SAT Prep 3-13-08

1. Prefixes/Review/Grammar SAT Prep 3-13-08

2. Prefixes • Bel/Bell- War • Rebel, Belligerent • Bi- Twice, Doubly • Binoculars, Biennial, Bigamy • Bri/Brev- Brief, Short • Abbreviate

3. Prefixes • Cad/Cid- To fall, to happen by chance • Accident, Cadence • Cand- To Burn • Incandescent • Cant/Cent/Chant- to sing • Chant, Enchant

4. More Commonly Confused Words • Adopted- Adoptive • Adverse- Averse • Ambiguous-Ambivalent • Amoral- Immoral • Appraise- Apprise • Augur- Auger • Censure- Censor • Climactic-Climatic

5. Homework • Define each of the words above and use them in a sentence.

6. Subject/Verb Agreement • This is probably the easiest question to get correct. • In many cases, people get confused as to when to add an “s” to the end of the main verb. • I.E. Say or says? When do you use either one?

7. ISE • 3rd person singular, add “s” to the verb • He eats pizza. • The dog runs everyday. • Ben poos every morning. • Terrance, the acclaimed songwriter, says that he doesn't like opera. • 3rd person singular includes subjective pronouns like (He/She/It), names, or groups

8. 3rd person singular includes subjective pronouns like (He/She/It/They), names, or groups • Some subjects sounds plural but are really singular • Everyone/Everybody • Nobody • Everything/Altogether • Whoever/Whatever/Whenever • Committee/Board of Directors/Congress/Chamber of Deputies (etc.)

9. Here are more examples of singular indefinite pronouns: • one anyone everyone no one someone • anybody everybody nobody somebody • everything something • any each either neither none

10. ISE • Conjunctions can get difficult as well: • John AND I see Mary. (AND is plural) • Either John OR Bob dates Mary (OR is singular) • Either John OR I date Mary (Even though OR is singular, you must go with the conjugation of the word closest to the verb, which is I DATE) • Neither John NOR I date Mary (Same rule as above) • Both John AND I date Mary. (Same as AND)

11. Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement • What are pronouns? • Subject- I, You, He/She/It, We, You, They, Who • Object- Me, You, Him/Her/It, Us, You, Them, Whom • What are antecedents? • Specific nouns • Like names, places, etc

12. Why is it important to memorize subject/object pronouns for ISE? • What this means is that "he" is a pronoun that replaces the subject of the sentence while "him" replaces a direct or indirect object in the sentence.

13. Pronoun/Antecedent Agreements • Ambiguous Questions • William raced Harry and he was clearly the winner. • Whenever a sentence is not clear, most likely it is wrong. • Comparison with pronouns • I am a better writer than she. • Make sure that the pronouns are the same when comparing.

14. Verb Tenses • Conjugation Errors • I go to the pool • I goes to the pool • I lay down and sleep every night • I lie down and sleep every night • Since you are doing the action “every night” you have to change the verb to present tense. • http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/verbs.htm

15. Verb Tenses • Tense Errors • You should also make sure that the tense of a verb being used matches the context. • Yesterday I go to the beach. • Last Monday I will have bought at least four bushels of corn.

16. Adjectives • When comparing two items, must add “er” to the adjective • Yesterday is hotter than today • This laptop is more expensive than that laptop. • When comparing three or more, must as “est” to the adjective • Today is the hottest day of the month. • This is the most expensive laptop in the store.

17. Adverbs • Adverbs describe verbs and other adjectives. • Even a person who drives carefully cannot operate a motor vehicle when he is under the influence of alcohol. • He slowly walked to the classroom. • The College Board will not ask you what an adverb is. Rather, it will ask you questions in which it mixes up adverbs and adjectives.

18. Verbs • Three types of verbs • Infinitive- to+verb • form of a verb that can be used to replace a noun, adjective, or adverb • Gerund- verb+ing • Present progressive form of a verb that can be used to replace a noun. • Participle • Present progressive or perfect/past ("-ed" or "-ing") form of a verb that replaces an adjective. • Panting, I caught my breath

19. Verbals • You should know how they are correctly applied to a sentence. • He said that I should really start to instruct the kids, including to teach them reading.

20. Word Choice • Sometimes during the SAT, you will face a sentence that sounds like these • I cannot except any kind of personal check. • There are many affects of global warming that are starting to show up.

21. Commonly Mistaken Word-Pairs • Write/right • Affect/effect • Infamous/famous • Conscience/Conscious • Principal/Principle • It's/Its (The word it's is a contraction for "it is") • Contraction/Contradiction

22. Parallelism • Sometimes you might come across sentences like these: • I like to eat, play volleyball, surf, and also I can sing. • Reading is my favorite hobby even though to play baseball is America's. • Doesn't he understand that knowing how to throw, catch, and how to tackle are fundamentals of football?

23. Parallelism • What is parallelism? • The structure of one part of a sentence should match the structure of the others. • The SAT's will be littered tremendously with these types of errors, so have your eyes aware for this.

24. Miscellaneous • Speaking Errors • Sometimes we use incorrect grammar when we speak. This seeps into our understanding of grammar. Here are some speaking errors you should be aware of • I ain’t going to listen to her anymore. (I am not going to listen to her anymore.)‏ • He use to be my friend. (He used to be my friend.)‏ • Irregardless of your opinion on abortion, you must admit that there are many perspectives in the debate. (Regardless of your position…)‏ • I should of taken those groceries out. (I should have taken those groceries out.)‏ • You aren’t suppose to mess with her. (You aren’t supposed to mess with her.)

25. Miscellaneous • Double Negatives • Two negatives cannot be next to each other • Haven't never • Couldn't never • Couldn't hardly • Can't barely • Could be an outright negative or a word that has a negative connotation. Be aware!

26. Improving Sentences • The next portion of the Writing Section is called Improving Sentences. • This is a bit more difficult because you are called to not only identify the mistake, but also to correct it

27. Improving Sentences • You are looking for the most clear (not confusing) and the most concise (straight to the point, not to many changes) answer possible.

28. IS • I firmly disagree with the idea, which we may disobey perceived unjust laws. • A. disagree with the idea, which we may disobey • B. disagree with the idea that we may disobey • C. disagree that we can't obey • D. agree that we do have to obey • E. disagree with our obedience not being required

29. I firmly disagree with the idea, which we may disobey perceived unjust laws. • A. disagree with the idea, which we may disobey • B. disagree with the idea that we may disobey • C. disagree that we can't obey • D. agree that we do have to obey • E. disagree with our obedience not being required

30. IS • Most common errors found in IS are: • Parallelism • Modifiers • "The siren blowing, James barely avoided the coming train." Correct: "James barely avoided the coming train with the siren blowing." • Compound Structures • The use of and, or, and nor should be appropriate

31. IS (Modifiers)‏ • What are modifiers? • Modifiers are words that are used to describe other words (i.e. Adjectives and adverbs)‏ • Running towards the train, I panted for breath. • Identify the modifier and what the modifier is modifying.

32. Modifiers • Hopefully, we will have better luck this year. • Specifically, what is it that you want? • The man, seeing that I would not give him any change, walked away angrily.

33. Modifiers • 1. What does the modifier modify? • 2. Is the modified word in the correct place? • 3. Does the sentence make logical and grammatical sense with the modifier in place?

34. Modifiers • What is wrong with these sentences? • Speeding down the highway, I watched the car from my office. • Being at a very low price, I bought the new magazine. • I paid for the new car with a credit card.

35. Clear and Concise • Here are some following clues to eliminating or finding the correct answer for the IS portion

36. Clear and Concise • Avoid “Being” and Gerunds • Look for run-on sentences • If two independent clauses (with two subjects and verbs) are not connected by a semicolon (";") or a coordinating conjunction (and/but/for/or/nor/not/yet/so), the union of them is considered a "run on sentence."

37. Clear and Concise • Look for Fragments • You can spot a fragment as any dependent clause without an independent clause, or any sentence without a subject and a predicate. • And vs That • Abby bought a new dog and it has brown hair. • What would be a better way to write this sentence?