Sat Delhi

Grammar

  1. Subject-Verb Agreement: Singular subjects take singular verbs; plural subjects take plural verbs.
  2. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Clear Reference: A pronoun must clearly replace a specific noun and agree in number with that noun. Strategy: Circle all pronouns and account for them.
  3. Parallel structure: Similar ideas should be expressed in similar grammatical structures, as in, “I like to run, to jump, and to swim.” Or “I like running, jumping, and swimming.”

    • Strategy: grammatical structures immediately following correlative conjunction pairs (either…or, neither…nor, both…and, not only…but also, just as…so too) must be the same: Ex 1: “We looked not only here but also there.” Ex 2: “We not only looked here but also looked there.”
  4. Faulty Comparisons: You cannot compare two unlike things, as in, “Hemingway’s books have always been more popular than Steinbeck.”
  5. Misplaced modifiers, esp. Dangling Participial Phrases: Place modifying phrases as close as possible to the words they modify.
  6. Comma Splices: Do NOT splice together two independent clauses (stand-alone sentences) with a comma.
  7. Verb conjugations and idiomatic expressions: Memorize phrases and verbs peculiar to the English language, like “enamored of” and “interested in.”
  8. Redundancy: Don’t say the same thing twice in the same sentence.
  9. Commas & Semicolons: Use commas to indicate pauses as if you were speaking the sentence (that’s an “unofficial” rule, but it works 99% of the time ☺).

    • Three ACT Rules for Semicolons
    • a. Typically, you need independent clauses (stand-alone sentences) on both sides of a semicolon:

      • ☹ I like the Red Sox; my brother preferring the Yankees. (Fragment on right side of semicolon)
      • ☺ I like the Red Sox; my brother prefers the Yankees. (Independent clause on both sides)
    • b. Use semicolons to separate items in a series that contain commas themselves:

      • ☺ To the picnic, please bring bread, rolls, and croissants; apples, oranges, and pears; and whatever assorted desserts you choose.
    • c. Mid-sentence punctuation of however:

      • When however shows contrast between two independent clauses, use “; however,”
      • ☺ I like the Red Sox; however, my brother likes the Yankees.
      • When however interrupts a single independent clause, use “, however,”
      • ☺ I like the Red Sox. My brother, however, likes the Yankees.
  10. Paragraph Structure: Paragraphs should open with a (general) topic sentence and be followed by details and substantiation of the topic sentence.
 
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