SAT Grammer Hacks

Description comes before the name

No commas are needed when a title or description comes directly before a person's name.

Example: Scientist Marie Curie

No commas because the description ('Scientist') comes before the name.

Period vs. semicolon

Both can separate two complete sentences.

Similar answer choices

Eliminate answers that are basically saying the same thing.

Apostrophe questions: majority rule

Find the answer choices that follow the same pattern and eliminate the odd ones out.

Matching singular and plural forms

Use parallelism. Singular matches singular; plural matches plural.

Two complete sentences

They can be joined by a period or semicolon.

Can a comma separate two complete sentences?

Not by itself. It needs a FANBOYS conjunction.

Dash as an answer choice

Pay close attention to it—it is commonly tested on the SAT.

All answer choices are verbs

Use the pronoun trick to determine the correct verb form.

Pronoun trick

Substitute 'he' and 'they.' The choice that sounds correct often reveals the answer.

Blank after a comma with similar answer choices

Look for the subject immediately after the lead-in phrase.

Punctuation + transition hybrid questions

First determine whether the surrounding clauses are complete sentences.

First step in punctuation questions

Check whether each side is a complete sentence.