Widely Tested Errors

on the PSAT's Grammar Section

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Singular subjects take the singular form of the verb. Interestingly, this often means the singular verb concludes with an "s".

  • Example: He goes. They go. You know that, because it often sounds funny when done incorrectly. The trick comes when many words separate the subject from the verb. Here's how not to get caught:

1. Ask yourself "what's the subject?"

  • Two places where you won't find the subject –
  • Inside a prepositional phrase
  • Inside a subordinate clause (separated by commas)

2. Is it singular or plural?

  • Note that the pronouns "everyone", "each", "anybody", and "somebody" are singular!
  • Example: Each of us follows the leader. These are called singular indefinite pronouns. (Indefinite because no person is directly identified).
  • The negatives are also singular: "nobody", "no one", "nothing", "none", and "neither".
  • Other singular words that might be hard to envision as singular: army, committee, legislature.
  • Words ending in "-ing" (gerunds) are singular.
  • Example: Running is my least favorite physical activity. Even "-ing" clauses stay singular. Example: Riding my bicycle with one wheel twelve inches off the ground and my hands in the air gives me exhilaration.
  • Here are plural indefinite pronouns: "several", "many", "lots", "both", "a few".

3.Ask yourself "what's the verb?"

  • Note that verbs contained in subordinate clauses don't count. A subordinate clause is set off by commas. You know the clause is subordinate if you can take it out and still have a sentence.
  • Example: Solomon, the wise king who was known throughout the Middle East during the 10th Century BC, amassed his wealth by forcing men to labor for the kingdom.
  • The verb here is "amassed". The sixth word "was" is a part of the long subordinate clause, so it is not the verb of the sentence. Here, the simple sentence is "Solomon...amassed his wealth by forcing men to labor for the kingdom."

4. Is the subject doing the action?

  • After the introductory clause, the next subject should refer to something IN THAT CLAUSE, not something new.
  • BAD: Landing two hours later than scheduled, the airport was a welcome destination for all the weary travelers.
  • The airport did not land two hours late! The plane did; the people in the plane did.
  • BETTER: Landing two hours later than scheduled, the weary travelers welcomed being in the airport.
  • BAD: The zookeeper being trusting of his staffers, two of them let him down by failing to lock the rhinos in their pens following a feeding.
  • The zookeeper is the subject. "Two of them" cannot possibly be referring to the zookeeper.
  • BETTER: The zookeeper being trusting of his staffers, he was disappointed when two of them failed to lock the rhinos in their pens following a feeding.
  • Technically, the error here is a "dangling participle". SAT II does not require you to know the terminology, just to identify the problem.
  • BAD: Coursing nearly 100 miles through the Grand Canyon, variations in the Colorado River can be appreciated by those who take a guided rafting tour.
  • BAD: Coursing nearly 100 miles through the Grand Canyon, those who take a guided tour by raft can appreciate the variations in the Colorado River.
  • BETTER: Those who take a guided tour by raft can appreciate the variations in the Colorado River, which courses nearly 100 miles through the Grand Canyon.

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

1. Modifiers should be placed nearest to the word they modify. This avoids ambiguity.

  • UNCLEAR: They discussed the new video game in the dorm lounge.
  • BETTER: In the dorm lounge they discussed the new video game.
  • UNCLEAR: Reggie told Hanna in the office he had a blueprint of the new home.
  • BETTER: Reggie told Hanna he had a blueprint of the new home in the office.

2. There's common sense needed here. The context should make clear what is needed. The best way to assess is to ask "does the sentence leave any reader confused as to who is doing the action, or who is receiving it?"

  • UNCLEAR: "The Lava Lamp eerily displayed so many shapes against the dark wall, Bart became transfixed by watching it." Is Bart watching the wall or the Lava Lamp? Replace the "it" and make clear what he's watching.
  • UNCLEAR: "The physician suggested he undergo an EKG every year."
  • BETTER: "Every year the physician suggested he undergo an EKG."
  • PERHAPS UNCLEAR: "The psychiatrist told the patient weekly to call his mother".

PRONOUN ERRORS

1. A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun. The noun must be stated. Pronouns should not refer to unstated nouns.

  • BAD: "It needs to be treated as if it were a noun." (Vague "it")
  • BETTER: "The pronoun needs to be treated as if it were a noun."
  • BAD: "Woe is me."
  • BETTER: "Woe is I." (Still not great because humans shouldn't be compared to emotions.)
  • BEST: "I feel woeful." or "I have woe."

2. Usually pronoun errors can be "heard". But that's still problematic in the case of homonyms. Example:

  • BAD: "Whose there?"
  • BAD: "Its me."
  • BETTER: "Who's there?" The contraction substitutes for the letter "i". "Whose" is a possessive; we need the pronoun.
  • BETTER: "It's I." The contraction substitutes for "it is". "Me" is a direct object. We need "I", the pronoun.

3. Here is a table for keeping separate the pronoun, possessive and direct object forms.

Pronoun / Possessive / Direct Object
I / my / me
you / your / you
he / his / him
she / her / her
it / its / it
we / our / us
they / their / them
who / whose / whom

3. A direct object means the person who receives the action. The trickiest is who/whom, but fortunately that has not been tested on the SAT in a long time. Generally, use "whom" following a preposition.

  • BAD: "Who did they sell the secrets to?"
  • BETTER: "To whom did they sell the secrets?"
  • DOUBLY BAD: "It is him who the bell rings for."
  • BETTER "It is he for whom the bell tolls."

4. Pronouns also lead to ambiguity.

  • UNCLEAR: Pete Rose Jr. was at one time a more adept fielder than Ken Griffey Jr., because he practiced fielding with his father. Better to state whose father he practiced with - Pete Rose Sr. or Ken Griffey Sr.
  • UNCLEAR: "If you are pulled over and have your wallet, make sure to show it to the police officer". The "it" seems to refer to the wallet. More likely the writer wants to refer to the driver's license in the wallet.

5. Don't let the pronoun accidentally shift into the plural.

  • BAD: "If he or she is conscientious, they leave the kitchen as it was in the morning." It's cumbersome to use "he or she" so often, but it's correct.
  • "They" cannot refer to an individual.
  • BAD: "Either Marco, Barry, or Patricia are allowed to take their "smoke" brake in the first thirty minutes of the shift."
  • BETTER: "Either Marco, Barry, or Patricia is allowed to take his or her "smoke" break within the first thirty minutes of the shift."

PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION

1. Items in a series must be parallel. This means there needs to be a consistency in any series of words or prepositional phrases.

  • GOOD: "We mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
  • GOOD: "Teaching a child to walk, keeping the child from harm, and helping the child eat are all great joys in parenting."
  • GOOD: "To know him is to love him."
  • BAD: "To know him is loving him."
  • BAD: "Simon blocked the driveway, blasted the car radio, and he set fire to the mailbox, all in an attempt for attention."
  • BAD: "We union nurses can be proud of our reputations, our efficiency, our cleanliness, alertness, and our compassion."

2. Watch out for subtle redundancies.

  • BAD: "Every undergrad is required to pass eighteen courses, to do volunteer service, and has to pass a swim test." There's a doubled word - "required" and "has to".

3. Note that "who" refers to people, whereas "that" refers to things. Infant humans can go either way.

  • DOUBLY BAD: "That's Marcia. She was the lawyer that defended me in traffic court".
  • BETTER: "That's Marcia. She is the lawyer who defended me in traffic court."

VERB TENSE

1. All kinds of errors fit this category. The general rule is that the sequence of events must be clear. There's past tense and "past past", and certain constructions have to let the reader know which came first.

2. Most of these errors can be "heard". One way to check yourself for past participles is to scan the irregular ones in a reputable book.

3. Here are a few subtle ones that might be hard to "hear". Again, think clarity.

  • BAD: "By the time I get to Memphis, my chauffer will be waiting for over four hours."
  • BETTER: "....will have been waiting for over four hours".
  • BAD: "When Brandon first learned to play the cello, his brother was proficient at the trumpet for over a year."
  • BETTER: "...had been proficient at the trumpet for over a year".
  • BAD: "The day my Mom allows me to eat Captain Crunch for breakfast will have been the day I was kicked out of the home".
  • BETTER: "The day my Mom allows me to eat Captain Crunch for breakfast will be the day I am kicked out of the house".

CHANGING NARRATIVE VOICE

1. Consistency is key. When one begins a sentence in the third person singular, one should end it that way, as we do here.

BAD: "When one begins in the third person singular, he or she should not change mid-course."

BAD: "If you take all the shells you can off the sea floor each day, we don't leave enough for others."

BAD LOGIC

1. It all has to make sense. At times, the sense is lacking. owing to improper punctuation.

IDIOM ERRORS

1. These are random errors that carry no general rules. In some ways this is quite unfair to the student who has read very little English because s/he has little to study. We'll put some proper phrases here, but unfortunately the list is infinite.

  • disdain for
  • responsible for
  • in the event of
  • sort of
  • kind of

COMMONLY MISTAKEN WORDS USED ON THE PSAT

affect / effect / effect - (1)To affect is to influence someone or something; (2)to effect is a seldom used verb meaning to cause a result or to bring about change, and (3)the effect is a noun that is the result.

  • Example. The effect (3) of the stock market crash was a widespread return to investing in CDs. The crash affected (1) Harold enough to stop his day-trading and get a regular-paying job.
  • Example. The President's speech effected (2) fear among pharmaceutical company workers that he was going to nationalize the health care industry, the effect (3) of which would have caused many of the workers to lose their jobs.
  • Note that President is capitalized when referring to a specific leader of the nation, otherwise it is not capitalized. Example. "the president of IBM" vs. "President Nixon"

aspire / inspire - To aspire is to have a goal. "I aspire to being able to drive a Porsche." To inspire is to instill some motivation in somebody. "My teacher inspired me to learn more vocab." Both together: "Since I aspired to become a virtuoso musician, I was inspired to listen to more opera."

anecdote / antidote - An anecdote is a short story. It is not necessarily factual. "Anecdotal evidence" means a story that is not verifiable, and thus not as solid as direct evidence. An antidote is something that combats an affliction. "Aspirin is an antidote for pain." Both together: "The former attorney likes to tell ethical anecdotes, including 'religion is the antidote to law school'".

allusion / illusion - An allusion is a reference to something. "The Republican candidate made an indirect reference to impropriety in the White House, an allusion the audience knew related to the Presidential sex scandal." An illusion is an image that is not real. "He was under the illusion that he was Napoleon." Both together: "The candidate spoke of a 'little guy with a bad haircut who is under the illusion that he can run the country', an allusion most took to apply to Ross Perot".

conscience / conscious / conscientious - Conscience is a person's sense of ethics, morality, or righteousness. It should not be used regarding animals. Conscious means being mentally alert. Conscientious means diligent, thoughtful, or hard-working. All three: "After the opposing prizefighter suffered a long-term loss of consciousness, the human suffering accompanying the victory weighed heavily on the winner's conscience, so he conscientiously set about informing his fellow fighters about the inherent dangers of their sport."

elicit / illicit - To elicit is to draw a response from. "Several pokes at the turtle's shell finally elicited a response - it scampered away." "The teacher tried to elicit a verbal response from the class, but there was only silence." Illicit means not permitted. It can be a substance such as illicit drugs, or a behavior such as prostitution. Both: "The undercover agents tried to elicit the Congressman to take a bribe, but either because he was onto their scheme, or because nothing could sway him that day, he did not succumb to doing anything illicit."

eminent / imminent - Eminent means standing out or conspicuous. It often relates to a prominent official, who could be referred to as "his eminence". It can mean important, from which we get "eminent domain" - important land that the government has the right to develop, even if someone else owns it. Imminent means on the verge of occurring. "Despite his past seasons of success, the eminent coach was clearly not the inspiring force he once was, and after 13 straight NFL losses his firing was imminent."

fewer / less - Fewer is used when referring to items that are distinguishable. Less is used when the items are not distinguishable. "Fewer than 100 people attended the outdoor concert...". "Less water flowed through the pipe..." Countable is a good way to assess whether to use fewer or less. Note: if supermarkets used proper English their signs would read "9 items or fewer".

from / between - When moving, from is the better word. When picking a number, between is proper. "The car accelerates from zero to sixty in twelve seconds." "I'm thinking of a number between one and one thousand." "Call me between 9:30 and 11:00 pm." "I will be working from 10 until midnight."

more / most, better / best, greater / greatest - The first word in the pair is the "comparative". It is used only when comparing two items. The second word is the superlative. It is used when comparing three or more items.

like / as - "Like" is used when comparing nouns or adjectives; "as" is used when comparing verbs. "Be like Mike" is proper because the comparison is to the noun Mike. "Do as Michael Jordan does" is proper because the comparison is to the verb "do".

that / which - Use "that" when the clause is essential. Use "which" when the clause is not essential, i.e. set off by commas, subordinate.

  • BAD: "The car which hit the hydrant is still there."
  • BAD: "The 500 letters which accumulated on the Senator's desk were largely hate-mail."
  • There is no subordinate clause, so the better word is "that".
  • GOOD: "Fifteen light years, which is a small distance when considering the whole universe, is not imaginable."
  • GOOD: "A light year, which is a measure of distance, is often mistaken for a measure of time."

who / which - Use "who" when referring to humans: "The members of the chorus who perform best will receive commendations". Use "which" when referring to everything else, including groups of humans: "The chorus which performs best will go on to the national finals." When referring to infants, the rule should be "who", but either is acceptable, so this won't be tested on the SAT.

  • BAD: "Billy Joel, the singer that recently filed for bankruptcy despite earning over $100 million over his long career, ..."
  • BETTER: "Billy Joel, the singer who..."

who / whom - Use "who" any time where you'd say "he". "Who" is a pronoun. "Who/he gave Mary that pen". "He who laughs last, laughs the longest." Use "whom" any time you'd say him. "Whom" is a direct object. "To whom should Mary give the pencil?" "Those whom fortune has smiled upon with perfect health."

: / ; - The colon is used to introduce a list or summary of what has happened prior to the colon. It can separate independent clauses. The semicolon always connects independent clauses, i.e. the words on both sides of the ";" can stand alone as independent sentences. The semicolon replaces conjunctions like and, or, but, however, yet for the purpose of linking two closely related independent clauses.

its / it's - "Its" is possessive. It means "belonging to it". This is an exception to the rule that most possessives get an apostrophe. Other exceptions: "his" (instead of he's); "mine" (instead of me's). "It's" is a contraction. The word uses the apostrophe to shorten "it is". Example. "When smoke emanated from the library annex, the librarian calmly announced 'it's time to leave' and she personally removed the most precious documents from its collection on her way out."