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When I think about most things in life, it’s hard for me to pick favorites; there are just too many great options for me to pick a favorite TV show (Downtown Abbey? 30 Rock?) or a favorite food (French fries? Peaches?). Ask me for my favorite Sentence Correction word, however, and I don’t have to think twice: I’m an “and” devotee.

The word “and” is hugely helpful because it always performs the same basic function: It connects things. As a test-taker, when you see the word “and,” you should immediately ask yourself, “Which elements should be logically connected in this sentence? What function do those elements perform?” Almost always, this process will lead you to an error and allow you to eliminate multiple answer choices. Let’s take a look at some of the most common appearances of our all-star “and.”

Sometimes, “and” appears immediately after a comma to indicate the last item on a list of more than two items:

Sarah decided to take the day off, walk to the park, and bathing in the sun.

In this case, the comma + “and” is connecting a list of three things that Sarah did – take, walk, and bathe. Since these elements perform the same logical function, they must all be in the same grammatical form. Identifying the role of the “and” helps us see the parallelism error.

“And” can also appear after a comma to connect two independent clauses:

The reliable plowing service, which is located in the center of the town that, on average, receives the most precipitation in the state, had been unprepared for the first storm this season, and because the town is liable for traffic accidents that result from insufficiently cleared streets, the mayor ordered that citizens remain in their homes until he deemed that the roads were safe.

This is a long, convoluted sentence, but the comma + “and” helps to anchor us in the core structure. When “and” follows a comma, it can act as a coordinating conjunction to connect independent clauses, so we need to check for subject-verb pairs (complete sentences) on either side of the “and.” Do we have them?

The reliable plowing service, which is located in the center of the town that, on average, receives the most precipitation in the state, had been unprepared for the first storm this season, and because the town is liable for traffic accidents that result from insufficiently cleared streets, the mayor ordered that citizens remain in their homes until he deemed that the roads were safe.

We do! “The service had been unprepared, and the mayor ordered.” Even though this sentence seems awkward, focusing on the “and” allows us to ignore the distracting modifiers and establish that the core structure is correct.

“And” can also contribute to the core structure by connecting two nouns to form a compound subject:

Mother Teresa’s service to the poor of all religions and her relentless effort to improve the hospitals in India has been recognized by both government and civilian organizations.

We see “and” and ask ourselves, “Which items are logically being connected?” In this case, the elements are “service” and “effort,” both of which act together as the subject of the sentence. Establishing this connection reminds us that our subject is plural, so we can immediately check for proper subject-verb agreement. In this sentence, the singular verb “has been recognized” is incorrect.

One of the trickiest functions of “and” is to connect a two-item, non-subjective list. In these situations, we need to rely heavily on meaning and logic to ensure proper parallelism.

Exercising daily may significantly reduce a woman’s risk of developing heart disease and a cure for those women who suffer from hypertension, according to recent research conducted by major universities and the National Institute of Health.

The element that appears immediately after our friend “and” here is a noun: a cure. Is there a noun earlier in the sentence that performs the same function as the cure? We see the noun “risk,” which would give the sentence the following meaning: Exercising daily may significantly REDUCE TWO THINGS: a woman’s risk of developing heart disease AND a cure for those women who suffer from hypertension. This is structurally sound, but does it make sense that exercising daily would reduce a cure? No! Logically, we want to say that exercising daily may DO TWO THINGS: reduce a woman’s risk of developing heart disease and cure those women who suffer from hypertension. We want the “and” to link two verbs; in order to be logically correct, then, we can change “a cure” from a noun to a verb:

Exercising daily may significantly reduce a woman’s risk of developing heart disease and cure those women who suffer from hypertension, according to recent research conducted by major universities and the National Institute of Health.

The word “and” can appear in a variety of specific circumstances, but its core function as a connector stays consistent. By using this to our advantage and establishing which items are being connected, we can use “and” to filter out distractions and find errors more quickly. Practice focusing on the word “and” in your Sentence Correction questions, AND maybe it will become your favorite word, too!