Sentence Correction

Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans, which are realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner.•(A) Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans, which are realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner. •(B) Scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans being realistically depicted in the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner. •(C) The paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner realistically depict scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans. •(D) Henry Ossawa Tanner, in his realistic paintings, depicting scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans. •(E) Henry Ossawa Tanner, whose paintings realistically depict scenes from the everyday lives of African Americans.

Identifying Sentence Error

The students a have discovered that b they can address issues more effectively c through letter-writing campaigns d and not through public demonstrations. e No error

IMPACTSS• Illogical Meaning• Modifiers• Pronouns• Agreement• Comparison• Tense• Sentence Construction• Style

Illogical Meaning• Incorrect: Bill thought that the siren on his car radio was a policeman

approaching behind him

• Correct: Bill thought that the siren on his car radio was that of a policeman approaching behind him

Modifiers• Modifiers can be an adjective, adverb, or modifying phrase• Modifying phrases and clauses must be properly placed for what they

are intended to modify.

• Incorrect: The house belongs to John Smith on the corner

• Correct: The house on the corner belongs to John Smith.

Modifiers• Modifying phrases often appear at the beginning of a sentence.• Intro Modifier Rule: When a sentence starts with a modifying phrase,

determine what noun or pronoun the phrase describes. That noun or pronoun should be the first noun or pronoun that appears after the modifying phrase.

• Incorrect: Upset and tired, the babies’ naptime is now.• Incorrect: Upset and tired, now is the babies’ naptime.• Correct: Upset and tired, the baby is in need of a nap.

Modifiers• The relative pronouns Which, Who, and That must describe the noun

immediately before it and comes after a comma.

• Examples:• Correct: The board nominated Joan, who was a school favorite.• Correct: The class bombed the test, which other students felt was

relatively easy.• Incorrect: The car runs great on gas, which was recently purchased.

Pronouns• Pronouns must have a clear antecedent• Incorrect: Green and Holmes played, and he scored a touchdown

• Correct: Green and Holmes played, and Holmes scored a touchdown

• * Use who and whom to refer to people; use that or which to refer to any other nouns.

• * Shifting from “one” to “you” is incorrect

Subject-Verb Agreement• A verb must agree with it subject noun in person and number.• The noun closest to a verb is often not its subject• Only the conjunction and forms a compound subject that requires a

plural verb (ex: Football and basketball are my favorites.

• Incorrect: The number of applicants to the top schools are increasing every year.

• Correct: The number of applicants to the top schools is increasing every year.

Comparisons• On the SAT, a sentence that compares different kinds of things is

considered an error. Compare similar things.• Compare logical things (Tom enjoys running more than swimming/The

Ford runs just as good as the Chevy)• Use parallel structure (Resting is as important as training/To know me

is to love me)• Structure sentences correctly (I am not as strong in Math as I am in

Reading)

Comparisons• Incorrect: Group A’s findings are more significant than Group B

• Correct: Group A’s findings are more significant that those of Group B

• Or

• Group A’s findings are more significant than Group B’s

Tense

Sentence Structure• Punctuation and Linking Clauses

Correct Forms:A. Independent clause. Independent clauseB. Independent clause, (fanboys) Independent clauseC. Independent clause; Independent clauseD. Independent clause, dependent clause

• Incorrect: Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but John was having a particularly hard time with it

• Correct: Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone, but John was having a particularly hard time with it

FANBOYS• For• And• Nor• But• Or• Yet • So

Writing Style

• Wordiness• Parallelism• Transitions• Modifiers• Pronouns• Comparisons

Wordiness

• A sentence that uses more words than necessary is stylistically incorrect. The SAT prefers concise sentences

Ex. The protagonist’s decision would prove deadly and fatal

Parallelism• Items in a series, list, or compound must be parallel in form

• A list: I Like to A, B, and C I like to A, to B, and to C.• A compound: I like A and B not I like A and to B• An idiomatic phrase• A comparison• Related nouns

Idioms• Common idioms:

• As……as• Not only…..but also• Neither…..nor• Either…..or