “what did you do it for ?”).

Conjunctions

A word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g., and, but, if ).

Interjections

An exclamation (e.g., ah! or dear me!)

Whatever these are

Clauses

A unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.

  • Types of clauses:
    • Substantive:
    • Subordinate:

Phrase

A small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause.

Predicate

The part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject (e.g., went home in John went home ).

Conditionals

  • Forms

    • If P, then Q,
      • If you learn Chinese, then you can read Kongfuzi.
    • If P, Q.
      • If you learn Chinese, you can read Kongfuzi.
    • Q, if P.
      • You can read Kongfuzi if you learn Chinese.

  • Categories

    • First conditionals
      • General rules or real situations
      • Uses present tense indicative
        • You must stop if the light is red.
        • If the number is negative, the square root is imaginary.
      • Use ordinary tenses for real situations
        • If he took his test, he probably did well.
      • Do not use future tense inside the "if" clause:
        • We will throw a party for her if she comes tomorrow.
    • Second conditionals:
      • Unreal or unlikely scenarios
      • Formed by: "if" + [paste tense], "would" + [verb]
        • If I won the lottery, I would buy a walrus.
      • For future events:
        • Used: "if" ... "were to" [verb], ... "would" [verb]
          • If Donald Trump were to get impeached, his racist supporters would riot.
    • Third conditionals:
      • Unreal / impossible past scenarios
      • Formed by: "if" [past perfect], "would have" [past participle]

Construction

Subject verb agreement

  • Compound Subjects:
    • Two singular nouns joined by "and" or make a compound subject take a plural verb
    • A noun and an additive phrase take a singular verb
    • Additive phrases:
    • P, as well as Q,
    • P, including Q,
    • P, in addition to Q,
    • Example: The mayor, as well as the deputy mayor, approves of the legislation. (Mayor is the only subject)
    • Subjects in P or Q format:
    • Verb takes the number of the second noun
    • The senators or the President is going to issue a statement.
    • The President or the senators are going to issue a statement.
  • Collective nouns
  • Singular nouns that represent a logical group of people take a singular verb
  • The Ford Motor Corporation was once a startup, too.
  • Phrases as subjects
  • Take a singular verb 100% of the time
  • To err is human
  • For Bob and Jim to fight over Sally was petty.
  • Auxillary Verbs
    • In a series of auxiliary verbs plus main verb, only the first verb in the series can show the verb-number.
    • Most auxillary verbs don't change for verb number
      • The only ones that change are:
        • has/have
        • do/does
        • is/are
        • was/were
Comparisons
  • Comparisons must be like to like
    • Comparing apples to apples
    • Watch out for comparing a thing about a person to the other whole person
      • Like the victories of Julius Caesar in Rome, Brutus ...
  • Must be clear and unambiguous
    • I like cars more than Matt
      • Could mean: I like cars more than Matt does
      • Could mean: I like cars more than I like Matt

Infinitive of Purpose

  • Consider the following:
    • I will go to the store to buy cookies
    • I will go to the store for buying cookies
  • Always use an infinitive of purpose, not a for + [gerund]
  • This is a rule, not an idiom
  • Variations:
    • A did X to do Y
    • A did X in order to do Y
    • A did X so as to do Y

Parallelism

#TODO

Modifiers

Vital and Non-Vital Noun Modifiers:

  • Vital modifiers add critical meaning to the sentence
    • Ex: Cars that are made in America cost less than $100k.
      • If you remove the modifier: "Cars cost less than $100k". It changes the entire meaning!
      • Vital modifiers are not usually set off by commas.
    • Vital noun modifiers must touch the modified noun even if that means they come between the noun and a non-vital modifier.
  • Non-vital modifiers add additional information, but don't change the meaning if they are removed
    • Ex: Cars, which were first built in America, are a part of every day life for billions of people.
    • Non-vital modifiers are usually set off by commas (and therefore will use a "which" clause)
  • A "that" clause will follow the noun it modifies without a comma.
  • A "which" clause will follow the noun it modifies set off by commas.

Touch rule exceptions

  • Vital noun modifiers must touch the modified noun even if that means they come between the noun and a non-vital modifier.
    • Henry II of England, who was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, brought Ireland under the subjection of the English crown.
      • Vital noun modifier: of England
      • Non-vital noun modifier: who was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine
  • Appositive phrases can come between a noun and it's modifiers
    • Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, was unfit to serve.
  • A short predicate or short phrase may come between a noun and its modifier.
    • Today, the former mayor was arrested, who diverted thousands of dollars of public money into his private bank account.

Adverbs & Adjectives

  • Certain adverbs, will change the meaning of the sentence significantly when they are placed in different positions.
  • Some of them:
    • Only
    • Almost
    • Even
    • Just
    • Nearly
  • Ex:
    1. Before the GMAT, John only studied for six days
    2. Before the GMAT, John studied for only six days
    3. Before the GMAT, John studied for six days only
  • 1 is incorrect, but only modifies John.

Diction

Lie vs Lay

  • to lie = a transitive verb
    • meaning:
      • to recline
      • to be located (metaphorical use)
    • Past tense is laid
  • to lay = an intransitive verb meaning
    • meaning:
      • to put down; to set in position
    • Past tense is lie

If vs Whether

  • If is used in a conditional
  • Whether starts a noun clause and usually discusses a yes/no question to which the answer is unknown.
  • Whether can be used with the construction "depend on"

Countable vs Uncountable

Many vs Much

  • Many = countable
    • Many rocks
  • Much = uncountable
    • Much sand

Fewer vs Less

  • Fewer = countable
    • Fewer cars
  • Less = uncountable
    • Less cars

Amount vs Number

  • Number = countable
  • Amount = uncountable
Rather Than vs Instead of

Instead of

  • In place of or filling the roll of
  • Must have a noun following it
  • Narrowly applicable Rather than
  • Than starts a clause, but repeated words can be dropped
  • Any phrase can follow rather than
  • More formal (preferred by the GMAT)
Such as vs like

Like

  • Is a comparison for things that are alike
  • I like countries like Spain. (Means countries that I like similar to Spain)

Such as

  • Used to list examples
  • I like some countries such as Spain.
Because of vs Due to

Because of:

  • Forms a compound preposition
    • Therefore can appear nearly anywhere in a sentence Due to:
  • Can appear
    • as an adjective after the verb "to be"
    • as a noun modifier. (see noun modifiers)
      • Follows modifier "touch rule"
      • Ex: Due to a groundswell of popular support, the senator reversed his position on the controversial bill
      • This implies that the senator was due to a groundswell of popular support