Online Class: Verbal for GMAT / CATFocus on Grammar (Lecture 1) : Online Class: Verbal for GMAT / CATFocus on Grammar (Lecture 1) By: Satyadhar Joshi
shivgan3@yahoo.com
Contents of Plan : Contents of Plan Introduction to Grammar for GMAT
Articles
Prepositions
Common mistakes
Conjunctions
Verb
Introduction : Introduction Areas of class includes: Articles, Preposition, Common mistakes and important rules.
Also I will be talking about the toughest fill in the Blanks of Big-book and how to solve FIB.
Another area would be sentence correction which I will be talking about.
Book Reviews: GMAT Verbal Princeton, Manhatten, and Winners guide
Articles : Articles a/an (used before the singular noun which is countable (i.e. of which there is more than one) Ex. I live in a flat, they live in a flat, he bought a flat. Also used with complement ex. He will be a good actor. Also used when ratios are used like Rs 5 a kilo. And in exclamations
Omission a/an (i) before plural if a noun ex. Plural of a dog is dogs (ii) before uncountable nouns
Be careful in replacing one with a
One is used with the combination of another/other
A little(uncountable)/ a few (countable) & little/few
The (the definite articles): It is mostly used when the objective is unique. Also used before names
The is also called the definite article
From Wiki : From Wiki In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing the prepositional phrase "on the sofa". In English, the most used prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", "with" and "on". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition
Examples of prepositions : Examples of prepositions http://www.towson.edu/ows/prepositions.htm
Preposition : Preposition Positions of the words is important
Omission of to and for before indirect objects: Ex. I gave the book to Priya = I gave Priya the book (we omitted to); I will find a job for Priya vs I will find Priya a job (we can omit for).
Positiong : the people with whom I was traveling (better) vs. the people I was traveling with
Use and omission of to with verbs of communications. Ex. Verbs of commands needs to whereas verbs of complain don’t necessarily require to Ex. They advised him to wait vs. Ajay (to her ) complained about the food.
Time and date: at, on, be, before, in
At a time: at midnight; at an age. On the morning/afternoon/evening/night
On time (at the time arranged), in time (not late), in good time (with comfortable margin)
At the beginning (of) /end (of), in the beginning/end, at first / at last : Ex. At the beginning of the book there is often a table of contents
Time: from, since, for, during. From is normally used with to or till/until.
Time: to, till/until, after, afterwards. After must be followed by a noun or pronoun
Travel and movement: from, to, at, in, by, on. Onto, off, out, out of. Ex We traveled from our starting home to our destination. Book: Chandresh Agrawal, CAT Priyanka Prakshan
More prepositions : More prepositions At, in; in, into ; on, onto
Above, over
Preposition used with adjectives and participles
Verbs and preposition
Adverbs and preposition
Common Mistakes : Common Mistakes Apostrophe: Omitted when the word becomes a proper noun. Ex. Technical teachers convention. Avoid adding apostrophe to any kind of noun. Ex. Society’s well being vs. well being of society
Countable and uncountable
A collective noun
Conjunction
Verb
Apostrophe: The Most Common Mistakes : Apostrophe: The Most Common Mistakes Mixing up it's and its
Wrong: The dog wagged it's tail.
Right: The dog wagged its tail.
Wrong: Each program has it's own quirks.
Right: Each program has its own quirks.
Pluralizing words with apostrophes
Wrong: Piano's for Sale!
Right: Pianos for Sale!
Wrong: I design web site's.
Right: I design web sites.
Using improper contractions
Wrong: Your going to be in trouble.
Right: You're going to be in trouble.
Wrong: He let's his son run wild.
Right: He lets his son run wild. http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/ffjh/thompson/apostro/npractic.htm
Countable vs. Uncountable nouns : Countable vs. Uncountable nouns http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/noununcount.htm http://www.learn-english-online.org/Lesson37/Lesson37.htm
Possessives : Possessives Add an apostrophe and an s to singular nouns to indication possession. According to several current grammar texts, add the apostrophe after the letter s to indicate a plural possessive, unless the dual s sounds are pronounced. It is also standard to use the “apostrophe s” with Biblical names, probably out of tradition more than for reasons of phonology or grammar.
He located the cat’s toy under the chair.
The cats’ toys were tattered after years of play.
The Smiths’ two cats chased the Wilsons’ dog.
Plural possessives can be challenging:
The Williamses’s dogs chase cats. (Strunk & White style)The Williamses’ dogs chase cats. (AP Stylebook and MLA version)
The first version of the last example looks odd to many readers. Strunk and White suggest the apostrophe plus s, AP Style omits the last s. We tend to pronounce the -ez sound instinctively when it helps clarify the quantity of the noun. The last s desired by Strunk and White is seldom vocalized. The second version, without the s, is more common and closer to the spoken version of the sentence. http://www.tameri.com/edit/gramerrors.html
Conjunctions : Conjunctions A conjunction is a word which merely joins together sentences, and sometimes words.
Until: As long as
Until expresses time before, as long as expresses period of time
Tense: Basic and advanced : Tense: Basic and advanced Present past and future
Past prefect, present perfect and future perfect
Use present to express habit or routine
In adverb clause of time and condition, the present tense is used for future. Ex. If you will be going to Madras, you will meet him vs. If you go to madras, you will meet him
In the same sentence, care must be taken that there is no shifting of tense
Historical Present: Asoka is one of the greatest of king
The Had tense: When two events of the past are related through time, the earlier of the two events is indicated by had-tense. Ex. When I went to his house, he went to his office vs. When I went to his house, he had gone to his office(correct) Page 48-50, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
Pronoun : Pronoun Each pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces
Each pronoun must refer directly and unambiguously to the noun it replaces
It, its, they their
Examples of Pronoun Errors : Examples of Pronoun Errors Subject verb agreement
Modifiers : Modifiers Adjective
Preposition
Appositives
Misplaced modifier is the major questions we are going to get
Application in sentence correction : Application in sentence correction 1/3 questions in GMAT based on grammar
Subject Verb Agreement : Subject Verb Agreement
Parallelism : Parallelism Question type: sentences which aren’t parallel
Individual parts must be parallel
We cannot compares apples with oranges Page 77; Boook:Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual Page 30-32, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
Five points for Sentence Correction : Five points for Sentence Correction Don’t rewrite sentence in mind and look for match, but use power of elimination
Learn Grammar to catch grammatical errors
Get rid of choices with same error ( keep looking and fine-tuning and improving your scope)
USE POE (process of elimination)
If you are down to two choices , find flaw in wrong one Page 17-19, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton
References & more readings : References & more readings Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual
Verbal workout for GMAT Princeton
Winners guide to GMAT Grammar
Chandresh Agrawal, CAT Priyanka Prakshan
English Grammer by Wren & Martin
Websites : Websites http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_76.htm