GMAT Verbal Section: Grammar Review

Brian Galvin, Veritas Prep’s vice president of academic programs, discussed, on Veritas’ website last year, the internal debate GMAC had with sentence correction (SC) on the GMAT in the early 2000s. Their goal was to create a test that would allow business schools to compare the critical thinking skills of potential students. Central to this objective is administering a fair test. Concerned that sentence correction wasn’t meeting this standard, the GMAC asked, “Is sentence correction unfairly skewed towards native English speakers?”

The GMAC eventually decided that sentence correction was fair because, at its core, the question type is a test of logic, not grammar. Dissecting the soundness of a sentence is simply a proxy for the overall goal of the GMAT. A command of the English language is necessary, but mastery isn’t. Keep this - and the following grammar review - in mind when you’re approaching SC. You can reason your way through a question a lot easier than you can ‘grammar’ your way through it.

Nevertheless, building a strong foundation of English grammar is ultimately necessary to succeed on SC. Depending on your preferences, there are several grammar review options available. Similarly to Quant, prep companies like Veritas and open-source websites like GMATClub.com offer materials. Regardless of your choice, make sure it includes these five topics:

1. Verbs
2. Pronouns
3. Comparisons
4. Modifiers
5. Parallelism

While there are additional topics you can learn for SC, this grammar review of the above topics is a good start. Don’t focus your studies too heavily on learning every grammar rule or understanding every idiom. Remember, SC is a test of critical thinking - just like Quant. Consider the following as a grammar review of topics you must know before you learn about the strategy you’ll need to dominate SC.

Sentence structure

• The foundation of the English language, sentences are combinations of words that convey the thoughts of the writer. Regardless of complexity, a sentence is based on four main parts:  subject, verb, object, and modifier.

• A sentence may or may not include all four of these parts. As the complexity of the sentence increases - particularly in regards to SC - the subject, verb, and object remain relatively unchanged. The ‘modifier’ section, however, can expand to include additional information at the beginning, middle, and/or end of the sentence.

“Still recovering from the bike accident, Sarah stayed inside and read a novel.”

• Two modifiers, a phrase and a word, were added to provide additional context.

Verbs

Verb tense

• Depending on the tense of a verb – past, present, or future – the verb’s structure will change. Using the verb ‘to study’ as an example, one ‘studies’ in the present; ‘studied’ in the past; and ‘will study’ in the future.

• Verb tenses require conjugation to what time period they’re in, but also to their state. Three categories define a verb’s state: simple, continuous, and perfect:

Simple Tense

Used with verbs that only occur once. For example:  “I will study tonight.”

Progressive Tense

Used with verbs that are occurring now and could continue in the future. For example:  “I was studying when the pizza arrived.”

Perfect Tense

Used with verbs that occurred before or after another action. For example:  “I had been studying for two hours when I ordered the pizza.”

Subject/Verb agreement

• The above rules for verb conjugation are enforced by proper ‘subject/verb agreement’. Depending on whether the subject is singular or plural, the verb’s tense will change. For example, on the verb ‘to be’, singular subjects use ‘is’ and plural subjects use ‘are’.

• On SC, it’s not always easy to find the subject because the test makers actively try to disguise it. A common way they do so is with a modifying phrase. A modifying phrase makes it appear like the subject’s plurality changed, when in actual fact it hasn’t.

“Beyoncé, accompanied by Jay-Z, is dining at Sugarfish tonight.”

SAME AS

“Beyoncé is dining at Sugarfish tonight.”

• Another trap the test makers commonly use is to insert a prepositional phrase into the sentence. While the phrase adds context, it doesn’t actually affect the subject’s plurality.

“The tickets to the Caroline Smith concert are sold out.”

SAME AS

“The tickets are sold out.”

Pronouns

Singular vs. plural

• A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. There are several different types of pronouns, but the most common is the ‘subject pronoun’. For example:

“I saw Aziz Ansari at Whole Foods. Aziz Ansari is hilarious.”

BECOMES

“I saw Aziz Ansari at Whole Foods; he is hilarious.”

•  On the GMAT, it’s important to determine whether or not the pronoun is singular or plural. Since subject pronouns take the place of the sentence’s subject, knowing their plurality is essential to understanding whether or not the subject and verb are in agreement.

Countable vs. non-countable pronouns

• Plural pronouns are particularly helpful when used in sentences that are trying to count a number of items. For example, if you’re trying to write a sentence quantifying your patience, a non-countable noun, do you use more/less or many/fewer?

To native speakers the answer is obvious – you can’t have ‘many’ patience – but for the non-native speaker, it may not be so apparent. In this case, ‘more/less’ is the right answer because it matches a non-countable noun with a non-countable pronoun.

Countable nouns:

In a sentence:  “More/Fewer/Many + Noun + Than”

For example:  “I have more patience than my sister.”

Non-Countable nouns:

In a sentence:  “As + Much/Less/Little + Noun”

For example:  “I don’t have as much money as my sister.”

Who vs. whom

• ‘Who’ replaces the subject noun/phrase and is followed by a verb.

“Dr Dre was a gangster. Dr Dre now works in the c-suite.”

BECOMES

“Dr Dre is the former gangster who now works in the c-suite.”

• ‘Whom’ replaces the object noun/phrase and is followed by a noun/phrase.

“Tanner is standing by the brewery. Everyone thinks Tanner is pretentious.”

BECOMES

“Tanner, whom everyone thinks is pretentious, is standing by the brewery.”

• A good test to determine whether or not you’re using who/whom correctly is to replace ‘who’ with ‘he/she’ and ‘whom’ with ‘him/her’. For example, “Who is Dr Dre?” “He works in the c-suite.”

Comparisons

Like vs. as

• When comparing two words or phrases, it can often be unclear whether one should use ‘like’ or ‘as’ between them. These words appear similar, but they can’t be used in all situations. Specifically, ‘like’ compares two nouns and ‘as’ compares two clauses. Therefore, ‘like’ isn’t followed by a second verb, while ‘as’ always is.

“In the summer, like other seasons in Minnesota, it snows.”

VS.

“It snows in Minnesota in the winter, as it does throughout the Midwest.”

Between vs. among

• Similarly to making comparisons with ‘like’ and ‘as’, there can be confusion when choosing ‘between’ or ‘among’ for a sentence. ‘Between’ should be used when comparing a direct relationship between individual items. ‘Among’ should be used when generally comparing a group of items.

“Walter was deciding between wearing a foam cheese head or a giant bullseye to the Vikings game. Either way, he was asking for trouble.”

VS.

“Sitting in the middle of Section 206, Walter panicked when he realized he was the only Packers fan among a sea of purple and gold.”

Either vs. neither

• What change does one letter make? In this case, 180 degrees worth - it changes the possibility of having one or the other, to not having any of the items. Regardless, if ‘either’ or ‘neither’ is the subject of a sentence, they are considered singular.

• If ‘either’ is used to compare two items, ‘or’ is used. If ‘neither’ is used to compare two items, ‘nor’ is used. When doing so, the second item being compared is the subject. That means the verb will be singular or plural depending on that item.

“Either pasta or pizza is for dinner.”

VS.

“Either pasta or pierogi are for dinner.”

Modifiers

Definition

• Simply put, a modifier is a word or phrase that describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about another word. Using the example from the ‘Sentence structure’ section:

“Sarah read a novel today.”

OR

“Still recovering from the bike accident, Sarah stayed inside and read a novel.”

• In the first sentence, ‘today’ is a modifying word, and in the second, ‘still recovering from the bike accident’ is a modifying phrase.

Misplaced modifiers

• There are four kinds of modifier errors relating to prepositional phrases: participial phrases, appositive phrases, and relative clauses. These join sentences to add detail and complexity. So as not to confuse the reader, these need to be placed at a precise point in the modified sentence.

• The greatest offender is ‘relative clauses’ and its ‘misplaced modifier’ error. Relative clauses have one simple rule: the modifier must be placed directly next to the subject it’s modifying. If not, the reader might be unsure of what’s being modified. For example:

“Scandalous yet alluring, Barb’s eye caught the cover of EL James’ new book.”

SHOULD BE

“Scandalous yet alluring, the new book by EL James caught Barb’s eye.”

• While Barb certainly could be scandalous and alluring, that’s not what the sentence is trying to say. To correct, rearrange the subject to the position next to the modifier.

• For relative clauses - those that include ‘which’, ‘who’, or ‘where’ - modifiers must be placed directly next to what they modify. Incidentally, ‘which’ can never modify a person - in this instance, ‘who’ should be used instead.

• For other parts of speech, such as words that end in ‘-ing’, modifiers don’t always have to be right next to the subject they’re modifying. Beware of use of the word ‘being’, however. A subject is either something or not: the use of ‘being’ to describe something’s state could very well be an error on the GMAT.

Parallelism

Definition

• Parallelism requires the verbs in a sentence to be in a similar form. For example, if you wanted to make a list of the household chores you did this morning, you would write:

“Today I washed the car, cleaned the closet, and dusted the TV.”

NOT

“Today I washed the car, clean the closet, and will dust the TV.”

• Parallelism can also be tested via idioms. Take the common ‘either…or’ idiom. If a sentence went as follows, “The milkman ran out of milk and was forced to deliver either Sprite and Red Bull.” The ‘and’ should be replaced with ‘or’.

• Overall, parallelism speaks to the flow of a sentence. Logic is your best tool here - does the construction of the sentence, order of words and punctuation, convey the complete thought of the writer? If not, you’ve likely found a parallelism error.