SAT "Rules" Questions

Introduction to Rules Questions

POOD —-skip verb form questions in the first pass

Learn the Rules and Follow them

Rules questions appear in order of difficulty with the topic mixed up.

Identify via the question

“ Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English? “

Rules Question Basic Approach

  1. Identify topic—- Look at the answers to see whats changing or the sentence in the reading.

  2. Apply the rules associated with the topic

  3. Use Process of Elimination and personal order of difficulty

Types of Rules Questions

  1. Complete Sentences

    Identify via:

    —- ing” or “to” verbs in answer choices

    —-same words but “?” or “.” at the end

  2. Describing Phrases

    Identify via:

    —changing comma placement around a phrase

    —beginning of phrase has ( , or -

  3. Linking Independent Clauses

    Identify via:

    —independent clause before and after blank

  4. Dependent Clauses

    Identify via:

    —either before or after the blank is a dependent clause

  5. Lists

    Identify via:

    —semicolon and , placement in lists

  6. Grammer/No Punucation

    Identify via:

    —verbs changing

    —pronouns changing

    —phrase changing(modifiers)

    —-apostrophe changing(plural/possessive nouns)

Tools for Rules

- Highlight the sentence /subject if verb form

- use answer eliminator tool

Complete Sentences

What does a sentence need?

Sentence = subject + main verb

verbs like “want” , “give”, “eats” need an object following

Question Types

Questions vs. Statements

  • Asks if the sentence should be a statement or question

Statements provide information

Questions ask for information

Main Verbs

Subject = noun, pronoun, gerund

gerund = ing verb that functions as the noun/subject of the sentence

-ing verb can be part of a main verb like is swimming or were jogging.

An “-ing” or “to” verb cannot be the main verb of the sentence

All verbs applied to the same subject must be the same form

Describing Phrases

Specifying Information

Specifying information cannot be removed without altering the sentence’s meaning

Specifying information is never isolated by punctuation

  1. Labels that precede a person’s name, a book title, or any other potentially unfamiliar noun.

  2. Phrases that begin with that

  3. Prepositional phrases when they are not at the beginning of the sentence.

Prepositional phrases— phrases that begin with small directional word (in, of, for, by, with, on to, at)

Extra Information

Extra information can be removed without greatly altering the sentence’s meaning.

irregular past participle = forgotten, known, begun, hidden or kept

It must be isolated with two commas, two parentheses, or two dashes.

  1. “A” or “An” + label

  2. noun phrase (describes a noun b4 or after the noun/pronoun its describing)

  3. -ing phrase (a phrase that begins with an -ing verb)

  4. past phrase (a phrase that begins with -ed word or irregular past participle )

  5. or phrase (an alternate definition starting with or)

Linking Independent clauses

; or ,FANBOY

For And Nor But Or Yet

: or - is for when the second clause elaborates or explains the first

: or - can only come after an independent clause

Dependent Clauses

dependent clauses can have a subject or a verb but they depend on the first part.

Dependent Clauses have a subordinating word before

subordinating words = before, since, because, that, if, though, when

independent + dependent = no comma

dependent + independent = comma

Lists

, before “and” or “or” always in a list

; to separate complicated lists

No Punctuation Rules

  1. When there is specifying information

  2. Never between the subject and the verb

  3. After a preposition (small directional word)

Grammar

Consistency

Subject-verb agreement

Carefully identify and highlight the subject

To identify if the subject/verb is singular or plural":

Put “is” or “are” after the subject

Put “it” or “they” before the verb

Tense

highlight time clues

Simple Past Tense - used for an event that occurred at a specific time or place in the past

Past Perfect (had) - used for when something happened before something else

Present Perfect - used for when something happened at an indefinite time (has) or multiple times (have) and could happen again.

Pronouns

highlight noun

pronoun - word that refers back to a noun

Eliminate answer choices:

  1. you and we is almost almost always wrong. (Only consider if the text alr uses it)

  2. one can refer to a person

  3. this, those or these are not specific enough if they arent followed by a noun.

Pronouns + Apostrophes

Apostrophes on pronoun = contraction

possessive pronouns = no apostrophe

Nouns + Apostrophes

‘s, s’, and es’ allow nouns to show possession of the word that comes after.

‘s = singular noun possession

s’ or es’ = plural noun possession

Steps to solve:

  1. Determine if the first word possesses anything

  2. Determine if the second word possesses anything

Modifiers

Make sure the describing phrase modifies the noun that comes directly after it