S+V Agreement
Either my father or my brothers (is/are) going to visit Paris this summer.
are
Either A or B/Neither A nor B --> B decides the form of the verb.
I met Yu-jin Son last Thursday, a teacher who specializes in IB Biology. (O/X)
False
"a teacher who specializes in IB Biology" modifies "Yu-jin Son", and therefore, this modifier needs to be followed by "Yu-jin Son".
I met Yu-jin Son, a teacher who specializes in IB Biology, last Thursday.
A businessman, Siyoung Jeong, is a good dad. (O/X)
False
No punctuation is needed because "Siyoung Jeong" is essential information about "a businessman".
I want to visit Barcelona, the capital city of Spain; Seoul, the capital city of South Korea; and Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. (O/X)
T
In some ways, the Cassini spacecraft has senses better than _____.
A) a person's senses
B) what a person has
C) those of a person
C)
The verb "has" is possessive.
Between the students (is/are) my teacher.
is
The subject of this sentence is "my teacher".
Ahromi only donated $10 to the local food bank. (O/X)
False
Ahromi donated only $10 to the local food bank.
Commas are needed when "which" modifies a certain price. (O/X)
True
+
1) "When" needs commas when it modifies a certain year.
2) "Who" needs commas when it modifies a proper name, including someone's name.
I want to be a doctor; but, I'm not interested in studying biology and chemistry. (O/X)
False
No FANBOYS after semicolons
Conjunctive adverbs must be followed after semicolons.
Time and again, we see the committee rewarded bravery in the face of adversity. (O/X)
False
Time and again --> present tense
Time and again, we see the committee reward bravery in the face of adversity.
A pencil as well as an eraser (is/are) important when students study.
is
A as well as B --> A decides the form of the verb.
The founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was fired in 1985, an unexpected fact. (O/X)
True
A noun can modify the previous sentence as a whole.
Jaden has two daughters who are musicians.
From the sentence above, can we know the number of daughters Jaden has?
No
The sentence refers to two musicians among Jaden's daughters. With this in mind, we can't figure out how many daughters he has.
If this sentence had a comma before "who", it would hint he has only two daughters.
I love apples: I love bananas. (O/X)
False
The sentence after a colon must be an explanation of the previous clause.
The National Park Service NPS is easily the most majestic. (O/X)
Hint: NPS is the abbreviation of the National Park Service.
False
Correct ways:
1) The National Park Service, NPS,
2) The National Park Service - NPS -
3) The National Park Service (NPS)
4) The National Park Service, abbreviated NPS,
tends
When separated by commas, what lies between the commas doesn't have any effect on the verb.
He threw a ball to me that is made of brown rubber. (O/X)
X
He threw a ball made of brown rubber to me.
Grant Wood's best-known painting, American Gothic, is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. (O/X)
True
There's only one best-known painting. This means that "American Gothic" doesn't have to be mentioned since it is regarded as non-essential information.
Which one is used for both formal and informal writing?
1) Em dash. (-)
2) Comma (,)
3) Parenthesis ()
3) Parenthesis
1) Em dash --> informal
2) Comma --> formal
Young people write to one another more than speaking to one another. (O/X)
False
Young people write to one another more than they speak to one another.
More than one of the students (has/have) received the Nobel Prize.
has
Although "more than one" is plural in meaning, it always takes a singular verb.
I only did my homework this morning. (T/F)
F
I did only my homework this morning.
Aldous Huxley's great novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was nominated for numerous awards. (O/X)
True
Because there are lots of great novels written by Aldous Huxley, we don't know which novel this sentence refers to. So, Uncle Tom's Cabin is essential information here in this sentence.
I was working on my Spanish project, while my friend was doing her math homework. (O/X)
'Comma + while' can't be used as an expression of contrast in the SAT.
By the time my mom arrived, I finished my homework. (O/X)
False
By the time my mom arrived, I had finished my homework.
By (the time) + past --> always past perfect