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

**the predicate is the "idea" of the sentence ("what is or does")

**the "subject" is the "person" or "perspective" of a sentence ("the doer")

|-

|-

|}

*has a subject

*finite verbs form the core of a sentence or clause

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

*dependent clauses have finite verbs, so identify the subject-verb match in a dependent clause in order not to confuse it with the subject-verb match of the main or independent clause  

**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  

**= the '''-ing''' form of a non-finite verb acting as an adjective  

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

***note that participle phrases are attached to an independent clause by a comma and not a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS)

*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

*linking verbs do not have objects  

**instead they have "subject complements"

***"doctor" = subject complement noun

***"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  

**linking verbs do not have objects  

***instead, they have "complements

*"conjugation" means "to inflect" a verb according to the "person" of its subject

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

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

***i.e., "I" = first person singular; "we" = first person plural, etc.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Verbs: "person" of the subject

!Person

|-

|First person

{| class="wikitable"

!

! singular

|First person

|I am

|

|-

|Second person

|You are

|

|-

|Third person

|They are

|

|+Conjugation: "to go"

!

!plural

|First person

|I go

|-

|You go

|You (all) go

===Tense===  

**past, present, future

**and sub-categories of them

!Simple present

!Present Continuous

|-

|Singular

|It is working

|It '''has''' worked

|

|It interacts

|It '''has''' interacted

|-

|Plural

|They work

|They '''have''' worked

|-

|They interact

|They are interacting

|-

|

|They do

|They '''have''' done.

|}

!

!Simple present

!Present Perfect

|-

|Singular

|It was working

|-

|

|It '''had''' done*

|-

|They worked

|They were working

|-

|

|They were interacting

|They '''had''' interacted

<nowiki>*</nowiki> irregular

*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)

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

*for the SAT, identify the "sentence core" in order to   

**identify modifying, or non-essential, parts

**correctly answer subject-verb match questions

===Sentence parts===  

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

|-

|dog

|-

|mailman

|}   

**modifiers include articles

*'''complements''' add information to the subject or verb

|''scared''

|'''mailman'''

|''the''

|''mean''

|

|

|

|

|-

|''article''

|

|

|''preposition''

|object complement  

**i.e. it consists of a subject + verb

*has a finite verb

**i.e., if by itself it would make a (simple) sentence

|'''fell'''

|'''all night'''

|-

|subordinating

conjunction  

|''verb''

| ''subject''  

''(relative pronoun)''

*adds modifying information

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

{| class="wikitable"

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

|-

|'''all night'''

|'''which'''

|'''no school!'''

|-

|''prepositional phrase''

|''subject(relative pronoun)''

| colspan="3" |The DC could not be a sentence by itself:  

|-

| colspan="3" |'''''Which meant no school!'''''

*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:  

** i.e. ''The snow fell all night, <font style="background-color: yellow;">which meant</font> <font style="background-color: lightgreen;">school canceled</font>''  

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

***''The snow fell all night, which meant that school canceled''

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

====Relative clause within an IC:====   

*the SAT frequently measures this sentence form:   

**in order to confuse students about punctuation

{| class="wikitable"

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

|-

|

|'''shows'''

|''Subject''

|

|

|''Object''

|'''that'''

|'''used'''

|

|-

|}  

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

*ex., for the sentence  

**'''The dog that barks has no bite'''

}}

**("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

**i.e., any two words that are not a subject + verb

*phrases add information

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

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan="2" |SUBJECT

|-

!On Tuesdays

!my friend and I

!play

!at the local club

|-

|subject phrase

|verb

|}

*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

**''I left the keys <u>on the desk</u>''   

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

***''The keys are <u>on the desk</u>''  

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

**** the prepositional phrase "on the desk" is the subject complement of "keys" (connected by the linking verb "are")

**note that the object of a preposition <u>is never the subject of a clause</u>

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

**these may be finite or non-finite (see "Verbs" guide)

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Participle as finite verb

!Form

|-

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

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

|-

|''If you '''are studying''', you will get 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.''

|}

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

***i.e., going from "Eight graders take Algebra. Ninth graders then have to take Geometry."   

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

===periods .===  

*'''periods''' separate sentences

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

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

**if the sentence is grammatically or logically incomplete, the period is wrong   

***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  

**so they can create a complete sentence or independent clause:

** ex.   

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

**for the SAT the imperative may come in the form of a command to the reader, such as:  

***"Take this idea, for example."   

====semicolons ;====   

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

#combine ICs

*note that semicolons can -- but rarely:   

***as in "IC; IC; IC; IC."

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

****the "super comma" does not have to follow a colon, so we could write:   

*****''"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>:   

#combine two ICs   

#*"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

===commas ,===   

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

<u>commas</u>:     

#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

#combine ICs   

#*ex.: "IC, and IC" or "IC, but IC"

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

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

#*", .... ," (like these parentheses)   

*elimination:

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

**1 or more commas can separate multiple subjects, verbs or objects from one another (called "compound" subjects, verbs, objects)   

***"Joey, Joella and Josephina jumped for joy"   

*distinguish additional information following an IC, usually a list, explanation, or example to clarify or extend the idea presented in the IC

#extend or provide examples in support of a prior IC  

#**''The prosecutor presented the evidence: a fingerprint, the weapon, and a written confession"''     

#***= IC: list

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

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

#***another colon

*colons <U>DO NOT</U>:   

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

****"which" creates a DC that modifies the IC prior to the colon, so it cannot be separated from that IC by a colon     

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

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

#extend or provide examples following an IC

**except a conjunction (as in : I bought shoes: and some socks (= incorrect)

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

===dashes --===

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

#act like a colon

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

<u>dashes</u>:   

#*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)

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

*elimination:

**if there is NOT another dash in the sentence, then the dash is NOT acting parenthetically (...)

**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:

**show possession  

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

**possessive apostrophes singular v plural:   

***''''s''' for singular nouns ("that dog's toys") and '''s'''' for plural nouns ("those dogs' toys")

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

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

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

***combines ICs (FANBOYS)

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

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

***ex. "I was hungry, so I bought a burger" = two IC w/ a CC

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

*'''requisite or necessary clause or phrase''' (Phr)

**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

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

*'''prepositions'''  

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

****S V O

*****cannot be separated from one another by punctuation, ex.:

*****''SoHo, a neighborhood in New York, is fun to say and to visit''

**'''adjectives and adverbs'''  

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

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

***<u>exception</u>: could be a list of coordinate adjectives that are separated by a comma:   

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

**'''possessive nouns'''   

****''That bird flew right by my friend's head'' <<  correct

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

***note: see rules below for possessives

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

****''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