Mastering Advanced Grammar for GRE and GMAT Exams: A Comprehensive Guide
Introduction:
The GRE and GMAT exams assess your ability to use English in an academic and professional context. Mastering advanced grammar topics is essential to performing well in the Verbal Reasoning and Analytical Writing sections of both exams. This module is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the advanced grammar topics that commonly appear in these tests, with examples, applications, and practical exercises to help you excel. Whether you’re preparing for the GRE or GMAT, mastering these grammar points will enhance your writing and comprehension skills.
I. Advanced Grammar Topics for GRE and GMAT
1. Subject-Verb Agreement:
Correct subject-verb agreement is essential to clear communication. In advanced grammar, errors in subject-verb agreement often involve complex sentences or intervening phrases.
- Example:
“The committee has decided to approve the new policy.”
(Here, “committee” is a singular collective noun, so we use “has.”)
2. Verb Tenses:
Understanding the correct usage of various tenses is essential for both expressing actions at the right time and maintaining consistency throughout the sentence.
- Examples of Tenses:
- Past Perfect: “By the time we arrived, the movie had started.”
- Present Perfect: “She has studied for three hours.”
3. Parallelism:
Parallelism refers to using similar grammatical structures in sentences or clauses to maintain balance and clarity. In the GRE and GMAT, parallel structure errors often appear in lists and comparisons.
- Example:
“She likes playing tennis, swimming, and running.”
(The structure “playing,” “swimming,” and “running” is parallel.)
4. Pronouns:
Advanced grammar questions often test the correct usage of pronouns, including their agreement with antecedents, the correct use of reflexive pronouns, and ensuring that pronouns are clear and unambiguous.
- Example:
“Each of the students must submit his or her assignment on time.”
5. Modifiers:
Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide additional information about another element in a sentence. Misplaced modifiers can confuse the meaning of the sentence.
- Example:
“Running fast, the finish line was crossed by the athlete.”
(Corrected: “Running fast, the athlete crossed the finish line.”)
6. Conditional Sentences:
Conditional sentences express hypothetical situations and their possible outcomes. GRE and GMAT often test your understanding of mixed conditionals and their structure.
- Example:
“If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.”
7. Active and Passive Voice:
Both the GRE and GMAT require you to recognize when to use active or passive voice for clarity and emphasis. Understanding how to convert active voice into passive voice and vice versa is crucial.
- Example of Active Voice:
“The researcher conducted the experiment.” - Example of Passive Voice:
“The experiment was conducted by the researcher.”
8. Sentence Structure:
Advanced grammar in GRE and GMAT exams also tests your ability to handle complex sentence structures, including compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
- Example:
“I was tired, but I decided to finish my assignment, even though it was already late.”
9. Idiomatic Expressions and Phrasal Verbs:
Phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions often appear in the verbal reasoning sections of GRE and GMAT. Understanding the meaning and usage of common idioms and phrasal verbs is essential.
- Example:
“She is looking forward to meeting you.”
10. Dangling Modifiers:
A dangling modifier occurs when a descriptive word or phrase doesn’t properly modify the intended noun, often leading to confusion.
- Example:
“While reading the book, the lights went out.”
(Corrected: “While I was reading the book, the lights went out.”)
II. Grammar Focus for GRE and GMAT
1. GRE Grammar Focus:
The GRE tests advanced grammar through Sentence Equivalence, Text Completion, and Reading Comprehension questions. Make sure you are proficient in:
- Subject-verb agreement in complex sentences.
- Verb tense consistency across paragraphs.
- Clear and concise expression through correct use of pronouns.
2. GMAT Grammar Focus:
The GMAT verbal section includes sentence correction questions that focus on:
- Modifiers: Ensure modifiers are correctly placed.
- Pronoun usage: Make sure pronouns agree with their antecedents.
- Parallelism: Maintain consistency in structure.
III. Practice Exercises
MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)
- Choose the correct form of the verb: “She ______ to the store every Saturday.”
- a) go
- b) goes
- c) going
- d) gone
- Answer: b) goes
Explanation: The subject “She” is singular, so the verb must be “goes.”
- Choose the correct sentence:
- a) The team have finished their practice.
- b) The team has finished their practice.
- c) The teams has finished their practice.
- d) The teams have finished their practice.
- Answer: b) The team has finished their practice.
Explanation: “Team” is a collective noun, so it takes a singular verb (“has”).
- Which of the following is an example of a correctly used conditional sentence?
- a) If he would have studied, he would pass the exam.
- b) If he studies, he would have passed the exam.
- c) If he had studied, he would have passed the exam.
- d) If he studied, he would have passed the exam.
- Answer: c) If he had studied, he would have passed the exam.
Explanation: This is a third conditional sentence, used for past hypothetical situations.
- Select the correct sentence:
- a) The book was read by she.
- b) The book was read by her.
- c) The book read by her.
- d) The book has been read by she.
- Answer: b) The book was read by her.
Explanation: “Her” is the correct object pronoun in passive voice.
- Choose the correct use of a pronoun: “Each of the students must submit ______ assignment.”
- a) their
- b) his
- c) her
- d) his or her
- Answer: d) his or her
Explanation: “Each” is singular, so we use “his or her.”
- Identify the error in the sentence: “He enjoys to read books in the morning.”
- a) enjoys
- b) to
- c) read
- d) books
- Answer: b) to
Explanation: The correct expression is “enjoy reading,” not “enjoy to read.”
- Choose the correct word to complete the sentence: “She has been working here _____ five years.”
- a) since
- b) for
- c) in
- d) during
- Answer: b) for
Explanation: “For” is used to indicate the duration of time.
- Fill in the blank: “If I ______ more time, I would travel the world.”
- a) have
- b) had
- c) will have
- d) would have
- Answer: b) had
Explanation: This is a second conditional sentence, which expresses a hypothetical situation in the present.
- Which of the following is grammatically correct?
- a) Neither of the students were absent.
- b) Neither of the students was absent.
- c) Neither of the students are absent.
- d) Neither of the students be absent.
- Answer: b) Neither of the students was absent.
Explanation: “Neither” is singular, so the verb must be “was.”
- Choose the correct form of the verb: “The manager, along with his team, ______ going to the conference.”
- a) is
- b) are
- c) were
- d) has
- Answer: a) is
Explanation: The subject “manager” is singular, so the verb must be “is.”
Fill in the Blanks
- I __________ (study) when the phone rang.
- Answer: was studying
- She __________ (eat) lunch at 1 PM every day.
- Answer: eats
- If I __________ (be) taller, I would play basketball.
- Answer: were
- The movie __________ (start) by the time we arrived.
- Answer: had started
- She __________ (work) at the company for 10 years.
- Answer: has worked
- If they __________ (know) about the traffic, they would have left earlier.
- Answer: had known
- They __________ (complete) the assignment by the deadline.
- Answer: completed
- I __________ (finish) my homework before I went out.
- Answer: had finished
- He __________ (not/visit) the museum yet.
- Answer: has not visited
- She __________ (travel) to Europe next summer.
- Answer: will travel
IV. Descriptive Questions
- Explain the importance of subject-verb agreement in complex sentences.
- Answer: Subject-verb agreement ensures clarity and accuracy in communication. In complex sentences, the subject and verb must match in number (singular/plural) to avoid confusion, especially when the subject is separated by phrases or clauses.
- How does parallelism improve sentence clarity and coherence?
- Answer: Parallelism ensures that items in a list or parts of a sentence follow the same grammatical structure, which helps readers to better understand and process information.
