Manhattan Sentence Correction 筆記

1、1. The basic process (平均1分20秒一個(gè)問題，永遠(yuǎn)不要超過兩分鐘)1) Take a first glance: A. 看劃線句子的長(zhǎng)度: 很長(zhǎng)說明可能結(jié)構(gòu)什么的有問題B. 看劃線句子的第一個(gè)單詞和之前的一個(gè)單詞C. 找出答案中選項(xiàng)的不同之處在哪里(主要看第一個(gè)或第二個(gè)單詞)，并以此將他們分組2) Read for meaning: A. 讀原句，注意grammatical mistake若注意到原句的錯(cuò)誤就可以劃去A和其他重復(fù)這個(gè)錯(cuò)誤的其他答案B. 注意meaning是否無歧義Helen and Amy went to the movie in her car. 在沒有

2、上下文的前提下，這個(gè)句子中her car是有歧義的，因?yàn)楸硪獠幻?嘗試rephrase)/是否用詞冗余The value of the stock rose by 10% increase. 這個(gè)句子中rose和increase的意思是重復(fù)的，只要一個(gè)就夠了3) Find a starting point:A. 讀原句，notice a (suspected) mistake in the original sentence看答案有沒有對(duì)他進(jìn)行改正的選項(xiàng)B. 讀答案，find some splits/differences in the answer set4) Eliminate all i

3、ncorrect choices5) Find a new starting point and repeat step 3 & 4A. 處理原句中的錯(cuò)誤B. 縱向?qū)Ρ仁Ｓ嗟拇鸢福瑢ふ也煌帉⒉煌幣c原文未劃線部分比較，判斷哪個(gè)更好的傳達(dá)了原文的意思2. 舉例子可以用such as, for example, including; 不能用like (is used to indicate a similarity between two or more things)3. 兩大原則：1) Grammar: 可能會(huì)和日常的spoken English不同Does everybody

4、have their book? 這句話是語法錯(cuò)誤的，正確形式應(yīng)該是：Does everybody have his or her book?A. Five grammatical terms needed to know:a) Clause: a set of words that contains a subject and a working verbi. Independent clause: 句子ii. Dependent clause: cannot stand alone as a sentence sentence fragmentb) Modifier: provides a

5、dditional information in a sentence, beyond the core subject and verb 修飾語i. nonessential modifier: are usually separated out from the rest of the sentence by commas.ii. essential modifier: necessary in order to understand the meaning of the sentencec) Sentence core: consists of any independent claus

6、es along with some essential modifiers. This is the bare minimum needed in order to have a coherent sentenced) Conjunction: words that help to stick parts of sentences togetheri. Coordinating conjunctions: glue two independent clauses togetherii. Subordinating conjunctions: connect modifiers to inde

7、pendent clausese) MarkerFor example, the word unlike is a comparison marker; when you see unlike, you should think about comparisons: a flag or clue that a certain kind of issue is being tested2) Meaning: 包括了convey precise meaning和避免冗余 (preference other than rule)A. The choice of worda) Economic: 經(jīng)濟(jì)

8、上的，經(jīng)濟(jì)的,=monetary Economical: 節(jié)約的，合算的My decision to drive a hybrid car was motivated by ECONOMIC considerationsECONOMICAL considerations motivated my decision to drive a hybrid car第二句是錯(cuò)的，因?yàn)閑conomic consideration=monetary consideration意指經(jīng)濟(jì)上的愿意，不應(yīng)該用economical considerationb) 其他類似的詞意相似但不能互換的詞包括：l aggrav

9、ate (worsen) vs. aggravating (irritating)l known as (named) vs. known to be (acknowledged as)l loss of (no longer in possession of) vs. loss in (decline in value)l mandate (command) vs. have a mandate (have authority from voters)l native of (person from) vs. native to (species that originated in)l r

10、ange of (variety of) vs. ranging (varying)l rate of (speed or frequency of) vs. rates for (prices for)l rise (general increase) vs. raise (a bet or a salary increase in American English)l try to do (seek to accomplish) vs. try doing (experiment with)c) 注意may, shouldMorally obligedl 與must區(qū)分：The court

11、 ruled that the plaintiff should pay full damages. 這個(gè)句子是錯(cuò)的，因?yàn)閟hould強(qiáng)調(diào)的moral obligation是something the court cant imposed.l 與likelihood區(qū)分：The train should arrive now. 這個(gè)句子是錯(cuò)的，因?yàn)閟hould不能表示likely的意思, mustAbsolutely necessary: The court ruled that the plaintiff MUST pay full damages., can, mustnt, should

12、nt, cant, wouldl Hypothetical: If John and Mike met, they would discuss this. 這句話predicts the hypothetical consequence of two peoples meetingl 注意和If John and Mike met, they discussed this. 區(qū)分，這句話指的是這個(gè)人不確定他們兩是否見面等的差別B. The placement of word: 注意句子中word的順序會(huì)影響句意The council granted the right to make lega

13、l petitions TO CITY OFFICIALS.這句話是非常ambiguous的，因?yàn)椴荒艽_定right被granted給了誰The council granted CITY OFFICIALS the right to make legal petitions.The right to make legal petitions TO CITY OFFICIALS was granted by the council.C. The matches of wordUnlike Alaska, where the winter is quite cold, the temperatur

14、e in Florida rarely goes below freezing. 這個(gè)句子是illogical的，因?yàn)椴荒馨岩粋€(gè)地方的冬天和另一個(gè)地方的溫度進(jìn)行比較D. Avoid redundancy 4. The cost to X= X do the payingThe cost of X= someone has to pay a certain amount to buy X5. “Raise” is a verb that always takes a direct object: The Fed (subject) raised the interest rate (object

15、) in March.“Rise” is used only in contexts where there is no direct object: Interest rates (subject) rose in March6. “as though” is used to discuss things that are untrue or did not happen: You behave as though you were richer than Bill Gates7. Though Canals have experienced a severe decline in barg

16、e traffic over the past several decades, yet with the rise in fuel costs, “shipping” by actual ships may once again become an important means of transporting goods within the country. 這個(gè)句子選擇去掉though比較好，因?yàn)槿绻サ魕et，可能會(huì)把with the rise in fuel costs放到前半部分去8. Sentence structure: 一個(gè)完整的句子/independent clause必

17、須同時(shí)有相匹配的subject和verb 1) Compound subject: must be connected by the word “and”Compound verb: verbs attached to the same subject2) Learn to ignore “middleman” (words between the subject and the verb) and skip “warmup” (words that comes before the subject)A. Prepositional phrase 介詞短語: head by a preposi

18、tionB. Dependent clauseC. Other modifiers3) Try to analyze the structure of the sentence to decideThe tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is/are subjected is/are sufficient to tear the object apart.The tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is/are subjected a

19、re sufficient to tear the object apart.The tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is subjected is/are sufficient to tear the object apart.4) “that”的缺失可能造成ambiguityI know Meryl Streep is an actor.兩種interpretation: Do you actually know someone named Meryl Streep or you just know som

20、ething about Meryl Streep5) Compound sentence: two independent clauses being connected by a comma and a conjunction不能僅僅用comma來連接兩個(gè)independent clauses run-on sentence/ two independent clauses being connected by a semicolonl 只有fanboys conjunctions 才能夠用comma來連接: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So,其余conjun

21、ction都要用semicolon連接: Andrew and Lisa are inseparable; THEREFORE, we never see them apart.l 在列舉事物時(shí)，若該事物本身就含有comma，則應(yīng)該用分號(hào)將事物隔開：I listen to Earth, Wind & Fire; Wow, Owls; and Blood, Sweat & Tears. 分號(hào)9. Be tired out from doing something 做。感到十分疲勞10. Modifiers1) Adjectives and adverbs: 僅僅是一個(gè)詞而非dep

22、endent clauseA. Noun modifiers (such as adjectives): modify only a noun or a pronoun 代詞B. Adverbial modifiers (such as adverbs): modify verbs, adjectives, prepositional phrases, even entire clauses, but do not modify plain nouns and pronounsC. Max's grandmother is his supposed Irish ancestor.Max

23、's grandmother is his supposedly Irish ancestorIn the first option, the adjective “supposed” points to the noun ancestor, implying that Max's grandmother is not actually his ancestor. In the second option, the adverb supposedly points to the adjective Irish, implying that Max's grandmoth

24、er is not actually Irish.D. 形容詞和副詞同形式: corresponding, frequent, independent, rare, recent, seeming, separate, significant, supposed, and usual要思考modify的到底是什么詞，以此確定到底應(yīng)該用形容詞還是副詞2) Noun modifiers: modify nounsA. The cat, which lives next door, is very noisy.The cat that lives next door is very noisy.In

25、 the first sentence, the “comma which” structure is an example of a nonessential modifier. If you take a nonessential modifier out of the sentence, you still retain the full meaning of the main part of the sentence: the cat is very noisy (and both the talker and listener know which cat is under disc

26、ussion). The second sentence includes an example of an essential modifier. If you remove it from the sentence, then the meaning may be compromised. For instance, if there are three cats and you say only, “The cat is very noisy,” nobody will know which cat you mean. Essential modifiers are not usuall

27、y separated out by commas.B. The position of noun modifieAn essential modifier trumps a nonessential modifierrs: Place a NOUN and its MODIFIER as close together as possibleJim biked along an old dirt road to get to his house, which cut through the woods.To get to his house, Jim biked along an old di

28、rt road, which cut through the woods.第二個(gè)句子更好，因?yàn)閚oun和its modifier離得更近C. Possessive Nouns Are Not NounsHappy about his raise, Bill's celebration included taking his friends out to dinner.Bills這個(gè)名詞所有格并不是名詞而是形容詞，因此happy about his raise不能夠修飾它，而同時(shí)happy about his raise也不能修飾celebrationD. Noun Modifier M

29、arkers: a) Relative Pronouns (such as WhichCannot modify people, ThatCan sometimes signal other structures,如: subjectverbTHATsubjectverbobject此時(shí)that連接的是兩個(gè)independent clauses, Who, Whose, Whom, WhereCannot modify a “metaphorical” place (必須是physical place), such as condition, situation, case, circumst

30、ances, or arrangement. In these cases, use “in which“, WhenCan sometimes be replaced by “in which”) b) Prepositions and Participles 分詞3) Adverbial Modifier可能形式：comma + -ings: modify anything except nounsA. The placement of adverbial modifiers：并不強(qiáng)調(diào)要和修飾的東西放的越近越好；要求是不要和別的verb/clause放太近就可以了The CEO decla

31、red that everyone had to work every day through the holidays to make the production deadline, but in calling for such an extreme measure, the company's employees were upset to the point of mutiny.此處in calling for such an extreme measure修飾的應(yīng)該是CEO，故該句子是ambiguous的改為：The CEO declared that everyone h

32、ad to work every day through the holidays to make the production deadline, but in calling for such an extreme measure, she upset her employees to the point of mutiny.B. Check the sequence of participle modifiers: 強(qiáng)調(diào)the information presented earlier in the sentence leads to or results in the informat

33、ion presented later in the sentenceC. Subordinators 主從連詞 (such as although, before, unless, because, yet, if, that, so that, after, while, since, whe注意句子意思和subordinator的配合，比如如果用了although，那么句子應(yīng)該有轉(zhuǎn)折的意思n)Subordinator+ independent clause= subordinate clause which modify the main clause it attached to (u

34、sually the main clause comes after the subordinate clause)4) Which vs. the Present Participle ing: Use WHICH only to refer to nounsnever to refer to an entire clause (只有-ing 才可以refer to the entire clause)Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, WHICH has led to a rise in property values. 這個(gè)

35、句子是錯(cuò)的可改成：The recent decrease in crime in our neighborhood has led to a rise in property values.Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, leading to a rise in property values.5) QuantityA. Words Used for Countable Things vs. Words Used for Uncountable Thingsa) More, most, enough, and all work

36、 with both countable (plural) and uncountable (singular) nounsb) Do not use the word “l(fā)ess” with countable itemsc) Be careful with unit nouns, such as “dollars” or “gallons”. By their nature, unit nouns are countable. Thus, they work with most of the countable modifiers. However, unit nouns represen

37、t uncountable quantities: money, volume. As a result, use “l(fā)ess” with unit nouns, when you really want to indicate something about the underlying quantity: We have less than 20 DOLLARSB. Words Used to Relate Two Things vs. Words Used to Relate Three or More Thingsa) Comparison: 比較級(jí)和最高級(jí)b) Use “betwee

38、n” only with two things or people. When you are talking about three or more things or people, use “among”C. The Word Numbers: use “greater than”, not “more than” (which might imply that the quantity of numbers is larger, not the numbers themselves)The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its

39、NUMBERS are now suspected to be much GREATER than before.D. Increase and Decrease vs. Greater and Less: Increase and decrease express the change of one thing over time. Greater and less signal a comparison between two things.11. Parallelism1) Comparable sentence parts must be structurally and logica

40、lly similarThe employees were upset by the company'sRoot phrase: Each parallel element could finish the sentence started by the root phrase low pay, poor working conditions, and that they did not have enough outlets for their creativity. The employees were upset by the company's low pay, poo

41、r working conditions, and shortage of outlets for employees creativity.2) Parallelism MarkersA. Open markers: With a word or words between the two parallel elementsB. Closed markers: With a word or words between the two elements as well as before the first element.C. The most common parallel markers

42、 are the three conjunctions: and, but, and or.3) Parallel ElementsA. Often, the two parallel phrases or clauses may begin with the same signal The signal words do not have to be the same word: There are many people WHO speak English BUT WHOSE parents do not.word in order to remove ambiguity about wh

43、ere the parallelism beginsI want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND I pay low taxes.I want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND WHERE I pay low taxes.The second sentence is better because repeating the where eliminates ambiguityB. When a closed marker is used, anything after the first

44、portion of the marker applies only to the X elementRalph likes BOTH those who are popular AND who are not as well-liked.Right: Ralph likes BOTH those who are popular AND those who are not as well-liked.The second sentence is better because parallelism starts with the marker word “both”, the X elemen

45、t is “those who are popular”. The main parallel words, “those who”, cannot carry over to the Y element; they have to be repeated.C. In sum, when an open marker is used, check for ambiguity with respect to which words play the role of the X element; if ambiguity exists, eliminate that choice. When a

46、closed marker is used, make sure that both the X and the Y elements contain the necessary starting words to form a structurally correct sentence.4) Superficial Parallelism vs. Actual ParallelismSal applied himself in his new job, arriving early every day, skipping lunch regularly, AND leaving late e

47、very nightSal applied himself in his new job, arrived early every day, skipped lunch regularly, AND left late every night.In the first sentence, the “comma -ing” modifiers “arriving early every day, skipping lunch regularly, and leaving late every night” are parallel. The main clause, “applied himse

48、lf in his new job”, is not parallel to these participle phrases. This sentence is CORRECT. The “-ing” phrases provide additional information about how Sal applied himself in his new job. The second sentence changes the meaning of the first sentence by giving all the activities equal emphasis, instea

49、d of making the last three activities subordinate to the main activity. At this level, the three latter activities do not have to have any connection to Sal's job.5) The Importance of “And”A. When a parallel structure is part of a modifier, the sentence should work structurally and make sense lo

50、gically using each parallel element individually/ The root phrase can be completed using just the X or the Y elementA rapid improvement in motor function AND vision was observed.A rapid improvement in motor function was observed.A rapid improvement in vision was observed.B. You can pair working verb

51、s in different tenses, as long as the meaning of the sentence supports the different tenses. She eats apples all the time AND drank some apple juice yesterday6) 3- or 4-Item ListsShe argues that the agency acts with disregard for human life AND property AND reckless abandonThe three underlined items

52、, which are all connected by “and” right now, are not all at the same logical level. The agency acts with disregard for human life and the agency acts with disregard for property. It does not, however, act with disregard for reckless abandon; this is illogical. Presumably, the author want to say tha

53、t the agency acts with reckless abandon.The correct answer should be: She argues THAT the agency acts WITH reckless abandon AND WITH disregard for human life AND property7) Parallel MeaningA. B. Linking verb: the two words before and after linking verbs should be parallel12. Comparison1) Comparison

54、markers require parallelism between the two elements (nouns with nouns, for example), but they also require that the two compared items are fundamentally the same type of thing. These are called apples-to-apples comparisonsLike Mary, Amys car is green. This sentence is wrong because “Mary” and “Amys

55、 car” arent comparable things.2) Comparison Markers: like, more than, unlike, as, than, as (adjective) as, different from, in contrast to/with3) Omitted WordThe GMAT occasionally allows unnecessary helping verbs:Right: Apples are more healthy to eat than caramels.Right: Apples are more healthy to ea

56、t than caramels ARE.The second sentence is not considered redundant or incorrects: include the omitted words or appropriate helping verbs (such as be, do, and have) if the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.I like cheese more than YvetteThis sentence is ambiguous in a sense that Do you like chees

57、e more than Yvette does or do you like cheese more than you like Yvette?4) Like vs. AsA. Like: is used to compare nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases. Never put a clause or a prepositional phrase after “l(fā)ike”B. As: can be used to compare two clauses5) Comparative and Superlative FormsA. Do not compare

58、an adverb that ends in “-ly” by changing the ending to “-er”. Instead, add “more”Some adverbs that do not end in -ly are made into comparatives by adding -er:Right: Adrian runs FAST. He runs FASTER than Jacob.Wrong: Adrian runs QUICKLY. He runs QUICKER than Jacob.Right: Adrian runs QUICKLY. He runs MORE QUICKLY than JacobB. Do not use a comparative adjective unless you have a “than” in the sentenceWrong: With winter coming, I will have HIGHER energy bills1