Half of the Standard English Conventions block (11.3% of the bank): the grammar that is not punctuation. Covers subject-verb agreement by crossing out the intervening phrase, pronoun agreement and the apostrophe pairs, verb tense chosen by the time marker, dangling modifiers and the first noun after the comma, and possessive apostrophes for singular and plural owners — with six worked examples, four traps and three checks.
Subject: SAT Prep · 61 slides · applied lesson
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Title
SAT Reading & Writing · Type 4 of 10
11.3% of the question bank — 190 of 1688 questions
Objectives
Verbs, pronouns, modifiers and agreement. This is the half of the grammar block that is not about punctuation, and it is decided by procedures rather than by ear. Almost every question is answered by one of two physical moves: crossing out what sits between a subject and its verb, or checking which noun an opening phrase attaches to.
One instruction covers most of the type: cross out the words between the subject and the verb, then read what is left.
Naruhodo Tutoring — SAT Reading and Writing question bank export (sat-english-question-index.json) — 190 tagged questions of this type in the site's bank
Section
Section 1
Concept
Verbs, pronouns, modifiers and agreement. This is the half of the grammar block that is not about punctuation, and it is decided by procedures rather than by ear. Almost every question is answered by one of two physical moves: crossing out what sits between a subject and its verb, or checking which noun an opening phrase attaches to.
You will see it phrased in these ways:
The tell is what the four choices VARY. If they differ only in verb form, pronoun form or word order, you are in this type rather than in Boundaries.
Picture it
The same three-panel card as the survey deck, so the shorthand carries over: what identifies it, what you write first, and what is built to catch you.
Figure (svg): Form, Structure, and Sense: the tell, the move, and the trap
The red panel describes a deliberate construction. The intervening phrase is not decoration — it is placed there to make the wrong verb sound right.
Prediction
The two grammar types are told apart by what the choices vary.
Predict first
The four choices are: has, have, having, to have. Which type is this?
Correct: Form, Structure, and Sense
Why: The choices differ in verb FORM, which makes this the non-punctuation half of the grammar block. Boundaries questions offer choices that differ only in punctuation marks. Transitions offer connecting words such as however and therefore. Words in Context offers four different words with different meanings. Looking at what varies identifies the type in about two seconds.
Concept
Four rules under one label, each with its own physical check.
| variant | the choices vary in | the check |
|---|---|---|
| Subject-verb agreement | singular or plural verb | cross out what sits between them |
| Pronoun agreement | its or their, his or her | find the antecedent and count it |
| Verb tense | past, present, perfect | find the time marker in the sentence |
| Modifier placement | what follows the opening comma | ask which noun did the action |
Agreement is the most common of the four, and it is the one where the sentence is deliberately built to mislead.
Definition probe
The subject is rarely the noun nearest the verb.
Sort into buckets
In each sentence, which word is the subject?
Discrimination
Six subjects. Which verb do they take?
Sort into buckets
Does the subject take a singular or plural verb?
Warm-up
Try it, doing the crossing out physically.
Discussion prompt
"The box of rusted iron nails and brittle screws ___ heavy." Should it be was or were?
Hint: What is the sentence actually about?
Answer:
Was. The subject is BOX, which is singular.
Cross out the middle: of rusted iron nails and brittle screws. That whole stretch is a prepositional phrase describing the box.
What remains is: the box ___ heavy. With the phrase gone, was is obviously right and were is obviously wrong.
Why the sentence is built this way: nails and screws sits immediately before the verb and is plural, so the plural verb sounds correct if you read by ear.
The crossing-out is not a formality. It removes exactly the words placed there to mislead you.
Pattern
Three steps, and the first identifies which of the four rules applies.
Look at what the four choices vary: verb number, verb tense, pronoun form, or word order.
Why: Each variation points at a different rule and a different check, and the identification takes about two seconds.
Apply the matching physical check: cross out the middle, find the antecedent, find the time marker, or check the first noun after the comma.
Why: Each rule has its own mechanical procedure, and none of them requires judgement.
Read the sentence back with your choice in place, ignoring how it sounds and checking that the procedure was satisfied.
Why: Reading by ear is what the sentence was constructed to defeat, so the check must be structural.
This whole type is procedural. Where Boundaries has one flowchart, this has four small ones, and every question uses exactly one of them.
Section
Section 2
Concept
A noun inside a prepositional phrase is never the subject of the sentence.
| phrase beginning with | example | the true subject |
|---|---|---|
| of | the box of nails | box |
| in | the students in the class | students |
| with | the teacher with her pupils | teacher |
| along with | the manager, along with two staff | manager |
| as well as | the director, as well as the actors | director |
| including | the report, including its appendices | report |
Cross out the phrase physically. Reading past it in your head is exactly what the construction is designed to prevent.
Concept
Each, every, either, neither, one, anyone, everyone, someone and nobody take singular verbs.
These words nearly always have a plural noun after them, which is why they appear so often on this type.
Prediction
The subject is at the start.
Predict first
"The collection of rare manuscripts ___ displayed upstairs." Which verb?
Correct: is
Why: Crossing out of rare manuscripts leaves the collection ___ displayed upstairs. The subject is collection, which is singular, so the verb is is. Manuscripts sits immediately before the verb and is plural, which is exactly why the plural options sound acceptable when read aloud — and why the crossing-out has to be done physically.
Concept
Find what the pronoun refers back to, count it, and match.
The check is the same shape as the agreement check: identify what the word refers to, ignore what sits nearby.
Prediction
Each is singular however many follow.
Predict first
"Each of the twelve jurors ___ been questioned." Which verb?
Correct: has
Why: Each is always singular, so it takes has regardless of the twelve jurors that follow. The construction is deliberate: a large plural number is placed between the subject and the verb to make the plural verb sound natural. Crossing out of the twelve jurors leaves each ___ been questioned, where has is clearly right.
Concept
Expand the contraction and read the sentence; if it breaks, use the possessive.
| pair | which is which | the test |
|---|---|---|
| its / it's | possessive / it is | read it as it is |
| their / they're / there | possessive / they are / place | read it as they are |
| whose / who's | possessive / who is | read it as who is |
| your / you're | possessive / you are | read it as you are |
Every row uses the same test, which makes this the cheapest rule in the whole grammar block to learn.
Concept
Find the phrase that fixes the time, and match the verb to it.
The marker is usually in a different clause from the blank, which is why scanning the whole sentence matters.
Prediction
Expand and read.
Predict first
"The committee released ___ findings on Tuesday." Which word?
Correct: its
Why: Substituting it is gives the committee released it is findings, which breaks — so the possessive its is correct, with no apostrophe. A committee is singular in American usage, which rules out their. The substitution test settles the apostrophe question and the collective-noun rule settles the number, and each takes about a second.
Concept
Whatever noun follows the comma is what the phrase is taken to describe.
The check takes two seconds: read the opening phrase, then read only the first noun after the comma, and ask whether that noun did it.
Concept
One owner takes apostrophe-s; several owners take s-apostrophe.
| meaning | form | example |
|---|---|---|
| belonging to one dog | dog's | the dog's collar |
| belonging to several dogs | dogs' | the dogs' collars |
| more than one dog, owning nothing | dogs | three dogs ran |
| belonging to one child | child's | the child's book |
| belonging to several children | children's | the children's books |
The third row is the trap: an ordinary plural owning nothing needs no apostrophe, and adding one is a common distractor.
Prediction
The opening phrase attaches there.
Predict first
"Built in 1890, ___ ." Which continuation is correct?
Correct: the bridge is considered a landmark
Why: The opening phrase describes whatever noun follows the comma, so that noun must be the thing built in 1890. Only the bridge was. The second choice puts historians there, which says the historians were built in 1890. The third and fourth put it and there, neither of which names the bridge as the thing built.
Two truths and a lie
Three of these grammar statements are correct. The one left standing is false.
Eliminate the wrong options
Which statement is FALSE?
Survives elimination: c
Why: Only the word AND makes a compound plural subject. As well as, along with, together with, including and in addition to are all prepositional phrases, so they get crossed out and leave the original singular subject. The manager, as well as two staff, IS attending. This construction appears frequently because the phrase looks like it should add to the subject and grammatically does not.
Check
Cross out the middle first.
Check your understanding
"The set of instructions accompanying the new appliances ___ difficult to follow." Which choice conforms to Standard English?
Answer: A
Why: The subject is set, a singular noun. Crossing out of instructions accompanying the new appliances leaves the set ___ difficult to follow, so the verb is is.
Two plural nouns sit between the subject and the verb. Every wrong choice agrees with one of them, which is the standard construction.
Section
Section 3
Worked example
"The stack of unopened letters on the hall table ___ growing steadily." Choose was or were.
Figure (svg): The sentence with the intervening phrase struck through
Identify the head noun at the start: stack.
Why: The subject is what the sentence is about, and it precedes the prepositional phrases.
Cross out both phrases: of unopened letters, and on the hall table.
Why: A noun inside a phrase beginning with of or on is never the subject.
Read what remains: the stack ___ growing. Singular subject takes was.
Why: With the intervening material gone, the agreement is obvious.
Two phrases in a row is common. Cross out everything from the first preposition to the verb, not just the first phrase.
Verify: check the nearest noun: table is singular here, and letters is plural — neither governs the verb.
Why: Confirming that the nearby nouns are irrelevant is what validates the method.
Answer: was
Worked example
"Neither of the two proposals ___ enough support to pass." Choose has or have.
Figure (svg): The sentence with the phrase of the two proposals struck through
Identify the subject: neither.
Why: Neither is a pronoun functioning as the subject, and it is always singular.
Cross out of the two proposals.
Why: It is a prepositional phrase, so it cannot contain the subject.
Read what remains: neither ___ enough support. Singular takes has.
Why: The word two in the crossed-out phrase is doing the misleading work.
The words each, every, either, neither, one and the -one and -body compounds are all singular. They are placed before plural phrases precisely to create this mismatch.
Verify: test the meaning: neither means not one of them, which is inherently singular.
Why: The meaning confirms the grammar, which helps when the rule is hard to recall.
Answer: has
Worked example
"Exhausted after the climb, ___ ." Which continuation works: the summit was still an hour away, or we found the summit still an hour away?
Figure (svg): An opening phrase with an arrow pointing at the first noun after the comma
Read the opening phrase: exhausted after the climb. Ask who was exhausted.
Why: The phrase describes someone, and that someone must appear next.
Check the first noun after the comma in the first option: the summit.
Why: The summit cannot be exhausted, so the modifier dangles.
The second option puts we after the comma, and we were exhausted.
Why: The phrase now attaches to the noun it actually describes.
Reading the faulty version literally, and out loud, is the fastest way to hear a dangling modifier. The absurdity is only audible when you stop supplying the intended meaning.
Verify: read the faulty version literally: exhausted after the climb, the summit was still an hour away.
Why: Read literally it says the summit was exhausted, which makes the error audible.
Answer: we found the summit still an hour away
Step zero
Before reading the sentence for meaning.
Discussion prompt
A Conventions question offers four choices. What do you look at first, and what does it tell you?
Hint: Compare the choices with each other, not with the sentence.
Answer:
Look at what the four choices VARY. That identifies which rule is being tested and therefore which check to run.
Only punctuation marks differ — you are in Boundaries, and the check is whether each side is a complete sentence.
Verb forms differ — subject-verb agreement or tense, so cross out the middle or find the time marker.
Pronoun forms differ — find the antecedent and count it, and use the substitution test for any apostrophe.
Word order after a comma differs — a modifier question, so check which noun follows the comma.
This identification takes about two seconds and it tells you exactly which of five procedures to run, before you have read the sentence for sense at all.
Worked example
"The research team published ___ findings after a year of fieldwork." Choose its or their.
Figure (svg): The sentence with the collective subject identified
Find the antecedent: the research team.
Why: The pronoun refers back to whoever published, which is the team.
Count it: a team is a collective noun, singular in American usage.
Why: Committee, company, group and staff behave the same way.
So the pronoun is its, not their.
Why: A singular antecedent takes a singular pronoun.
Collective nouns feel plural because they contain many people, and in American usage they are grammatically singular. British usage differs, which is a common source of doubt.
Verify: check the verb: published works with both, so only the pronoun is in question.
Why: Isolating the one thing being tested prevents second-guessing the rest of the sentence.
Answer: its
Worked example
"Since the programme began in 2019, enrolment ___ by forty per cent." Choose rose, has risen, or had risen.
Figure (svg): The time marker and the verb it governs
Find the time marker: since the programme began in 2019.
Why: The marker fixes the tense, and it sits in a different clause from the blank.
Since with a starting point describes a period running from then until now.
Why: That is precisely what the present perfect expresses.
So the verb is has risen.
Why: Rose would close the period off in the past; had risen would place it before another past event.
Since and for with a period of time are the most reliable present-perfect markers on the test, and they are usually in a clause well away from the blank.
Verify: test the alternatives: rose suggests the rise finished, and had risen needs a later past event to precede.
Why: Neither fits a period explicitly running up to the present.
Answer: has risen
Faded example
From memory. Four lines that carry the type.
Fill in the blanks
A noun inside a prepositional phrase is never the subject. Words such as each, every and neither are always singular. As well as and along with do not make a singular subject plural. And an opening phrase describes the first noun after the comma.
Why: The third blank is the one that surprises people. As well as looks like it adds to the subject and grammatically does not — it is a prepositional phrase, so it gets crossed out along with everything else between the subject and the verb.
Worked example
"The ___ uniforms were redesigned last year." The uniforms belong to several players. Choose player's, players', or players.
Figure (svg): The number of owners determining the apostrophe position
Decide how many owners: several players.
Why: The apostrophe's position is determined entirely by the number of owners.
A plural owner already ending in s takes the apostrophe AFTER the s.
Why: Players plus an apostrophe gives players'.
So it is the players' uniforms.
Why: Player's would mean one player, and players with no apostrophe would own nothing.
The three forms — player's, players', players — appear together as choices constantly, and the only thing separating them is how many owners the sentence describes.
Verify: test the plain plural: the players uniforms reads as two nouns in a row with no relationship.
Why: The missing apostrophe leaves the possession unexpressed, confirming one is needed.
Answer: players'
Fill the middle
One test, four pairs.
Fill in the blanks
To choose between its and it's, read it as it is. To choose between their and they're, read it as they are. Possessive pronouns take no apostrophe. And an ordinary plural that owns nothing takes no apostrophe.
Why: The same substitution handles all four pairs, which makes this the cheapest rule in the grammar block. The last blank is the separate trap: an apostrophe added to a plain plural is a distractor offered on almost every possessive question.
Estimation
The subject is usually the first noun.
Predict first
"The recommendations of the independent review panel ___ ..." What is the subject?
Correct: recommendations
Why: The head noun at the start is recommendations, and everything after it — of the independent review panel — is a prepositional phrase describing them. So the verb must be plural: the recommendations were. Panel sits immediately before the verb and is singular, which is exactly the mismatch the construction is designed to create.
Check
Check the first noun after the comma.
Check your understanding
"Having studied the manuscript for three years, ___" Which completion conforms to Standard English?
Answer: A
Why: The opening phrase describes whoever studied the manuscript, so the first noun after the comma must be a person. Only the curator can have studied it.
Three of the four choices are perfectly grammatical sentences on their own. They fail only in combination with the opening phrase, which is what makes the check necessary.
Section
Section 4
Trap
The trap. The sentence reads: the box of rusted nails and brittle screws were heavy, and it sounds entirely natural.
The subject is BOX, which is singular, so the verb should be was.
The plural nouns sit immediately before the verb, which is where your ear expects the subject to be — and the sentence was built that way deliberately.
The fix. Cross out everything between the subject and the verb, physically.
Then read what is left: the box ___ heavy, where the agreement is obvious.
Trap
The trap. The manager, as well as two assistants, are attending the conference.
As well as looks like it adds people to the subject, so the plural verb feels right.
But as well as is a prepositional phrase, not a conjunction. Only AND creates a compound plural subject.
The fix. Cross out phrases beginning with as well as, along with, together with, including and in addition to.
What remains is the true subject, which stays singular.
Error analysis
A sentence that reads naturally and is wrong.
Annotate
On: \( \text{The list of required documents were posted on Friday.} \)
This type is the clearest case on the whole test where reading aloud actively hurts. The sentence was engineered so that the wrong answer sounds right.
Trap
The trap. Built in 1890, historians consider the bridge a landmark.
The sentence means to say the bridge was built in 1890, and as written it says the historians were.
Because the intended meaning is obvious, the error is easy to read past.
The fix. Read the opening phrase, then read ONLY the first noun after the comma, and ask whether that noun did it.
The repair is to put the correct noun immediately after the comma.
Elimination
"The quality of the recordings made during the early sessions ___ noticeably poorer than that of the later ones."
Eliminate the wrong options
Which verb is correct? Three fail once the middle is crossed out.
Survives elimination: a
Why: Crossing out of the recordings made during the early sessions leaves the quality ___ noticeably poorer. The subject is quality, which is singular, so the verb is is. Two plural nouns sit between the subject and the verb, and every wrong choice agrees with one of them — which is the standard construction for this type.
Trap
The trap. The team's played three matches, or three dog's ran across the field.
An ordinary plural owning nothing takes no apostrophe at all.
The apostrophe is for possession and for contraction, never for making a word plural.
The fix. Ask whether the noun OWNS anything in this sentence.
If it owns nothing, no apostrophe. If it owns something, decide how many owners there are.
Counterexample
A method students rely on and should not.
Discussion prompt
A student says: I can tell which verb is right by reading the sentence aloud. Give a counterexample.
Hint: Think of a sentence built to sound wrong when it is right.
Answer:
Counterexample: the box of rusted nails and brittle screws was heavy.
Read aloud, was sounds wrong and were sounds natural, because the plural nouns sit immediately before the verb.
But box is the subject, and the correct verb is was.
A second counterexample: each of the twelve jurors has been questioned. Has sounds odd after twelve jurors, and it is correct.
The mechanism: these sentences are deliberately built so the ear is misled. The intervening plural is not incidental — it is the whole design of the question.
The corrected method: cross out the middle and then read. Reading aloud is reliable only after the misleading material has been removed.
Edge cases
Cross out the middle and the subject is what remains. Are there exceptions?
Discussion prompt
When does a phrase between the subject and the verb actually affect the verb, and what about neither ... nor?
Hint: One conjunction behaves differently from all the prepositions.
Answer:
Prepositional phrases never affect the verb — of, in, with, along with, as well as, including. All are crossed out.
The word AND does affect it. The manager and two assistants ARE attending, because and creates a genuinely compound plural subject.
Neither ... nor and either ... or take a verb agreeing with the NEARER subject. Neither the manager nor the assistants ARE attending; neither the assistants nor the manager IS attending.
That is the one genuine exception to the find-the-head-noun rule, and it appears occasionally.
Collective nouns are singular in American usage — the committee IS, the team HAS — even though they refer to several people.
A useful summary: cross out prepositional phrases, respect and, and check the nearer subject only when the sentence uses neither-nor or either-or.
Check
Substitute, then count.
Check your understanding
"The organisation announced that ___ funding would be extended for another year." Which choice conforms to Standard English?
Answer: A
Why: The antecedent is organisation, a collective noun that is singular in American usage, so the pronoun is singular. And the substitution test rules out the apostrophe: it is funding would be extended does not read.
Two independent checks are needed here — the substitution test for the apostrophe and the antecedent count for the number — and each takes about a second.
Section
Section 5
Matching
Six faulty sentences, six procedures.
Match the pairs
Why: Six errors, six distinct mechanical checks, and not one of them requires judgement about what sounds right. That is the character of this whole type: it is a set of procedures, which is exactly why it is learnable in a week.
Sorting
Each sentence contains one error.
Sort into buckets
Which rule does each break?
Item (d) is genuinely contested between American and British usage, which is worth knowing — the SAT follows American convention, so collective nouns are singular.
Comparison
Fill the blanks from memory.
Comparison matrix
| Form, Structure and Sense | Boundaries | |
|---|---|---|
| The choices vary in | verb form, pronoun form or word order | punctuation marks only |
| The main check | cross out between subject and verb | is each side a complete sentence |
| Share of the section | 11.3 per cent | 11.2 per cent |
| Reading aloud | actively misleading — the sentence is built to fool the ear | useless — punctuation is inaudible |
The bottom row is what unites them. Both halves of the grammar block defeat the ear, one by construction and one by being silent — which is why both are answered by procedure.
Trade off
Fill in what each is worth on this type.
Comparison matrix
| method | when it works | when it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Reading aloud | when nothing sits between subject and verb | whenever a phrase intervenes — which is always, here |
| Crossing out the middle | every agreement question | never, if done physically |
| Substituting the contraction | every its and their question | never — it is decisive |
| Checking the first noun after the comma | every modifier question | never, but it must be the FIRST noun |
Three of these four never fail. The one that fails is the one most students rely on, and it fails specifically on the sentences this type is made of.
Real world
One minute on why these particular errors are tested.
Discussion prompt
Why do these specific mistakes — agreement across a phrase, dangling modifiers, its and it's — appear so often in real writing?
Answer:
Because they are the errors that survive proofreading. Each produces a sentence that sounds fine, so reading back does not catch them.
Agreement across a long phrase fails because by the time you reach the verb, the plural noun is what you are holding in mind.
Dangling modifiers survive because the intended meaning is obvious, so the reader supplies it without noticing the sentence does not say it.
Its and it's is the most common punctuation error in published English, precisely because both forms exist and both look right.
So the SAT is testing the errors that matter most in practice — the ones a careful writer still makes, rather than the ones anyone would catch.
And the fixes transfer directly: crossing out and substituting are what professional editors actually do.
Ranking
Order by how obviously each takes a singular or plural verb, singular first.
Put in order
Why: The committee is a plain singular noun and takes a singular verb with no complication. Each of the twelve jurors is also singular, though the plural phrase makes it feel otherwise. The manager, as well as two assistants is singular too, and it is the hardest of the three because the phrase looks like it adds people. Only the manager and two assistants is genuinely plural, because and creates a compound subject. Three of the four are singular, which is a fair reflection of how these questions are built.
Concept
This type is 11.3 per cent of the section and is a closed set of procedures, which makes it one of the fastest parts of the test to improve.
| session | what you do | why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twenty agreement questions, physically striking out the intervening phrase on each. | Builds the one habit that defeats the type's central construction. |
| 2 | Fifteen pronoun questions, naming the antecedent aloud and running the substitution test. | Two checks, both mechanical, applied until automatic. |
| 3 | Fifteen modifier questions, reading only the first noun after the comma. | The check is trivial and the error is invisible without it. |
| 4 | Mixed set including tense and apostrophes, identifying the rule from the choices first. | Trains the two-second identification that selects the right procedure. |
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Explain it to yourself
Close the deck.
Discussion prompt
Without looking, name the four rules in this type and the physical check each one uses.
Hint: Each check is a single mechanical action.
Answer:
Subject-verb agreement: cross out everything between the subject and the verb, then read what is left.
Pronoun agreement: find the antecedent, count it, and match — remembering that collective nouns are singular.
Verb tense: find the time marker, which is usually in another clause, and match the verb to it.
Modifier placement: read the opening phrase, then read only the first noun after the comma, and ask whether that noun did it.
If you added that possessive pronouns take no apostrophe and that the substitution test settles its and it's, you have the whole type.
Explain it
Two minutes, out loud.
Discussion prompt
A friend says they choose grammar answers by reading the sentence aloud and picking what sounds right. Why is that specifically bad advice here?
Answer:
Show them the sentence rather than arguing. The box of rusted nails and brittle screws was heavy. Ask which sounds right — they will say were.
Then ask what the sentence is about. A box. Is the box heavy, or are the nails heavy? The box.
Name the construction: the plural nouns are placed immediately before the verb, where the ear expects the subject. That placement is deliberate and it appears on every question of this shape.
Give them the physical habit: strike out everything from the first of, in or with up to the verb. Then read the shortened sentence, which is short enough that the ear works again.
And the general point: reading aloud is a fine check on sentences written to communicate. These sentences were written to test you, and they exploit exactly that habit.
Commit first
Commit before you check.
Predict first
"The director, along with several members of the cast, ___ attending the premiere." Which verb is correct?
Correct: is
Why: Along with is a prepositional phrase, not a conjunction, so it does not make the subject plural. Crossing out along with several members of the cast leaves the director ___ attending, and director is singular. Only the word AND would create a compound plural subject — the director and several members ARE attending. The distinction between and and along with is the whole question here.
Connect it up
Blank paper.
Draw it
Draw a sentence across the page with a subject at the left, a verb at the right, and a long phrase between them struck through with a thick line. Label the subject, the struck-out phrase and the verb. Beside it, list the prepositions that begin such phrases: of, in, with, along with, as well as, including — and note that only AND makes a subject plural. Underneath, draw a second sentence with an opening phrase, a comma, and an arrow from the phrase to the first noun after it. In a corner, write the four apostrophe pairs with the substitution test beside them. At the bottom, in large letters: NEVER CHOOSE BY EAR.
Exit ticket
One question before you close the deck.
Predict first
The four choices are was, were, has been and have been. What do you do first?
Correct: Find the subject and cross out everything between it and the verb
Why: Choices varying in verb number identify a subject-verb agreement question, and crossing out the intervening phrase is its check. Reading aloud is precisely the method these sentences are constructed to defeat. Checking whether each side is complete is the Boundaries procedure, which applies when the choices vary in punctuation. And a transition word would be a different type entirely.
Recap
One type, four procedures, and none of them involves listening.
| never do this | do this instead |
|---|---|
| Match the verb to the nearest noun | Cross out the middle and find the head noun |
| Treat as well as like and | It is a prepositional phrase — strike it out |
| Choose the verb by reading aloud | The sentence is built to make the wrong one sound right |
| Put the wrong noun after an opening comma | The first noun there must have done the action |
| Add an apostrophe to a plain plural | Apostrophes mark possession or contraction, never plurality |
| Write it's for the possessive | Expand to it is — if it breaks, use its |
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