PSAT Tested Grammar Rules

1
PSAT Tested Grammar Rules

• Yes, you need to know these! You need these for
  the PSAT in October, AND you need these to be a
  sound writer!

2
Verb Tense

• Consistencyverbs maintain present, past, or
  future tense
• Incorrect He walked down the hall and drops his
  books.
• Correct He walked down the hall and dropped his
  books.

3
Verb Tense

• Historical/Literary Context when talking about
  geography, proven science methods or theories,
  commonly accepted truisms, or literature, always
  use present tense
• Correct Honesty is the best policy.
• Incorrect Romeo killed himself.
• Correct Romeo kills himself.

4

• During reading workshop, we choose our own
  novels, and we had conferences with the teacher
  about our reading. As reading The Odyssey, the
  students saw Odysseus and consider how he
  revealed the traits of a hero. When we studied
  Animal Farm, students read quickly and try to
  understand the allegory.

5
Practice

1. The child walked to school, and he drops his
   books on the way.
2. As the cake was delivered, all the children sing
   Happy Birthday.
3. The hero of the story tries to rescue the child,
   but he was not successful.
4. His research was based on the concept that light
   traveled faster than sound.
5. The concert finally ended, but all the taxis are
   busy.

6
Practice

1. The main character has good intentions, but he
   also had some bad traits.
2. Tom realized that San Francisco sat on the
   western coast of America.
3. Alex went to the show, and then sits in his
   living room and complains.
4. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck
   rescued Jim several times.
5. Our elementary teacher taught us that blue and
   yellow made green.

7
Verb Tense

• Up for a Challenge?!
• If verb tense is easy, move onto the next verb
  tense rule!

8
Verb Tense

• Past Present Tensethis tense always uses the
  helping verb had with the main verb. It is used
  to indicate a time that preceded another time
  mentioned in the sentence. The first action
  uses past perfect!
• Example I had seen the movie before I saw Janet
  at the story.

9
Practice

1. By the time Kelly left, Mary ate the whole cake.
2. David probably saw the error long before he
   corrected it.
3. Jenny told us that she changed her mind before
   coming to class.
4. After finding her absent, I knew that she went to
   the concert.

10
S-V Agreement

• Subject-verb agreement is fairly easy to
  understand. The subject and the verb of each
  sentence must agree with each other in number.
• Example We are. He is.
• However, be aware of the following sentence
  structures that may make agreement confusing.

11
S-V Agreement

• Subject followed by a Prepositional Phrasewhen a
  subject is followed by a prep. phrase, be sure
  that you do not confuse the noun in the phrase
  for the subject of the sentence.
• Incorrect One of the boats are sinking.
• Correct One of the boats is sinking.

12
S-V Agreement

• Subject following Therethe word there can never
  be the subject of a sentence. When you see
  there, carefully consider what the subject of the
  sentence is.
• Incorrect There is always two men on guard at
  this post.
• Correct There are always two men on guard at his
  post.

13

• The students in English class at Langham is
  taught many grammar lessons. The most important
  lesson taught in these classes include
  subject-verb agreement. There seem to be a
  higher score on the PSAT for these students.

14
Practice

1. The man with the two dogs are walking down the
   street.
2. There goes three leaders of the program.
3. There was no results listed on the board.
4. One of the pictures of the mountains are lost.

15
S-V Agreement

• Subject after the Verbbe cautious when you
  notice that a sentence begins with a verb.
  Locate the subject and consider agreement.
• Incorrect Far away from the rest of the crowd
  stands the three men.
• Correct Far away from the rest of the crows
  stand the three men.

16
S-V Agreement

• Compound Subjects Joined by OR or NORlook at the
  subject that sits closest to the verb. It
  determines the number agreement
• Example Neither the girl nor the two boys want
  to go eat breakfast.
• Example Neither the two boys nor the girl wants
  to go eat breakfast.

17

• Usually, either math or English is challenging
  for students. In one of these two subjects
  reside many dilemmas. Helpful teachers nor
  concerned parents can do all the work to help
  kids. Students of high school age must learn to
  seek out aid and be pro-active in their attempt
  to reach success.

18
Practice

1. Beneath those pictures on the wall are the
   artists name.
2. Around the corner from my house lives the old
   men.
3. Either Jane or Sally seem to be quieter that
   usual.
4. Along the bank of the river flows the logs.

19
Practice

1. Neither the book nor the paper were disturbed on
   the desk.
2. Either Sam or the girls in the green car ask a
   lot of questions.
3. Under the bed in his room was the dog.
4. The lantern or the street light on the road is
   shining brightly.