SAT Prep 3-06-08

1. Quizzes/Prefix/Grammar SAT Prep 3-06-08

2. Quiz Time • Here's the quiz

3. Prefixes • Arch/Archi- Chief, principal • Architect • the deviser, maker, or creator of anything: • Archenemy • a chief enemy. • Archy- Ruler • Monarchy • supreme power or sovereignty held by a single person. • Anarchy • a state of society without government or law.

4. Prefix • Art- Skill, craft • Art • the craft or trade using these principles or methods • Artificial • made by human skill; • Auc/Aug/Aux- to increase • Auction • a publicly held sale at which property or goods are sold to the highest bidder. • Augment • to make larger; enlarge in size, number, strength, or extent; increase:

5. Prefix • Auto-self • Automatic • having the capability of starting, operating, moving, etc., independently • Be- to be, to have a certain quality • Belittle • Belated • Befriend • Belie

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. 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)

10. 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

11. 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.

12. Example • The teacher told me that I gave him a hard time when I wouldn't tell him to who I handed the paper. • What is the mistake? • “Who” should be replaced with “whom” • Anytime you face the word “to” it will always follow with “whom”

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. Verb Tenses • If I was a rich man, I would buy everyone a new car. • When you make a sentence using a condition, you must use the "were... would" construction. • If I were a rich man, I would buy everyone a new car.

17. 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.

18. Adjectives • Correct/Incorrect • Mike is bigger than he. • Between Mike, Scott, and Ted, Mike is the biggest. • Among my friends, I am the smarter one. • The students at King High are smartest than the students at Lincoln High.

19. 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.

20. Adverbs • What is wrong with these sentences? • If you want to arrive on time you better leave quick. • I told him that he did a well job on the assignment.

21. 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

22. 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.

23. The sentence is very confusing because "to teach" is actually an incorrectly-placed infinitive. The verb should be conjugated to its proper form, which makes the sentence much clearer.

24. The only way you will become proficient with these verbals is by to practice them.

25. Singing my prepared song, the audience all clapped for me.

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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?

29. 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.

30. 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.)

31. 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!