![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2019\/02\/gmat-sentence-correction-tips.png\")
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GMAT Sentence Correction is all about grammar, but not every grammar rule is equally important. With these Sentence Correction tips, we\u2019ll look at some of the most important\u2014and most often overlooked\u2014Sentence Correction techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes, the most important words in a GMAT Sentence Correction problem are the smallest ones: <\/span><\/p>\n A tough Sentence Correction problem might test a couple of complex grammar issues\u2014such as modifiers and parallelism\u2014in complicated ways. That same sentence might <\/span>also<\/span><\/i> test a small, simple issue, like using the correct pronoun or conjunction. If you focus on the tough issues, you could spend two minutes choosing the right answer. But if you spot the critical difference in a single, tiny word, you could sail through the problem in under a minute.<\/span><\/p>\n The term \u201cparallelism\u201d refers to GMAT Sentence Correction rules that deal with lists<\/span><\/a>. For instance, this sentence is parallel:<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m going to eat kale, drink a smoothie, and take my vitamins. <\/span><\/p>\n The best trick for parallelism is to start at the <\/span>end of the list<\/b>, not the beginning. Find the <\/span>parallel marker\u2014<\/b>the word that tells you there\u2019s a list in the sentence, such as \u201cand\u201d or \u201cor.\u201d In this sentence, it\u2019s the word \u201cand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Once you find the parallel marker, look immediately to the right of it. That\u2019s where you\u2019ll find the last thing on the list! In this case, it\u2019s \u201ctake my vitamins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For a sentence to have good parallelism, everything on the list needs to look alike, grammatically speaking. Since we already know that \u201ctake my vitamins\u201d is one of the things on the list, we just need to make sure that everything else on the list looks similar to it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All of those are phrases about VERBing a NOUN, so they all look alike. That\u2019s a good list! Here\u2019s a sentence with a not-so-good list: <\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m going to eat kale, chickpeas, broccoli, and drink apple juice. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Using the rule we learned earlier, the last thing on the list is \u201cdrink apple juice.\u201d Everything else on the list has to have that same verb-noun structure. But in this sentence, that\u2019s not the case. Only \u201ceat kale\u201d matches, while \u201cbroccoli\u201d and \u201cchickpeas\u201d are lonely nouns, stuck all by themselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The right answer to a GMAT Sentence Correction problem will often \u201csound wrong.\u201d When you get right down to it, a lot of sentences on the GMAT are just plain weird. We\u2019re seeing these sentences totally out of context, and they deal with topics that we probably know nothing about. <\/span>Plus, they\u2019re <\/span>designed<\/span><\/i> to be long, complicated, and not incredibly good at getting the point across<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n If you go into a Sentence Correction problem looking for the perfect sentence, you\u2019ll be disappointed. <\/span>It\u2019s always better to eliminate wrong answers than to search for the right answer.<\/b> After all, to prove that an answer is wrong, you only need to find <\/span>one<\/b> thing wrong with it. To prove that an answer is right, the whole thing has to be correct, all the way through. Plus, for every grammar error, there are a dozen different ways that it could be fixed. If there\u2019s an error in one sentence, you don\u2019t necessarily know what the \u201cright\u201d version will look like! The right answer can sometimes surprise you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is a common issue on Verbal problems, and <\/span>we\u2019ve written about it before<\/span><\/a>! If you\u2019re stuck between two Sentence Correction answer choices, <\/span>zero in on the differences between them<\/b>, instead of just reading them one at a time. One of those two answer choices has to be wrong, so at least one of the differences must tell you something helpful. Pick the difference you\u2019re most confident about, and go for it.<\/span><\/p>\n When you focus on the differences between two answer choices, you could see a grammar error that you didn\u2019t notice before. If you <\/span>don\u2019t <\/span><\/i>see a grammar error, it\u2019s also possible that the two answer choices have different meanings. Sentence Correction doesn\u2019t just test grammar rules\u2014it tests your knowledge of the way that grammar determines a sentence\u2019s meaning<\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If one of the answer choices has a meaning that doesn\u2019t make logical sense, or if it seems like it could mean two different things, eliminate it. But what if both meanings seem reasonable? You\u2019ll rarely get to this point, but if you do, go with the meaning that\u2019s closer to the original sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t focus too much on just the underlined section. If you do that, you\u2019ll miss all kinds of interesting grammar rules. Here are two answer choices from an imaginary Sentence Correction problem:<\/span><\/p>\n (A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company. Without looking at the whole sentence, neither one of these looks wrong, although there are a couple of differences. You might eliminate (B) because it uses the passive voice, or you could eliminate (A) because it uses the wordy phrase \u201cundertaken by the company.\u201d In both cases, you\u2019d be missing something crucial. Here are those answer choices in context: <\/span><\/p>\n The CEO requested that managers become more cognizant of the relationship between the company and the surrounding community, <\/span>and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n (A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company. In context, only (B) can be correct! It gives you something that\u2019s parallel to the first half of the sentence, while (A) is mismatched. If you eliminated it just because it used the passive voice\u2014without checking the rest of the sentence\u2014you would have missed that.<\/span><\/p>\n If you read a tough sentence in a book or a news article, you probably don\u2019t even notice anything out of the ordinary, unless it\u2019s <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> complicated. But when you see that same sentence in a GMAT Sentence Correction problem, when the clock is ticking and you\u2019re under pressure to choose the right answer, it suddenly seems incomprehensible.<\/span><\/p>\n To keep this from ruining your Sentence Correction flow, follow these steps:<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t try to do too much at once! If you try to figure out every detail of the grammar of a sentence while also reading it for the first time, you\u2019ll overwhelm and confuse yourself. It\u2019s fine to read the sentence once just to get your head around it, then worry about the grammar afterwards. For more on the Sentence Correction process, check out our <\/span>Sentence Correction Strategy Guide<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n GMAT instructor Ryan Jacobs <\/span>already summed this one up<\/span><\/a>! In a Sentence Correction problem, the answer choices will usually be different from each other in <\/span>multiple ways<\/b>. Some of those ways will be important, and others won\u2019t. Some will be obvious, and others will be subtle. <\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t get hung up on the very first difference you see. If you don\u2019t know the rule now, you\u2019re not going to remember it within the next 80 seconds (that\u2019s how long you have to do an average Sentence Correction problem). Instead, go searching for another rule that you <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> know.<\/span><\/p>\n The key to solving a Sentence Correction problem can be anywhere in the sentence. However, there are times when you should ignore part of the sentence. <\/span><\/p>\n The number-one mistake that students make while studying for GMAT Sentence Correction is being overly specific. For an example, let\u2019s return to that problem from tip number 5:<\/span><\/p>\n The CEO requested that managers become more cognizant of the relationship between the company and the surrounding community, <\/span>and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n (A) and to prepare a memorandum describing the charitable activities undertaken by the company. Suppose that you just got this problem wrong and you wanted to review. The <\/span>wrong<\/b> thing to write in your problem log would be this: <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cthat a memorandum\u2026 be prepared\u201d is right; \u201cto prepare a memorandum\u201d is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a slightly better takeaway, but this one <\/span>still isn\u2019t perfect<\/b>: <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cthat managers become more cognizant\u201d is parallel to \u201cthat a memorandum be prepared.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those takeaways <\/span>aren\u2019t memorable<\/b>, and they <\/span>won\u2019t help you on other problems<\/b>\u2014unless you just so happen to see a problem about memos and managers on test day. Instead of these takeaways, think of a takeaway that will make you more likely to do the right thing on test day:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cand\u201d plus verbs in different forms (\u201cto prepare\u201d, \u201cthat\u2026 be prepared\u201d) tells you to look for parallelism with the first half of the sentence!<\/span><\/p>\n The key to improving your Sentence Correction game is taking what you learn from one sentence and applying it to other ones. It takes some time, but when you review, you should try boiling down every issue in a problem into a simple, general rule. Every sentence you see on test day will be brand-new\u2014but the rules will be exactly the same as the ones you\u2019ve studied. Learn to focus on those rules, and you\u2019ll set yourself up to succeed. ?<\/span><\/p>\n Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> GMAT Sentence Correction is all about grammar, but not every grammar rule is equally important. With these Sentence Correction tips, we\u2019ll look at some of the most important\u2014and most often overlooked\u2014Sentence Correction techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,880,929,874,52871,930,2,26,10],"tags":[267,585],"yst_prominent_words":[54214,53679,54224,54221,53677,54217,54213,53667,53668,54223,54216,54212,54222,54215,53674,53669,53673,54220],"class_list":["post-16877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-101","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-resources","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmat-grammar","tag-parallelism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16877"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16931,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16877\/revisions\/16931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16877"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}10. Worry about the small stuff.<\/b><\/h4>\n
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9. Parallelism: work from the end to the beginning.<\/b><\/h4>\n
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8. Stop searching for the perfect sentence.<\/b><\/h4>\n
7. Stuck between two answer choices? Focus on the differences.<\/b><\/h4>\n
6. Still stuck? You might be missing a meaning issue.<\/b><\/h4>\n
5. Don\u2019t forget the rest of the sentence.<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span>(B) and that a memorandum describing the company\u2019s charitable activities be prepared.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>(B) and that a memorandum describing the company\u2019s charitable activities be prepared.<\/span><\/p>\n4. Think, but don\u2019t overthink.<\/b><\/h4>\n
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3. Use the best split, not the first split.<\/b><\/h4>\n
2. Know what to ignore on GMAT Sentence Correction.<\/b><\/h4>\n
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1. Don\u2019t use a new rule when an old rule will do.<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span>(B) and that a memorandum describing the company\u2019s charitable activities be prepared.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170\/170 on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"