{ "source": "https://peabody.kids/flashcards/tp-grammar-rules", "id": "tp-grammar-rules", "title": "Standard English Grammar Rules", "category": "test-prep", "subject": "Grammar", "levels": [ "6-8", "9-12", "college" ], "description": "The grammar and punctuation rules that college-entrance writing sections reward.", "tags": [ "grammar", "punctuation", "sat", "act" ], "frontLabel": "Topic", "backLabel": "Rule", "cards": [ [ "Subject-verb agreement", "A singular subject takes a singular verb; a plural subject takes a plural verb", "The box of pencils IS on the desk." ], [ "Ignore the phrase between", "Words in a prepositional phrase after the subject do not change the verb", "One of the dogs BARKS." ], [ "Compound subject with and", "Two subjects joined by 'and' usually take a plural verb", "Tom and Ana ARE here." ], [ "Subjects joined by or/nor", "The verb agrees with the subject closer to it", "Neither the cats nor the dog IS hungry." ], [ "Collective nouns", "Treat as singular when the group acts as one unit", "The team IS winning." ], [ "Indefinite pronouns: singular", "each, every, either, neither, everyone, someone, anybody take singular verbs", "Everyone HAS a seat." ], [ "Indefinite pronouns: plural", "both, few, many, several take plural verbs", "Few ARE ready." ], [ "Inverted sentences", "Find the real subject even when the verb comes first", "There ARE three reasons." ], [ "Pronoun-antecedent agreement", "A pronoun must match its noun in number and gender", "Each student brought HIS OR HER (or THEIR) book." ], [ "Pronoun case: subject", "Use I, he, she, we, they as subjects", "She and I left." ], [ "Pronoun case: object", "Use me, him, her, us, them as objects", "He gave it to her and me." ], [ "Who vs. whom", "'Who' is a subject; 'whom' is an object; test with he/him", "To whom did you speak?" ], [ "Than/as comparisons", "Finish the comparison in your head to pick the case", "She is taller than I (am)." ], [ "Ambiguous pronoun", "Make clear which noun a pronoun refers to" ], [ "Its vs. it's", "'Its' shows possession; 'it's' means 'it is' or 'it has'" ], [ "Their, there, they're", "Their = belonging to them; there = place; they're = they are" ], [ "Your vs. you're", "'Your' shows possession; 'you're' means 'you are'" ], [ "Whose vs. who's", "'Whose' shows possession; 'who's' means 'who is' or 'who has'" ], [ "Affect vs. effect", "Affect is usually a verb (to influence); effect is usually a noun (a result)" ], [ "Then vs. than", "'Then' relates to time; 'than' makes comparisons" ], [ "Fewer vs. less", "Use 'fewer' for things you can count; 'less' for amounts you cannot" ], [ "Among vs. between", "Use 'between' for two items; 'among' for three or more" ], [ "Lie vs. lay", "'Lie' (lie, lay, lain) means recline; 'lay' (lay, laid, laid) needs an object" ], [ "Comparative", "Compare two things with -er or 'more'", "taller, more careful" ], [ "Superlative", "Compare three or more with -est or 'most'", "tallest, most careful" ], [ "Double comparison error", "Do not stack -er and 'more'", "Not 'more taller'" ], [ "Parallel structure", "Items in a list or pair must share the same grammatical form", "running, jumping, and swimming" ], [ "Faulty parallelism fix", "Match forms after 'not only... but also' and 'either... or'" ], [ "Dangling modifier", "An opening phrase must describe the noun that comes right after it", "Walking home, the rain began (error)." ], [ "Misplaced modifier", "Put a descriptive phrase next to the word it describes" ], [ "Run-on sentence", "Two complete sentences joined with no punctuation or connector" ], [ "Comma splice", "Two complete sentences joined with only a comma; fix with period, semicolon or conjunction" ], [ "Sentence fragment", "A group of words missing a subject, a verb, or a complete thought" ], [ "Semicolon", "Joins two closely related complete sentences without a conjunction" ], [ "Colon: after a complete sentence", "A colon introduces a list, explanation or quote that follows a full independent clause" ], [ "No colon after a verb", "Do not put a colon between a verb and its object or between a preposition and its object" ], [ "Comma with FANBOYS", "Put a comma before for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so when joining two complete sentences" ], [ "Comma after introductory phrase", "Set off an opening phrase or clause with a comma" ], [ "Commas in a series", "Separate three or more items with commas", "red, white, and blue" ], [ "Nonessential clause", "Set off extra information with commas on both sides" ], [ "Essential clause", "Do not use commas around information needed to identify the noun" ], [ "Which vs. that", "'That' starts essential clauses; 'which' usually starts nonessential ones with commas" ], [ "Appositive", "A noun phrase renaming another noun; set it off with commas if nonessential" ], [ "No comma between subject and verb", "Never separate a subject from its verb with a single comma" ], [ "Coordinate adjectives", "Use a comma between adjectives that can be reordered or joined by 'and'", "a long, dull speech" ], [ "Possessive singular noun", "Add apostrophe + s", "the dog's bone" ], [ "Possessive plural noun ending in s", "Add only an apostrophe", "the dogs' bones" ], [ "Irregular plural possessive", "Add apostrophe + s", "children's toys" ], [ "Apostrophes never make plurals", "Do not write 'apple's' to mean more than one apple" ], [ "Dashes", "A pair of dashes sets off an interruption like a stronger parentheses" ], [ "Hyphen in compound modifier", "Hyphenate before a noun, not after", "a well-known author; the author is well known" ], [ "Verb tense consistency", "Keep the same tense unless the time truly changes" ], [ "Past perfect", "Use 'had' + past participle for an earlier past event", "She had left before I arrived." ], [ "Present perfect", "Use 'has/have' + past participle for an action continuing to now", "I have lived here for years." ], [ "Conditional (if)", "Use 'were' for unreal wishes", "If I were you..." ], [ "Redundancy", "Cut words that repeat meaning", "Not 'past history' or 'return back'" ], [ "Concision", "Choose the shortest choice that keeps the full meaning" ], [ "Idioms and prepositions", "Learn fixed pairs", "capable of, different from, interested in" ], [ "Active vs. passive voice", "Active puts the doer first; passive hides or delays the doer" ], [ "Transition words: contrast", "however, but, yet, nevertheless, on the other hand" ], [ "Transition words: addition", "furthermore, moreover, also, in addition" ], [ "Transition words: cause and effect", "therefore, consequently, as a result, thus" ], [ "Transition words: example", "for instance, for example, specifically" ], [ "Possessive before gerund", "Use a possessive before an -ing noun", "I appreciate your helping." ], [ "Between you and me", "After a preposition use object case", "Not 'between you and I'" ], [ "Reflexive pronouns", "Use -self only when the subject is also the object", "She hurt herself." ], [ "Plural of numbers and letters", "Write 1990s and A's; avoid needless apostrophes with decades" ], [ "Quotation marks and punctuation", "In American English, commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks" ], [ "Question marks", "Use with direct questions only, not indirect ones" ], [ "Capitalization", "Capitalize proper nouns, sentence starts, and titles before names" ], [ "Number agreement with 'number'", "'The number of' is singular; 'a number of' is plural" ], [ "Neither/nor, either/or pairs", "Always use 'nor' with 'neither' and 'or' with 'either'" ], [ "Correlative parallelism", "Both X and Y, not only X but also Y, need matching forms" ], [ "Subject complement", "After linking verbs use subject case", "It is I." ], [ "Adjectives vs. adverbs", "Adjectives describe nouns; adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs", "She sings well." ], [ "Good vs. well", "'Good' is an adjective; 'well' is usually an adverb" ], [ "Double negative", "Do not use two negatives to express one negative idea" ], [ "Verb forms", "Use correct past participles", "has gone, have written, had spoken" ] ] }