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PRONOUNS: Pronouns are words that replace nouns.
Pronouns: he, her, we, I, they, it, whose, my, you, this, that, those, which...
Take a look at the following sentence: Sally was nervous about Sally’s first day of school, so Sally asked Sally’s
dad to drive slowly.
With all those Sallys we have a tongue twister on our hands. We only need to say Sally once. The rest of the Sallys
can be replaced by pronouns. Pronoun Alert!
Sally was nervous about her first day of school so she asked her dad to drive slowly.
VERBS: A verb expresses an action, state of being, or occurrence.
There are three types of verbs to watch out for: action verbs, helping verbs, and state of being (linking) verbs.
Action: run, dance, pout...
State of Being: is are am was were be being been
Each of these 8 state of being verbs can also be used as helping verbs.
One can say, “I am sick” or “I am getting sick.” In the second example, “am” is being used as a helping verb,
lending a hand to the “getting.”
Helping Verbs: is are am was were be being been do does did have had
has may might must should could would will can shall
Pay close attention to have, has, had, and will.
These verbs are constantly tested on the SAT and the key to our verb tense rules.
ETS enjoys testing singular versus plural verbs as well.
Singular verbs belong with singular nouns and plural verbs belong with plural nouns.
Singular Verb: giggles, teaches, hikes...
Plural Verb: giggle, teach, hike...
The trick for verbs is opposite that of nouns. A singular verb
has an “s” on the end, so to make a verb plural, remove the “s.”
You can always test singular versus plural with the nouns “girl” versus “girls.”
The girl dances versus The girls dance.