Chapter 7

Applying What You Learned (We Hope) in Grammar Class: Sentence Correction

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Grasping grammar basics

check Recognizing commonly tested errors

check Mastering the approach to sentence-correction questions

Business success depends on a number of diverse skills, and one of the most important of these skills is the ability to communicate effectively. The GMAT can’t test your speaking ability (not yet, anyway), so it focuses on your reading and writing skills. In fact, about half of the GMAT is devoted to reading and writing. And, of course, knowing the rules of standard written English is essential to good writing. The GMAT test-makers have developed diabolically effective ways to use multiple-choice questions to test your knowledge of written English. They present you with a sentence and underline a portion of it. Your job is to figure out whether the underlined part is okay the way it is. If it needs to be changed, you have to pick the answer choice that offers the proper correction.

Sentence-correction questions appear in the verbal reasoning section along with reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions. You have 65 minutes to answer the 36 questions that appear in the entire section. So you have a little less than 2 minutes to answer each question. You’ll likely need more time to ponder reading questions, so plan to spend no more than one minute answering each sentence-correction question.

Punctuation, subject-verb agreement, parallel construction, and other keys to good grammar may have you lying awake at night. Take heart. We won’t let your dream of attending the business school of your choice die on the sentence-correction portion of the GMAT. Fortunately, the kinds of sentence errors that crop up on the GMAT don’t change much, so you can focus your study on the common ones.

In this chapter, we review the grammar basics you should have down before test day. We also show you what sentence-correction questions look like, which common errors the GMAT likes to test, and the best way to approach the questions.

Building a Solid Foundation: Grammar Basics

Luckily, the rules of grammar are really pretty logical. After you understand the basic rules regarding the parts of speech and the elements of a sentence, you’ve got it made. The following sections provide what you need to know to do well on sentence-correction questions. As an added bonus, this refresher can help you write the GMAT analytical writing essay.

Getting wordy: The parts of speech

Sentence-correction questions consist of, well, sentences. Sentences are made up of words, and each word in a sentence has a function. The parts of speech in the English language that are important to know for GMAT grammar are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Acting out: Verbs

Every sentence has a verb, which means that a sentence isn’t complete without one. You should be familiar with three types of verbs:

Action verbs: These verbs state what the subject of the sentence is doing. Run, jump, compile, and learn are examples of action verbs.
To be: The verb to be (conjugated as am, is, are, was, were, been, and being) functions sort of like an equal sign. It equates the subject with a noun or adjective. For example, Ben is successful means Ben = successful. She is a CEO means she = CEO.
Linking verbs: These words join (or link) the subject to an adjective that describes the condition of the subject. Like the verb to be, they express a state of the subject, but they provide more information about the subject than to be verbs do. Common linking verbs are feel, seem, appear, remain, look, taste, and smell.

Telling it like it is: Nouns

You’ve undoubtedly heard nouns defined as persons, places, or things. They provide the “what” of the sentence. A noun can function in a sentence in different ways:

The subject plays the principal role in the sentence. It’s what the sentence is about or who is doing the action.
A direct object receives the action of an action verb.
An indirect object receives the direct object. Sentences with direct objects don’t need indirect objects, but you need a direct object before you can have an indirect object.
The object of a preposition receives a preposition. (See the “Joining forces: Conjunctions and prepositions” section, later in this chapter.)
The object in a verbal phrase serves as the receiver of the gerund (which is a verb form that functions as a noun, like singing).
An appositive clarifies or renames another noun.
A predicate noun follows the verb to be and regards the subject.

So you can see how these different types of nouns function, we’ve marked their appearances in these two sentences with numbers that correspond to the preceding list:

Being a businesswoman (5) with great leadership abilities (4), Anna Arnold (1), an MBA (6), gave her employees (3) the opportunity (2) to succeed. Anna (1) was a supportive supervisor (7).

The GMAT won’t ask you to define the various noun functions, but being familiar with them helps when we talk about the different types of sentence errors you may encounter.

One of the most important things to remember about nouns and verbs on the GMAT is that the subject and verb of a sentence have to agree in number. See the later section, “Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors,” for details.

Standing in: Pronouns

Pronouns figure prominently in the sentence-correction portion of the GMAT. Pronouns rename nouns and provide a means of avoiding the needless repetition of names and other nouns in a sentence or paragraph. On the GMAT, pronoun errors are common. To correct these errors, you need to be familiar with the three types of pronouns: personal, indefinite, and relative:

Personal pronouns: These words rename specific nouns. They take two forms: subjective and objective.
- The subjective personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. Subjective personal pronouns are used when the pronoun functions as a subject or predicate noun (see the preceding section for info on noun functions).
- The objective personal pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. Objective personal pronouns are properly used when they function as an object in the sentence.
Indefinite pronouns: These pronouns refer to general nouns rather than specific ones. Some common examples are everyone, somebody, anything, each, one, none, and no one. It’s important to remember that most indefinite pronouns are singular, which means they require singular verbs: One of the employees is being laid off.
Relative pronouns: These words, like that, which, and who, introduce adjective clauses that describe nouns. Who refers to persons; which and that refer primarily to animals and things: He is a manager who is comfortable leading. The consulting work that she does usually saves companies money, which makes her a very popular consultant.

Filling in the details: Adjectives

Adjectives describe and clarify nouns and pronouns. For example, The secretive culture of the corporation created discontented employees. Secretive defines the kind of culture and discontented describes the feeling of the employees. Without the adjectives, the sentence is virtually meaningless: The culture of the corporation created employees.

With sentence-correction questions, make sure adjectives are positioned correctly in the sentence so each adjective modifies the word it’s supposed to. For example, I brought the slides to the meeting that I created makes it seem that the author of the sentence created the meeting rather than the slides. The descriptive clause that I created is in the wrong place. The better composition is I brought the slides that I created to the meeting.

Describing the action: Adverbs

Adverbs are like adjectives because they add extra information to the sentence, but adjectives usually modify nouns, and adverbs primarily define verbs. Adverbs include all words and groups of words (called adverb phrases) that answer the questions where, when, how, and why: The stock market gradually recovered from the 1999 crash. Gradually defines how the stock market recovered.

Some adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs: The extremely unfortunate plumber yodeled very well.

You’ll recognize many adverbs by the -ly ending. But not all adverbs end in -ly. For example, in The company’s manufacturing moved overseas, the adverb overseas reveals where the manufacturing is located. In The Human Resources director resigned today, today explains when the director resigned.

Positioning adverbs correctly is important on the GMAT. Separating adverbs from the words they modify makes sentences imprecise.

Joining forces: Conjunctions and prepositions

Conjunctions and prepositions link the main elements of the sentence.

Conjunctions: This part of speech joins words, phrases, and clauses. The three types of conjunctions are coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Don’t worry about memorizing these terms; just remember that the three types exist.
- The seven coordinating conjunctions — and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet — are the ones most people think of when they consider conjunctions.
- Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs: either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also. These conjunctions correlate two similar clauses in one sentence. Therefore, if you use either as a conjunction, you have to include or.
- Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses and connect them to independent clauses. Although, because, if, when, and while are common examples of subordinating conjunctions. We talk more about clauses in the section, “In so many words: Phrases and clauses.”
Prepositions: These words join nouns to the rest of a sentence. We’d need several pages to list all the prepositions, but common examples are about, above, at, for, in, over, to, and with. A preposition can’t function within a sentence unless the preposition is connected to a noun, so prepositions always appear in prepositional phrases. These phrases consist of a preposition and noun, which is called the object of the preposition: The woman in the suit went to the office to sit down. The preposition in relates its object, suit, to another noun, woman, so in the suit is a prepositional phrase that works as an adjective to describe woman; to the office is an adverbial prepositional phrase that describes where the woman went. Note that the word to in to sit down isn’t a preposition; rather, it’s part of the infinitive form of the verb to sit — the phrase doesn’t have an object, so you don’t have a prepositional phrase.

Prepositions often play a part in sentence-correction questions. The GMAT may provide you with a sentence that contains an improper preposition construction. Here’s a simple example: He watched the flood while sitting in the roof. The correct preposition is on, not in. Other types of preposition questions may not be so easy, but we highlight these for you in the section, “Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors.”

Pulling together: The parts of a sentence

The parts of speech work together to form sentences. And the thrust of the sentence’s information is conveyed by three main elements: the subject, the verb, and the element that the verb links to the subject. To locate the main idea of a sentence, you focus on these three elements. Other information within the sentence is secondary.

Trouble comes in threes: Subject, verb, and third element

The subject is the main character of the sentence; it’s the noun that carries out the action of the sentence or whose condition the sentence describes. The verb describes the action or links the subject and predicate. Depending on the verb used, the third important part of the sentence could be a direct object, an adverb, an adjective, or a predicate noun. The third element for a sentence with a transitive verb (an action verb that must be followed by a direct object) is always a direct object. Intransitive verbs (action verbs that can’t be followed by direct objects) may be completed by adverbs. You can follow the verb to be with either an adjective or a predicate noun. Recognizing the three main elements of the sentence helps you spot errors in the sentence-correction questions.

In so many words: Phrases and clauses

In addition to the main elements, a sentence may contain single words, phrases, or clauses that convey more information about the sentence’s main message. Phrases and clauses are groups of words that work together to form a single part of speech, like an adverb or adjective. The difference between phrases and clauses is that clauses contain their own subjects and verbs, and phrases don’t. A good understanding of both clauses and phrases can help you greatly on the sentence-correction portion of the GMAT.

PHRASES

Phrases are groups of words that function together as a part of speech. Many tested errors on the GMAT concern phrases, and we discuss them in more depth in the section, “Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors.”

INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT CLAUSES

The distinguishing characteristic of clauses is that they contain subjects and verbs. The two types of clauses are independent and dependent. Recognizing the difference between independent and dependent clauses can help you with many of the sentence-correction problems on the GMAT.

Independent clauses: These clauses express complete thoughts and could stand as sentences by themselves. Here’s an example of a sentence that contains two independent clauses: The firm will go public, and investors will rush to buy stock. Each clause is a complete sentence: The firm will go public. Investors will rush to buy stock.

Punctuate two independent clauses in a sentence by joining them either with a semicolon or with a comma and a coordinating conjunction.
Dependent clauses: These clauses express incomplete thoughts and are, therefore, sentence fragments. Even though they contain a subject and verb, they can’t stand alone as sentences without other information. For example, in the sentence After the two companies merge, they’ll need only one board of directors, the dependent clause in the sentence is after the two companies merge. The clause has a subject, companies, and a verb, merge, but it still leaves the reader needing more information. So the clause is dependent. To form a complete sentence, a dependent clause must be paired with an independent clause.

NOT SO NEEDY: THE FUNCTIONS OF DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Dependent clauses that function as adverbs begin with subordinating conjunctions and answer the questions how, when, where, or why. For example, The woman got the job because she was more qualified. The bolded portion is a dependent clause explaining why the woman got the job. On the other hand, an adjectival clause usually begins with a relative pronoun to provide more information about the noun it modifies, like in this sentence: The judge is a man who requires a silent courtroom. The bolded clause describes what type of man the judge is. Dependent clauses may also function as nouns: The insurance company was focusing on how much money the hurricane would cost. The dependent clause in this sentence is the object of the preposition on.

Punctuate a beginning dependent clause by placing a comma between it and the independent clause that comes after it. If the dependent clause follows the independent clause, you don’t need any punctuation: They’ll need only one board of directors after the two companies merge.

When you understand the difference between independent and dependent clauses, you’ll be better able to recognize sentence fragments and faulty modification errors (more about those appears in the section, “Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors”).

Before we talk about the most commonly tested errors in the sentence-correction questions, we need to share one more thing about dependent clauses. Dependent clauses can be classified as either restrictive or nonrestrictive. Distinguishing between the two can be tricky.

Restrictive clauses are vital to the meaning of the sentence. Without them, the sentence’s original meaning is lost. For example, in She never wins her cases that involve the IRS, the restrictive clause that involve the IRS provides essential information about the particular type of cases she never wins. The point of the sentence is that she never wins IRS cases.
Nonrestrictive clauses provide clarifying information, but they aren’t mandatory for the sentence to make sense. In the sentence She never wins her cases, which involve the IRS, the nonrestrictive clause, which involve the IRS, makes a “by the way” statement. It provides additional information about what type of cases she handles. The main point of the sentence is that she never wins a case.

Note that in the preceding examples, the restrictive clause begins with that and the nonrestrictive clause begins with which. You don’t use commas before clauses that begin with that because they’re restrictive clauses and integral parts of the sentence. You should use commas to set nonrestrictive clauses apart from the rest of the sentence.

Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors

Sentence-correction questions test your ability to edit written material so it follows the rules of standard written English. The questions provide you with sentences that contain underlined parts. From the five provided answer choices, you have to choose the answer that expresses the underlined portion of the sentence in the way that conforms to the dictates of standard written English.

The first answer choice is always the same as the underlined portion of the sentence. So if you think the sentence is fine as is, select the first answer. The other four choices present alternative ways of expressing the idea in the underlined part. Your task is to determine whether the underlined portion of the statement contains an error and, if so, which of the four alternatives best corrects the error.

You correct errors in sentence correction sentences by applying the basic rules of English grammar. The good news is that you won’t be asked to define or spell words or diagram sentences! And no question expects you to correct specific punctuation errors, though knowing the rules for placing commas helps you eliminate answer choices in some cases.

The GMAT is a test for admission to business school. Therefore, sentence-correction questions center on errors that adversely affect the quality of business writing, such as improper word choices, incomplete or run-on sentences, and verb tense and agreement issues. The kinds of errors you’ll be asked to correct on the GMAT are the kinds you should avoid if you want to write successfully in business.

Can’t we all just get along? Errors in subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement

One of the most fundamental skills in writing is the ability to make the elements of a sentence agree. If your subject is singular but your verb is plural, you’ve got a problem! Even in less formal kinds of communication, like quick emails, errors in subject-verb or noun-pronoun agreement can obscure the message you hope to communicate. You can be sure that the GMAT sentence-correction problems will contain some agreement errors.

Subject-verb agreement

When we say the subjects and verbs agree, we don’t mean they’re having a meeting of minds. We mean that plural subjects pair with plural verbs and singular subjects require singular verbs. Errors in simple constructions are pretty easy to spot. It just doesn’t sound right to say He attend classes at the University of Michigan.

It’s when the subject isn’t simple or obvious that determining subject-verb agreement gets a little more difficult. For example, take a look at this sentence: His fixation with commodities markets have grown into several prosperous ventures, including a consulting business. The subject is fixation, but the prepositional phrase with commodities markets may confuse you into thinking that markets is the subject. Markets is a plural noun, so it would take a plural verb if it were the subject. But you know that markets can’t be the subject of the sentence because markets is part of a prepositional phrase. It’s the object of the preposition with, and a noun can’t be an object and a subject at the same time. The subject has to be fixation, so the singular verb has, rather than the plural have, is proper.

Focus on the three main elements of any complex sentence by mentally eliminating words and phrases that aren’t essential to the sentence’s point. Then you can check the subjects and verbs to make sure they agree. For example, when you remove the prepositional phrase with commodities markets from the sample sentence we just discussed, you get His fixation have grown, which reveals an obvious disagreement in number between the subject and verb.

Noun-pronoun agreement

Another relationship you need to keep on track is the one between nouns and the pronouns that refer to them. A pronoun must agree in number with the noun (or other pronoun) it refers to. Plural nouns take plural pronouns, and singular nouns take singular pronouns. For example, this sentence has improper noun-pronoun agreement: You can determine the ripeness of citrus by handling them and noting their color. Citrus is a singular noun, so using plural pronouns to refer to it is incorrect. It would be correct to say You can determine the ripeness of citrus by handling it and noting its color.

Another problem with pronouns is unclear references. To know whether a pronoun agrees with its subject, you have to be clear about just what the pronoun refers to. For example, it’s not clear which noun the pronoun in this sentence refers to: Bobby and Tom went to the store, and he purchased a candy bar. Because the subject of the first clause is plural, the pronoun he could refer to either Bobby or Tom or even to a third person. To improve clarity in this case, you’d use the name of the person who bought the candy bar rather than the ambiguous pronoun.

If a GMAT sentence-correction question contains a pronoun in the underlined portion, make sure the pronoun clearly refers to a particular noun in the sentence and that it matches that noun in number. Otherwise, you need to find an answer choice that clarifies the reference or corrects the number.

Here’s a sample question that contains both types of agreement errors:

Example Much work performed by small business owners, like managing human relations, keeping track of accounts, and paying taxes, which are essential to its successful operation, have gone virtually unnoticed by their employees.

(A) which are essential to its successful operation, have gone virtually unnoticed by their employees

(B) which are essential to successful operations, have gone virtually unnoticed by their employees

(D) which are essential to successful operation, has gone virtually unnoticed by their employees

(E) which are essential to successful operation, has gone virtually unnoticed by its employees

The underlined portion contains several agreement errors, and your job is to locate and fix all of them. To accomplish this task, isolate the three main elements of this sentence:

The subject is work. None of the other nouns or pronouns or noun phrases in the sentence can be the main subject because they’re all either objects (owners, managing, keeping, paying, relations, accounts, taxes, operation, employees) or subjects of dependent clauses (which).
The main verb is have gone. The other verb (are) belongs to the dependent clause, so it can’t be the main verb.
The third element is unnoticed.

So the essential sentence states that work have gone unnoticed. Well, that doesn’t sound right! You know you have to change the verb to the singular has to make it agree with the singular subject work. Eliminate any answer choices that don’t change have to has, which leaves you with Choices (D) and (E).

Tip You’ll notice that both Choice (D) and Choice (E) contain the verb are. So the pronoun which must refer back to managing, keeping, and paying (which, together, are plural), so the verb that corresponds to which has to be plural, too. Also, both choices eliminate its before successful operation because it’s unclear what its refers to.

The difference between the two choices is that Choice (E) changes their to its. Ask yourself which noun the pronoun before employees refers to. Who or what has the employees? The only possibility is business owners, which is a plural noun. So the pronoun that refers to it must also be plural. Their is plural; its is singular. Therefore, Choice (D) is the best answer: Much work performed by small business owners, like managing human relations, keeping track of accounts, and paying taxes, which are essential to successful operation, has gone virtually unnoticed by their employees.

Building code violations: Faulty construction

Errors in construction threaten the stability, readability, and even existence of a sentence! You have, no doubt, been told to avoid incomplete and run-on sentences. It’s equally important to avoid sentences that confuse your reader. Some sentences may not contain grammatical errors, but they can be constructed so poorly that they obscure the point. Both grammatical and rhetorical constructions rely on correct punctuation, proper ordering of clauses, and parallel sentence structure.

The most commonly tested errors in grammatical construction are sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and sentences that lack parallel structure. After you get used to them, these errors are pretty easy to spot.

Sentence fragments

Sentence fragments on the GMAT usually show up as dependent clauses pretending to convey complete thoughts or as a bunch of words with something that looks like a verb but doesn’t act like one (technically, a verbal).

Dependent clauses standing alone are fragments because they don’t present complete thoughts. For example, this clause comes complete with a subject and verb: Although many companies have failed to maintain consistent profits with downsizing. However, it begins with a subordinating conjunction, although, so it leaves you hanging.
Phrases with a verbal instead of a verb can appear to be complete if you don’t read them carefully. The verbal phrases in this sentence look like verbs but don’t function as verbs: The peacefulness of a morning warmed by the summer sun and the verdant pastures humming with the sound of busy bees. Warmed and humming can function as verbs in other instances, but in this sentence, they’re part of phrases that provide description but don’t tell what the subjects (peacefulness and pastures) are like or what they’re doing.

You get the hang of recognizing sentence fragments with practice. If you read the sentence under your breath, you should be able to tell whether it expresses a complete thought.

Correcting fragments is usually pretty simple. You just add the information that completes the thought or change the verbal phrase to an actual verb. For example, you can make although many companies have failed to maintain consistent profits with downsizing into a complete sentence by adding a comma and some still try, like so: Although many companies have failed to maintain consistent profits with downsizing, some still try. To complete the peacefulness of a morning warmed by the summer sun and the verdant pastures humming with the sound of busy bees, you can change the verbal phrases: The peacefulness of a morning is warmed by the summer sun, and the verdant pastures hum with the sound of busy bees.

Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences occur when a sentence with multiple independent clauses is improperly punctuated. Here’s an example: I had a job interview that morning so I wore my best suit. Both I had a job interview and I wore my best suit are independent clauses. You can’t just stick a coordinating conjunction between them to make a sentence. Here are the two rules for punctuating multiple independent clauses in a sentence:

Independent clauses may be joined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. You can correct the problem by adding a comma, like this: I had a job interview that morning, so I wore my best suit.
Independent clauses may be joined by a semicolon. The sentence can look like this: I had a job interview that morning; I wore my best suit.

Of course, you can change one of the independent clauses to a dependent clause, like this: Because I had a job interview that morning, I wore my best suit. If you do that, remember to separate the clauses with a comma when the dependent clause precedes the independent one.

The GMAT probably won’t give you a run-on sentence to correct, but it may give you an answer choice that looks pretty good except that it makes the original sentence a run-on. Make sure the answer you choose doesn’t create a run-on sentence.

Verb tense issues

In addition to checking for subject-verb agreement, make sure the verbs in the underlined portion of the sentence correction question are in the proper tense. The other verbs in the sentence give you clues to what tense the underlined verbs should be in.

Lack of parallelism

You can count on several sentence correction questions that test your ability to recognize a lack of parallel structure. The basic rule of parallel structure is that all phrases joined by conjunctions should be constructed in the same manner. For example, this sentence has a problem with parallelism: Ann spent the morning emailing clients, responding to voice mails, and she wrote an article for the newsletter.

The problem with the sentence is that the three phrases joined by the coordinating conjunction (and) in this sentence are constructed in different ways. Emailing and responding both take the gerund (or -ing) form, but she wrote initiates a clause. Changing wrote to its gerund form and eliminating she gets rid of the clause and solves the problem: Ann spent the morning emailing clients, responding to voice mails, and writing an article for the newsletter.

Parallel structure is also a factor when you make comparisons. The following sentence lacks parallel structure: To be physically healthy is as important as being prosperous in your work. The sentence compares a phrase in the infinitive form, to be physically healthy, with a phrase in the gerund form, being prosperous in your work. Changing one of the constructions to match the other does the trick: Being physically healthy is as important as being prosperous in your work.

When you see a sentence correction question with an underlined list, check for lack of parallelism. Look for phrases joined by coordinating conjunctions. If the phrases or sentence parts exhibit dissimilar constructions, you have to correct the parallelism error.

Here’s how the GMAT may question you about parallel structure:

Example The consultant recommended that the company eliminate unneeded positions, existing departments should be consolidated, and use outsourcing when possible.

(A) eliminate unneeded positions, existing departments should be consolidated, and use outsourcing when possible

(B) eliminate unneeded positions, consolidate existing departments, and outsource when possible

(D) eliminate unneeded positions and departments and use outsourcing when possible

(E) eliminate unneeded positions, existing departments are consolidated, and outsourcing used when possible

The underlined portion of this sentence contains a list joined by and, which is a pretty good clue that you should be vigilant for any lack of parallelism. Because the three phrases joined by and are not all constructed the same way, you know there’s an error, so eliminate Choice (A).

Next, eliminate the answers that don’t solve the problem. Choice (C) keeps the same faulty construction as the original statement in the first two recommendations, and it introduces even more awkwardness by changing use to used and adding it to the end of the third recommendation. You can clearly eliminate Choice (C). Get rid of Choice (E) because it’s also worse than the original. Each of the three elements in Choice (E) has a completely different construction.

Both Choice (B) and Choice (D) seem to correct the error by introducing each recommendation with a similar construction, but Choice (D) creates a new error because it changes the meaning of the sentence. If you select Choice (D), you’re stating that some departments are also unneeded and should be eliminated. The original, however, stated that departments should be consolidated. An answer can’t be correct if it changes the meaning of the original sentence, so Choice (D) is wrong.

Choice (B) solves the problem without changing the original meaning, so it’s the one to choose: The consultant recommended that the company eliminate unneeded positions, consolidate existing departments, and outsource when possible.

Is that a rhetorical question? Other construction errors

It may surprise you to know that a GMAT sentence can be grammatically accurate and still need correction. Sentences that exhibit awkward, wordy, imprecise, redundant, or unclear constructions require fixing. The GMAT calls these errors in rhetorical construction. The good news is that you can often use your ear to correct these problems. The right answer will often simply sound better to you.

Using passive instead of active voice makes a sentence seem weak and wordy. Passive voice beats around the bush to make a point, so it lacks clarity. For example, this passive-voice sentence masks the doer of an action: The speech was heard by most members of the corporation. The sentence isn’t technically incorrect, but it’s better to say it this way: Most members of the corporation heard the speech. Notice also that the active voice sentence uses fewer words. So if all else is equal, choose active voice over passive voice.
Using repetitive language adds unnecessary words and seems silly. A sentence shouldn’t use more words than it needs to. For example, it’s a bit ridiculous to say the following: The speaker added an additional row of chairs to accommodate the large crowd. The construction of added an additional isn’t grammatically incorrect, but it’s needlessly repetitive. It’s more precise and less wordy to say The speaker added a row of chairs to accommodate the large crowd.

The bottom line is that any sentence that uses an excessive number of words to convey its message probably has construction problems. Often, wordiness accompanies another type of error in the underlined part. Look for the answer that uses the fewest words to correct the main error. Try it out with this sample question.

Example Recently, the price of crude oil have been seeing fluctuations with the demand for gasoline in China.

(A) have been seeing fluctuations with

(B) have fluctuated with

(D) has fluctuated with

(E) has changed itself along with

The main error in the sentence concerns subject-verb agreement. The singular subject, price, requires a singular verb. Additionally, the underlined portion is needlessly wordy. First, eliminate answer choices that don’t correct the agreement problem. Then, focus on choices that clarify the language.

Both Choices (B) and (C) perpetuate the agreement problem by providing plural verbs for the singular subject. Eliminate those along with Choice (A), and you’re left with Choices (D) and (E).

Choice (E) is constructed even more awkwardly than the original sentence, so Choice (D) is the best answer: Recently, the price of crude oil has fluctuated with the demand for gasoline in China.

This sample question gives you practice recognizing redundancy:

Example A recent survey of American colleges reveal that among some of the most selective universities the acceptance rates have lowered by at least a 2 percent decrease over the last two years.

(A) reveal that among some of the most selective universities the acceptance rates have lowered by at least a 2 percent decrease over the last two years

(B) reveals that among some of the most selective universities the acceptance rates have lowered by at least a 2 percent decrease over the last two years

(C) reveal that among some of the most selective universities acceptance rates have decreased by at least 2 percent over the last two years

(D) reveals that among some of the most selective universities acceptance rates have decreased by at least 2 percent over the last two years

(E) reveals that among some of the most selective universities the acceptance rates have decreased by at least a 2 percent margin over the last two years

As you examine the possible answers, first notice you have the option of either reveal or reveals. The subject is survey, so you can eliminate answers that provide the plural verb reveal. So Choices (A) and (C) are out.

In Choice (B), the verb lowered is sufficient to let you know that the rates have gone down; you don’t also need to know that the rate was a percent decrease. The redundancy makes this answer incorrect. Choice (E) eliminates the repetition of the decrease, but it introduces another redundancy. If the rate decreased by a percentage, you don’t also need to know it decreased by a margin.

The answer that corrects the verb agreement and eliminates redundant wording is Choice (D).

Follow the idiom: Correct use of standard expressions

Idiomatic expressions are constructions English speakers use because, well, those are the expressions they use. In other words, we use certain words in certain ways for no particular reason other than because that’s the way we do it. However, even native English speakers often fail to use idiomatic expressions correctly. It’s common to hear people use further instead of farther when they mean distance or less instead of fewer when they’re talking about the number of countable items.

The GMAT tests you on your knowledge of idiomatic expressions because sentences that are idiomatically incorrect can damage your credibility and interfere with the clarity of your message. The only way to know idiomatic constructions is to memorize them. Luckily, you probably know most of them already. To help you along, Table 7-1 lists some commonly tested idioms and how to use them correctly.

TABLE 7-1 Idiomatically Correct Constructions for the GMAT

Expression	Rule	Correct Use
among/between	Use among for comparing three or more things or persons, between for two things or persons.	Between the two of us there are few problems, but among the four of us there is much discord.
as … as	When you use as in a comparison, use the construction of as … as.	The dog is as wide as he is tall.
being	Don’t use being after regard as.	She is regarded as the best salesperson on the team. (Not: She is regarded as being the best salesperson.)
better/best and worse/worst	Use better and worse to compare two things, best and worst to compare more than two things.	Of the two products, the first is better known, but this product is the best known of all 20 on the market.
but	Don’t use but after doubt or help.	He could not help liking the chartreuse curtains with the mauve carpet. (Not: He could not help but like the curtains.)
different from	Use different from rather than different than.	This plan is different from the one we implemented last year. (Not: This plan is different than last year’s.)
effect/affect	Generally, use effect as a noun and affect as a verb.	No one could know how the effect of the presentation would affect the client’s choice.
farther/further	Use farther to refer to distance and further to refer to time or quantity.	Carol walked farther today than she did yesterday, and she vows to further study the benefits of walking.
hopefully	Hopefully is an adverb meaning with hope and should never be used to mean I hope or it is hoped.	I hope they offer me the managerial position. (Not: Hopefully, they’ll offer me the managerial position.)
however	However used at the beginning of a sentence (without a comma) means to whatever extent.	However they try to discourage his antics, he continues to engage in office pranks.
imply/infer	Use imply to mean to suggest or indicate, infer to mean deduce.	From his implication that the car was packed, I inferred that it was time to leave.
in regard to	Use in regard to rather than in regards to.	The memo was in regard to the meeting we had yesterday. (Not: The memo was in regards to the meeting.)
less/fewer	Use less to refer to unmeasured quantity, fewer to refer to number.	That office building is less noticeable because it has fewer floors.
less/least	Use less to compare two things and least to compare more than two things.	He is less educated than his brother is, but he is not the least educated of his entire family.
like/as	Use like before simple nouns and pronouns, as before phrases and clauses.	Like Ruth, Steve wanted the office policy to be just as it had always been.
loan/lend	Use loan as a noun, lend as a verb.	Betty asked Julia to lend her a car until she received her loan.
many/much	Use many to refer to number, much to refer to unmeasured quantity.	For many days I woke up feeling much anxiety, but I’m better now that I’m reading GMAT For Dummies.
more/most	Use more to compare two things, most to compare more than two things.	Of the two girls, the older is more educated, and she is the most educated person in her family.
try/come	Try and come take the infinitive form of a subsequent verb.	Try to file it by tomorrow. (Not: Try and file it by tomorrow.)

In addition to the expressions listed in Table 7-1, you should also memorize the correlative expressions in Table 7-2, which shows you words that must appear together in the same sentence. To maintain parallel structure, the elements that follow each component of the correlative should be similar. Thus, if not only precedes a verb and direct object, the but also that follows it should also precede a verb and direct object.

TABLE 7-2 Correlative Expressions

Expression	Example
not only … but also	He not only had his cake but also ate it.
either … or	Either do it my way or take the highway.
neither … nor	Neither steaming locomotives nor wild horses can persuade me to change my mind.

Here are a couple of examples of how you may see idioms tested on the GMAT:

Example Never before had American businesses confronted so many challenges as they did during the Great Depression.

(A) so many challenges as they did during the Great Depression

(B) so many challenges at one time as they confronted during the Great Depression

(D) as many challenges as it did during the Great Depression

(E) as many challenges as they did during the Great Depression

You’ve memorized that the proper comparison construction is as … as, so you know that the sentence contains an idiomatically improper construction (it also probably sounds strange to you!). Start by eliminating all answers that don’t correct so many … as to as … as. Choices (A), (B), and (C) retain the improper construction, so cross them out.

Now consider Choices (D) and (E). Both maintain the original verb, which is fine. The sentence compares two different periods of time. The first portion of the sentence refers to the period before the Great Depression, which requires the past perfect verb had … confronted. The underlined part of the sentence simply requires the past tense verb did to maintain the proper tense. Choice (D) creates a new error in pronoun agreement by using the singular pronoun it to refer to the plural noun businesses. Choice (E) is the correct answer: Never before had American businesses confronted as many challenges as they did during the Great Depression.

Example Experts agree that good health may result from following a regimen that includes consuming less fat and calories.

(A) includes consuming less fat and calories

(B) includes the consumption of less fat and calories

(D) including the consumption of less fat and calories

(E) including consuming fewer fats and calories

For a single quantity, use less; use fewer for plural nouns. So the proper construction is less fat and fewer calories. Choices (A), (B), and (D) are incorrect because they apply the singular less to the plural calories. Choice (C) corrects the issue by adding fewer before calories, and Choice (E) changes fat to fats, so fewer appropriately applies to both plural nouns. Choice (E) is wrong, however, because including doesn’t properly follow that. The correct answer is Choice (C).

Implementing an Approach to Sentence-Correction Questions

The key to performing well on sentence-correction questions is to approach them systematically:

Determine the nature of the original sentence’s error (if one exists).

If a sentence has more than one error, focus on one error at a time. If you can, come up with a quick idea of how to fix the error before you look at the answers.
Skim through the answer choices and eliminate any choices that don’t correct the error.
Eliminate answer choices that correct the original error but add a new error or errors.

You should be left with only one answer that fixes the original problem without creating new errors.
Reread the sentence with the new answer choice inserted just to make sure that you haven’t missed something and that the answer you’ve chosen makes sense.

To show you how this process works, we’ll refer to this example question throughout the next few sections.

Example Because the company is disorganized, they will never reach their goal.

(A) they will never reach their goal

(B) it will never reach their goal

(D) their goal will never be reached

(E) its goal will never be reached

Spotting the error

When you read the sentence correction question, pay particular attention to the underlined portion and look for at least one error.

If the underlined section contains verbs, make sure they agree with their subjects and are in the proper tense.
Check any pronouns to determine whether they agree in number with the nouns they refer to.
Look at lists to confirm that their construction is parallel.
Note any tricky idiomatic phrases to verify that they’re used correctly.
Look for repetitive and otherwise wordy language.

If you don’t see any obvious errors, read through the answer choices just to make sure they don’t reveal something you may have missed. If you still don’t see a problem, choose the first answer choice. About 20 percent of the sentence-correction sentences contain no errors.

Don’t look for errors in the portion of the sentence that isn’t underlined. Even if you find something, you can’t correct it!

The underlined portion of the sample question contains a verb (will reach), but it agrees with its subject and is in the proper tense. There’s also a pronoun, they. They refers to company, but company is a singular noun and they is a plural pronoun. You can’t have a plural pronoun refer to a singular noun. Therefore, the underlined section definitely has a pronoun agreement error.

Eliminating answers that don’t correct errors

If you spot an error in the underlined portion, read through the answer choices and eliminate those that don’t correct it. If you see more than one error in the underlined portion of the statement, begin with the error that has the more obvious correction. For example, if the underlined portion has both a rhetorical error and an error in subject-verb agreement, begin with the error in subject-verb agreement. Eliminating answer choices that don’t address the agreement problem is quick and easy. After you’ve eliminated the choices that don’t fix the obvious error, move on to the other error or errors. Comparing rhetorical constructions in answer choices can take a while, so eliminating choices before this step saves you time.

After you’ve eliminated an answer choice, don’t reread it! Chapter 2 gives you tips on how to “erase” wrong answer choices. Follow the guidelines in Chapter 2 to avoid wasting time on answers you’ve already determined are wrong.

You know the example problem has an error, so you can eliminate Choice (A). Now eliminate any choices that don’t correct the incorrect pronoun reference. Choice (D) doesn’t; it still uses a plural pronoun (their) to refer to a singular subject. Eliminate Choice (D), and don’t look at it again. The other three choices, Choices (B), (C), and (E), seem to fix that particular pronoun error.

The underlined portion contains another problem with noun-pronoun agreement, though. Their in the original sentence is also plural but refers to the singular noun company. Although Choice (B) makes the first plural pronoun singular, it retains the second problem pronoun, so you can eliminate Choice (B). Only Choices (C) and (E) remain.

Eliminating choices that create new errors

The next step is to eliminate answers that create new errors.

A new error in an answer choice usually isn’t the same type of error as the original one. GMAT writers know you’ll look for pronoun errors if a pronoun error occurs in the original sentence, so the new error in an answer choice may be an improper expression or a verb-tense problem.

Check the remaining answer choices for new errors. Choice (E) doesn’t contain an agreement error, but it changes the underlined portion of the sentence to a passive construction. On sentence corrections, active voice is always better than passive voice. Choice (C) is the answer that corrects the pronoun problem without creating new errors.

You should end up with only one answer choice that corrects the existing errors without creating new ones. If you end up with two seemingly correct answer choices, read them both within the context of the original sentence. One will have an error that you’ve overlooked.

Rereading the sentence

Don’t skip this step! Check your answer by replacing the underlined portion with your answer choice and reading the new sentence in its entirety. Don’t just check to see whether the answer sounds good in the sentence; also check for errors that you may not have noticed as you worked through the question.

Missing errors is easy when you focus only on the underlined portion of the statement. After you integrate your answer choice with the rest of the sentence, errors you’ve missed may suddenly become obvious. Reading the statement with your answer choice inserted is the best way to check your answer.

When you reread the sentence with Choice (C), you get this: Because the company is disorganized, it will never reach its goal. The corrected sentence contains the proper noun-pronoun agreement.

Reviewing the process and guessing on sentence corrections

The approach outlined in this section works well as long as you have time to determine the error in the sentence or recognize that no error exists. If you’re running short on time or can’t tell whether the statement is correct as written, you may need to guess. Eliminate the choices you know are wrong because they contain their own errors. Then read each of the possible choices in the context of the entire statement. You may find errors that you didn’t notice before. If you still can’t narrow down your choices to one answer, pick one from the remaining answers and move on.

Sentence-Correction Practice Problems with Answer Explanations

After you master the approach to sentence-correction questions, they’ll seem a lot less daunting. To help you solidify your plan of attack, answer the following ten practice questions. Try to answer them in ten minutes or less. When you’re finished, check your answers with the explanations that follow.

Practice problems

1. Most state governors now have the power of line item veto, while the U.S. President does not.

(A) while the U.S. President does not

(B) a power which is not yet available to the U.S. President

(D) the U.S. President does not

(E) they do not share that with the U.S. President

2. Although all six state governments faced budget problems after the economic downturn of 2007, the problems were worse in California because much of its revenue came from a large number of high-tech industries.

(A) worse

(B) worst

(D) great

(E) worsening

3. The PTA held monthly meetings to discuss matters concerning the schoolchildren, determine what fundraisers to implement, and for coming up with ways to balance the budget.

(A) and for coming up with ways to balance the budget

(B) and to balance the budget in creative ways

(D) and to determine how to come up with ways the budget should be balanced

(E) and come up with ways to balance the budget

4. Many tourists seem to be avoiding the Tijuana/Rosarito Beach area because they are experiencing an upsurge in the occurrence of border violence.

(A) seem to be avoiding the Tijuana/Rosarito Beach area because they are experiencing an upsurge in the occurrence of border violence

(B) seem to avoid the Tijuana/Rosarito Beach area because they are experiencing an upsurge of violence on the border

(D) seem to be avoiding the Tijuana/Rosarito Beach area because it is experiencing an upsurge in the occurrence of border violence

(E) seem to be avoiding the Tijuana/Rosarito Beach area because it experiences an upsurge in the occurrence of border violence

5. Historians believe that roughly 600 deaths have occurred at the Grand Canyon since the 1870s; many resulted from drowning, plane crashes into canyon walls, and the actions of overzealous hikers.

(A) many resulted from drowning, plane crashes into canyon walls

(B) many of these resulting from drowning deaths, planes crashing into canyon walls

(D) many of these were drowning deaths, plane crash deaths

(E) with many as a result from drowning, planes crashing into canyon walls

6. After Great America Bank incited public outrage with its announcement of new debit-card fees, many customers withdrew their funds and joined credit unions instead, which seems as if to indicate that America’s mistrust of big banks is still widespread.

(A) as if to indicate that

(B) indicative of

(D) like it is indicative that

(E) to indicate that

7. Despite arguments made by parent watch-dog groups, neither violent behavior or disruptiveness have been directly linked to violent video games.

(A) neither violent behavior or disruptiveness have been directly linked to violent video games

(B) neither violent behavior nor disruptiveness has been directly linked to violent video games

(D) neither violent behavior nor disruptiveness have been directly linked to violent video games

(E) neither violent behavior nor disruptiveness were directly linked to violent video games

8. Russell & Carmody, LLC, and Rutledge, Inc., merged in 2012 to create Russell, Carmody and Rutledge, Inc., and they are now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area.

(A) and they are now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

(B) it is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

(D) which is now the most successful public relations firm in the metro area

(E) and it is now the most successful public relations firms in the metro area

9. A transaction-broker assists the buyer or seller or both throughout a real estate transaction by performing terms of any written or oral agreement, fully informing the parties, presenting all offers, and assisting the parties with any contracts, including the closing of the transaction, without being an agent or advocate for any of the parties.

(A) throughout a real estate transaction by performing

(B) throughout a real estate transaction by the performance of

(D) with a real estate transaction by accomplishing the performing

(E) during a real estate transaction through the performance of

10. Although its policy for honorary doctorates was not dissimilar to Cambridge or Oxford — they gave awards to the “distinguished” in particular fields, and the person had to be “widely recognized” — it is clear that the universities were drawn to the entertainment industries to produce visible personalities for their convocation ceremonies, and the idea of “widely recognized” trumped any other distinction.

(A) its policy for honorary doctorates was not dissimilar to

(B) their policies for awarding honorary doctorates were not dissimilar to those of

(D) its policy for honorary doctorates was very similar to

(E) its policies for awarding honorary doctorates was very similar to that of

Answer explanations

A. Always begin by trying to identify the error in the underlined portion of the statement. The underlined words don’t contain any pronouns and the subject and verb agree, so you don’t have any agreement errors. Parallel construction doesn’t seem to be an issue. The use of while to mean although may have alerted you. However, while the primary purpose of while is to indicate an event that happens at the same time as another, you may also use while to mean although. In fact, we just used it that way in the previous sentence!

This question doesn’t seem to have an error. But just to be sure, read each answer choice to make sure you haven’t missed something. Choice (B) is wrong because it uses which instead of that to introduce a restrictive clause, and the pronoun which in Choice (C) has no clear reference. You can’t use Choice (D) or Choice (E) because they’re independent clauses. Plugging in either of these choices creates a comma splice. None of the answer choices offer a better construction for the sentence.

Remember that about 20 percent of the time, the underlined part contains no error. Don’t assume that the sentences always contain errors.
B. This example has only one underlined word, which is nice because you know just what to focus on. If you simply go by what sounds right, you may think this example is fine the way it is. You probably hear English speakers use worse like this in everyday conversations. But the GMAT doesn’t test common spoken English; it tests standard written English.

You use worse to compare two entities and worst to compare three or more.

The sentence talks about a situation among several state governments. Worse would be appropriate for a comparison between two states. But this sentence compares budget problems in six states, so instead use the superlative form worst to single out poor California. That’s the answer you find in Choice (B).

You can double-check your answer by reading through the other choices. You’ve found an error, so Choice (A) can’t be right. Choices (C) and (D) aren’t superlatives, and Choice (E) uses the progressive form were worsening, which changes the meaning of the sentence.
E. The underlined words are part of a series, so adjust your error antennae to feel out a parallelism problem. Check the grammatical construction of each element. The underlined portion contains the gerund form coming, but the other two PTA purposes are expressed in the infinitive form. All three reasons should be in the same form. Both Choices (A) and (C) use the -ing form, so they can’t be right. Choice (D) is unnecessarily wordy, so now you know the correct answer must be either Choice (B) or Choice (E). Both choices properly use the infinitive form, but Choice (B) unnecessarily repeats to and it adds information to the original sentence.
D. The underlined portion is lengthy, so use your powers of concentration to home in on the potential errors. You see a couple verbs and the pronoun they. Check the pronoun first.

Whenever you see an underlined pronoun, check its reference to make sure it’s clear and that it agrees in number with the noun.

The pronoun they is plural, but the only plural noun in the sentence is tourists. It doesn’t make sense that tourists would be experiencing an upsurge in the occurrence of border violence. It’s more likely that they refers to the beach area, which is experiencing increased violence. Only one area is mentioned, so the pronoun should be singular, it. That narrows your choices considerably. The only two answers that change they to it are Choices (D) and (E). The difference between the two is that Choice (E) changes the verb tense to the simple present. The upsurge is ongoing, so the original progressive tense in Choice (D) is better.
A. The first thing you likely notice about the underlined part is that it contains a series of causes of Grand Canyon deaths. An underlined series means check for parallel structure. Each cause is presented as a noun, so there isn’t a blatant problem with parallelism. Some of the answer choices change plane crashes to planes crashing to match drowning, but they introduce new errors. Choices (B), (C), and (E) create sentence fragments, which don’t work with the semicolon. The semicolon has to be followed by an independent clause. Choice (D) unnecessarily repeats deaths. It doesn’t make sense to say the deaths result from drowning deaths. The best answer is to leave this one exactly as it is.
E. To say that something seems as if to is improper, so Choice (A) is out. You can eliminate Choices (B) and (C) as well, because their use of of doesn’t fit with the rest of the sentence. You use like to compare simple nouns, and Choice (D) improperly uses like to compare which to the clause it is indicative. The best answer has to be Choice (E). It gets rid of as if without creating another error.
B. The original sentence contains both a conjunction error and a subject-verb agreement error.

Whenever you see neither, you must also see nor. Neither Choice (A) nor Choice (C) pairs nor with neither. Eliminate them.

You’re left with Choices (B), (D), and (E). The verbs in these three choices are different. Choice (B) contains a singular verb, and the other two have plural verbs. The subject of the clause is neither, and neither is singular. Therefore, Choice (B) has to be correct because it contains the singular verb.
D. This sentence correction question involves a commonly tested pronoun reference problem. Although the sentence initially refers to two separate companies, it then states that they merged into one firm, so the correct pronoun to use when referring to only one company is it. Therefore, you can eliminate Choices (A) and (C). Choice (E) contains the proper pronoun, it, but refers to the new company in the plural, firms, so you can cross that one out as well. You’re left with Choices (B) and (D), but Choice (B) creates a comma splice because it’s an independent clause.
A. To maintain parallel structure in the sentence’s list, you need to begin the first element with an –ing word, so performing is a better choice than “the performance of.” You can eliminate Choices (B), (C), and (E). Choice (D) contains performing, but it also adds the redundant accomplishing. Performing the terms of an agreement is the same as accomplishing them. So, the best answer is Choice (A). The different options for the initial preposition in the answer choices are included to distract you from the real error. Each of them works in the context of the sentence.
B. The answer choices provide you with either the pronoun its or their. Search the sentence to find the noun the pronoun references. The policies belong to the plural universities, so you need the plural pronoun their. Eliminate Choices (A), (D), and (E).

When you examine the difference between the remaining answers, you see that Choice (B) includes awarding and inserts “those of” in the comparison between the policies of the universities in the second part of the sentence and Cambridge or Oxford in the first part. Because you can’t compare policies to Cambridge (as in Choice [C]) but must compare policies to policies, you need to add “those of” as provided by Choice (B). Choice (C) is also wrong because it’s idiomatically incorrect to say that something is “dissimilar from” another thing and because the singular verb was is improperly paired with the plural subject policies.