Sentence Correction

Hello people,
I am starting this new thread under each sub-forum, where I will be posting new catch-points/tips from my notes.

Let this be one point stop to refresh your concepts.
If you find some discrepency in the tips posted, please copy-paste the same in the posts outside this thread, so that we can discuss and I would update the correct one in this thread.

This is just to have flow of the tips maintained.
Happy reading!!!

Regards
pahwa

Correct use of the sentences that has "One of..."

Form: One of the....NOUN....+that/who...+....Plural Verb

Example: He is one of the persons who make money.

Note the use of "persons". GMAT books do have answer choices that build the trap by using "person" instead of "persons".[/b]

As far as SC is concerned, please be very clear of usage of "to be" verbs.

Rule is:
Whenever you encounter "to be" verb, the sentence has to be in parallel.

Other verb forms for "to be"
is, am, was, were, been, being, are.

Consider the following example, taken from manhattan:
The flower bouquet was the husband's giving of love to his wife.

Here, please understand the approach to deal with PARALLEL construction in gmat.
Step 1: Pick the verb.....WAS
Step 2: Note the left side of the verb: "The fower bouquet"
Step 3: Note the right side of the verb: "The husband's giving of love."

Are these two sides parallel? The answer is NO.

Correct form will be: "The flower bouquet was the husband's loving gift to his wife."
Now you see, left side of WAS is a noun, so is right side of WAS.

Consider the following examples:
1. Sam travelled around the world, visiting historic sites, eating native food and learning about new culture.

2. Sam travelled around the world, visited historic sites, ate native food and learnt about new culture.

How do you differentiate between these examples?

Approach is: Identify the main verb, which is TRAVEL in above examples.

sentence 1 gives the meaning that while sam was travelling, he did all that. Hence, 2nd half of sentence should be made subordinate of main verb.
But
Sentence 2 gives equal emphasis on all the verbs. Hence, this is a trap.

Sentence 1 is logicaly correct.

Which :
1. It is used for introducing non-essential details.
For example: To choose my pen from a set of 100 pens, select from right the third pen, which happens to be black.

Meaning implied here is just pick third pen from right and that happens to be black one.

2. Used to refer noun used just before "which"
For example: Sam found a scale, which made his job easier.

Here Scale is being referred that made the job easy. But this is illogical. its actually the "discovery" of scale that made his job easier.


THAT
it is used to introduce "essential" details.
For example
To choose my pen from a set of 100 pens, select from right the third pen, that happens to be black.

this sentence implies, choose a third black pen, it may be 4th or 99th in the set but when u count just black ones, it is 3rd black pen from right.

WHO

it is used for both essential and non-essential details. The difference lies in COMMA use. COMMA is used when representing a non-essential part.

for example:
This is my uncle John, who lives in washington. => I just have 1 uncle and he happens to live in washington.

This is my uncle John who lives in washington => I have more than 1 uncle with same name John. But I am referring one who lives in Washington. Hence, Washington becomes essential part.

Indefinite Pronouns:

List of pronouns that are considered singular:
Anyone, anybody, anything
someone, somebody
everyone, everything
no one, each, every etc

Following indefinite pronoun are considered singular/plural according to the usage:
Any, Some, None, All and Most.

For example:
Some of the money IS stolen
Some of the documents ARE stolen[/b]

Hey guys, I came across following table in one of the books I purcahsed

Subject Object Possessive
I Me My
You You Your
He Him His
She Her Her
It it its
We Us our
They them their
Who Whom Whose

Note: Possessive pronoun can replace only possessive nouns. Same stands true for Subject and Object Pronouns.

Hi Pahwa,

Thank you for your efforts in copying the Manhattan Sentence correction book word to word. But I guess most of the people have their personal copies for it. It would be great if at least the examples are from a different source. No offense my friend, but I think it will be more worthwhile if we can talk about the same fundamentals with different examples.

Regards,

Use of Comma and Semicolon:

If the two parts of the same sentence are independent and can stand alone, please donot separte them with comma.
Instead use Semicolon.

For example: It's raining out there, I am not going to the office.
This is a wrong construction for reasons mentioned above.

Correct would be: It's raining out there; I am not going to the office.

Some points worth noticing:

1. In Time: Gives the meaning of "Early enough."
2. On Time: Gives the meaning of "Just at right time."
3. "The Number" is singular, while "a number" is considered plural.
4. Subject form of pronoun comes after "than".

1. Could rival it for Vs Could be its rival
Could rival it for is used when you compare scale or skills of a person.
Could be its rival is used when you compare two people.

2. Different from Vs Different than
Usage: Noun 1 is different from noun 2 (like terms)
Noun 1 is different than clause (unlike term).
Source: 1000SC

3.Even if Vs Even though
Even if: Unreal situation. Eg. Even if I am free, I would not watch TV.
that is, whether or not I am free, I will not watch Tv.

Even though: Real situation. Eg. Even though I worked hard on my application, I could not get scholarship.

Today's TIP

Please avoid the sentences that insert words between "to" and the verb.
Eg.
I need you to quickly run. This is incorrect.
I need you to run quickly. Correct.

1. Use of Not...but...
"Not...but" involves 2 checks: 1. Idiom, 2. Parallelism.

2. Try to maintain parallelism always. That is, when two or more points are made for the same thing, the start of each point should be similar.
Eg. Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty eight states that still has a sizable wolf population and where this predator remains the archemy of cattle and sheep.

Here, two points are made about Minnesota. One begins with "that" and the other with "where". So, either begin with "where" or with "that".

(See Q27)