From previous posts, I’ve discussed the need to understand certain grammar concepts on the GMAT in order to do well.  As you continue to study for the GMAT, make sure you focus on these specific grammar areas.  Additionally, on any given question, the GMAT is often testing several of these concepts.  Thus, as we teach in our Kaplan classroom course, make sure you have a great strategy to keep all the moving parts organized.  The following conceptual topics appear often on the test:

Verbs: The GMAT is often testing your ability to match up subject verb agreement.  If you see a verb in the underlined portion of the sentence, make sure you ask yourself “to what subject is this verb referring” (note that more difficult questions have ambiguous subjects).

Pronouns: If you ever see a pronoun underlined on the GMAT, always ask yourself whether the pronoun unambiguously refers to the noun it is replacing.  Additionally, ask yourself whether the pronoun refers correctly to the singular or plural noun.

Modifiers: Modifiers can be tricky.  Note the following example: “I love you.”  If we wanted to add the modifier “only” to this sentence we need to be careful where we place it.  We can place it in several places:

“I love only you.”  - Meaning that I don’t love anyone else but you.  OR,
“I only love you.”  - Meaning that I love you but I don’t like you much. OR.
“Only I love you.” – A quite depressing meaning – that no one but me loves you.
A modifier can severally change the meaning of a statement.  On the GMAT, always put the modifier next to the word that it modifies.

Parallelism & Comparisons: The GMAT tests parallelism in several ways:  1) Make sure that if you have a list of entities, you always make the phrases parallel. 2) Additionally, if you are comparing items, you must make sure the forms are parallel as well as the concepts that you are comparing.

Style & Idioms: Here is the area that gives even the best test takers some concerns.  Style and idiomatic usages on the GMAT generally means using concise business language and commonly accepted words and phrases.  I’ve met many individuals who identify themselves as grammar kings and queens – many of them have trouble with GMAT style and idioms.  While we can complain and argue about the virtues of competing styles, we are better severed if we simply learn and practice the specific GMAT idioms and style that are tested.  I’ll write more on style and idioms later on – at this point, simply accept the ones that you agree with and memorize the ones you may not.

These five topics are the extent that the GMAT is testing your grammar.  In general, while there are many things within each of these categories that could be tested, we want you to focus on looking for these five things in the underlined part of the question.  Thinking about what to look for (instead of just hoping you hear the problem), is more than half the battle.  Good luck with sentence correction!