Introduction to 10 Essential Grammar Rules for SAT® Writing

Recently, CollegeBoard drastically altered the format of their SAT® Writing and Language Test. Although its striking resemblance to the ACT® English Test allows students to prep for both tests simultaneously, the SAT® Writing Section is still an intimidating challenge for students. To help you take down the beast, we’ve compiled the top ten essential grammar rules to follow when reviewing for the SAT® Writing and Language Test. If you review, memorize, and practice the following rules, you’re one step closer to achieving your target score.

1. The Subject and Verb Must Agree in Number

One of the most commonly tested grammar rules in the SAT® Writing Section is subject-verb agreement. Simply put, if the subject is singular (one), there should be a singular verb, and if the subject is plural (more than one), there should be a plural verb. Below is a basic example you have probably learned in school:

Singular: Jack runs down the street. (Jack is a singular subject, and runs is a singular verb)

Plural: Jack and Jill run down the street. (Jack and Jill is a plural subject, and run is a plural verb)

If each test question was as simple as this, every student would be on their way to the Ivy League, but SAT® test-makers often like to complicate this question type. This leads us to our second rule.

2. Collective Nouns are Singular

To complicate basic subject-verb agreement, the SAT® Writing and Language Test often uses things like collective nouns to trick test-takers. For SAT® review, remember that group words used to refer to multiple individuals are singular subjects. For example,

Incorrect: The jury are convinced that John is guilty.

Although the subject jury refers to more than one person, as a collective noun, we take jury as a singular subject.

Correct: The jury is convinced that John is guilty.

Some examples of other collective nouns to look out for are: team, group, committee, crowd, class, and panel. Note that multiple groups (panels, juries, groups, etc.) are used with plural verbs.

3. Prepositional Phrases DO NOT Make a Subject Singular or Plural

One of the most important grammar rules to remember when doing prep for the SAT® Writing and Language Test is prepositions are not used when identifying whether or not a subject is plural or singular. Instead, the head noun, or the noun being modified, tells us which verb form to use. Examples of how the SAT® uses prepositions are,

Incorrect: The group of members are extremely passionate.

Correct: The group of members is extremely passionate.

Incorrect: The book with five chapters are well written.

Correct: The book with five chapters is well written.

As you can see, if you cross out the prepositional phrase altogether, you can easily identify the subject. In the stress and rush of taking the SAT®s, prepositional phrases can distract test takers from simple grammatical errors. By crossing out the prepositional phrase, we quickly simplify the sentence and make the errors more apparent.

4. Pronouns Must be Clear in Reference and Number

On the SAT® Writing and Language Test, you should always be able to circle a pronoun and draw an arrow to the exact person, place, or thing being referenced. In your SAT® review, practice connecting pronouns to their nouns. For example,

Even though John was tired, he still went running.

Here, we can see that the he being referenced is John. To test your ability to identify proper pronoun usage, the SAT® Writing and Language test often employs ambiguous pronoun (pronouns in the presence of more than one possible noun):

Incorrect: John, Jim, and Carl were running when he got tired and stopped.

Because there is more than one possible he, we cannot logically deduce who got tired and stopped. Instead, a correct answer would be one that specifies a specific individual.

Correct: John,Jim, and Carl were running when Jim got tired and stopped.

Along with using ambiguous pronouns to test your knowledge, the SAT® employs sentences in which the pronoun does not agree with the number of nouns being referenced.

Incorrect: The mile timesof the students in Jim’s class were higher than that of Carl’s class.

As we learned above, prepositional phrases do not make a subject singular or plural. Here, we cross out the prepositional phrase to clearly see that the pronoun that is used in reference to the noun mile times. Since mile times are a plural subject, the pronoun must also be plural. To correct the error, the sentence should read:

Correct: The mile timesof the students in Jim’s class were higher than those of Carl’s class.

When you review for the SAT® Language and Writing Test, remember that I, me, you, she, her, it, and him are singular and we, us, you, they, and them are plural. To make it easier on yourself, whenever you see a pronoun in a question, circle it in the text and draw an arrow to the noun it’s referring to.

5. Modifiers have to Appear Next to Whatever they’re Modifying

One common error type on the SAT® Writing Section is the use of dangling and misplaced modifiers. Exactly what they sound like, modifiers are words or phrases that modify another word to give the reader more information. In your SAT® Review, remember that whenever you see a modifier, especially at the beginning of a sentence, remember that the word directly following the comma must be the word being modified. Errors would typically be as follows,

Incorrect: A very precocious young boy, engineering came easily to Billy.

Because the word being modified must appear directly after the modifier, the modifying phrase (A very precocious young boy) is incorrectly referring to computer engineering. To fix the error, the sentence should read,

Correct: A very precocious young boy, Billy found engineering easy.

Along with these modifiers at the beginning of a sentence, the SAT® Writing and Language Test regularly uses modifiers in incorrect or ambiguous positions. For example,

Incorrect: The basketball player announced his plans to train harder during the meeting.

In this incorrect usage, the modifying phrase (during the meeting) is placed in a position that causes ambiguity. Is the basketball player going to train harder during that specific meeting? Is he going to train harder during the season? To correct the error, we need to move the modifier to clarify what is happening.

Correct: During the meeting, the basketball player announced his plans to train harder.

Here, we can clearly see that the basketball player is the word being modified, and he intends to train harder in general, rather than at the meeting. Because idiomatically we usually accept both sentences as the same thing, it is especially important to pay close attention to the use of modifiers during the SAT® Writing and Language Test and during your SAT® Writing prep. You should always be able to circle a modifier and draw an arrow to the exact word being modified. If you can’t, you need to choose the answer choice that makes it absolutely clear.

6. Each Word Should Make Sense in Context

Much to the joy of test-takers everywhere, the dreaded vocabulary section present on old SAT® tests is gone for good. While this means you don’t need to memorize five hundred obscure words a day, you still need to have a good understanding of medium-difficulty words. Like the ACT® English Test, the SAT® Writing and Language Test employs word choice questions that will challenge your knowledge of things like homophones (words that sound similar, but have different meanings) and words that have multiple definitions. Be sure to take some time in your SAT® Writing prep to study essential words and commonly used homophones.

For homophone questions, the sentence will usually read something like:

There are a number of dogs without there collars.

A) NO CHANGE
B) There, their (Correct Answer)
C) Their, there
D) They’re, their

For word choice questions, the sentence will usually look like:

Although fitness advocates preserve that the supplement is beneficial, the FDA has yet to release positive results.

A) NO CHANGE
B) sustain
C) maintain (Correct Answer)
D) endure

Remember, during the real SAT® and ACT®, these sentences will appear in a longer passage. Although sentences like these supply you with the context you need to answer the question, you need to read the overall tone and message of the passage to understand which definition works best. Because SAT® test makers assume you will be in a rush, they create answer choices that are correct definitions of the word but are not appropriate for the sentence. Always choose your answers in the greater context of the sentence and passage.

7. Commas Separate Main and Subordinate Clauses

A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. Put more simply, a noun and a verb phrase. The SAT® Writing and Language test wants to challenge your knowledge of what constitutes a sentence with something called a comma splice. This occurs when two grammatically complete sentences are combined with just a comma. For example,

Incorrect: Pandas are my favorite animal, they are so cute.

Each of these statements contains a noun (Panda/They) and a verb statement (are my…/are so), and are therefore complete on their own. To correct the error, each main clause must be separated by a period, semicolon, or coordinating conjunction.

Correct: Pandas are my favorite animal. They are so cute.

Correct: Pandas are my favorite animal; they are so cute.

Correct: Pandas are my favorite animal, for they are so cute.

With this knowledge, we can better understand our next essential grammatical rule.

8. Follow Sentence Rules to Avoid Run-Ons and Fragments

Although many people associate run-ons with wordiness and fragments with shortness, both are simply clauses that don’t follow the grammatical rules for complete sentences. For a sentence to be complete, it must have at least one main clause (subject and a predicate), and all main clauses must be connected with the proper punctuation. As seen in the previous rule, this means that main clauses must be connected by semicolons, or coordinating conjunctions and commas. Similarly, a sentence is a fragment if there is no main clause.

Run-On: My wife comes from the city and I come from the Suburbs.

Fragment: My wife coming from the city and I from the suburbs.

Correct: My wife comes from the city, and I come from the suburbs.

9. Verbs and Sentence Structure must Remain Parallel

To ensure a sentence is grammatically correct, all verb tenses and grammatical structures must remain parallel. Put simply, this means that words must be repeated to maintain a pattern. As this is a very common error type, be sure to practice it for your SAT® Writing Prep. In terms of word choice, an example that may occur on the SAT® is:

Incorrect: John wanted to buy a new car, partly because of his need to have a reliable vehicle, but mostly because of his greatly desiring to look cool.

Correct: John wanted to buy a new car, partly because of his need to have a reliable vehicle, but mostly because of his desire to look cool.

As you can see in the first example, the sentence is linked with the conjunction but and the phrase because of is repeated. To maintain the parallel structure, the noun phrase his greatly wanting has to match the noun phrase structure of his need. Along with word structure, verb tense must remain consistent throughout the sentence.

Incorrect: John loved running with his friends, swimming in the ocean, and walk through the valley.

Correct: John loved running with his friends, swimming in the ocean, and walking through the valley.

10. Correlative Coordination Means Two Parts

One of the most common, but easiest error-types to identify is the use of a coordinator without its matching word. Because the first coordinator requires its pair word to be complete, you should circle the word anytime you see it and quickly identify if its partner word is present in the sentence.

• ..or – Either John or Jim is the club leader.
• ..and – Both John and Jim are funny.
• not so much…as – He’s not so much funny as he is annoying.
• just as…so
• ..nor
• not only…but(also)
• at once…and

While this list is far from everything, if you follow these Top 10 Essential SAT® Grammar Rules during your test review, you are well on your way to achieving your target score for the SAT® Writing and Language Test, and near-identical ACT® English Test. If you have any essential rules to add to this list, please feel free to put them in the comment section below.

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