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Sentence correction faux pas by JOHN JOVI

What errors do the sentence correction qs present?

Subject- verb agreement, pronoun error, tense error, misplaced modifier, preposition error, faulty comparison ...

I am very comfortable with SVA

Let me show you

Eg. one of the countries participating in the SAARC meet is Indonesia.

Indonesia is one of several countries that is participating in the SAARC meet.

PS; John Jovi, you are right in the first, but wrong in the second…

Here’s the correct sentence:

Indonesia is one of several countries that are participating in the SAARC meet.

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Ten ways to score poorly in GMAT! If you are rich enough for retakes, that is

1. I know math, so no need to go thru the same old arithmetic, algebra, geometry stuff

2. Tones of free downloads on your pc..what is relevant, what is not, even God may not know..

3. Just official guide, what else, nothing official about it…

4. I will join for the costliest, longest duration course in town…let them get me the score, no need to study at home..

5. I wont do the essays while practicing, only math and verbal mock exams will do

6. I speak and write good English, so verbal is going to be a cake walk, no less

7. I need just one month for preparation, after all I had high grades in college.

8. Do as many tests as possible, in fact 90 percent of my preparation time should be spent on tests. concepts? What concepts?

9. My friend said GMAT was easy for him, no tough qns ( hey, what was your friend’s score?)

10. Out of five tests I did, one test I scores above 650. So I will give the test as planned. I believe in luck!

PS Good luck

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GMAT sentence correction: Think beyond grammar

Fine, you know the GMAT SC jargon – tense error, pronoun error, subject verb disagreement. Good. Useful. But you must think beyond grammar to do justice to the range SC questions.

One of such errors is ambiguity. That is something is not clear. To make clear the meaning conveyed. So keep track of meaning also while checking a sentence for errors.

Illustration - real GMAT questions

1. Incorrect: In mammals, a lifetime’s supply of egg cells is produced during fetal development and remain dormant until maturity.

Here remain dormant is ambiguously used; one may ask what remain egg cells or development? In such cases, we need to repeat the word, cells, since these remain dormant until maturity. The verb is agrees with the singular sub lifetime’s supply.

Correct … is produced during fetal development and the cells remain dormant until maturity.

2. In 1869, anxious to balance its population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature extended voting rights to women in Wyoming.

A. its population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature

B. their population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming’s legislature

C. the state’s population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature

D. a state population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the legislature in Wyoming

E. its population of 8,000 men with 2,000 women, the Wyoming’s legislature

So since you know that singular pronouns agree with singular nouns, its agrees with Wyoming legislature. But grammar alone wont rescue us here.

Look at the meaning, can Wyoming legislature have population? No the population belongs to the state, C is clear and exact. D, would mean any state’s population, not necessarily Wyoming’s.

Moral of the story

Attention to detail…is very important..

keep looking out for similar errors; match grammar with meaning.