Subject and Verb Must Both Exist Subject and Verb Must Make Sense Together Subject and

Verb Must Agree in Number Eliminate the Middlemen, and Skip the Warmup
The GMAT hides the subject in a few ways. The most common way by far is to insert words between the subject and the verb. You must learn to eliminate these Middlemen words to reveal the subject. 1, Prepositional Phrase Near Galway, the houses on the road to Spiddle is/are gorgeous. NEAR Galway, the HOUSES ON the road TO Spiddle ARE gorgeous.

2. Subordinate Clauses These clauses, which begin with connecting words such as who or which, cannot stand alone as sentences. When the auditors left, the executive who had been interviewed was/were glad. When-tlie-attdttors-left, the EXECUTIVE WHO had been interviewed WAS glad. 3, Other Modifiers Limping, the horse once considered one of the favorites was/were taken away. LIMPING, the HORSE once CONSIDERED one of the favorites WAS taken away. 4 By using Appositives Appositives are nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases that are placed next to nouns to further describe them. If you see large parts of a sentence separated by a comma, it might be a good idea to ignore the part between commas and read the rest of the sentence as a whole. For example Nuclear fusion, one of the most effective ways of separating carbon and oxygen atoms, are being used with deadly intent by some countries.

In the sentence above, seeing the plural are next to the plural atoms, you could get tricked into thinking that the sentence is correct the way it is written. To avoid such confusion, omit the part between commas, and the error will immediately become obvious to you how can nuclear fusion be are?

Flip It
In most English sentences the subject precedes the verb. However, the GMAT occasionally attempts to confuse you by inverting this order and placing the subject after the verb. In sentences in which the subject follows the verb, flip the word order of the sentence so that the subject precedes the verb. This way, you will identify the subject much more readily.

Subject Phrases and Clauses: Always Singular

Sometimes the subject of a sentence is an -ing phrase or even a whole clause. This sort of subject is always singular and requires a singular verb form. Having good friends IS a wonderful thing

Each and Every: Singular Sensations

They each ARE great tennis players. Here, the plural subject they requires the plural verb form are. Indefinite Pronouns: Usually Singular

There are, however, 5 indefinite pronouns that can be either singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence. You can remember these 5 by the acronym SANAM. THE SANAM PRONOUNS: Some, Any, None, All, More/Most How can you tell if these pronouns are singular or plural? Think about meaning, and look at the O f phrase which usually follows the pronoun. Right: Some of the money WAS stolen from my wallet. (money is singular)

Right: Some of the documents WERE stolen from the bank, {documents is plural) Dont apply the O f phrase mechanically. None 0/and any o f followed by a plural noun can be singular. Right: Any of these women IS a suitable candidate for marriage to my son. Note that not one is always singular: Not one o f my friends IS here this weekend

Collective Nouns: Almost Always Singular Or, Either... Or, & Neither... Nor And Vs. Additive Phrases
Unlike and, additive phrases do not form compound subjects. Rather, additive phrases function as modifiers and therefore cannot change the number of the subject. Consider the following sentence: In the waning days of the emperor's life, the conquest of new lands on the borders of the empire was/were considered vital. To find the subject of the verb was or were considered, we might be tempted simply to ask ourselves, What was or were considered vital ?

TENSES Present Perfect Tense:

Past Perfect:

Pronouns: The Antecedent Must Exist The Antecedent & Pronoun Must Make Sense Together The Antecedent & Pronoun Must Agree in Number The Deadly Five: It, Its, They, Them, Their_ The most common pronoun mistakes involve Third Person Personal Pronounsthe singular it and its, together with the plural they, them, and their. Whenever you see one of these five pronouns, find the antecedent and check its viability (is the antecedent sensible and in agreement with the pronoun?). This, That, These/ and Those_________________ You may also use that or those to indicate a New Copy or copies of the antecedent. The money spent by her parents is less than THAT spent by her children That or those indicating a New Copy or copies must be modified. In other words, you have to add a description to indicate how the new copy is different from the previous version. The money spent by her parents is less than THAT SPENT bv her children. Her company is outperforming THAT OF her competitor. Every it and its must refer to the same singular antecedent. Every they, them> and their must refer to the same plural antecedent. Otherwise, dont apply pronoun ambiguity unless you are backed into a corner. If you are down to two answer choices that are absolutely identical, except that one has they (referring to executives earlier) and the other has these executives, go with the latter, just to be super-safe. Errors: