Download Chapter Topics Description Style Wordiness/Awkward ,i.e. choose

GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
Chapter
Style
Topics
Wordiness/Awkward ,i.e.
choose brevity
Redundancy
Altered Intent
Subject-Verb
Agreement
Subject and Verb must agree
in number
Middleman
"And" vs. "Additive"
Disjunctive Phrases: “or",
"neither nor", " either or"
Collective nouns
Indefinite Pronouns
Numerical Words
When stuck with 2
grammatically correct
answer choices,
choose the shorter
one
Needless
repetitiveness should
be avoided,
Be careful to preserve
the meaning of the
original sentence
The first step is to find
out the subject and its
number
"Of" is another
middleman, remove it
and find the number
of the subject
Subjects joined by
"and" takes a plural
verb unless the
subjects are thought
to be one item or unit
An "additive phrase"
is just another
"middleman"
Find the subject that
is nearest the verb
and make sure that
the verb agrees in
number with the
subject
It requires a singular
verb when the group
is regarded as a
whole and plural
when the members of
the group are
regarded as
individuals
Anyone, Everyone,
Someone, No one,
Anybody, Everybody,
Somebody, No body,
Anything, Everything
Something Nothing,
Whatever, Whoever,
Each, Every, Either,
Neither takes singular
verb
SANAM - Some, Any,
None, All, Most
"The number of"
Description
GMAT prefers simplicity
and clarity
The word "being" almost
always indicates an
incorrect answer choice,
one should avoid it on the
GMAT
To find the simple
subject, eliminate any
modifiers
If you can remove a
phrase, and the sentence
still makes sense, the
phrase is likely a
'middleman'
Along with, in addition to,
as well as, accompanied
by, including, together
with, etc.
When only "either" or
"neither" is used without
"or, nor", it takes singular
verb only
Administration, Army,
Audience, Class, Crowd,
Faculty, Orchestra,
Team, Government,
Parliament, Assembly,
Council, Committee,
Crew, Staff, Jury, Fleet,
Majority, Mob, Minority,
plurality, etc.
When "Each" or "Every"
follows a subject, it has
no bearing on the verb,
otherwise, it takes the
singular verb
Look at the object of the
"Of" construction to
determine the number of
subjects
"The percentage of"
The committee has
agreed on this
issue .The
committee are
divided on this
issue.
They each are
great tennis
players.
"Numbers of" is
GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
A subject phrase is singular
Verb Tense,
Mood and
Voice
takes a singular verb,
and "A number of"
takes a plural verb
Having good friends
is a wonderful thing.
When the verb
precedes the subject,
flip it and solve it.
takes a singular verb,
and "A percentage of"
takes a plural verb
It is usually seen in the
sentence that begin with
"There is" and "There
are".
A split infinitive is almost
always incorrect
Split Infinitive
"to verb" is infinitive,
and when the word is
inserted in between
"to" and "verb", it is
called a split infinitive
Tense: Simple, Progressive
Unless the actions do
not take place at the
same time, keep all
verb tenses in a given
sentence the same.
Use it for an action
that began in the past
and continues in to
the present
If more than one
action in the sentence
occurred at different
times in the past, use
past perfect tense for
earlier action, and
simple past for the
later action.
Do not use perfect
tenses when the
simple tenses will do.
If Clause(present) Then Clause(will +
Base Verb)
Unless it mandatory, try
to use simple tenses
instead of progressive
tenses.
If Clause(past) - Then
Clause(would/could +
Base Verb)
If Clause(past
perfect) - Then
Clause(would/could +
have + Base Verb)
Use "Whether"
instead of "If".
If you studied, you would
score highly.
Tense: Present Perfect
Tense: Past Perfect
Tense: If ,Then
Subjunctive Mood: If clause
Subjunctive Mood: Hopes,
Proposals, Desires, Requests,
formed with word "that".
When the If clause
expresses a condition
contrary to reality.
Here, use "that + the
infinitive form"
always wrong
When in doubt,
think singular
There are a young
man and older
woman at the bus
stop.
"I need you to
quickly run out to
the store" is
wrong!. "I need
you to run quickly
out to the store" is
right!
Have/Has + Past
Participle
They have been in
town for several
days.
Had + Past Participle
(here ,it does not matter
which verb comes first in
the sentence, only which
verb comes first in time).
Several teachers
thought that Jimmy
had cheated on
the exam.
If you study, you will
score highly.
Use the simple
tenses unless you
have a good
reason not to.
Would/Could never
appear in the IF
clause
If you had studied, you
would have scored
highly.
I do not know whether
(not "if") I will go to the
dance.
If he were tall, he would
be able to play.
I respectfully ask that he
be allowed to continue.
"If he was" is
always wrong.
"that" follows
words like, advise,
ask, arrange,
better, demand,
direct, essential,
fitting ,imperative,
important, insist,
instruct, intend,
necessary, order,
pray, prefer, plead,
GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
Active vs. Passive Voices:
Pronouns
Pronoun Reference:
Pronoun Agreement:
Pronoun Case: Subject
Pronoun Case: Object
Pronoun Case: Possessive
Modifiers
Adjectives and Adverbs:
Dangling Modifier Error:
Misplaced Modifier Error:
Modifiers with relative
pronouns (which, that, where,
who, whose, whom)
Passive voices often
make a sentence
unnecessarily wordy
and awkward.
Only transitive
verbs(verbs that take
direct objects) can be
written in passive voices
The passive voice is
also required when
the non-underlined
portion of the
sentence contains
person performing the
action preceded by
the word "by".
It was seen around the
world by the people of all
ages.
If there are more than
one possible referent
for a given pronoun,
rewrite it to indicate
only one possible
pronoun referent.
Pronoun must agree
with antecedent in
number.
I, He, She, You, It,
We, They, Who
Me, Him, Her, You, It,
Us, Them, Whom
Mine, His, Her/Hers,
Your/s, Its, Ours,
Their/s, Whose
There must be a stated
antecedent for every
GMAT pronoun, not an
implied one.
Every pronoun
must refer to only
one antecedent.
It is a possessive noun,
it's is actually "it is".
An adjective modifies
a noun or a pronoun.
An adverb usually
modifies a verb, but it
can also describe an
adjective, another
adverb, a preposition
or a phrase
After finding the
modifying phrase,
search for the noun
that it modifies. If
noun is not directly
given, insert it in to
the sentence.
It occurs when a
modified noun is not
present directly next
to the modifying
phrase.
In GMAT, it is
sometimes preferable
to insert a modifier
using a relative
pronoun and a simple
verb tense than using
recommend,
suggest, urge, vital
After they
advertised, sales
(not "were
increased")
increased by 25%.
Passive voice can
be in correct
answer choices
esp. in science,
medical and
technical writing
styles.
Modifiers are
usually set off from
the rest of the
sentence by
commas.
Wrong: Using the latest
technology, the
mechanical problem was
identified.
Right: Using the
latest technology,
the engineer
identified the
mechanical
problem.
The modifier
should touch the
noun that it
modifies.
GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
Modifiers with relative
pronouns: Who
Modifiers with relative
pronouns: Which
–“ing” form of a verb.
Who introduces
phrases that modify a
person or a group of
people
Which introduces
phrases that modify
things.
Modifiers with relative
pronouns: That
That introduces
phrases that modify
either people or
things.
Adverbial Modifiers:
If the modifier
answers the question
how? About the verb,
it is an Adverbial
Modifier.
Parallelism dictates
that comparable
sentence parts must
be structurally similar.
Parallelism
Parallelism with pronouns
(such as which, that, those,
who. etc.)
Idioms with parallel structures
Superficial Parallelism
Verbs of Being
If one item includes a
pronoun, it is often
appropriate to include
the same pronoun in
parallel items.
More X that Y; The
more X the greater Y;
No less was X than
was Y; As X to Y; Not
only X but also Y; Not
X but rather Y; X
instead of Y; The
same to X as to Y
Do not become a
victim of superficial
parallelism by
assuming that all
verbs in a sentence
must be parallel. Only
the structures that are
logically parallel must
be structurally
parallel.
When you see a form
of the verb "to be" or
any other verb of
"being", be sure that
the two sides of the
verb are parallel.
Use "which" to introduce
a "middleman" modifier,
usually set-off by
commas, that is a nonessential descriptive
phrase that could be
removed from the
sentence
Use "that" to introduce
the modifier that is used
to narrow the identity of
the modified noun and
cannot logically be
removed.
Adverbial Modifiers
do not need to
touch the words
they modify.
When working with
parallel infinitives, it is
acceptable to leave out
the word "to" in all the
infinitives after the first.
Range from X to Y; Both
X & Y; Either X or Y;
Neither X nor Y; Mistake
X for Y; Prefer X to Y; X
regarded as Y; To think
of X as Y; Believe X to be
Y
(To be): is, am, are, was,
were, been, being
Wrong: The flower
bouquet was the
husband is giving
of love. Right: The
flower bouquet
was the husband’s
loving gift.
GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
Comparisons
Comparison Signals
Comparative vs. Superlative
Idioms
Spot-Extract-Replace
(Being/Condition):appear,
become, feel, grow, look,
remain, seem, smell,
sound, stay, taste, turn
Wrong: The
attitude of that
politician always
seem to be
attacking the poor.
Right: Because of
his intolerant
attitude, that
politician always
seems to be
attacking the poor.
Like, Unlike, Likening,
More than, Greater
than, Less than,
Shorter than,
Different from
as (adj) as, as many as,
as few as, as much as,
as little as, as high as, as
short as
Comparisons must be
logically parallel, i.e.
They must compare
similar things.
Do not use "like" when
you mean "for example";
instead use "such as"
The "like" is used
to compare two
nouns. The word
"as" is used to
compare two
clauses.
Although "like" and
"as" seem
interchangeable,
for GMAT they are
not!
Comparisons must be
structurally parallel,
I.e., they must have a
similar grammatical
structure.
Good-Better-Best;
Bad-Worse-Worst;
Much, Many-MoreMost; Little-Less,
,Lesser-Least; FarFarther, FurtherFarthest, Furthest
When comparing
only two things,
use the
comparative form,
and when
comparing more
than two things,
use superlative
form
1- Spot the suspect
idiomatic expression
GMAT does tend
to focus on certain
common idioms.
Memorizing these
can be very useful.
The idiomatic
expressions
"whether or not"
and "numbers of"
are always
incorrect.
2- Extract the idiom
from the sentence
and play with it in
your head by
inserting it in to
made-up sentences.
3- Replace the
correct idiom in the
sentence and
evaluate how it
sounds.
Odds & Ends
Quantity
Countable Modifiers:
Many; As Many As;
Fewer/Few; Number
of
The words "increase"
Uncountable Modifiers:
Much; As Much As;
Little/Less; Amount of;
Equivalent to
The word "many"
modifies countable
things, whereas
the word "much"
modifies
uncountable
things.
GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment of Argument_______________________________________________
Connecting Words
Connecting Punctuation (semi
colon and colon)
"Do it”; "Numbers of";
“Whether or not" are usually
incorrect.
or "decrease” express
the change of one
thing over time,
whereas "greater"
and "less" signal a
comparison between
two things.
In order for phrases
and clauses to
combine in to one
complete sentence,
they must be
connected together in
the proper way by
certain connecting
words.
A semicolon (;) is
used only to connect
two related complete
sentences. Both
statements must be
able to stand alone as
independent
sentences.
"Do so"; "Number of";
"Whether to" are right
usages.
and, or, nor, but, yet,
although, when, because,
for, since, before, after, if,
unless
A colon (:) is used to
equate two parts of the
sentence. You should be
able to insert the word
"namely" after the colon.
Only the statement that
precedes the colon must
be able to stand alone