SAT Grammar Cheat Sheet

Remember, when parsing grammar, find the main verb first. Then, you can branch out to find the other parts of a sentence by asking the following questions:

o Sentence: “He threw his friend a party.”o To find the subject: “Who’s doing the verb?””Who’s

throwing?””He”o To find the direct object: “Threw what” “a party.”o To find the indirect object: “To whom or to what” “his friend”

Parallel Structureo In lists and with compound subjects/verbs/direct objects keep

parallel structure by keeping the verbs and items consistent: All gerunds: I like skiing, reading, and listening to music All infinitives: I went to ski, to watch a movie, and to have

a meal. Ve

rb

tense: I bought a new bike and saw a movie with a friend.

Colons:

Semicolons

Quotation marks

o

Apostrophe

Types of phrases (phrase: group of words with either a noun or a verb but not both)

o Appositive:

o Participial phrase Verbadjective Present participle: add ~ing to a verb: crycryingcrying baby Past Participle: add ~nt,~nd,~ed: fallfallenfallen leaves Participles must stand as close as possible to the noun it

modifies. Be aware of the dangling participle: Wrong: Walking through the woods, the birds chirped

loudly. Correct: Walking through the woods, I heard the birds

chirp loudly. o Gerund phrase

Verbnoun Add ~ing:

Reading is my favorite past time (subject of the sentence) I like reading (direct object of the verb like) I came from playing basketball (object of the preposition

from)o Infinitive phrase

To + a verb To run, to play, to read To hit the ball well (whole phrase) Do not split the infinitive: to happily runto run happily.

o Prepositional phrase (do not end a sentence with a preposition. You can use a clause word to shift the preposition to the middle of the sentence:

He is the friend with whom I went to the party. This is the time by which you must arrive at the party.

Clauses (group of words with a subject and a predicate. Independent clause will form a complete thought—synonym of complete sentence; dependent clause will not for a complete thought)

o Subordinate clause

o Adjective clause That: for objects (essential clause, no commas) Which: for objects (nonessential clause, commas) Who: for people. Subjective case.

Whom: for people. Objective case Whose: for people. Possessive.

To determine when to use who or whom. Subjective personal pronouns: I, we, he, she, they, it, you. Objective personal pronouns: me, us, him, her, it, you. When you come across a who/whom, ask the question.

Begin with who and use the language in the sentence. Then, hypothetically answer the question using a personal pronoun. If you need to use a subjective personal pronoun, then you need to use “who.” If you use an objective personal pronoun, then you need to use “whom.”

Example: “A person who is born in the US will become a US citizen.”

o “Who is born?””She is”subjective pronoun was used, so use “who.”

Example: “The person whom he liked sat over there.”o “Who did he like?”He liked himobjective

pronoun was used, so use “whom.”

o Essential/Nonessential clauses and phrases If you remove essential clauses and phrases, you change the

fundamental meaning of the sentence. “All books that are damaged go in these boxes.”

If you remove nonessential clauses and phrases, you do not change the fundamental meaning of the sentence.

“Spaghetti, which I like best, is on the menu.” Essential clauses and phrases DO NOT get commas. Nonessential clauses and phrases DO get commas.

o Agreement Pronoun-Antecedent agreement Antecedent: the word replaced by the pronouns.

“My friend is Bill. I gave him a present.”o “Bill” is the antecedent. “Him” is the pronoun.

Singular antecedents get singular pronouns. Plural antecedents get plural pronouns.

o Subject Verb agreement Singular subjects get singular verbs Plural subjects get plural verbs

Commaso Be aware of the comma splice. Commas cannot connect two

independent clauses.

Coordinating adjectives/Cumulative adjectives (when to place commas between adjectives)

o Coordinating: Adjectives in a row that each separately and equally modify the noun that follows: “The long, winding road.” Use a comma.

If you replace the comma with “and,” the sentence still makes sense.

The long and winding road. If you switch the order, the sentence still makes sense.

The winding, long road. o Cumulative: The adjectives build on each other: “beautiful custom

houseboat.” No commas. “custom” modifies “houseboat.” “custom houseboat” now

becomes a unit. “beautiful” modifies that unit “custom houseboat.” Cannot place “and” between them. Cannot switch the order.

o Examples: Coordinating: I see a brown haired, blue eyed singer on stage. Cumulative: We ate two oversized pancakes for breakfast. Coordinating: The spoiled, fat cats lazed in the sun. Cumulative: Their tasteful ten-foot camping tents were

assembled easily.

Active/Passive voice.

o Active: Carson threw the ball. The doer of the action, Carson, is the subject of the sentence, in

front of the verb.o Passive: The ball was thrown by Carson.

The doer of the action, Carson, is not the subject, buried at the end of the sentence.

o Avoid passive voice, because it can make sentences wordy and awkward.

o Red flag for passive voice: A to-be verb (is are, was, were, be, being, been) next to an

action verb, AND the doer of the action after the verb. The song was sung by Neil.

o To be verb “was” is next to an action verb “sung.” The doer of the action, “Neil,” is after the verb. Passive voice.

He is running.o To be verb “is” is next to an action verb “running,”

but the doer of the verb, “He” is in front of the verb. NOT passive voice. This is the present progressive tense.

Verb tenses

Conjunctions

o Coordinating conjunctions. FANBOYS. For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So Used to join two independent clauses. Preceded by a commas.

“I like pizza, and I like pastrami sandwiches.” “I don’t like cheese, but I like cheese fries.”

o Correlative conjunctions: used in pairs. Either…or Neither…nor Both…and Not only…but also

o Conjunctive adverb However, consequently, therefore, nevertheless, moreover,

otherwise. Preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma.

o “I wanted to go the movie; however, I was broke.”o “The mechanic has a manual for most vehicles;

otherwise, he would not have the necessary information he needs to fix cars.”

o “We have been friends for years; nevertheless, I feel at times you don’t understand me.”

o Lists Use a comma to separate items in a list:

I like chicken wings, pastrami, and ribs. Use a semicolon to separate items in a list that also contains

commas: I lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Voorhees, New Jersey;

and Fukui City, Japan. Using Etcetera:

When in the middle of a sentence, use a comma:o “Tennis, soccer, baseball, etc., are outdoor

games.”o “He bought some apples, oranges, grapefruits,

etc., for his fruit salad.” When at the end of the sentence, just use a period.

o “I wanted to play basketball, football, soccer, etc.” No “and” before etc.

o Comparatives and Superlatives Comparatives compare two items.

She is smarter than he is. He is the stronger of the two. This is more valuable than that is.

Be aware of comparatives that don’t use “than.” He is different from me.

Superlatives are used for more than two items.

He is the most handsome. She is the smartest of the

three.

Combining sentenceso Reduce clauses to phrases, single words, prepositional phrases.

o Participial phrases

o Appositives

o Adjective clause (that, which, who, whom, whose)

o Subordinate clause (after, although, as, because, since, so that, unless, when, whenever, in order to)

Commonly confused words/ idiomso Further: figurative distance “I will get further annoyed if you don’t put

your phones away.”o Farther: physical distance “He ran farther than she did.” Actual distance

traveled.o Less: Not countable There is less water in this tank than that one.o Fewer: CountableI have fewer pencils that she does.o Among: for more than two itemsPass this out among the studentso Between: for only two itemsPut the chair between you and me.o Then: for time I went to the store. Then I went to the bank.

o Than: for comparisons I am taller than she is.o Affect: verb. This affects me poorly.o Effect: noun. The bad effects of cigarettes are widely known. o Lie/Lay

Logical comparisons

Where to place sentences logically, keep/delete sentences, etc.o Have a strategy:

Look for transitional words Look for any pronouns or antecedents that connect to other sentences Consider the content.

o Skim Don’t just read quickly. Skimming means that you land on key words in

sentences—usually nouns and verbs. Your eyes will glance over all the

words, but only land on key words. Doing so will enable you to get the main idea.

Consider this passage. I highlighted words I used when skimming. Czech novelist Milan Kundera cited Tolstoy as the last novelist who

could be possessing the sum of his era's human knowledge. This may seem like an odd claim. Some people may be very intelligent, others may be know-it-alls, but is it really possible to know everything? A book like War and Peace makes the case that it is possible to know it all, or at least that it was possible, alongside Tolstoy's other great novels and non-fiction writings. Shakespeare seemed to have an emotional vocabulary that was advanced for his age, but Tolstoy lived in an era of facts and discoveries, and his novels show the fruits of his vast study. It is frankly conceivable that a man with Tolstoy's leisure, intelligence, and curiosity learns about his age's most current findings in literature, politics, religion, and science.

Main ideas: Tolstoy knows a lot, knowing facts vs. emotional knowledge, intelligence.