The writing section of the SAT test can be challenging for students, especially those students whose first language is not English. Many non native English speakers find the writing section hard to score in, as they are not aware of the all rules of grammar and end up making many mistakes in the text. It is important to keep a few rules of grammar in mind if you want to score high in the SAT, we provide the essential rules you must follow.
Rules of Grammar in SAT Writing
1. The Subject and Verb should always agree
One of the most common rules of grammar that is tested in the SAT whether there is subject-verb agreement. In other words, whether subject and verb agree in number. If the subject is singular, then verb should also be singular, and if subject is plural then verb should also be plural.
2. Collective Nouns are always singular
When it comes to collective nouns such as a flock of birds or a murder of crows, it would be very useful to remember that collective nouns are always singular. Students mostly make mistakes with regard to this rule, by writing things like the team were preparing for the project. The right answer in this case would be, the team was preparing for the project.
3. Singularity and Plurality does not depend on prepositions
It is important to remember that prepositions do not indicate whether or not the subject is singular. You should use the main noun or the modified noun in order to determine whether the phrase is plural or singular.
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4. Pronouns should clearly state their number and reference
On the writing section of the SAT test, you will be tested on your knowledge of pronouns. You should be able to give the proper reference and number with regards to the pronoun. For example the singular third person pronoun for a female is always she and for a male is always he. You should not get confused and mix up the pronouns in your writing. Also when you have more than one person in a sentence, then the reference of the pronoun should correctly match the intended person.
5. Make sure modifiers come next to the modified object
One common mistake that students make while taking the SAT test is to use dangling and incorrectly placed modifiers. Modifiers are basically words or phrases that can modify another word in order to give the reader extra information. In your SAT test, you need to take care that whenever you see a modifier, at the start of a sentence, you should remember that the word that directly follows the comma should be the one that is being modified.
If you follow these simple rules, then you can definitely improve your score in the writing section of your SAT
