SAT grammar rules: the standard English conventions you need

How these questions work

In the Standard English Conventions part of the SAT Reading and Writing section you choose the option that follows the rules of formal written English. You do not need grammar terms. You need to see the rule that the sentence is testing. These are the rules that come up most.

Subject and verb agreement

• Find the real subject and ignore the words between the subject and the verb. Wrong: The box of books are heavy. Right: The box of books is heavy.
• Two subjects joined by and take a plural verb. Right: The teacher and the student are ready.
• With either or and neither nor, the verb agrees with the subject that is nearer to it. Right: Neither the manager nor the employees were aware.
• A collective noun such as committee or group is usually singular. Right: The group was waiting outside.

Pronouns

• A pronoun must match the noun that it replaces. A company is one thing, so use it and its. Wrong: The company raised their prices. Right: The company raised its prices.
• Its shows possession, and it's means it is. Right: The dog wagged its tail.
• Use who for a subject and whom for an object. Right: My brother, who lives in Karachi, is an engineer.

Verb tense and form

• Keep the tense the same unless the time changes. Right: Yesterday, the team won the final match.
• Use the past perfect for an action that happened before another past action. Right: By the time the guests arrived, we had finished dinner.
• After have or has, use the past participle. Right: Having finished the report, she sent it.

Complete sentences

• A sentence needs a subject and a verb and must be able to stand alone. Fragment: Because the road was closed. Right: The road was closed.
• Two complete sentences cannot be joined by a comma alone. Wrong: The library closes at six, students should leave by then. Right: The library closes at six; students should leave by then.
• You can join two complete sentences with a semicolon, with a period, or with a comma and a word such as and, but or so.

Punctuation

• Use a colon after a complete clause to introduce a list or an explanation. Right: She packed three items: a passport, a ticket and a wallet.
• Use commas around extra information that you could remove. Right: My brother, who lives in Karachi, is an engineer.
• Do not put a single comma between a subject and its verb. Wrong: The students in the hall, were quiet.
• Singular possessive: the bird's wings. Plural possessive: the students' lockers.

Modifiers and parallel structure

• Place a describing phrase next to the word that it describes. Wrong: Walking down the street, a new bakery caught Sana's eye. Right: Walking down the street, Sana noticed a new bakery.
• Items in a list must have the same form. Wrong: The plan is to reduce costs, increase sales and improving service. Right: The plan is to reduce costs, increase sales and improve service.

Practise

Use the SAT style questions for LUMS on this site, and read the explanation of each answer, even when you answer correctly.

Practise on this site

Where this comes from

• College Board, SAT Suite: the Reading and Writing section and its Standard English Conventions content area.
• The examples are written for this guide.