50+ SAT Grammar Rules You Need to Know to Get a GREAT Score (Plus PDF Download)

The SAT is writing, and a pretty huge chunk of that third relies on knowing the rules of written English. So SAT grammar practice is pretty freakin importantand studying grammar can earn you serious points. In this post, well: Take a look at how grammar shows up on the SAT See what SAT grammar in the writing section looks like Review 50+ key SAT grammar rules that you need to know if youre going to get a great score Share a free SAT grammar rules PDF, with examples to study on the go Test your grammar knowledge with our 10-question quiz! Generally, students are more willing to study math topics than grammar topics†¦but thats a mistake! Because there are fewer grammar topics than there are math topics, they carry more weight on average. And heres the kicker: if youre a native English speaker, a lot of that grammar (though not all) is already pretty natural to you. Topics like transition words, subject–verb agreement, and tenses may take a keen eye at times, but if you train yourself to watch for them on the test, youll be using your innate English knowledge, which you exercise every time you speak. Spend time on SAT grammar practice and youre going to seriously bump up your score. Table of Contents How the SAT Tests Grammar Examples of SAT Grammar in the Writing Section 50+ SAT Grammar Rules Sentence Structure Subordination and Coordination Parallel Structure Modifier Placement Verbs Agreement Pronouns Possessive Determinants Frequently Confused Words Logical Comparisons Conventional Expression (including Prepositions) Punctuation Items in a Series Effective Language Use Style and Tone Voice SAT Grammar Rules PDF (50+ SAT Grammar Rules to Study on the Go) SAT Grammar Quiz SAT Grammar Practice Wrap-Up How the SAT Tests Grammar If youve ever looked at a pre-2016 SAT Writing section, I want you to forget everything you think you know about the question types! There used to be a variety of Writing question types. However, now the question type you need to focus on looks like this: Of course, this is an excerpt from a longer passage with many other questions—both about grammar and vocabulary (although a strong knowledge of grammar can definitely help you figure out the best vocabulary words in context, too). Which brings us to the big question†¦should you read the whole passage or try to answer the questions without reading it? After all, a lot of the questions are on the sentence level†¦ But what youll find is that even the sentence-level questions rely on a lot of context. The best thing to do is to practice and time yourself as much as possible until you can at least skim the passage and then answer the questions. Youll be glad you did when you see your score! SAT Grammar Tips You wont need to know grammar rules verbatim on test day†¦but you will definitely need to know them in practice. Thats why weve given you correct and incorrect sentences below to get you off on the right foot! Grammar is important in not just one but two SAT sections: Writing and the Essay. Mastering it can thus boost your scores in two sections! Keep reading to improve your grammar, but make sure what youre reading is professionally proofread. Major national newspapers, magazines, and books are all good sources†¦though be careful about dialogue in books, as authors often have characters use ungrammatical language to sound more natural. Examples of SAT Grammar in the Writing Section On test day, youll open your booklet to the Writing section and see passages with numbered, underlined portions. The underlined sections could be as short as a word or as long as several sentences. Youre then asked to pick the best answer from among four. Youve already seen one example, but here are a couple more. A handful of questions on test day will use the DELETE option—dont rule it out without good reason! Its right just as often as the other answer choices are. What do these SAT grammar questions have in common? Their format, first of all. They all have the same first answer choice. They all refer to a passage. In addition to grammar, SAT Writing will also test your understanding of organization and flow, style (like when to use the passive voice), as well as some vocabulary, so you can expect to see a hodgepodge of question types on the official exam. SAT Grammar Tips for Choosing the Correct Answer The first answer choice in SAT Writing (when the question has no stem) is always NO CHANGE—and this is correct as often as the others. You may sometimes see a choice to delete (or in SAT terms, DELETE) the underlined portion—this can absolutely be the right choice. For the vast majority of questions, dont go with what sounds right. This is a common trap, because we often speak ungrammatically and what sounds right isnt always right. (For example, could of sounds just fine†¦but its not actually a correct expression!) Be careful that when you correct one mistake, youre not introducing another. Wordiness in particular often sneaks in there. Read through all the answer choices to make sure you have the best one. Identify the part of speech thats underlined for a clue to what the question is testing. Preposition? You might be looking at an idiom. Adverb? Check your modifiers. More on this below! 50+ SAT Grammar Rules Sentence Structure Fragments Rule 1: Each sentence needs a noun, a verb, and to express a full thought. Which of the following two examples is not a sentence? He was tired. Because he was tired. Only the first one is a sentence. The second is a fragment. Both of these, however, are clauses. A clause is a phrase that contains a subject and a verb. It may or may not be a sentence. So whats the point of a clause? Breaking up long sentences into clauses helps us to better understand what each part of the sentence is doing. This will also help you be able to tell if you are dealing with an actual sentence, or if you are dealing with a fragment or a run-on. (Hint: This is what the SAT is really testing you on when it mentions clauses.) Subordinate Clauses Now lets take a look at a sentence that is made up of two clauses: Because he was tired, Charlie decided not to run the race. The first clause, because he was tired, is not a sentence. We call this a subordinate clause because it is not the most important part of the sentence. Hence, it is subordinate or secondary to the main part or main clause of the sentence, Charlie decided not to run the race. In other words, the big idea is that Charlie didnt run the race. A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause, because it depends on another clause. Otherwise, its just a sentence fragment. Similarly, a clause that is a complete sentence is called an independent clause. Its independent; it doesnt need to rely on any other clauses to be a sentence. The SAT is not going to test you on the exact terminology, but it will test you on the ability to determine whether a clause is a fragment. Subordinating Conjunctions If I take a simple sentence like he studied and add a subordinating conjunction in front of it, what was a sentence is no longer a sentence; it is now a subordinate clause. Subordinating conjunctions include because, although, even though, since, nevertheless, whereas, while. There are more, but a good shortcut to identifying whether a word is a subordinating conjunction is to ask yourself the following: Does it provide a reason, contrast, or condition for the main clause? Unless you finish all of your broccoli, you cant have any ice cream. = Condition Sarah was a star athlete, whereas her sister, Maggie, would rather not get up off the couch. = Contrast SAT Grammar Practice Exercise Among the following examples, see if you can figure out which are sentences and which are fragments. 1. Though she participated often in class, hoping to get an A. 2. Hoping to get an A, she participated often in class. 3. Growing up in a household in which everyone watched baseball, David knowing all of the rules of the game. : Make sure the times given in the sentence are consistent and logical. Any time you see a verb underlined, you should check that the tense given feels natural with the times that the rest of the sentence presents. Do you smell anything fishy in this SAT grammar example? Ernest Hemingways short stories, including the favorite Indian Camp, continue to be highly influential pieces of fiction despite the fact that they have been written over fifty years ago. If you do, then you might be onto something. It might be rotten. The time over fifty years ago sounds pretty strange when put next to have been written. You dont need to know why; you just need to know its wrong. The good news is that for native English speakers, the different times that different tenses signify are already hard-wired into your thought patterns. All you have to do on the SAT is make sure the times given in the sentence are consistent and logical. Rule #15: If theres a sequence of events, make sure their tenses put them in the right logical order. This one is about making sure words in the sentence all match up, by watching out for when events happened. In the past, or in the present? âÅ"“ Having just been swimming, Maria smelled like chlorine. âÅ"â€" Having just been swimming, Maria had smelled like chlorine. Each English verb has a few basic forms. Kids who learn English in other countries can often rattle off lists like do/did/done and eat/ate/eaten faster than native speakers can. And there are some verbs, like swim, which even native speakers get a little confused about at times. Take a look and make sure you know these sets. Swim/swam/swum Ring/rang/rung Forget/forgot/forgotten Forgive/forgave/forgiven Lay/laid/laid Rise/rose/risen Swing/swung/swung There are countless others, most of which you wouldnt think twice about. But some of them might have you making things up in conversation (e.g., I wouldve swang if Id known he was going to keep throwing strikes.) that just dont fit SAT grammar rules. Present Perfect Rule #16: Has/Have + Participle = describes an action/event that happened in the past and continues in the present. To illustrate, lets take a look at the following sentences: 1) Last night, I walked my dog. 2) I have walked Bucky every night for the last two years. In the first sentence, I am doing the action, walk, only once. This is the simple past. In the second sentence, I am describing something that has taken place on a number of occasions in the past and continues on till today (meaning tonight I will most likely walk Bucky). This is the present perfect. Once completely oblivious to climate change, the world had now began to look more seriously at pollution. A) NO CHANGE B) Has now begun C) Has now began D) Have now begun Answer: B The word once earlier in the sentence lets us know that something happened at one point in the past. Once also tells us that the second half of the sentence, after the comma, will contrast with the first part. We see that contrast in the word now. So, we need to choose the tense that best reflects the sequence of events in the sentence: the present perfect. Past Perfect Rule #17: Had + Participle = describes an action/event in the past that happened before another action in the past. Whenever you are dealing with two events in the past, one of which started or happened before the other, you must use the past perfect tense to describe the event that started first. Before I moved to California, I had walked Bucky in the mornings, not at nights. Rule #18: Whenever we use the past perfect, we must also have another verb in the sentence that is in the simple past. Heres an example using the sentence above: First Event: I had walked Bucky in the morning = Past Perfect Construction Second Event: I moved to California = Simple Past Another way to think of the past perfect is with specific dates. Let’s say I moved to California in 198,115,116,117,118"; WatuPROSettings[16] = {}; WatuPRO.qArr = question_ids.split(','); WatuPRO.exam_id = 16; WatuPRO.post_id = 13009; WatuPRO.store_progress = 0; WatuPRO.requiredIDs="0".split(","); WatuPRO.hAppID = "0.72174600 1580750304"; var url = "https://magoosh.com/hs/wp-content/plugins/watupro/show_exam.php"; WatuPRO.examMode = 0; WatuPRO.siteURL="https://magoosh.com/hs/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; WatuPROIntel.init(16); }); SAT Grammar Wrap-Up If youve read this all in one go, your eyes are probably crossed by now. Dont worry! Thats why we made the SAT Grammar Rules PDF (its a lot shorter!). Read through it, quiz yourself, come back and brush up on areas where you might be rusty. In the meantime, dont forget to prepare for the SAT Writing test format as well as its content, and keep quizzing yourself (here and elsewhere) until youre happy with your progress.