On the SAT, prepositional sentences are often inserted between subjects and verbs to make errors in the subject-verb correspondence less noticeable. Look at this misspelled sentence with the prepositional sentence underlined: So where is the subject? “Under my bed” is a prepositional phrase – that`s not the problem. What is it? A pen and a Taco Bell receipt. We can organize the order of sentences so that the sentence reads as follows: “A pen and a Taco Bell receipt exist.” Since there is a composite subject, the verb must be plural. This is the corrected version of the sentence: the subject is both Justin and the SAT, so the verb must be in the plural. Most subject-verb voting questions on the SAT deal with verb forms in the third person singular (he/she/she/one) and in the third person plural (they). The subject-verb match error is much more obvious. Hurrah! Another unique situation that affects the subject-verb agreement is the use of collective nouns. Collective nouns are singular nouns that refer to groups of people. On the SAT, these nouns, when used in the singular, must be used with singular verbs. Examples of collective names are team, group, company and committee. The word order has been changed, but that sentence says, “The consequences are less amusing.” So how should you approach sentences in which the subject follows the verb? Always cross out appositive and non-essential clauses for these types of questions. This makes it easier to identify subject-verb match problems.
The resulting sentence must be grammatically correct. Let`s do it with the misspelled version of our previous example: Now that we have a basic understanding of a topic, let`s define this ubiquitous SAT grammar rule. Although the rule itself is relatively simple, the issues associated with it can be difficult and somewhat difficult. In this article, we will teach you how to become a master of everything related to subject-verb correspondence on the SAT. The following is an example of an actual SAT subject-verb match question that uses a composite subject. In general, questions related to subject-verb correspondence on the SAT can be difficult because the subject is usually not placed directly in front of the verb. Remember that “the member” and “the team” are prepositional phrases. Once the pre-postion phrases have been removed, the sentence is “`Everyone is athletic.` Everyone is our subject, so the verb must be singular.
This is the correct version: note that the subject will not be part of a prepositional sentence. Most subject-verb correspondence questions on the SAT separate a subject from a verb with a prepositional sentence. A non-essential sentence often begins with a relative pronoun (who, who, who, or where), but not in a sentence known as an appositive. An appositive works as a non-essential clause, but it has no verb. Here`s an example: It can be helpful to know the common tricks the SAT uses for questions that test your knowledge of subject-verb correspondence. The better you know these tricks, the faster you can identify them and correctly answer questions about subject-verb correspondence. In these sentences, where the subject follows the verb, you simply organize the sentence so that it follows the normal structure of the subject and then the verb. This makes it easier to detect errors in the subject-verb match.
If you were to do this in the misspelled example above, you`d end up with “its consequences are less fun.” The subject is right in front of the verb and the error is obvious. The subjects of sentences and the subjects of sentences must match their verbs. For each verb, find the noun that corresponds to that particular verb. Then determine whether that subject is singular or plural, and make sure the subject and verb match. So how will knowing these sentences help you correctly answer SAT questions related to subject-verb correspondence? Let me explain. The theme is the gerund “save”, which is singular. Therefore, the verb must be “high” and the answer is B. Since “delays” is singular and shares the same subject, you should know that any verb that corresponds to the same subject must also be in the singular. .