ideas, but she just needs some help with the execution. Perhaps the idea of
helping out a friend will make this part of the SAT seem more tolerable and less,
well, SAT-like.
STANDARD ENGLISH CONVENTIONS
Here’s a fun game: Try to think up a more boring-sounding category than
“Standard English Conventions.” (We couldn’t.) Okay, so these questions won’t
be the most exciting, but on the brighter side, they also don’t have to be that
difficult. If you master some fundamental grammar and punctuation rules, you’ll
be able to easily spot writing errors in the passages and revise them with
confidence. You’ll also be able to write more clearly, which is not a terrible life
skill to add to your résumé. And it’s good to feel confident on these questions
because the other kind of question, “Expression of Ideas,” can be a little tricky
(but more on that later).
First, let’s lay out some grammar basics.
A Grammar Refresher
It has probably been a while since you studied grammar. Now is a good moment
to bring all those terms you learned in middle school flooding back to mind.
NOUN
Word that denotes a person, place, thing, idea (joy), quality (stickiness), or act
(drooling). Excellent nouns include: wicket, catamaran, sledge, viscosity.
PRONOUN
As Homer Simpson defined it when he was studying for his high school
diploma, “A noun that has lost its amateur status.” Actually, a word that takes the
place of a noun. For example: The Evil Testing Serpent is evil. It is cruel. It is a
pronoun because it takes the place of Serpent. Some other terrific pronouns: I,
me, you, he, him, they, them, she, her, we, us.
Pronouns are important, especially in Harry Potter when they’re referring to Volde— Never mind.
—Samantha
VERB
Word that expresses action (jump) or a state of being (be). A verb tells what’s
happening in the sentence. The two best verbs: ransack and crinkle.