SAT english stuff

easy pronoun reference mistakes

- "everyone" implies both girls and boys right? - here's an ex. Everyone hopes that they can be released from quarantine. - the sentence above is wrong. shocker right. The word "they" doesn't represent boys and girls. It's just a plural pronoun for a subject and "everyone" is not plural. So, how do we fix it? - corrected ex. Everyone hopes that he or she can be released from quarantine.

"of whom"

- "of whom" has the power to make a complete sentence into an incomplete sentence. (crazy) - ex. All of them went outside on a run. (a complete sentence) - ex. All of whom went outside on a run. (incomplete sentence !) ** remember: "all of whom," and "those of whom" are modifiers so "went outside on a run" is incomplete which allowed "of whom" to be powerful :>

complex sentence

- DC, + IC or IC + DC - ex. Before Erica went home, she ate ice cream. OR Erica ate ice cream before she went home.

complex compound sentence

- DC, + IC, + CC + IC (just put a DC with a compound sentence!) - ex. Before Erica went home, she ate ice cream, but her sister slept.

common punctuation mistakes

- DONT use punctuation before prep phrases - DONT use punctuation after such as, like, or including - DONT use punctuation before "that" (bc "that" is exclusive by nature and exclusive means NO COMMA)

level 5 SVA example 1

- Dreams within a dream that (is/are) spliced and diced up inside another dream (confuses/confuse) me. - ask yourself "what is the word before that?" you can see that it says "a dream." Therefore the answer is "is" because "a dream" is singular - next, take out all prep phrases and modifiers. You should be left with "Dreams (confuses/confuse) me." Now, it's easy to identify that the answer should be "confuse" since "dreams" is plural

coordinating conjunctions (CC)

- FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) - used to join 2 independent clauses (IC) - a comma before CC = compound sentence ** if 2 ICs are being separated by "and" there's no need for a comma**

compound sentence

- IC, + CC + IC (simply put, a CC between 2 ICs) - ex. Erica is sleeping, and she is snoring.

transition question i got stumped on

- If companies are permitted to keep what they mine in space, it will "nevertheless" encourage companies to invest in the technology required to make mining possible. A: no change B: in turn C: for one thing D: furthermore - correct answer is B not D - this sentence is an "if...then..." sentence so it automatically makes it a comparison question. B "in turn" is a contrasting/comparison word while "furthermore" is an additional/explanation transition word so therefore D doesn't work

types of modifiers

- SC - interrogative pronoun (who, whom, whose, what which) + that (not interrogative pronoun but it's a relative pronoun) - infinitive verb modifier (to see, to watch...) - noun phrase modifier (has a noun/pronoun) - interrupter (identified by 2 commas at beginning and end) - gerund modifier (-ing) - past tense verb modifier - beginning modifier (at the beginning of the sentence) - + many more but focus on these

IES 2 question 7 writing

- Smaller eateries may thus be squeezed out of those urban areas with the greatest "amount" of prospective customers. A. no change, B. amounts, C. number, D. numbers - correct answer is D not C - "urban areas" is plural subject so the following answer has to be parallel. *attaching "a" in front of numbers translates to many* ex: a number of people: many people *however this question doesn't have "a" in front of "number" so therefore you have to use "numberS" in order to convey the plural form to match "areaS"

level 5 SVA example 2

- The lines for the elevator that normally (carries/carry) just 5 passengers (was/were) reinstated because the crowd of fat commuters (was/were) too heavy for it. - ask yourself "what is the word before that?" and you see that it says "elevator." Therefore since it's singular, answer should be "carries" - next take out all prep phrases and modifiers. You should be left with "The lines (was/were) reinstated because the crowd (was/were) too heavy for it." Now you can easily identify that the "lines" should be paired with "were" and that crown should be paired with "was"

apostrophes

- Used to show possession or to create a contraction - simple rules? 1. Erica's is not "Erica is" but it's showing possession of something that is Erica's. - child's and children's (childs' would be wrong and childrens' would be wrong because CHILD has a plural form so in order to show possession of multiple children, CHILDREN'S is the appropriate apostrophe placing to use **would've doesn't mean "would of" it's "would have"**

infinitive verbs

- a "to" followed by a verb - ex. to watch. to walk. to see ** these aren't prep phrases :( DONT GET IT CONFUSED)**

"while"

- a contrast word - look for parallelism in sentence

modifier and noun placement

- a good rule of thumb: modifiers have to be right next to the thing they're describing. - wrong ex. Erica ate kimbap at hmart that was spicy. - correct ex. Erica ate kimbap that was spicy at hmart. - reasoning: "that was spicy" is the modifier. Look how in sentence 1 "that was spicy" is describing hmart. Funny right. In order to make sure that the phrase "that was spicy" is describing the kimbap, the modifer and noun should be placed next to each other.

prepositional phrases

- a phrase so it's not complete - prep + noun phrase - ex. Erica was under the bed. ("under the bed" is the prepositional phrase)

subordinating conjunctions (SC)

- after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, once, since, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, while, etc - SCs are used to start a dependent clause (DC)

dependent clause (DC)

- an incomplete sentence - DC = SC + IC - in order to make a complete sentence with a DC, an IC must be placed before or after the DC. - a complete sentence with DC, + IC or IC + DC makes a complex sentence

noun phrase (NP)

- article + noun - ex. the house (the is the article, house is the noun) - now.. make that a prep phrase --> at the house! 진짜 쉽죠잉 :>>

blurb of reading

- avoid extreme answers : often, always, never - don't jump to conclusions ex: if there are no clouds outside, you can't say that it's sunny right away because it could be a cloudless night sky types of wrong answers - copycat - opposite : doesn't have to be clear cut inverse - extreme answers - true but wrong (half correct) - true to a point - true to YOU: inference/prior knowledge - just plain out irrelevant

between/among

- between: used when naming different/distinct groups (2 or more) ex: The argument between Erica, Hannah, and her mom didn't last long because Erica and Hannah baked their mom a cake. - among: used for naming WITHIN the same group ex: The argument among the family of Erica didn't last long because the two daughters baked a cake as an apology.

gerund modifier rule

- commas affect the meaning of the sentence. especially for gerund modifiers that follow after IC - ex. Erica ate the chicken running around (this means Erica ate a chicken that is running around. the phrase "running around" modifies the chicken - ex. Erica ate the chicken, running around. (this means Erica ate the chicken while running around. "running around" is describing Erica) - if there is a comma before an -ing word and it's placed at the end of the sentence, the gerund modifier is describing the first subject

comparatives vs superlatives

- comparative: -er ending for comparing 2 things + more "blank" - superlatives: -est ending for comparing 3 or more things + most "blank" comparative ex: Erica is shorter than her younger sister superlative ex: Erica is the shortest out of all Prime Academy students

independent clause (IC)

- complete sentence !! - ex. Erica was hungry. Erica is sleeping. Erica is eating.

relative clauses/modifiers

- describes someone/something in sentence - always starts with relative pronoun: who, whom, whose, which, that, etc - the 5 Ws (who whom whose what which) are called interrogative pronouns - ex. Erica slept in class - Erica, who was tired, slept in class. (WHO was tired is a relative clause describing Erica) - After pulling an all-nighter, Erica, who was tired, slept in class that was boring. ("after pulling an all-nighter" is a modifier bc SC + not an IC. Who was tired is relative clause bc of WHO. That was boring is also a relative clause bc of THAT) **pro tip: try removing all relative clauses/modifiers. the remaining sentence should be the basic IC of the big sentence.**

modifiers

- describes/modifies something/someone in a sentence - a phrase (incomplete sentence) that has an SC but not an IC that follows (there are more types listed in a separate card) - ex. After going to the bathroom ("after" is SC but "going to the bathroom" is not an IC. Therefore it's classified as a modifier)

prepositions (prep)

- direction/position words - main words: at, of, on, to, for, from, in, into, with, above, under, behind, between, etc

comma usage for nonrestrictive/restrictive or nonessential/essential elements

- ex. celebrities that are famous are hard to meet - ex. celebrities, who are famous, are hard to meet - what's the difference? The first sentence has no commas around "that are famous" so this implies that ALL celebrities are famous and that ALL celebrities are hard to meet. This makes the sentence essential. - The second sentence implies that there are 2 categories. Famous celebrity/non-famous celebrity. This means that ONLY celebrities that are FAMOUS are hard to meet. If the celebrity is not famous, they aren't hard to meet. This makes the phrase nonessential because "who are famous" isn't necessarily needed. - conclusion: essential? no comma. nonessential? comma. * rule of thumb: any modifier with "that" is automatically essential*

fewer/less

- fewer: countable - less: not countable

the DASH

- has 2 purposes 1. emphasize interrupting phrase (acts as 2 commas so you HAVE to use 2 dashes). also, these are nonessential so it makes sense that dashes can act as commas 2. as a colon! this is only ONE dash - ex. for #1 Erica-the crazy and short asian girl-wants to become an ophthalmologist. ("the crazy and short asian girl" is an interrupter) - ex. for #2 Erica wants to go to top universities-Duke, Emory, Rice, UVA, Vanderbilt, and Umichigan. (now, the probability of me getting into these schools are low! however, let's ignore that fact for grammar purposes >:( the dash in the 2nd ex. is acting as a colon because a list follows the dash) * THIS BEING SAID. DASHES ARE ONLY USED WITH DASHES. COMMAS ARE ONLY USED WITH COMMAS. DON'T USE BOTH* - wrong ex. Erica-the crazy and short asian girl, wants to become an ophthalmologist.

SVA - inverted sentence

- instead of S+v, inverted is V+S - sentence starts with a prep phrase followed by verb, then subject right after - ex. Over the hills, watching a kdrama, was Erica. (remember all prep phrases are ignored when identifying S in a SVA sentence. therefore "Erica" is te subject and the word "lies" should be singular)

phrase

- part of a sentence that's not complete or a group of words that isn't a sentence - types of phrases: prepositional phrase, dependent clause, modifier, noun phrase, etc

tenses

- past tense (a point on a timeline) - present tense (point on a timeline) - future tense (point on a timeline) - present perfect tense (duration on a timeline) - past perfect tense (duration on a timeline) - this can get a little confusing, especially present and past perfect tenses - present perfect tenses uses the word "has/have" depending on if the subject is plural or singular - past perfect tenses use "had" for both singular and plural. - present perfect tenses show a duration from past all the way to present while past perfect tense shows duration in the past and stays in the past. - ex. Erica has a crush on Bob (this implies that Erica has a crush on Bob all the way from the past to present) - ex. Erica had a crush on Bob (this implies that Erica used to have a crush on Bob, but stopped liking him sometime in the past) - let's compare to a past sentence. "Erica crushed on Bob" (there's no duration to this. it just shows a point in the past where she crushed on Bob) **all tenses in the sentence should match**

interrupters

- phrases that interrupts a sentence with 2 commas at the beginning and end - ex. Erica, along with her sister, ate pasta. ("along with her sister" is an interrupter. it can be removed to reveal the essence of the sentence "Erica ate pasta.")

idioms

- phrases that you just have to memorize sorry :< - on SAT idiom errors come in the form of an incorrect preposition - wrong ex. I prefer sleep over working out. - correct ex. I prefer sleep TO working out. - wrong ex. Erica placed herself on a very awkward situation by accidentally farting in class. - correct ex. Erica places herself IN a very awkward situation by accidentally farting in class - best bet is to rely on instincts and practice !!

pronoun reference

- pronouns are words that refer back to a noun to reduce redundancy - pronoun reference: matching noun with the correct pronoun (this requires you to determine the characteristics of the noun such as subject, object, singular or plural, etc) - ambiguous pronouns: a pronoun where you don't know what its referencing. - ex of ambiguous pronoun: Erica and Sammie were playing basketball and she said a curse word. (who is "she" referencing? This is why it's called an ambiguous pronoun. Either Erica or Sammie could've said a curse word. Therefore, you need to put either Erica or Sammie in place of "she" to clarify the meaning of the sentence.

misconceptions with gerunds

- running is not a verb - anything ending with -ing itself isn't a verb - however it is a gerund (nouns that talk about the act of something) therefore running is talking about the act of running - it's also an adjective: "the hopping rabbit..." - in order for a word ending in -ing to be a verb, it needs a HELPING VERB helping verbs: is was, are, were, have been, etc

vocab words i got stumped on POWPOW

- scrutinize: inspect - ingenious: innovative - undertaking: promise - myriads: quantities - beguiling: charming - clematis: a climbing plant lol - reverie: daydream - emblazoned: displayed, decorated - cataclysmic: disastrous - marshals: arrange/gather - attenuated: reduced in force - detriment: damage - transgress: violating a law - shirking: sneak - flouting: go against - taboo: implicit prohibition - kindred: family - fallibility: tendency to make mistakes - commodity: item/material - atrocities: weak act - mitigated: lessened/alleviated - manifest destiny: the reason for why people expanded (justification) - deplorable: disgusting - muck: crap - larceny: stealing - bestowed: given - political correctness: socially acceptable - repercussions: consequences - reparations: reinstitution - status quo: current situation - heinousness: terrifying/inhumane - rampant: uncontrollably widespread

parallelism

- the structure of a sentence has to be the same 1. meaning that all tenses should be the same and that format should be the same 2. format: when listing and describing with -ing words, all things in the list should end with -ing. Also, if you used a noun to list things, all of them should be nouns. 3. just make sure everything is "equal" - wrong ex. Erica loves to watch kdrama, eat jjajangmyun, and drinking milkis. - correct ex. Erica loves to watch kdrama, eat jjajangmyun, and drink milkis. (do you see how I changed "drinking" to "drink" in order to match all the other verbs?) - if you see the word "and" always think parallelism

commas with transition words/interrupters

- transition words and interrupters are NONESSENTIAL, therefore, commas need to be used

redundancy

- unnecessary repetition in a sentence 1. words will repeat themselves (same meaning, different words) 2. useless phrases that can be omitted to condense the sentence - remember: shorter is better

hypothetical situations

- use "were" instead of "was" even though the subject is singular - ex. If Erica were taller, she wouldn't be used as an armrest. - wrong ex. If Erica WAS taller, she wouldn't be used as an armrest

commas

- use after introductory clause, phrase, or modifier - we use commas the most out of all punctuation marks - Even though Erica's allergic to peaches, she eats them because they're too good.

colon

- used after IC to introduce a list, noun phrase, DC, and another IC **beware, colons can only be used AFTER an IC.** - wrong ex. Erica is: short, bubbly, and korean. - correct ex. Erica has many characteristics: she's short, bubbly, and korean. **ANOTHER SIMPLE RULE: YOU CAN'T USE BOTH A DASH AND A COLON JUST LIKE DASHES AND COMMAS CAN'T BE USED TOGETHER - wrong ex. Erica is dumb-she still is: but she's a hardworker. - correct ex. Erica is dumb-she still is- but shes a hardworker.

have

- used for present perfect tense - first person view (singular): "I" ex: I have many animes to watch over summer break but I'm too busy studying. - second POV (singular): "you" ex: You have been eating way too much these days. - third POV (PLURAL): "they" or any plural noun ex: They have been staying up all night because tomorrow is saturday. ex: The doctors have been on call all night that they couldn't use the bathroom in fear that they might get paged while going #2.

Has

- used for present perfect tense - third POV (SINGULAR): "she, he, it" or any singular noun ex: She has been moping around all day because she's bored. ex: Erica has no sense of shame and started to dance the choreography to "Beach Again" by SSAK3 in the parking lot behind the bike store. (this actually happened !!)

semicolon

- used to separate/join 2 IC ONLY - don't fall for any other use of the semicolon. - ex. Erica loves to listen to music by Korean artists; she listens to Lee Hi, AKMU, and DPR Live.

comparison phrases

- using "that of" or "those of" (that of is singular, those of is plural) - these phrases are only used when making a comparison. - ex. I like the jjambbong at Jangwon more than the jjambbong at Il Poom Hyang --> I like the jjambbong at Jangwon more than that of Il Poon Hyang. (i replaced "the jjambbong at" with "that of") - ex. I like the phones made by Apple better than the phones made by Google. --> I like the phones made by apple more than those of Google. (im pretty sure you see the replacement.)

run-ons

- when 2 or more complete sentences are being smashed together - ex. of run ons 1. complete sentence, complete sentence (Erica was bored, she watched tv.) 2. complete sentence complete sentence (Erica was bored she watched tv.) - ways to fix run-ons 1. use periods 2. use CC (FANBOYS) 3. semicolon (this requires 2 complete sentences on either side AND DO NOT USE A CC AND A SEMICOLON IN ONE SENTENCE) 4. change the wording (DC, + IC) 5. colon ( IC : IC/phrase/list)

SVA rules pt.2

- when identifying subject to determine the right verb, ignore all prep phrases, modifiers, interrupters. - anything italicized (titles of things) is SINGULAR (itaewon class - pretend it's italicized) - subjects joined by "and" is PLURAL (Erica AND Will) - prefix with: every, any, no is SINGULAR - suffix with: body, thing, one is SINGULAR - each, neither, either all SINGULAR

SVA - either/or, neither/nor rule

- when identifying the subject of either/or or neither/nor sentences, the subject is always the 2nd noun - ex. either Erica or her friends sleep. (her friends is plural, therefore sleep instead of sleeps) - ex. neither the dogs nor Erica sleeps. (Erica is singular therefore sleeps instead of sleep)

subject verb agreement (SVA) pt.1

- where the S and V have to "agree" depending on if they're singular or plural. - singular S --> verb ends -s - plural S --> verb doesn't end with -s - memorize it easily by thinking "singular has 's' so verb must have -s!

use of "that" or "who"

- wrong ex: A short Korean girl that likes to watch anime is currently out on a date. - correct ex: A short Korean girl who likes to watch anime is currently out on a date. *"who" always refers to people while "that" always refers to objects*

transitions

1. support/addition: moreover, furthermore, additionally - gives horizontal support 2. contrast - however, in contrast, nevertheless (opposite outcome of the 1st or comparing things that are different) 3. cause/effect - therefore, as a result, consequently 4. explanation - for example, indeed, in other words - vertical support (dives deeper into a topic unlike the support/addition transition words) *transition words can't go in between 2 ICs but can be placed at beginning, middle, or end in one complete sentence*

basic sentence

S+V ex. Erica sleeps. Erica ate. Erica poops.

verb (V)

action word

"that"

branches into 2! 1. modifier (IC + that + not IC) - ex. Erica kissed a boy that's tall. ("that's tall" is not a complete sentence therefore modifier) 2. secondary clause (IC + that + IC) - ex. Erica yelled that she will cry. ("Erica yelled" and "she will cry" are both complete sentences. Therefore secondary clause)

subject (S)

noun that is doing the verb

SAT grammar section rule

the word "being" will 99% never be your answer unless it's used as "human being" or something like that

"of which" "by which"

these phrases make a sentence a modifier

transition words

transition words always only go in between 1 IC not 2 complete sentences

"that" rule

you cant put a comma before "that" (relates to essential/nonessential and any modifier with "that" is essential)

interrogative pronoun rule

you need a comma before these (which who, whom, whose etc)

idiom rule

you place yourself IN