Rule

Subject verb must both exist-If it misses one of

the 2 its called fragment
A sentence can be fragment if it starts with a
Connecting word and contain no Main
Clause(opp of Subordinate Clause,which cannot
stand by themselves)

Subject and verb must make sense together-

clear meaning and logical sense

Subject and verb must agree in number

Eliminate the Middleman,and skip the warmup

1.Prepositional Phrases

Eliminate the Middleman,and skip the warmup

2.Subordinate Clauses

Eliminate the Middleman,and skip the warmup

3.Other Modifiers

Use Structure to Decide

And vs. Additive Phrases:

Only the word AND can change a singular
subject into a plural one.Singluar Subjects
followed by additive phrases remain singluar
subjects

Or,Either…Or, and Neither…Nor:

Find the noun nearest to the verb, and make
sure that the verb agrees in number with this
noun
Collective Nouns:
Although represent group of people or objects,in
GMAT they are considered almost always
singular ,hence requires singular verb

Indefinite Pronouns:Usally Singular

Exception to above rule:SANAM Pronouns can be
singluar or plural depending on the context of
the sentence:Look at the OF-phrase to determine

Each and Every:

-Preceding a subject is always singular
-No bearing on the verb form if subject precedes
each/every

Quantity Words and Phrases:

The number of(singular) VS A number of(plural)
Fractions:Check Of Phrase
Majority,Minority and Plurality are singular or
plural based on context:
A part of totality:Plural
Whole totatilty:Singular
Flip it;GMAT tricks by keeping verb infront of
subject.Try fliping it and you will get the right
verb form
Example
Wrong:The electron named in 1984
Right:Stoney named the electron in 1984
Right:The electron was named in 1984

Wrong:BECAUSE the dog was never mine

Wrong:WHICH will be approved tomorrow
Wrong: The development of a hydrogen car based on expected performance
parameters will be able to travel hundreds of miles without refueling

Right:Once developed,a hydrogen car based on expected performance parameters

WILL BE able to travel hundreds of miles without refueling

Singluar:
The dog runs out of the house
Plural:
The dogs run out of the house
Near Galway,the houses on the road to Spiddle is/are gorgeous
Near Galway,the houses on the road to Spiddle are gorgeous

When the auditors left,the executive who had been interviewed was/were glad
When the auditors left,the executive who had been interviewed was glad

Limping,the horse once considered one of the favourites was/were taken away
Limping,the horse once considered one of the favourites WAS taken away
The tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is/are subjected is/are
sufficient to tear the object apart
Right:The tidal FORCES to which an object falling into a black hole are subjected ARE
sufficient to tear the object apart(fixed the mail clause agreement)
Better:The tidal forces to which an OBJECT falling into a black hole is subkected are
sufficient to tear the object apart(fixed the subordinate clause agreement as second
step)
Joe AND his friends ARE going to the beach
vs
Joe, as well as his friends,IS going to the beach

Mathematics,history , AND science ARE mandatory high school subjects

vs
Mathematics,in addition to history and science,IS a required subject

Neither the coach nor the players ARE going to the beach
Neither the players nor the coach IS going to the beach
The crowd in the stands IS cheering loudly as the home team TAKES the field
Our army of hundred thousand soldiers is attacking the enemy

Everyone in this room IS given their own lockers.

No one IS allowed to go out of town withput permissin

Some of the money WAS stolen from my wallet

Some of the documents WERE stolen from the bank
Precedes:
Every dog HAS paws
Every dog and cat HAS paws(exception to AND rule)
Each of these shirts IS pretty

Follows a subject:
They each ARE great tennis players

The number of hardworking students in this class IS quite large

A number of students in this class ARE hardworking
Half of the pie IS blueberry, and half of the slices ARE already gone

The majority of the students in this class ARE hard workers

In the Senate, the majority HAS coalesced into a unified voting block
Wrong:Near those buildings SIT a lonely house, inhabited by squatters
Flip:A lonley house,inhabited by squatters,SITS near those buildings
Right:Near those buildings SITS a lonely house, inhabited by squatters
Other Notes Exceptions

Because,which-subordinators

GMAT often tries to hide the

subject,to make it tricky.To find
the subject,ignore all other
words that are not subject(See
below)
of,in,to,for,with,on,by,at,from.
A noun in the prepostional SANAM pronouns don't ignore OF phrase.
phrase cannot be the subject Of phrases deisgnating quantity or parts
Subordinate Clauses do not
contain the main subject or
verb,hence they are frequently
used as middleman and
warmups
Modifiers:
Present Participle -Ing forms
Past Participle -Ed / -En forms

Final Decision of agreement

must be based on structure of
the sentence

Additive Phrases:
along with, in addition to, as
well as, accompained by ,
together with , including
Note that when the words
EITHER or NEITHER are in
sentence alone(withour OR or
NOR),they are considered
singular and take only singular
verbs
People:agency,army,audience,
class,committee,crowd,orchest
ra,team
Items:baggage,citrus,quipment
s,fleet,fruit,furniture
:-one,body,-thing
Anyone,anbody,anything
No one, nobody,nothing
Each,every(as pronouns),
Someone,somebody,something
Everyone,everybody,everythin
g
Whatever,whoever
Either,neither SANAM Pronouns

Some,Any,None,All,More/Most

Checking the OF-phrase to

determine the verb
form(exceptoion to
prepositional rule)
Rule

According to the principle of parallelism ,comparable

sentence parts must be structurally and logically similar

Parallel markers:words that link or contrast items and that

force those items to be parallel

Some verbs or forms dervied from verbs have more than

one word:was opening,can lose ,to increase. You can often
split these expressions,so that the first words or words
count across all of the elements

Parallel clauses should start with same word

Lists with AND: Can link upto 4 items.GMAT always inserts

a comma before the AND in lists of 3 or 4 items
Lists with AND: If you join 2 main clauses with AND,put a
comma before the AND

Lists with AND : If the items in a list are long groups of

words such as clauses,that themselves contain lists,you
should be careful as you tally items.
Superficial Parallelism vs. Actual Parallelism:You always
must figure out which grammatical structures are logically
parallel before making them structurally parallel. Do not
assume that all verbs and verb forms in a sentence must
be parallel
Concrete Nouns: refer to things,people ,places and even
time periods or certain events
Action Nouns: refer to actions, as their name implies. They
are often -Ing
Gerunds: formed
verbfrom verbs
forms used as nouns are called as
Gerunds.
Simple gerund phrases:Nouns on the outside,verbs on the
inside
Complex gerund phrases:Nouns through and
through.Often preceded by articles(a,an,the)
Rule 1: To maintain logical parallelism, avoid making
concrete nouns and action nouns parallel
Rule 2:Simple gerund phrases are NEVER parallel to
Complex gerund phrases

Rule 3:Only Complex gerund phrases can be parallel to

Action nouns

Rule 4: If an appropriate action noun for a particualr verb

already exists in English, then avoid creating a complex
gerund phrase.Instead use the pre exsiting action noun
Example
Wrong: The employees were upset by the company's low
pay,poor working conditions, and they did not have enough
outlets for their creativity
Right: The employees were upset by the company's low pay
,poor working conditions, and shortage of outlets for employees'
creativity
Apples AND peers
Apples,peers, AND grapes
BOTH apples AND peers
Apples OR peers
EITHER apples OR peers
NOT apples BUT peers
Apples RATHER THAN peers
FROM applesWAS
The division TO peers
opening offices, hiring staff AND investing in
equipment
The railroad CAN EITHER lose more money OR solves its
problems
The wanted TO increase awareness, spark interest, AND
motivate purchases
Wrong:I want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND THAT
has low taxes
Right: I want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND WHERE
the taxes are low

Wrong: Ralph likes BOTH THOSE WHO are popular AND WHO are
not
Right: Raplh likes BOTH THOSE WHO are popular AND THOSE
WHO are not
Apples AND peers
Apples,peers, AND grapes
Apples,peers,grapes,AND bananas

I like apples, AND you like peers

Wrong: She argued that the agency acted with disregard for
human life AND property AND reckless abandon AND it should
therefore be shut down
Right:She argued THAT the agency acted WITH reckless
abandon AND WITH disregard for human life AND property, AND
THAT it should therefore be shut down.

Sal applied himself in his new job, arriving early everyday,

skipping lunch regularly, AND leaving late every night
Wrong: Sal applied himself in his new job,arrived early
everyday,skipped lunch regularly, AND left late every night

rock,contienent,electron,politician,region ,holiday,week
eruption,pollution,nomination,withdrawal,development,change,g
rowth

Drinking the water quenched his thirst.He liked gulping water

quickly.
THE drinking OF the water quenched his thrist.He liked THE
QUICK gulping OF water

Wrong: I enjoyed drinking the water AND the wine tasting

Right: I enjoyed drinking the water AND tasting the wine.
Wrong:The rebels demanded the withdrawal of government
forces from disputed regions,significant reductions in overall
troop levels, raising the rebel falg on holidays, AND a general
pardon
Right: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of government
forces from disputed regions,significant reductions in overall
troop levels, THE raising OF rebel falg on holidays, AND a
general pardon
Wrong: The rebels demanded the withdrawal of government
forces from the disputed regions AND releasing certain political
prisioners
Wrong:The rebels demanded the withdrawal of government
forces from the disputed regions AND THE releasing OF certain
political prisioners
Right:The rebels demanded the withdrawal of government
forces from the disputed regions AND THE release OF certain
political prisioners
Other Notes Exceptions

Parallel parts of a sentence are

always singaled by parallel
markers.Try to spot them

Most important:and,or ,but

However any construction that
expresses two or more things in the
same way requires parallelism

Tip: You should flip lists so that the

longer item is last,if possible
Rule
Modifiers-describes or modifies someone or
something in the sentence.It can be a singlw
word(adjective/adverb) or complex as a phrase.
Adjectives and Adverbs:An adjective modifies only a
noun or pronoun,whereas adverbs modify everything
else such as a verb, adjective,another
adverb,preposition, a phrase or even a whole clause.

Adjectives,not adverbs follow linking verbs such as

feel.
Noun Modifiers: Phrases or clauses that modify nouns
or pronouns are called Noun modifiers.
Appositive:A noun used to modify a noun

Positition of Noun Modifiers:A noun and its modifier

must touch each other.If the modifier is next to a
different noun,we have a misplaced modifier

Dangling modifier:If the noun we want to modify is

not even in the sentence, we have a Dangling
Modifier

Watch out for Possessives:Make sure that modifiers

make sense with respect to Possessive nouns

Possessive nouns: Do not choose OF X's on the

GMAT. Choose either the form OF X or form X's.

Noun Modifiers with relative pronouns:

Who whom:can modify only people
Whose:both people and things
that, which:things
when:time
where: a noun place
Subgroup Modifiers:When you want to describe a
part of a larger group with a modifier,use one of the
following subgroup modifier constructions.Just use
one modifier instead of using a combination of
modifiers.
Essential vs Non essential noun modifiers:
Essential:which is required to identify or distinguish
Non essentia; : provides extra non essential
information
Essential vs Non essential noun modifiers:
WHICH vs THAT:
Use WHICH(with commas) for non essential
Use THAT(with no commas) for essential
Verb modifiers:unlike noun modifiers , verb modifiers
can be placed more freely.However you must place
verb modifier so that it modifies the right verb,
without ambiguity.

Which vs. the Present Participle -Ing:Use which only

to refer to the noun immediately preceding it - never
to an entire clause
Example

Tired out from playing basektball, Charles decided to take a nap.

The SMART student works QUICKLY.

Amy is a GOOD PERSON(good is an adj that modifies the noun
person)
Amy is feeling GOOD(good is an adj that modifies the noun amy)
Amy is feeling WELL(well is an adj that modifies the noun amy)
Amy writes Well(well is an adv that modifies the verb writes)
Before noun:Tired from chasing mice,the cat took a nap.
After noun:The cat, TIRED from chasing mice took a nap.
The cat , a TABBY raised on a farm , took a nap.
Wrong:Jim biked along an old dirt road to get to his house,which
cut through the woods.
Right:To get to his house,Jum biked along an old dirt road, which
cut through the woods.
Wrong: Resigned to the bad news, there was no commotion in
the office
Wrong:There was no commotion in the office,resigned to the bad
news
Right:Resigned to the bad news, the people made no commotion.

Wrong:Using the latest technology, the problem was identified

Right:Using the latest technology,the engineer identied the
problem
Wrong: Unskilled in complex manths, Bill's score on the exam
was poor
Right: Unskilled in complex maths, Bill did not score well on the
exam.
Wrong:The orca, a relative of blue whale's , is found throughout
the globe
Right:The orca, a relative of the blue whale, is found throughout
the globe
Wrong: The scientists THAT made the discovery were rewarded.
Right: The scientists WHO made the discovery were rewarded

Wrong:The security guard WHO we met was nice

Right: The security guard WHOM we met was nice

(where cannot modify a metaphorical place such as

condition,situation,case,arrangement)
Wrong: We had an arrangment WHERE he cooked and I cleaned
Right: We had an arrangment IN WHICH he cooked and I cleaned
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME
OF WHICH WERE only recently discovered
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME
OF THEM only recently discovered
Right: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME
only recently discovered
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, OF
WHICH SOME WERE only recently discovered
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME
OF THEM WHICH WERE only recently discovered
Wrong: This model explains all known subatomic particles, SOME
OF WHICH only recently discovered

Essential: The mansion PAINTED RED is owned by the Lees

Non Essential: This mansion , RECENTLY PAINTED RED , is owned
by the Lees
Non-essential: This mansion,WHICH HAS BEEN RECENTLY
PAINTED RED, is owned by the Lees
Essential: The mansion THAT HAS BEEN PAINTED RED is owened
by the Lees
Wrong: The nameless symphoney was at last performed,
decades after it was composed , yesterday.
Right: The nameless symphony was at last performed yesterday,
decades after it was composed.
Wrong: Crime has recently decreased in our neighbourhood,
WHICH has led to a rise in property values.
Right: The recent decrease in crime in our neighbourhood has led
to a rise in property values.
Better: Crime has recently decreased in our neighbourhood,
leading to a rise in property values
Other Notes

Modifiers are commonly separated by

commas from the noun being modified.

Don’t use adjective and adverb in each

others place.Many adverbs are formed
by adding -ly to the adjective
Note only which has a working
vern(were) in it.
You can use any SANAM in place or
some,as well as
many,either,each,neither half,one that
picks out a subgroup

Put commas only between non essential

modifiers. No commas for essential.
Exceptions

Unlike a noun modifier,a verb modifier need not

touch its subject.
You can use WHICH even for essential when
WHICH is used with a preposition:
Essential : The mansion FOR WHICH I YEARN is
owned by the Lees