For GMAT you do not only need to know English, but you need the basic and correct English.
First, some definitions:
- Noun = a word that is used to name a person, place, thing or idea
- Verb = a word that expresses action
- Adjective = a word that modifies a noun
- Adverb = a word that modifies a verb, adjective or adverb
- Preposition = a word that notes the relation of a noun to an action or a thing
- Phrase = a group of words acting as a single part of a speech. A phrase is missing either a subject or a verb or both
- Prepositional phrase = a group of words beginning with a preposition
- Pronoun = a word that takes the place of a noun
- Clause = a group of words that contains a subject and a verb
Pronoun errors that you meet in the GMAT problems can be identified asking the following questions:
- It is completely clear who or what the pronoun is referring to?
- Does the pronoun agree in number with the noun it is referring to?
Common pronouns:
- Singular: I, me, he, him, she, her, you, it, each, another, one, other, such, mine, yours, his, hers, ours, this, either, neither, each, everyone. Everybody, nobody, no one.
- Plural: we, us, they, them, both, these, those.
- Can be singular or plural: some, any, you, who, which, what, that.
Misplaced modifiers
- When a sentence begins with a participial phrase (a phrase that starts with a verb ending in “ing”), that phrase is supposed to modify the noun or pronoun immediately following it.
- Check that the noun is modified comes directly after the modifying phrase.
Parallel construction
If a sentence contains a list of things, or actions or is broken up into two halves, check to make sure the parts of the sentence are parallel.
Again, if your native language is not English, verify your knowledge tenses:
- Present
- Simple Past
- Present Perfect
- Past Perfect
- Future
Subject-verb agreement
- “The number of …” – singular
- “A number of …” – plural
- Singular pronouns: each, everyone, everybody, nobody
Quantity words
- If two items: between, more, better, less.
- If more than two items: among, most, best, least.
- Countable items: fewer, number, many.
- Non-countable items: less, amount, quantity, much.
