SAT Digital Reading and Writing Test quick start guide: Difference between revisions

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*indicates an action, state, condition, existence or occurrence

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*has a subject

*finite verbs form the core of a sentence or clause

**= conjugation of the verb "to be", which is a linking verb

**IDENTIFY them in a sentence, then match them to their subject

**ex.  ''The thing I like most about her is her sunny attitude''

***S-V of main clause = Thing + is

*non-finite verbs act as a noun (gerund), adjective (past or present participle) or infinitive ("to" form of a verb)

*for the SAT, the most important non-finite verb is the present participle adjective  

***note that non-finite verbs acting as nouns, called gerunds, are also in the '''-ing''' form of the verb

**present participles are used to add information to an independent clause

*a finite verb (has a subject) that "links" a noun or adjective (the complement) to the subject

*ex. ''She is a doctor''   

**"is" = linking verb

**instead they have "subject complements"

***"doctor" is not the object of the verb "is"

***instead, the verb "is" links the complement noun "doctor" to the subject "she"

**in the sentence, ''The patient feels sick''

***"sick" is an adjective so it cannot be an object (which is a noun)

***so, the verb "feels" links the complement adjective "sick" to the subject "patient"

*for the SAT, note that  

***thus "is" and "are" are finite verbs with subjects to match to

***instead, they have "complements

***i.e., "go" >> "going", or "go" >> "goes"

**"person" = the "voice" or "perspective" of the subject of a sentence

===Person===

|+Verbs: "person" of the subject

!Person

!Plural

|-

===Conjugation===  

**or, the verb-ending matches the person of the subject

{| class="wikitable"

!

!plural

!

|First person

|I am

|

|-

|Second person

|You (all) are

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|Third person

|They are

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|+Conjugation: "to go"

!

!plural

|First person

|I go

|-

|You (all) go

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|Third person

|He / She / It goes

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**past, present, future

**and sub-categories of them

!Simple present

!Present Continuous

|-

|Singular

|It '''has''' worked

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|It is interacting

|It '''has''' interacted

|-

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|It '''has''' done*

|-

|They work

|They '''have''' worked

|-

|They interact

|They are interacting

|-

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|They '''have''' done.

|}

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Simple present

!Present Perfect

|-

|Singular

|It was working

|They worked

|They were working

|-

|

|They '''had''' interacted

|-

*A sentence is a grammatically correct, complete thought.

**contain a subject and verb

***i.e. a finite verb

**a simple sentence has a single independent clause

**a compound sentence has two or more independent clauses (see below)

***and/or phrases, especially participle phrases (see below)

===Sentence core===  

*the "core" of a sentence is its subject-verb

**identify modifying, or non-essential, parts

**correctly answer subject-verb match questions

**SUBJECT and PREDICATE

*SUBJECT = the perspective of the sentence (i.e. the "doer")

!SUBJECT

the doer or perspective

the action or idea

|-

|dog

|-

|mailman

|runs

*additional information may be added using "modifiers" and "complements"

|''scared''

|'''mailman'''

| ''from''

|''the''

|''mean''

|-

|-

|

|

|

|

|-

|''article''

|

|

|''preposition''

|object complement  

}}

*has a finite verb

*dependent clauses add information to an independent clause

====Subordinate clause====

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="4" |Subordinate clause (DC)

|-

|'''Since'''

|'''fell'''

|'''all night'''

|'''canceled'''

|-

|''subject''

|''verb''

|''prepositional phrase''

*adds modifying information

*introduced by the '''relative pronouns''' ''that, which, who, whose''

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="3" |Relative clause (DC)

|-

|'''fell'''

|'''all night'''

|'''no school!'''

|-

|''verb''

|''subject(relative pronoun)''

|''verb''

|-

| colspan="3" |The IC could be a sentence by itself:

|-

| colspan="3" |'''''The snow fell all night.'''''

*note: if we used the wording, "The snow fell all night, which meant school canceled," we would then have the clause "school canceled" (subject-verb) as a dependent (noun) clause within the first dependent (relative) clause:  

***<font style="background-color: lightgreen;">noun clause</font>

**the SAT will not measure students directly on noun clauses, although sentences may include them

*Relative clauses may come in between an independent clause's subject and predicate

**in order to confuse students about punctuation

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="5" style="text-align:center" |'''Independent Clause (IC)'''

|-

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|'''shows'''

|''Subject''

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|''Object''

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|-

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|'''that'''

|'''used'''

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|-

|''subject<br>(relative pronoun)''

|''verb''

|

|}  

*Note: on this sentence, the SAT might try to confuse the student with a mismatch of the singular subject "study" and singular verb "shows"

**the test might also try to confuse students over the tense of the past-tense "used" and present-tense "shows"

*Here's another depiction of a relative clause that fits between the subject and verb of an independent clause:

***DC (relative clause) subject-verb = "that barks"

****DC (relative clause) subject-verb = "I made"

******as it marks or sets up the the relative clause

}}

**("that" may be preceded or followed by a parenthetical element that uses parentheses, commas or dashes)

**the SAT will frequently ask to place a semicolon or colon after "that" -- this is incorrect

*if coming in between the subject and verb, the relative pronoun "'''which'''" may or may not be separated by commas

**if "that" can not be substituted, "which" uses a comma

*do not confuse the subject-verb of the relative clause with the subject-verb of the independent clause (IC)

*a phrase is two or more words that do not contain a finite verb

*phrases add information

**especially to add information to either a subject or predicate

!On Tuesdays

!my friend and I

!at the local club

|-

|prepositional phrase

|subject phrase

|prepositional phrase

|}

*identify prepositional phrases (see [[SAT Writing section techniques, strategies & approaches#prepositional%20phrase|SAT Writing section #prepositional phrase]] for more)

*the noun that precedes the preposition is modified by the prepositional phrase

***the noun (object) "keys" is modified by the prepositional phrase "on the desk"

****"on" is the preposition and "desk" is its object

***''He ran <u>up the hill</u>''  

*The SAT will try to confuse students between the subject of a clause and the object of a preposition  

*participles are the verb forms of using ''-ing'' and ''-ed''

!Participle as finite verb

!Form

!Form

|-

|'''''Feeling''' hungry, I decided to get a burger''

|"'''feeling'''" = non-finite present participle adjective that describes the IC subject "I"

|-

|'''''Studying''' yields higher grades''

|"'''studying'''" = gerund (non-finite participle as noun) and acts as the subject of the finite verb "yields"

|-

|"'''stopped'''" = past tense finite verb (with the subject "train")

|''People waited impatiently on the '''stopped''' train.''

**try to fool the student into mis-matching a subject with a non-finite participle

**ask to combine two sentences or clauses using a participle phrase   

****to "After taking Algebra in eighth grade, ninth graders take Geometry"

*periods do '''ONE''' thing =

----------------------------------------------------------   

*What PERIODS do & how to eliminate using the rule:

*periods separate grammatically correct and complete thoughts that are distinct sentences

***i.e., SUBJECT VERB and an object or subject complement if needed to make sense

*note that "interjection" (a quick remark or interruption) or "imperative" (a command) VERBS contain an implied SUBJECT  

***"Go to the store." = "[you] Go to the store."

***"Take this idea, for example."   

****= "[you] Take this idea, for example." << as a sentence or independent clause

*semicolons do (almost) '''ONE''' thing:

*note that semicolons can -- but rarely:   

***as in, "IC: this; that; the other thing."   

****ex. "''On our trip, we will visit tons of places: in Africa, Egypt & Morrocco; in Europe, Greece and Italy; and in Asia, Turkey"''

*****''"On our trip, we will visit tons of places, including in Africa, Egypt & Morrocco; in Europe, Greece and Italy; and in Asia, Turkey"''

----------------------------------------------------------

<u>semicolons</u>:   

#*"School is boring; I should go anyway"= IC; IC

**"School is boring; I already know that stuff; I should go anyway" = "IC; IC; IC

**if a period and a semicolon are both possible answers, they are both wrong

*create pauses

*commas do '''FIVE''' things:

#combine IC, DC, or DC, IC

#**ex. "He ate fast, which upset his stomach" = IC, DC

#**ex. "After eating too fast, his stomach was upset" = Phr, IC  

#***= prepositional phrase, independent clause

#**"They played hard, and they won big" = IC, and IC

#**"They played hard, but they lost" = IC, but IC

#*ex.: S, S and S V, V O, O and O

#act parenthetically   

#*ex. "The judge declared, "Guilty!"

**commas can NOT combine two ICs without a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS)

===colons :===

*colons = do '''ONE''' thing:

#extend or provide examples in support of a prior IC  

#***= IC: list

#*just about any grammatical form can follow a colon, including

#**an IC, phrase, exclamation, multiple ICs with semicolons or coordinating conjunctions

#**exceptions arenthat colons are not followed by  

#***another colon

#***a dependent clause that modifies the independent clause prior to the colon

***ex., "''I went to the store''': because''' I needed some supplies''"

**** the colon here interrupts the connection between "I went to the store" and the reason why, "because..."

****the colon here interrupts the requisite relative pronoun "that" and the clause it creates

***or "''They have two ideas: which are both innovative"''

*****(a comma separating the IC and DC is okay)

**have multiple colons in a sentence

----------------------------------------------------------   

#extend or provide examples following an IC

*what follows the colon can be in any grammatical form (IC, DC, phrase)   

**or a required (requisite) phrase or clause ("I bought shoes: that fit" = incorrect)

**colons are usually followed by a list or an example

***''The lawyer claimed the accusation was wrong: "He's innocent!"'' = IC: IC

**if NOT preceded by an IC, eliminate the colon

**if another possible answer is a dash that is acting like a colon, then both cannot be correct, so eliminate

===dashes --===

*separate ideas within a sentence, either parenthetically or like a colon

#act like a colon

#act like parentheses (...) = -...-

#*ex. "She left stuff behind -- a plastic ring, a cheap phone, and a pencil" = IC -- list

#*the dash is often used for emphasis (as opposed to a colon, which adds information)

#*The stuff that she left behind -- a plastic ring, a cheap phone, and a pencil -- wasn't that expensive"

*elimination:

**if another possible answer is a colon and the dash is not acting like a parentheses, then both cannot be correct

*'''apostrophes''' do two things:

***nouns possess nouns and nouns can only possess nouns (not verbs)

***punctuation can NOT separate the possessor noun from the possessed noun

***adjectives may separate the two nouns, as in "The cowboy's fast horse"

*elimination:

**if punctuation or a verb follow the possessor noun, eliminate (see examples below)

**ex., "winning's good" for "winning is good" is informal

*'''conjunctions''' combine words, phrases, and clauses  

**'''coordinating conjunction''' (CJ)

*note: the word '''however''' is NOT a conjunction,  

**therefore it must be combined with another CJ or a semicolon if combining two ICs

***whereas, if we use the CS "since" = Since I was hungry, I bought a burger"  

****= DC, IC ("Since I was hungry is not a complete thought, therefore it is a DC, or subordinate clause)

**usually, when the SC follows the IC, there is not a comma

**the subordinating conjunction becames a relative conjunction  

***some clauses and phrases are requisite or necessary to complete a thought, which means they are not separated from the main clause by punctuation

***ex. "I bought the shoes that were on sale" << "that were on sale" is necessary to the idea that "I bought" particular shoes

**see "Relative clause" below for more on essential and non-essential sentence elements

*'''prepositions'''  

**include ''about, by, from, near, of, on'' , etc.

*prepositions create a relationship between nouns

**the nouns or other words that follow the preposition are called a "prepositional phrase" ("about something I once knew")

**ex. adding information to a subject noun: "The ideas of the professor are novel."

**ex. adding information to a subject-verb: "The professor was educated at Yale."

**elimination:  

****ex. "Books about sailing are fun" and not "Books about sailing is fun"

*****"about" = a preposition, so "sailing" is not the subject and the verb is therefore matched to the plural "books"

*a "restrictive" element is a sentence part that is not separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or other punctuation

***are not separated from one another by punctuation

****S V O

*****''SoHo is fun to say and to visit'' << correct

****but could be separated by a parenthetical phrase or clause:

**'''adjectives and adverbs'''  

***are not separated from the noun or verb they modify by punctuation

****''That is one big, elephant!''  << incorrect

****''That is one big, elephant!''  << correct

***or, could be separated by a parenthetical element:   

****''That is one big -- and I mean big! -- elephant''

***<u>exception</u>: could be part of a list of adjective:  

****''That bird flew right by my friend's big, old head''

****''The book, on that table is interesting''  << incorrect

****''The book on that table is very interesting'' << correct

**'''relative clauses beginning with "that"'''  

***but relative clauses starting with "'''that'''"  <u>are always restrictive</u> and thus are not separated from the word or sentence part they modify by punctuation

*<u>EXCEPTION</u>: parenthetical elements

**only parenthetical elements with a pair of ''parentheses, commas or dashes'' may separate restrictive elements

***thus they can intrude upon a sentence

***but they ALWAYS have paired punctuation, commas, dashes or parentheses, that isolate them from the rest of the sentence

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