Introduction to Grammar for GMAT / CAT: Strategy for success (Class 1)

Free Online Class taken Live on Jan 30th 2010 Introduction to Grammar for GMAT / CAT: Strategy for success (Class 1) http://onlineclasses.nanotechbiz.org/ By: Satyadhar Joshi shivgan3@yahoo.com

Content of Presentation • Introduction to Grammar for GMAT • Structure and strategy of the course • Basics of Articles, Prepositions, Conjunctions and Verbs • Common mistakes • Pronoun Errors • Parallelism • References • More to read…..

Structure of My Course on Grammar • The most comprehensive strategy to get you a top score • 1/3 questions in GMAT based on grammar* • Before going to GMAT grammar lets learn basic grammar and terminologies (Class 1: today). This glossary will help you to understand grammar so that we can jump to specifics in GMAT grammar • Specific GMAT grammar (Class 2) • Questions Basic Level (Class 3) • Questions Advanced Level (Class 4) (Course targeted from Feb to March) Also Applicable for AWA Essays

Scaling with CAT may bring it down closer to pattern of GMAT in 2011 • In order to ensure appropriate interpretation of an equated raw score, the scores must be placed on a common scale or metric. A linear transformation was used for this scaling process, which is an industry standard practice (Kolen & Brennan, 2004) • The IIM scaling model is as follows: Section Scores = (Mean of 40 and Standard deviation of 24) 0-150 • Total Exam Score = (Summation of three section scores) 0-450 http://www.catiim.in/dev_scorind_equityprocess.html www.catiim.in/pdf/cat_scores_methodology.pdf

Introduction • Areas of class includes: Articles, Preposition, Common mistakes and important rules. • Today my aim is to introduce you good enough so that you can take this area on yourself • Also I will be talking about the toughest questions, RCs, critical reasoning and fill in the Blanks of Big-book in future • Our focus here is on sentence correction • Book Reviews: GMAT Verbal Princeton, Manhatten, and Winners guide • References are very useful to understand this presentation

Grammar areas in GMAT / CAT • Pronoun Errors • Misplaced modifiers • Parallel Construction • Tense • Subject Verb Agreement • Idiom • Applies & Oranges • Quantity Words’ • Comparison *Application in sentence correction Page 200-210 of Book: Cracking the GMAT CAT, Princeton Review

Strategy for Grammar Questions • Train yourself with all the skills you need to understand the fundamentals of grammar • Never rewrite question in your brain and look for the options matching in the choices • Take the hints from the answers and remove the wrong sentences • Use power of elimination to remove the choices very carefully • When reduced into two choices don’t leave the question at that point, get it done to a 100% (the destination is nearby so don’t give up) Page 9-13, Book:Verbal workout for GMAT Princeton

Restate: Five imp points for Sentence Correction • Don’t rewrite sentence in mind and look for match, but use power of elimination • Learn Grammar to catch grammatical errors • Get rid of choices with same error ( keep looking and fine-tuning and improving your scope) • USE POE (process of elimination) • If you are down to two choices , find flaw in wrong one Page 17-19, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton

Common Mistakes • Apostrophe: Omitted when the word becomes a proper noun. Ex. Technical teachers convention. Avoid adding apostrophe to any kind of noun. Ex. Society’s well being vs. well being of society • Countable and uncountable • A collective noun • Conjunction & Verb

Removing the Middleman • Remove the unwanted information and cut down sentence is shorter for effective scrutiny of the errors • Sometimes picking only one aspect is a good strategy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyb7zUmaG4U Page 19-20,Book: Manhattan GMAT sentence correction Guide

Physics of Grammar: An attempt to develop energy for learning • Grammar can be understood as Physics, where we can break the complex things into simpler laws • I have been trying to build some analogy which I will discuss in the future classes in details • Constrains of areas that comes under the exam domain • Logic always prevails • Law of conservation of momentum is like parallelism • Law of optics like convergence of focus can be seen as convergence of all ideas at the subject • Misplaced modifiers can be seen as free body diagram

Articles • a/an (used before the singular noun which is countable (i.e. of which there is more than one) Ex. I live in a flat, they live in a flat, he bought a flat. Also used with complement ex. He will be a good actor. Also used when ratios are used like Rs 5 a kilo. And in exclamations • Omission a/an (i) before plural if a noun ex. Plural of a dog is dogs (ii) before uncountable nouns • Be careful in replacing one with a • One is used with the combination of another/other Ex. Onw wanted to read, another/other wanted to watch TV • A little(uncountable)/ a few (countable) & little/few • The (the definite articles): It is mostly used when the objective is unique. Also used before names • The is also called the definite article Book: ChandreshAgrawal, CAT PriyankaPrakshan

From Wiki • In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing the prepositional phrase "on the sofa". In English, the most used prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", "with" and "on". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition

Examples of Prepositions http://www.towson.edu/ows/prepositions.htm

Preposition • Omission of to and for before indirect objects: Ex. I gave the book to Priya = I gave Priya the book (we omitted to); I will find a job for Priyavs I will find Priya a job (we can omit for). • Position : the people with whom I was traveling (better) vs. the people I was traveling with • Use and omission of to with verbs of communications. Ex. Verbs of commands needs to whereas verbs of complain don’t necessarily require to Ex. They advised him to wait vs. Ajay (to her ) complained about the food. • Time and date: at, on, be, before, in • At a time: at midnight; at an age. On the morning/afternoon/evening/night • On time (at the time arranged), in time (not late), in good time (with comfortable margin) • At the beginning (of) /end (of), in the beginning/end, at first / at last : Ex. At the beginning of the book there is often a table of contents • Time: from, since, for, during. From is normally used with toor till/until. • Time: to, till/until, after, afterwards. After must be followed by a noun or pronoun • Travel and movement: from, to, at, in, by, on. Onto, off, out, out of. Ex We traveled from our starting home to our destination. Book: ChandreshAgrawal, CAT PriyankaPrakshan

More prepositions • At, in; in, into ; on, onto • Above, over • Preposition used with adjectives and participles • Verbs and preposition • Adverbs and preposition

Apostrophe: The Most Common Mistakes • Mixing up it's and its • Wrong: The dog wagged it's tail. • Right: The dog wagged its tail. • Wrong: Each program has it's own quirks. • Right: Each program has its own quirks. • Pluralizing words with apostrophes • Wrong: Piano's for Sale! • Right: Pianos for Sale! • Wrong: I design web site's. • Right: I design web sites. • Using improper contractions • Wrong: Your going to be in trouble. • Right: You're going to be in trouble. • Wrong: He let's his son run wild. • Right: He lets his son run wild. http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/ffjh/thompson/apostro/npractic.htm

Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns http://www.learn-english-online.org/Lesson37/Lesson37.htm http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/noununcount.htm

Possessives Add an apostrophe and an s to singular nouns to indication possession. According to several current grammar texts, add the apostrophe after the letter s to indicate a plural possessive, unless the dual s sounds are pronounced. It is also standard to use the “apostrophe s” with Biblical names, probably out of tradition more than for reasons of phonology or grammar. • He located the cat’stoy under the chair. • The cats’toys were tattered after years of play. • The Smiths’ two cats chased the Wilsons’ dog. Plural possessives can be challenging: • The Williamses’s dogs chase cats. (Strunk & White style)The Williamses’ dogs chase cats. (AP Stylebook and MLA version) The first version of the last example looks odd to many readers. Strunk and White suggest the apostrophe plus s, AP Style omits the last s. We tend to pronounce the -ez sound instinctively when it helps clarify the quantity of the noun. The last s desired by Strunk and White is seldom vocalized. The second version, without the s, is more common and closer to the spoken version of the sentence. http://www.tameri.com/edit/gramerrors.html

Introductions to Conjunctions • A conjunction is a word which merely joins together sentences, and sometimes words. • Until: As long as • Until expresses time before, as long as expresses period of time In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated conj or cnj) is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" should be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable grammatical particle, and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins. (From Wikipedia) http://gmattoughies.blogspot.com/2009/07/conjunctions.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_conjunction

Some Conjunction • Below is a list of subordinating conjunctions used to introduce adverb clauses.TIMEafterasonceevery time (that)beforeas soon asas/so long asthe first time (that)when sincewheneverthe last time (that)while untilby the time (that)the next time (that)

Tense: Basic and advanced • Present past and future • Past prefect, present perfect and future perfect • Use present to express habit or routine • In adverb clause of time and condition, the present tense is used for future. Ex. If you will be going to Madras, you will meet him vs. If you go to madras, you will meet him • In the same sentence, care must be taken that there is no shifting of tense • Historical Present: Asoka is one of the greatest of king • The Had tense: When two events of the past are related through time, the earlier of the two events is indicated by had-tense. Ex. When I went to his house, he went to his office vs. When I went to his house, he had gone to his office(correct) Page 48-50, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton

Subject Verb Agreement • It is the most seen subject in the GMAT • The simplicity entangled with the complexity of questions in this area makes it an all time favorite. • The number of arrests of drunken drivers are increasing every year: (wrong) • The number (of arrests of drunken drivers) is increasing every year: (correct) • Most asked question in Indian Exams

List of Singular Subjects Nouns • The Netherlands • The family • The audience • Politics • Measles • The Number • The amount Pronouns: • Each • Everyone • Everyone • Nobody

Pronoun: An Introduction • A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, known as the antecedent of the pronoun. The key point for the use of pronouns is this: pronouns must agree with their antecedents in both number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, or third). • Example:Steve has yet to receive his degree. Here, the pronoun his refers to the noun Steve. • Each pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces • Each pronoun must refer directly and unambiguously to the noun it replaces • It, its, they their

Examples of Pronoun Errors • Subject verb agreement

Modifiers • Adjective • Preposition • Appositives • Misplaced modifier is the major questions we are going to get MISPLACED MODIFIERS As a general rule, a modifier should be placed as close as possible to what it modifies. Example: • Following are some useful tips for protecting your person and property from the FBI. As written, the sentence implies that the FBI is a threat to your person and property. To correct the sentence put the modifier from the FBI next to the word it modifies, tips: • Following are some useful tips from the FBI for protecting your person and property.

Parallelism • Question type: sentences which aren’t parallel • Individual parts must be parallel • We cannot compares apples with oranges Page 30-32, Book: Verbal workout for GMAT by Princeton Page 77; Boook:Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual

Example of Parallelism

References & More readings • Book: Manhattan GMAT verbal Manual • Book: Manhattan GMAT sentence correction Guide • Verbal workout for GMAT Princeton • Winners guide to GMAT Grammar • ChandreshAgrawal, CAT PriyankaPrakshan • English Grammer by Wren & Martin

Websites • http://www.scribd.com/doc/17337550/Grammar-Strategies-GMAT • http://novapress.net/gmat/gmat-strategies/gmat-grammar-strategies • http://outbeat-the-gmat.blogspot.com/2007/03/english-grammar.html • http://www.majon.com/testprep/strat-gmatg.html • http://www.wepapers.com/Papers/10372/GMAT_Grammar_Notes • http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_76.htm • http://gmat-grammar.blogspot.com/ • Etc…

Youtube videos • http://www.youtube.com/user/ManhattanReview • http://www.youtube.com/user/MBAPodcaster • http://www.youtube.com/user/gmaxonline • http://www.youtube.com/user/gmatpill • Etc…

Introduction to Grammar for GMAT / CAT: Strategy for success (Class 1)