Verbal - Mission 1: Introduction To Sentence Correction

1.15: Be careful of falling into answer choice (E)

Although answer choice (E) will be correct just as frequently as the other four answer choices, you should not choose answer choice (E) as correct simply because you do not see why any of the other answer options are correct.

1.13: Do not seek to determine what's correct or incorrect using your "ear"

Approaching Sentence Correction questions by using their "ears" may help some people get some easy- and medium-level questions correct some of the time, but it certainly will not help most people get most of the questions - especially the harder questions - correct most of the time. Many of us, even those of us who are good writers, commit a litany of errors of logic, grammar, and style when we write. Therefore, if we use "what we do often" as a proxy in seeking correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, we're bound to get questions incorrect with high frequency. Our "ears" cannot help us find errors in logic in Sentence Correction questions. We must resist the urge to use our "ear" when solving Sentence Correction questions. We must instead actively engage our critical thinking skills to correctly answer Sentence Correction questions.

1.3: GMAT Sentence Correction questions primarily test skill in noticing issues

Grammar knowledge may serve as a good foundation for correctly answering Sentence Correction questions, but grammar knowledge is neither sufficient to get us to the correct answer to many Sentence Correction questions nor what Sentence Correction really tests. GMAT Sentence Correction constantly tests our skill in noticing things by presenting us with sentences that may seem to be well constructed but are grammatically flawed or convey illogical or nonsensical meanings. Training to master GMAT Sentence Correction must involve not only reviewing sentence construction basics and grammar but also learning to notice issues in the construction of sentences and in the meanings conveyed by sentences.

1.2: The basic layout of Sentence Correction questions

In Sentence Correction questions, the first answer choice offers phrasing that is a repeat of the underlined portion of the original sentence. Each of the other four choices presents an alternative way of wording the underlined portion of the sentence. Our task in answering a Sentence Correction question is to select the answer choice that offers wording that produces the best version of the sentence. Generally, the best version of the sentence will have the following characteristics: - It will be grammatically correct and properly structured. - It will effectively convey a meaning that makes sense.

1.9.2: What to do if stuck between two final answer choices

In answering Sentence Correction questions, if we're debating between two answers, seek to pinpoint the essential ways in which the sentences differ. There must be at least one key point of difference between them that will render one more effective (correct) than the other.

1.9.1: We must be confident in our elimination of wrong answers

In answering Sentence Correction questions, we must eliminate choices because we see why they are incorrect, not because we can't see why they are correct. As you move through the Target Test Prep Course, you must be able to articulate why each of the four incorrect answer choices is incorrect. Don't move on from incorrect choices until you fully understand why each is incorrect.

1.8: Looking for strong decision points when choosing among Sentence Correction answer choices

In most incorrect answer choices in Sentence Correction questions, there are multiple flaws. So, if we are not certain that one possible flaw is actually a flaw, we can generally find a flaw that we are more sure about.

1.12: Don't eliminate an answer choice because it sounds "awkward"

Often, when a person does not see what's wrong with an option in a Sentence Correction question, he labels the version as "awkward." In Sentence Correction questions, incorrect sentences are only very rarely incorrect because they are "awkward." In general, sentence versions are incorrect for clear, definable reasons; they are incorrect because of errors in grammar, structure, or meaning. Claiming that a sentence is incorrect because it is awkward generally indicates that we have failed to see why it is incorrect.

1.16: Timing and Sentence Correction Questions

On test day, each Sentence Correction question will take you about 1.5 to 1.75 minutes each to complete. Keep in mind that this time is an average; some will be solved faster, and some will require more time. As you are working through the learning phase of the TTP Sentence Correction Course, you should work through the chapter examples and the chapter test questions untimed.

1.9: Seek out four clearly incorrect answers, and then choose the one remaining

Sometimes, even often, we won't be used to recognizing the ways in which sentences that appear in Sentence Correction questions can be correctly written because the sentence structures are different from what we're used to. When solving Sentence Correction questions, instead of seeking the correct version directly, use process of elimination to remove the four versions that are the most clearly flawed. If we can confidently remove four answers, the one remaining must be correct. When we are answering Sentence Correction questions, just one flaw in a sentence version is all it takes for us to have grounds to confidently eliminate that version. Eliminate wrong answers as quickly as possible by finding the easiest to find errors in each incorrect sentence.

1.11: Don't eliminate an answer choice because "It changes the meaning"

There is no such thing as the "intended meaning" in Sentence Correction questions; there is nothing special about the meaning expressed by the version created via the use of choice (A). We won't know the exact meaning intended by the author until we find the correct answer, which might be (A) or might be any of the other four answers. Any answer choice can be correct as long as its sentence is free from grammar errors and makes logical sense. In Sentence Correction questions, it is perfectly OK for the correct answer to change the meaning from the meaning conveyed by the original sentence. Our job is to choose the most effective sentence, even if the meaning of that most effective sentence deviates from the meaning of the original sentence.

1.4: When answering Sentence Correction questions, read the sentence versions holistically

To consistently succeed in identifying issues in the sentence versions in Sentence Correction questions, we have to read the sentences in their entirety, or holistically. If we consider the sentences only one part at a time, we can easily fool ourselves into thinking an incorrect version is correct.

1.7: Splits in Sentence Correction questions

We have a split when some of the answer choices utilize one structure while the other answer choices utilize a different, dueling structure.

1.6: The non-underlined portion of the sentence is just as important as the answer choices

When answering a Sentence Correction question, we must carefully consider both the underlined and the non-underlined portions of a sentence.

1.5: How to approach Sentence Correction questions

When we are answering a Sentence Correction question, if the original version seems to be grammatically correct, then we keep choice (A) as a contender and move on to the other choices. However, if the underlined portion of the original sentence is clearly incorrect, we eliminate choice (A). If that exact grammatical error is present in any other versions, we eliminate those answer choices in which that same error is repeated. Having scanned the five sentence versions for clear grammar errors and eliminated any in which we found grammar errors, we may have eliminated all versions but one, in which case we have found the correct answer to the question. In many cases, our final step in answering a Sentence Correction question will be to eliminate versions that don't convey meanings that make sense and find a version that does convey a meaning that makes sense.

1.14: Be careful with later versions that fix earlier errors

When we are answering a Sentence Correction question, the fact that a sentence produced by a later answer choice fixes an error found in the original sentence, or any earlier sentence, does not allow us, on that basis alone, to choose the new sentence as correct.