el 101

• Although the student body continue to get smaller, the superintendent insists that the high school is thriving
• No error


  The sentence has no errors
• Basically, what the SAT folks expect you to do with these questions is to identify the error in the sentence
• This is an unusual challenge since most of your school life you have taken multiple-choice tests that expect you to choose the correct piece of information for your answer
• Now you must choose the incorrect information as your answer
• If you've not had to answer this type of question before, this might take you some time to get use to the format
• With practice, however, you will learn to spot the error quickly
• You are offered a sentence with four underlined words or phrases. This sentence is followed by the words, No error, also underlined
• Each of these underlined parts is lettered, A–E, corresponding to the A–E ovals on your answer grid sheet
• You are to decide what (if anything) is wrong with this sentence and fill in the "bubble" in your answer booklet accordingly
• Suggestions to identify the error

  • Listen to the sound of the sentence as you read it
  • Repeat the underlined sections, still listening for something wrong
  • If the answer is not obvious to you, use the process of elimination to choose your response
• Don't always expect an error (the correct answer) to be present in each of these questions
• It is very likely that No error (Choice E) is the correct response
• The chances for Choice E being the answer are about 20 percent
• No one choice will more likely be the correct response than any of the other choices
• Subject-verb agreement


  The number of the subject (singular or plural) and the number of the verb (singular or plural) must agree
• The best way to check this out is to look at the following example and then take it one step at a time
• Singular subject


  Takes a singular verb
• Singular subject


  • A penny saved will hardly buy you very much
  • Assault and battery is a crime best avoided
  • The Sound and the Fury is a book by William Faulkner
• Plural subject


  Takes a plural verb
• Plural subject


  • Cobras are not the best choice of pet for small children
  • Sleepy and Grumpy were unable to keep up with Snow White on her new jogging regimen
• Collective nouns


  May be singular or plural, whether they are intended to be taken as a whole group (singular) or as separate individuals (plural)
• Collective nouns


  • The jury has made its decision
  • The committee have been unable to agree to any sort of consensus or compromise among themselves, so the item was tabled
• Indefinite pronouns


  Are singular, and despite the many times you will hear them wrongly used, each takes a singular verb
• Indefinite pronouns


  • Everyone must put on his own shoulder pads before going to football practice
  • It's hard to believe that nobody is responsible for this broken window and the baseball lying amid broken glass on the living room floor
• A very few indefinite pronouns can be either singular or plural
• The subject and verb are separated by an interruptive phrase or clause
• Subject and verb separated

  • The box of apples is on the table
  • Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the pizza
• Practice Questions
• Answers and Explanations
• Every verb has four principal forms: the present, present participle, past, and past participle
• Present


  Used when talking about something in the present or future
• Present participle


  Used to form progressive tenses
• Past


  Used when talking about what has happened in the simple past
• Past participle


  Used to form the perfect tenses
• Most verbs are regular, but some are irregular
• Verbs have different forms, including regular and irregular verbs
• You need to become familiar with irregular verbs
• Recognizing Sentence Errors
• When you are training a new puppy, one of the first commands that you want her to learn

  Is to lay down when you give the command, "down!"