MGMAT - Bonus Online Question Banks

9. Despite entering the courthouse with police escort, the lead attorney and his assistant, manhandled by an aggressive crowd of reporters that bombarded him with questions, was injured seriously enough to warrant immediate medical attention.

Skip the Middlemen (prepositional, modifier and subordinate clauses)

Opening Modifier (Preposition):
Despite entering the courthouse with police escort
Preposition: Despite
Verb Phrase: Entering the courthouse
Corrected: "Despite" requires "Noun Phrase"

Past Participle Modifier:
manhandled by an aggressive crowd of reporters

Relative Pronoun Modifier:
that (relative pronoun) bombarded him (pronoun) with questions
Corrected: Pronoun is ambiguous so repeat the noun, like "The Lawyer"

Find the subject and verb - agree in number, meaning and sense?

Subject: the lead attorney and his assistant
Verb: was injured seriously enough to warrant immediate medical attention

Agree in number? No.
Corrected tense: WERE injured

10. The Diary of Anne Frank tells the true story of a young girl and her family that were hidden during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands by a gentile Dutch couple, though they were eventually discovered.

Pronouns

Main Clause
The Diary of Anne Frank - Subject

Tells - Verb

the true story - object

of a young girl and her family - preposition + connecting conjunction (connects words)

who (relative pronoun/subject) were hidden (verb) - relative clause modifying noun phrase

Deadly Five Pronoun "They" is ambiguous

Modifiers - By a gentile Dutch couple

Carbon monoxide levels in the atmosphere grew by enough of an increased percentage during the twentieth century that it began to trap heat radiating from the Earth, and it caused the average surface temperature to rise.

Carbon monoxide levels - Subject Noun

Grew - Verb

By enough of an increase percentage - Redundancy (increased sufficiently)

That - Relative Pronoun/Modifying Clause

Pronoun

It - Deadly Five - Ambiguous

And - connecting conjunction (subordinate Vs coordinating conjunction)

Subordinate - de-emphasize the second clause and emphasize the main clause

Which - Modifies noun only, not the whole clause

Having lived in Tahiti for several years, where life was slow and relaxed, it was difficult for Paul Gauguin to readjust to the hectic pace of Paris upon returning.

Having - Present Participle Modifier
Where - Relative pronoun modifying place

Though some education experts claim that the low test scores of children in the city can be raised by hiring more teachers and an increase in the amount of funding for textbooks and other supplies, others insist that doing this cannot guarantee any improvement.

Parallelism Marker - And

By hiring more teachers and increasing funding for textbook and other supplies

Pronoun cannot replace verbs/verb phrase, pronouns can only replace nouns. Instead use "so".

17. An economic recession can result from a lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.


An economic recession (Subject) can result (Verb)
Preposition modifier - From a lowering of (falling) employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes (causing) people to cut (cutbacks in) consumer spending and starting

Chapter 3 - Subject Verb Agreement

Kaplan Premier

Look out for:

• Modifying phrases/clauses
• Either Or/Neither Nor
• Verb precedes subject
• Collective Nouns
• Singular subjects followed by plural noun (e.g a number of students)

Manhanttan GMAT

The Deadly Five: It, its, they, their, them

Singular: His or hers
Example: Each of the athletes in the parade IS carrying HIS or HER nation's flag.

Conjunctions cannot function as subjects of sentences

Helpful BeatTheGmat PostsVerb-ing or Unconjugated verb as subjects of a sentence must ALWAYS be singular http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/01/26/solving-sentence-correction-questions-are-not-always-an-easy-task

Unconjugated verb = Infinitive = Verb in its bare form
Take = Unconjugated verb
Takes, Taken, Took = Conjugated verb
Verb-ing = Present Participle

MGMAT - Chapter 6 - Modifiers

Simple Modifiers (one-word modifiers)
Adjectives (modifies nouns or pronouns)
- Follow linking verbs (do not modify linking verb but identify quality of noun)
- simple one-word modifier

"Long Adjectives"
- Complex modifiers (contains more than one word)

• Preposition
• Past participle
• Present participle without commas (when placed in front of the sentence, tends to be dangling)
  
• Appositive (another noun)
  
• Relative pronouns

Touch Rule

Most noun modifiers must touch their nouns or else it will result in:

• Dangling modifiers (modified noun does not exist)
  
• Misplaced modifiers (next to the wrong noun)
  

*Exceptions: "mission-critical" modifier, often in Of-phrase

Adverbs (modifies verbs and anything else but a noun or pronoun eg: adjective, another adverb, preposition, whole clause)
- Adverbs don't modify "linking verbs" (linking verbs are not action but connects more info to the noun), adjectives does instead.
- Normally followed by LY

Grammatically correct phrasings, but choose the author's intended meaning.

Look out for
- Opening modifiers (beginning at the sentence)
- separated by the rest of the sentence by a comma
- Avoid long modifiers that modify the same noun

• Don't put them together (put modifiers on either side of noun)
• Rephrase sentence so that one modifier is no longer a modifier
  

Noun Modifiers with Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns: That, Which, Who, What, Where, When, Whose

Relative pronouns relates the clause to the noun it modifies

MGMAT - Chapter 8 - Comparisons

1. Look for comparison signals: Like, unlike, than, as

2. Parallel structurally and logically

Like vs As

• Like = compare two nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, gerunds (never a clauses or a prepositional phrase)
• Like = as a role or function (example: mathematics AS a creative activity, me AS your boss)

What are clauses again? Clauses contain working verbs such as DID.

• As = compare verbs, clauses, prepositional phrase.

Examples of using AS:

Juggling is a favorite pastime for me, as for you

Comparison signal: As

What is being compared? Preposition phrase: FOR me, FOR you

Sentence Correction Strategy

First, understand and get familiarize with all the concepts. After lots of research for honest feedbacks, it can be concluded that the ManhattanGMAT Sentence Correction Strategy Guide ($26) is one of the best books to use to dive deep into the grammar, meaning and style of sentence correction.

Second, internalize and reinforce by practicing for speed and accuracy. Below is a breakdown of what books to use for different parts of sentence correction.

- Phase 1: Concepts and Methodology -

Grammar

• Chapter 3: Subject-Verb Agreement (Check for existence, agreement in number & meaning)
• Chapter 4: Parallelism (markers, "and" lists, built-in structure, linking verbs & gerunds)
• Chapter 5: Pronouns
• Chapter 6: Modifiers
• Chapter 7: Verb Tense, Mood & Voice
• Chapter 8: Comparisons
• Chapter 9: Idioms

Take an Idioms Test

• Chapter 10: Odds and Ends

Meaning

Concision

- Phase 2: Reinforce and internalize Concepts. Practice for speed and accuracy-

• MGMAT Flashcards (54 questions) - Done
• MGMAT Online SC Question Bank (25 Questions) - Done
• Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online 2010 Edition (50 Questions) - Done
• BeatTheGmat/Magoosh Question Bank (181 Questions) - Done
• GMAT Club Question of the Day (250 Questions)
• BeatTheGMAT Daily Verbal
• Brutal SCs (70 Questions)
• GMAT-Success SC
• As VS Like Questions (20 Questions)
• GMAT PrepNOW Sentence Correction Videos (41 Videos) - 4 out of 41
• GMAT Club Sentence Correction Videos - 2
• GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition (
• GMAT Review 12th Edition (140 Sentence Correction)

Beatthegmat - How To Analyze a Sentence Correction Practice Problem

GMATClub - In-Depth Study Plan for Verbal

MGMAT SC - Chapter 9 -Idioms

As a Result of
NOT Resulting From

Considers XY

NOT Considers X as Y

Seems as if/that

NOT seems like

Like Vs Such As

Like = Similar

Such As = Examples, including

Not only But Also

NOT Not only, Also

Being at the beginning of the sentence is often a suspect

Enough - followed by infinitive or preposition "for"

NOT Easy enough that

Ability TO (Sometimes you can use the word "CAN" as it is more concise)

Ability for and of

How to Tackle a Sentence Correction Problem

1. Check for Subject-Verb Agreement (when subject is hidden)
1a. Skip the middleman and the warm-up:

• Prepositions
• Modifiers (past participles, present participles, relative pronouns, prepositions, appositive)
  
• Subordinate clauses (dependent clause with subject and verb and begins as a subordinate conjunctions)
  

1b. Does it exist?
1c. Does it agree in number?

• Either or/Neither Or (verb follows the nearest noun)
• Either/Neither (verb is always single)
• And vs. Additive Phrases
• Collective Nouns
• Indefinite Pronouns
• Each and Every
  
• Quantity words and phrases
  

1d. Does it make sense?

Watch out for the following words in red and what it leads to:

Subject-Verb
And - Agree in number
Additive - As well as -Agree in number

Neither (without OR) = Singular
Neither/Either Or = Follows the noun closing to it

Pronouns/Nouns

Everytime the following appears, be on the look out!
Deadly Five: They, Their, Them, It, Its -> Pronouns/Nouns
Demonstrative Pronouns: This, That, These, Those -> Pronouns/Nouns

Verb Mood
If -> Verb Mood > Hypothetical Subjunctive
Bossy Verbs -> Verb Mood -> Command Subjunctive

Comparisons
Comparison signals: Like, unlike, as, than

Comparative ad Superlative: Between, Among

Verb Tense

Since - the word "since" show that the action is continuing from the past to the future. Therefore you use present (current) perfect (past).

Current = Has

Perfect= Been

Present Perfect: Has been

Example: Since 1987, the record HAS BEEN (Present Perfect) BROKEN (Past Tense) 8 Times.

Practice Problems - MGMAT FlashCards

1. She requires that all of her children are to churn butter; resulting from this daily chore, the children have formidable biceps.

Verb Mood
She requires that all of her children are to churn butter

Command Subjunctive
Bossy Verb + that + Subject + Command Subjunctive
Requires + that + Children + Churn

Command Subjunctive
= Bare form (no "to" in infinitive)

Idiom
resulting from this daily chore, the children have formidable biceps

Resulting from = idiom error
As a result of = correct

2. If I was the owner of our building, I would demand, under threat of eviction, that you should cease playing your djembe at all hours

Verb Mood

If I was the owner of our building

Hypothetical Subjunctive
- As if, As though, If (except for If, Then cases)
- Use "Were" for "To Be Verb"
- Was = To Be Verb

Correct: If I were the owner of our building...

I would demand... that you should cease playing your djembe at all hours

Command Subjunctive
Bossy Verb + that + Subject + Command Subjunctive
Demand + that + you + cease

Command Subjective
= Bare Form (No SHOULD CEASE, just CEASE)

3. After the president of the college worried publicly about the sharp drop in the value of its endowment, the head of faculty suggested that they initiate a fundraising campaign immediately.

Its = possessive pronoun
They = ???

One way to fix it is to replace it with the noun you want to refer to.
*Deadly five: Its, It, They, Them, Their

4. As being the world's top collector of empty vitamin bottles, Mrs. Simpson has ten times as many bottles in her robust and famous collection than does Mr. Flanders, a mere hobbyist.

Idioms
As Being = wrong
As (Without the Being) the world's top collector =in the role of

As Many... As

5. Between my two brothers, Salvatore is the most intelligent. Between my three sisters, Julia is the most clever.

Comparison

2 people = Between = Comparative Form
Comparative Form = More Intelligent

3 people (three sisters) = Among = Superlative Form
Superlative Form = Most Clever

21. Timmy on expresses affection for this dog, Lassie; as a result, Lassie only eats top-shelf dog food.

Idiom

24. Mr. Vega's mother noticed that a button was falling off his coat and that his clothes were in a general state of disrepair, so he was advised by her to fix the coat.

26. Once you show her the ropes, Josephina's natural skill as a salesperson will allow her to run the store by herself in no time.

Modifier

Noun Modifier (Type: Conjunction): Once you show her the ropes

Modified noun: Touch Rule, Possessives (Josephina's natural skill, not Josephina)

Pronouns/Nouns

Noun: Josephina's natural skill as a sales person

Pronouns: her, herself --> Cannot modify Josephina's

Corrected Version:

27. Alexander the Great remarked that conquering foreign states couldn't compare to the vanquishing of his enemies at home.

Parallelism - Simple Gerund Vs Complex Gerund
Parallel marker: Compare to

Simple Gerund (nouns on the outside, verbs on the inside): conquering foreign states
Complex Gerund (nouns through and through):
Article + ing verb form + of prepositional phrase
The + Vanquish-in + Of his enemies at home

Reasoning: Simple gerund cannot be parallel to complex gerund

28. Us attending the conference is dependent on our pilot receiving clearance to take off.

Verb Tense
Present Participles: Attending & Receiving

Present participles = ing forms

- used to modify nouns, verbs, or even whole clauses

29. The highly-advanced robot is proficient both in Japanese and English - and there is an expectation by us that the new model should be produced only in limited quantities for maintaining the product's cachet.

Idioms
The highly-advanced robot is proficient both in Japanese and English

Parallelism marker/Idiom - both x and y (must be parallel)
- both IN Japanese and IN English
- in both Japanese and English

Corrected: The highly-advanced robot is proficient in both Japanese and English

Passive Voice: and there is an expectation by us
Corrected active voice: We expect that

Verb Tense: that the new model should be produced only in limited quantities
Corrected Verb Tense: will be

Meaning: for maintaining the product's cachet
Corrected meaning: In order to maintain the product's cachet

31. My mother considers my vegetarianism as an insult to her cooking - it seems like she is obsessed with convincing me to try the rack of lamb.

Idioms:
Considers X as Y
Considers + my vegetarianism + as + an insult to her cooking
Corrected: Considers X Y
Considers + my vegetarianism + an insult to her cooking

36. Peter thinks he can swim fast like Michael Phelps does; he has also claimed to be an unrecognized world champion of sports like sprinting and boxing.

Type: Comparisons. How do we tell? With comparison signals: Like, Unlike, As, Than

Comparison signal here: LIKE

What is it comparing?

Clause/Verb: Swim fast, Does

37. Since 1973, the record was broken eight times due to technology that advanced even more rapidly than commentators have predicted.

Since = From past to present (Use perfect tense)

Since.... Has Been (present tense) Broken, has advanced (present perfect)

Commentators predicted (happened before the breaking of records) = Use Past Perfect

Past Perfect = HAD Predicted

38. My child has better hygiene than those of my sister; neither of her boys ever seem to wash their hands.

Demonstrative pronouns: This, That, Those, These

Remember, for THAT and THOSE: Can be used as adjectives OR new copy

What's new copy? Same thing of a new antecedent

Must also agree in number

My child has better hygiene than those of my sister

What's the problem here? It doesn't agree in number. We mean to refer to my sister's boys.

Also remember, for This and These: Means the exact same antecedent

MGMAT - Chapter 7 - Verb Tense, Mood and Voice Strategy

Verb Tense

• When the action takes place
• Simple: Present, Past, Future (will)
• Progressive: Present, Past, Future (to be verb + present participle)

*Use Simple Present (instead of Present Progressive) for general definitions and Simple Future (instead of Future Progressive for future actions). State verbs do not take progressive forms.

Verb Mood

• Indicative - Knowledge or beliefs
• Imperative - Commands
  
• Subjunctive - Suggestions, desires or hypothetical events

1. Hypothetical Subjunctive (unreal/unlikely)
- Occurs after as though/if/as if
- Simple past of every verb
- To Be Verbs (is, was, are, were, am, become, became, be) = Were
- Sometimes known as the Past Subjunctive
*If, Then clause
- General rule with no uncertainty (present, present)
- General rule with some uncertainty (present, can/may)
- Particular case (in the future) with no uncertainty (present, future - will)
- Unlikely case (in the future) (present perfect - has + past participle, then conditional, which is WOULD - past of will) * Hypothetical
- Case that never happened (in the past)

2. Command Subjective
- Bossy Verbs (Required, propose)
- Bare form (infinitive with the TO)
- No S even for singular subjects
- To Be (Is, was, am, are, were, become, became) is just BE
- No Will + Verb, or Should + Verb. Just Verb.

BOSSY VERB + that + subject + Command Subjective (bare form, no "to" in infinitive, no s for singular subjects and always BE for "to-be" verbs)

Verb Voice

• Active voice is SUPERIOR to passive voice
  
• Active = SUBJECT does the action
• Passive = SOMEONE or SOMETHING ELSE does the action
• Passive Voice = To-be Verb (Is, Was, Are, Were, Be, Become, Became) + Past Participle
  
• By = Actual Do-ers, Through/Because of= Instrument or Means
  

When is it good to use passive voice?
When the author wants to DE-EMPHASIZE the something or something doing the action on the subject, but EMPHASIZE on the subject which the action is being done upon.

Non-underlined portion
Preceded by the word BY

Verbs

Linking Verbs
-Connect subject to more information about the subject

True linking verbs (no matter what form they are still linking verbs)
-is (not something that the subject can do)
-was
-are
-were
-am
-has been
-are being
-might have been
-become
-seem

List of verbs with multiple personalities (can sometimes be action verbs)
-feel
-appear
-grow
-look
-prove
-remain
-smell
-sound
-taste
-turn

How to tell btw true linking verb and action verb?
-when you can substitute is, are, am and the sentence still sounds logical

Action Verb/Dynamic Verb
- Can a person or thing do this?

To-Be Verbs

-am

-are

-were

-is

-was

State Verb

- Express general states

- Emotion, possession, sense and thought

Transitive Verbs
- Must be an action verb
- Must have a direct object

Helping Verbs

- Be

- Do

- Have

MGMAT - Chapter 5 - Pronouns

Antecedent is the noun of the pronoun

Antecedent

1. Must Exist and functioning as a noun (not adjective, etc)

2. Make Sense

3. Be unambiguous

4. Agree in number

Pronoun Case

Subject: She, He, They, It, I, You

Object: Them, Me, You, Him, Her, it, Us

Possessive: Hers, His, Mine, Yours, Ours, Theirs

Pronoun/Noun Antecedent Subject Parallel Clauses

a) tendency for pronouns to refer to nouns in the same case (esp if they're both subjects in parallel structures)

b) Possessive Poison Rule

Possessive nouns = possessive pronouns

- try to take the possessive noun out of the possessive case

- or replace pronoun with a noun altogether

Do not use possessives with 's

Read the article here for detailed explanation: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/11/12/gmat-sentence-correction-possessives

Take extra note:

Third Person Personal Pronouns

• The deadly five: It, Its, They, Them, Their
• Especially Their, which is often used in everyday speech to refer to singular subjects.

Demonstrative Pronouns

• This, that, these, those
• Used as adjectives in front of nouns
• Used as "new copy" or copies of antecedent/nouns (must be modified -> add a description to indicate how new is different from the old)
• That/Those must agree in number with the noun, if not, repeat the noun
• Do not use in place of nouns
• Must always be followed with a noun
  

MGMAT SC - Chapter 4 - Parallelism (Part 2)

Parallelism Problem Set

1. Researchers have found a correlation between exercise and earning good grades

Parallel Marker: Between/and

Parallel Element:

• Exercise - Noun
• Earning good grades - Participle phrase

Change both to participles

2. Although we were sitting in the bleachers, the baseball game was as exciting to us as the people sitting behind the homeplate.

Parallel Marker: As, as

Parallel Element:

• to us
• to the people

3. Many teachers choose to seek employment in the suburbs rather than facing low salaries in the city

Parallel Element: Verbs

• seek employment
• facing low salaries = face low salaries

4. A good night's sleep not only gives your body a chance to rest, but also energizing you for the following day.

Parallel Element: Verbs

• Gives your
• Energizing you = Energizes

5. The joint business venture will increase employee satisfaction and be improving relations between the upper management and staff.

• increase
• be improving = improve

6. The museum displays the work of a wide variety of artists, from those who are world-renowned to who are virtually unknown.

Parallel Element: Subordinate Clause (Relative pronoun)

• From those who are world-renowned
• To those who are virtually unknown

7. We were dismayed to learn that our neighbors were untidy, disagreeable, and they were uninterested to make new friends.

Parallel Element: Nouns, Clause

• Untidy
• Disagreeable
• Uninterested in making new friends (change to noun phrase)

8. The students did poorly on the test more because they had not studied than the material was difficult.

Parallel Marker: More/Than

Parallel Element: Because

• Because they had not studied
• The material was difficult --> Because the material was difficult

9. The blizzard deposited more than a foot of snow on the train tracks, prompted the transit authority to shut down service temporarily and causing discontent among commuters who were left stranded for hours.

Logically parallel? (actual parallelism)

Structurally parallel? (superficial parallelism)

Parallel Elements: Participle clauses

• prompted = prompting
• causing

10. The experiences we have when children influence our behavior in adulthood.

No parallel markers

Parallel Elements: Preposition

• When Children = In Childhood
• In Adulthood

11. The band chosen for the annual spring concert appealed to both the student body as well as to the administrator.

Parallel Elements: Collective Nouns

• Student Body
• Administrator = The Administration

12. Tabacco companies, shaken by a string of legal setbacks in the United States, but which retain strong growth prospects in the developing world, face an uncertain future.

Parallel Marker: But

Parallel Elements: Relative Pronoun

• Shaken by -> Which have been shaken by
• Which retain strong growth

13. Voters want to elect a president who genuinely cares about health care, the environment, and the travails of ordinary men and women and has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character required for the job.

Parallel Marker: Lists & and -> must add a comma in front of "and"

Parallel Elements: Relative Pronoun/Subordinate Clause (Should start with same word)

• Who genuinely cares about health care, environment, and the travails
• Who has the experience, wisdom, and strength of character

*Take note of the two different subordinate clauses and repeat the relative pronoun or subordinate conjunction

*Two different list of nouns

14. The consultant is looking for a cafe where there are comfortable chairs and that provides free internet access.

Parallel Elements: Subordinate Clause (need to repeat word)

• Where = Subordinate Conjunction
• That = Subordinate Conjunction
• That has (linking "to be" verb) comfortable chairs
• That provides (verb) free internet access

15. Dr. Crock's claims have not been corroborated by other scientists or published in a prestigious journal but have nonetheless garnered a great deal of attention from the public.

Sentence Correction - Subordinate Clause

Subordinate Clause:

• Contains a subject and a verb
• Does not form a complete sentence
• Requires more info to finish the thought
• Begins with subordinate conjunction or relative pronoun
• Shows transition between two sentences

1. Time
2. Place
3. Cause and Effect

Subordinate Conjunction

• that (plural those)
• so that
• in order that
• provided that
• than
• rather than
• because
• before
• though
• although
• even though
• even if
• if
• when
• whenever
• where
• wherever
• whether
• while
• why
• after
• as
• since
• once

*Note: Some prepositions functions as conjunctions
Prepositions indicate physical location and location in time

Relative Pronoun (A type of Subordinate Clause)

• that
• which
• whichever
• who
• whoever
• whomever
• whose
• whosever

More on subordinate clauses here.

Different between Coordination and Subordination
Coordination = emphasis on TWO main clauses
main clause + coordinating conjunction + main clause

Subordination = emphasis on ONE main clause, deemphasis on ONE dependent clause
main clause + subordinate conjunction + subordinate/dependent clause

MGMAT SC - Chapter 4 - Parallelism (Part 1)

I'm back from a really long break! I finally quit my job that required me to work almost 100 hours a week and flew off to Fremont, California. Now, after adjusting to the culture and climate for 2 weeks, i'm back in the game!

Today, I am finishing up parallelism, apparently the GMAT's favourite grammar topic according to MGMAT.

Below is the summary from Chapter 4. Also, i've created another post just for subordinate clauses since I'm not very familiar with it.

Parallelism = Comparable parts must be similar:

- Logically

then

- Structurally

(Superficial Vs Actual Parallelism)

Parallel Markers

1. And

2. Both/And

3. Or

4. Either/Or

5. Not/But

6. Not only/Also

7. Rather than

8. From/To

10. More/Than

11. Between/and

Watch out for linking verbs (e.g. To Be)

Idioms with built-in Parallel Structure

12. Act as

13. As, So

14. Compared to

15. In contrast to

16. Declare

17. Develops into

18. Differs from

19. Distinguish X from Y

20. Estimate X to be Y

21. X Instead of Y

22. X is known to be Y

23. X is less than Y

24. Make X y

25. Mistake X for Y

26. Not Only X, but also Y

27. Regard X As Y

28. X is the Same As Y

29. X is good, and So Too is Y

30. X, Such As Y

31. Think of X as Y

32. X is Thought to Be Y

33. View X as Y

34. Whether X Or Y

Parallel Elements

- Nouns, adjectives, verbs, infinitives, participles (-ing), prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses

Other rules

- Verb/verb forms can have more than one word (can be split apart so first word counts across all elements)

- Clauses should start with same word (and do not over-shorten)

- Lists with And

• Long groups of words with and (e.g: clauses)
• Create clear hierarchy
• Repeat words
• Add commas
• Flip lists so longest item is last

- Must start with the SAME relative pronoun!

Concrete Nouns and Action Nouns
Concrete Nouns: things, people, places, and even time periods or certain events
Action Nouns: often formed from verbs (eruption, pollution, nomination)

ING verbs use as nouns = gerunds

Simple Gerunds
- Nouns on the outside, verbs on the inside
- Example:
Tracking him down takes time
Something takes time

Complex Gerunds
- Nouns through and through
- Often preceded by A, An and The (Articles) or adjectives
- Object placed in front of -ing form
- Put into an of-prepositional phrase

Simple Gerunds phrases are NEVER PARALLEL to complex gerund phrases

Week 1 - Jan 2 - Kaplan Practice Questions & Error Review

What I did

• 10 Practice Questions from Kaplan
• Review Errors (7 out of 10 correct, 3 slow)

I analyzed my errors using the method Kaplan has in the answers section as well as this article by Beat the Gmat.

Find your weaknesses

Roadblocks
1. Question Stem
• Identify the question type
• Forgot what strategies to employ

2. Stimulus
• Unable to digest the dense language
• Struggle to identify the assumption
• Unable to Form a confident prephrase
• Misread the scope

3. Answer Choices
• Did no answer seem correct?
• Did more than one answer seem correct?
• Misread the scope of the stimulus?
• Struggled to connect the ideas in the answer choices to the ideas in the stimulus?

Blindspots
• What you thought you were doing right?
• What you were doing wrong?
• What happened?

Reinforce your strengths

• Read explanations you got right

Week 1, Jan 1 - Kaplan Critical Reasoning Concept & Strategy Review

The 7 basic principles of critical reasoning
1. Study the question & figure out the question type
2. Understand structure of argument/stimulus

• Evidence
• Conclusion

3. Paraphrase the argument
4. Look for potential problems in the argument (read critically)

• Shift of scope
• Confusing correlation for causation
• Plans and predictions

5. Answer the question being asked
6. Prephrase the answer
7. Keep the scope of argument in mind (match the author’s ideas? Out of context? Too extreme?)

Types of questions
1. Assumption
a. Missing link between evidence and conclusion
b. Technique
i. prephrase answer
ii. denial test (negate answer choices and if argument falls apart, means it is a necessary assumption)
2. Strengthen/Weaken

a. Find new evidence in answers (not in stimulus) to weaken the connection between evidence & conclusion

b. Technique
i. Find the assumption

ii. Weaken/Strengthen the assumption
3. Inference
a. Conclusion that must be true based on evidence, MUST be true
b. Technique
i. Denial test
ii. Eliminate wrong answers
4. Explain questions
a. Explain discrepancy in facts
b. Technique
i. Look for contradictory evidence by keywords (nonetheless)
5. Flaw questions
a. What is already wrong?
b. Reasoning errors