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今天从Knewton 网站看来哈, 随便下了几篇有用的article...
Rule 1. Verbals are not verbs.
On the GMAT, it is important to recognize that the –ing form of a word, without a helper verb like “is,” “was,” or “am,” does not act as a verb. Without one of these helper verbs, the –ing form of a word, called a verbal, acts as a noun or as a modifier. If a subject corresponds to a verbal and not a verb, the sentence is a fragment.
For example: “Johnny making a sandwich” is not correct, because “making” is a verbal, not a verb.
By adding a helper verb or changing the verbal into a verb, you can correct the sentence:
“Johnny is making a sandwich” and “Johnny makes a sandwich” are correct.
GMAT Sentence: “Her disguise as a magician’s assistant obscuring her true occupation, which was that of a detective, investigating a murder” (incorrect).
Should be: “Her disguise as a magician’s assistant obscured her true occupation, which was that of a detective investigating a murder.”
Rule 2. Fragments occur when the subject does not correspond to a verb.In grammatically correct sentences, a verb is in the same clause as its subject. A sentence that does not contain the subject and its verb in the same clause is called a fragment. The words “that,” “which,” “who,” “whose,” and “whom” begin new clauses, and a verb in one of these clauses cannot correspond to a subject.
For example: “The building, which was built last year and was a total waste of taxpayer money” is a fragment because all verbs are in a clause beginning with “which.”
To fix the fragment, you need to put at least one verb outside of the adjective clause:
“The building, which was built last year, was a total waste of taxpayer money.”
The next time you recognize a fragment, take a second to understand precisely why it is not a full sentence.
GMAT Sentence: “The administration’s proposal, which was discussed last year and determined unfeasible and will be up for review at the third meeting this semester” (incorrect).
Should be: “The administration’s proposal, which was discussed last year and determined unfeasible, will be up for review at the third meeting this semester.”
Rule 3. Dependent clauses cannot stand on their own.Conjunctions like “because,” “although,” and “since” can begin a sentence or connect clauses, but neither the main subject nor the main verb can be in a clause beginning with one of these words. Clauses beginning with these words are called dependent clauses, because they cannot stand on their own. These clauses depend on another clause. For example:
“Although Monique, the girl next door, prefers French cheeses, tolerates cheddar” is a fragment because the subject “Monique” is in a dependent clause. To fix the fragment, make sure that there is a subject and verb pair outside of one of these clauses.
“Although Monique, the girl next door, prefers French cheeses, she tolerates cheddar” is a complete sentence because “she tolerates” is a subject-verb pair outside of the dependent clause.
GMAT Sentence: “Depending on what we consider to be the purpose of the amendment, which was instituted in last year’s cycle” (incorrect).
Should be: “Depending on what we consider to be the purpose of the amendment, which was instituted in last year’s cycle, ______. (Example: “Depending on what we consider to be the purpose of the amendment, which was instituted in last year’s cycle, the committee may decide it is ineffective and decide to veto it.”)
Rule 4. Run-on sentences occur when clauses are not connected correctly.Any clause that can stand on its own as a complete sentence is called an independent clause. In order for a sentence to contain two independent clauses, the clauses must be separated by a semi-colon (;) or by a comma paired with a conjunction. Otherwise, the sentence is called a run-on and is considered incorrect on the SAT.
For example: “The girls completed many chores they each received an allowance for their hard work” is a run-on sentence, because “The girls completed many chores” and “they each received an allowance for their hard work” are both independent clauses.
There are three ways to fix a run-on:
(1) by separating the clauses with a semi-colon, as in: “The girls completed many chores; they each received an allowance for their hard work.”
(2) by separating the clauses with the correct FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) conjunction, as in: “The girls completed many chores, and they each received an allowance for their hard work.”
(3) by making one of the clauses dependent with a conjunction like “although,” “because,” “when,” or “since,” as in: “Because the girls completed many chores, they each received an allowance for their hard work.”
GMAT Sentence: “Ossification is the synthesis of bone from cartilage, this synthesis may occur through intramembranous ossification, endochondral ossification, or a fusion of both processes” (incorrect).
Should be: “Ossification is the synthesis of bone from cartilage; this synthesis may occur through intramembranous ossification, endochondral ossification, or a fusion of both processes.”
Rule 5. A describing phrase at the beginning of the sentence must describe the noun after the comma.Many sentences on the SAT begin with a descriptive phrase called a “modifier.” This phrase does not contain a subject-verb pair and is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
Often, but not always, this phrase begins with a participle, the –ing form of a verb or the –ed form of a verb. The modifying phrase at the beginning of a sentence must logically describe the first noun that comes after the comma; otherwise, the sentence is said to contain a “misplaced modifier.”
For example: “Visiting the restaurant for the first time in three years, the prime rib did not satisfy Jennifer as much as it used to” contains a misplaced modifier, because the prime rib did not visit the restaurant for the first time in three years.
The misplaced modifier can be corrected by placing the logical noun after the comma, as in:
“Visiting the restaurant for the first time in three years, Jennifer was not as satisfied by the prime rib as she used to be.”
GMAT Sentence: “As they develop into osteocytes, the matrix or the calcified part of the bone holds these osteoblasts” (incorrect).
Should be: “As they develop into osteocyctes, these osteoblasts are located in the matrix or the calcified part of the bone.”
What to Memorize for the GMAT Verbal: Business/Logic Vocabulary You’ve probably heard that the GMAT doesn’t require math or verbal skills beyond the high-school level and that it tests your analytical ability as opposed to your knowledge of a particular subject. All this, while true, may lead you to think you don’t have to memorize anything for the test. But this isn’t true, particularly with the verbal section.
This series of posts will focus on areas where you can’t necessarily rely on your reasoning skills or intuition. Yes, memorization can be a pain, but the good news is once you know this stuff, you know it, and you can check it off your list of things to master before the big day.
First, up: business and logic vocabulary.
Unlike the GRE or SAT, the GMAT does not contain a sentence completion or analogies section; memorizing large amounts of vocabulary, as a result, is not an efficient way to study. You certainly shouldn’t be poring over your old SAT flashcards in preparation for the test.
That being said, it will be difficult to manage the Reading Comprehension or Critical Reasoning section without a decent vocabulary and a facility with “logic” and “business” words in particular.
So, if you don’t know the meaning (and by “meaning” I don’t mean a general, vague understanding of the word; I mean, a cold hard definition) of any of the following words, be sure to look them up.
overhead
income
stock
option
contractual
diversification
incentive
municipal
hierarchy
insurance
demand
labor
investment
indicator
commercial
merger
transactions
customers
sales
profit
net
gross
resources
human resources
manager/management
model
technique
disruption
supply
Brushing up on your vocab skills can also help you on the AWA. One thing I’ve noticed in the process of evaluating hundreds of AWA essays is that many students do not express themselves precisely because certain words are not actively a part of their vocabulary. To make things easier on yourself and improve your AWA score, get to know the following words and practice incorporating them into your essays:
conclusion
evidence
assumption
claim
basis
judgment
opinion
support
deny
weaken
undermine
strengthen
advocate
dispute
reject
agree
disagree
likelihood
probable/probability
adequate
prediction
position
authority
The introduction of just a few of these new words will strengthen your AWA essays, eliminating vagueness and allowing you to convey complex arguments more clearly and succinctly. For moreAWA tips, check out this post.
Why the Most Boring Answer is Probably Right on CR Inference Questions I recently taught a particularly difficult Critical Reasoning Inference question. When no onechose the correct answer, I realized that many of my students were not employing one of most effective strategies on inference questions.
Here’s the question:
Not all art museums depend on financial support from the government. Some small, home-based art museums are funded primarily by the private wealth of their owners and do not rely on any government support or subsidies. At times, museums have even flourished in nations where there are no government funds allocated for showcasing arts. Financially, these museums rely entirely on the revenue generated from ticket sales and gift shop merchandise and, as such, tend to exist in societies that traditionally place a high value on fine arts.
The statements above, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?
A) Small art museums that operate out of the homes of individual wealthy benefactors receive no financial support from ticket sales and gift shop merchandise.
B) Museums found in societies that traditionally place a high value on fine arts tend to rely on revenue generated from ticket sales and gift shop merchandise.
C) An artist who joins a society that traditionally places a high value on fine arts may find no government funds allocated for showcasing of arts.
D) There are more art museums in societies that traditionally place a high value on fine arts than there are in societies that offer government funding for art museums.
E) An art museum that is not funded by either the local or national government must receive financial support either from its owner or from the revenue collected from ticket sales and gift shop merchandise.
If you’re not immediately drawn to answer choice C, there is something wrong with your understanding of inferences on the GMAT. That might sound harsh, but don’t take it personally. In fact, your initial failure to choose the correct inference might mean that you’re a more profound and interesting person than one who instinctively gravitates to the right answer. Why? Because the right answer on CR inference questions should be boring!
The weaker a statement, the more likely it is to be true. Thus, the right answer on CR inference questions will almost always be carefully worded, guarded, and lame. Don’t believe me? Which of these two claims would you be more likely to believe: 1) Sean is a GMAT instructor, or 2) Sean is the greatest GMAT teacher that ever lived, and students have erected a statue on Wall Street to honor him and penned a Bollywood musical to sing his praises? As much as I’d like the second statement to be true, the first is much more likely to be correct.
Returning to reality, let’s look at why C is the best answer choice for this inference question. Most students know to avoid extreme language when looking for a correct inference. Yet they often fail to see how words that don’t sound particularly extreme can make a statement stronger, and thus less likely to be true. Here, answer choices A and E both contain extreme words: A has “receive NO financial support,” and E has “MUST receive financial support.” But B and D also contain language that, while not as extreme as that in A and E, is also problematic. B tells us that certain museums “TEND to rely” on certain kinds of revenue. D makes a comparison.
Now look at C. It tells us what an artist “may” find. Sure, it has the phrase “no financial support” right after the “may,” so you may at first think that it is extreme. But really C is just about what is possible: an artist might find no government funding, but the choice leaves open the possibility that an artist could find a government just aching to hand out grants to support him or her.
When thinking about logical statements, it is useful to think of a “hierarchy of strength.”
The strongest statements discuss what MUST or CANNOT be true – these statements deal with necessity. (A and E in the choices above)
Then we have statements that deal what is probably true, what “tends” to be the case, or make comparisons. (B and D in the choices above)
At the bottom of the hierarchy are statements that deal in possibility, like correct choice C. These are the weakest statements and are your best bet when debating between inferences.
TAKEAWAY:
Obviously, you need to take into the account the passage and what it actually says. But if you are stumped on an inference question, always go for the meeker, quieter, softer, weaker answer choices. Give more consideration to choices that discuss what is possible, rather than what is probable or necessary. By choosing the boring, weaker choice, you’ll be on your way to a stronger score.
GMAT Reading vs. Everyday Reading: What Makes GMAT Passages Tricky?If you’ve started studying for the GMAT, you know that reading passages on the GMAT is very different from reading “normal” things–novels, newspaper articles, magazines, blogs. Check out our first GMAT Reading vs. Everyday Reading blog post for more.
If you’re looking to enhance your GMAT Reading Comprehension skills, the best things you can do for yourself are:
Understand what exactly makes GMAT passages tricky
Develop strategies for processing complex information, so that you can attack the questions efficiently
So, what can you expect on the GMAT? How are GMAT passages structured differently from normal prose?
On the GMAT, you shouldn’t necessarily expect arguments to be concise or neatly summarized. In fact, the test-makers will often intentionally try to confuse you by providing passages that ramble or contain insignificant details.
Let’s take a look at how this works in a GMAT passage. Here’s an example (pay close attention to how each bit of information is related to the passage as a whole):
The passage above begins with a main point and some supporting information. Then, there’s a digression — the “support of the support” — before the passage returns to the main idea.
Keeping this structure in mind, how can we adjust our reading on the GMAT?
Being able to distinguish between the main idea of the passage and the supporting details will help you increase accuracy and save time on Reading Comprehension.
Practice finding the main idea in different types of GMAT passages. That way, on test day, you won’t waste time with superfluous details!
To review:
In short, it’s natural to feel like you’re “fighting an uphill battle” with GMAT reading comprehension passages. The key is to keep your calm and employ the reading strategies described above.
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发表于 2011-8-25 14:00:00
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