GMAT Focus Edition Sentence Correction Tips 2024

Students preparing for the GMAT Focus exam require GMAT sentence correction tips so that they can do GMAT sentence correction practice in a smart way and score high. GMAT sentence correction rules help students accurately solve GMAT sentence practice questions and improve their overall GMAT scores. GMAT Sentence correction guide highlights various strategies that are perfect answers to how to learn sentence correction or how to check sentence correction. While referring to GMAT sentence correction practice problems on any authenticated resource, do not forget to use GMAT Sentence correction tips.

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This Story also Contains

1. How to Master the Sentence Correction Section in GMAT?
2. Key Components of GMAT Sentence Correction
3. Top 10 GMAT Focus Edition Sentence Correction Tips

How to Master the Sentence Correction Section in GMAT?

To master the GMAT sentence correction section, students should follow the GMAT sentence correction rules and use the GMAT sentence correction tips. Students preparing for the GMAT exam focus edition must know certain aspects of the exam perfectly and the same are mentioned below:

Overview of Sentence Correction Questions

GMAT sentence correction questions are part of the verbal reasoning section of the GMAT focus exam and assess the candidate's ability to identify and fix English grammar errors, and sentence structure and ensure that the written material is clear to understand. Students often find this section to be a bit challenging so they are recommended to follow the given GMAT sentence correction tips and diligently do GMAT sentence correction practice questions by following the GMAT sentence correction rules.

Structure of SC Questions in GMAT Focus

Format: Each GMAT sentence correction question presents a sentence with an underlined portion. You need to choose the best version of the underlined section from five options.

Errors: The underlined portion may contain 0-2 errors related to grammar, usage, or style.

Answer Choices: Option (A) always repeats the original sentence. Options (B) through (E) offer variations, with only one being correct.

Key Components of GMAT Sentence Correction

The key components of the GMAT sentence correction questions are grammar, style, and logical clarity. Let us check the key components in detail:

• Grammar- perfect use of grammar concepts like subject-verb agreement, verbs, tenses, pronouns, modifiers, idioms, and parallelism.

• Style- There should be clarity in the sentence, it should not be confusing and there should be no redundancy of phrases.

• Logical Flow- There should be a logical sense to the sentence, basically maintaining the coherence of the sentence.

Top 10 GMAT Focus Edition Sentence Correction Tips

Students can easily score high in the GMAT focus exam if they follow the GMAT sentence correction tips and GMAT sentence correction rules.

Tip 1: Master Grammar Fundamentals

One of the most important GMAT sentence correction tips is to master all the grammar fundamentals starting from parts of speech, and sentence structures to grasping the idiomatic expressions along with its rules.

Review Basic Grammar Rules

The basic grammar rules of accurate usage of pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives and adverbs play a significant role in correcting and understanding the sentences. GMAT sentence correction guide helps you understand all the concepts simply and also understand the clear usage of all cohesive devices used in a sentence.

Focus on Common Grammar Mistakes

Before you plan your preparation for GMAT sentence correction practice questions, you should attempt some sample GMAT sentence correction practice questions to understand your weaknesses and plan the preparation accordingly.

Tip 2: Familiarize Yourself with GMAT-Specific Grammar Rules

Students aspiring to score high in GMAT sentence correction practice questions must familiarize themselves with all the GMAT-specific grammar rules.

Understand Subject-Verb Agreement

While preparing and practising for the GMAT sentence correction practice questions, students should analyze the subject-verb agreement of each sentence accurately. For example: in the sentence: “The list of items is on the desk.”; we have used is and not are because the word: list represents one singular noun, so as per the rule if the noun is singular, then the helping verb has to be in the singular form. Since “list” is singular, it requires a singular verb, which is “is.”

Some more useful Tips to remember for Subject-Verb Agreement

• Ignore Prepositional Phrases: phrases like “of items” can be confusing. Focus on the main subject (lists) rather than words in the prepositional phrases.

• Compound Subjects: When subjects are joined with the word “and” they become plural. For example: Seema and Geeta are playing.

• Indefinite pronouns: These are words like everyone, someone, nobody; so they take singular verbs. For example: Everyone is here.

Study Modifier Placement and Usage

Students preparing for GMAT sentence correction practice questions must follow the GMAT sentence correction guide mentioned here. Understanding the correct usage of modifiers is an essential element.

Modifiers are words that provide additional information about the other word in the sentence. Adjectives, adverbs, phrases, and clauses are types of modifiers.

The best tip for these GMAT sentence correction practice problems is to practice from the questions given in the GMAT club. Also, understand the common errors that students make as they are not regular in using academic English. Sometimes the modifiers are misplaced and other times they do not show clarity. For example:

Misplaced Modifiers: Modifiers should be placed next to the word they modify to avoid confusion. For example:

• Incorrect: “The man walked his dog in a suit.”

• Correct: “The man in a suit walked his dog.”

• Explanation: The original sentence implies the dog is in a suit.

• Dangling Modifiers: These occur when the modifier does not refer to the subject.

For example:

• Incorrect: “Walking through the park, the squirrels were chattering in the trees.”

• Correct: “Walking through the park, I heard the squirrels chattering in the trees.”

• Explanation: The original sentence implies the squirrels were walking through the park.

Tip 3: Identify Common Sentence Errors

The next important GMAT sentence correction tip is to identify the common errors like correct usage of pronouns, verb tense consistency, idioms, comparisons, conciseness, redundancy and usage of voice (Active and passive).

Spot Parallelism Errors

A parallelism error occurs when elements in a sentence that are meant to be grammatically similar are not structured in the same way. This makes the sentence unclear and confusing.

For example:

• Incorrect: “He is smarter than anyone in his class.”

• Correct: “He is smarter than anyone else in his class.”

• Explanation: The comparison should be clear and logical.

Some ways to check parallelism errors to excel in the GMAT sentence correction practice questions are as follows:

1. Check Lists and Series: Ensure all items are in the same grammatical form.

For example:

• Incorrect: “The new policy will affect employees’ work hours, their benefits, and how they are paid.”

• Correct: “The new policy will affect employees’ work hours, benefits, and pay.”

• Explanation: All items in the list should be in the same grammatical form (nouns in this case).

2. Review Comparisons: Make sure the elements being compared are parallel.

For example:

• Incorrect: “He is smarter than anyone in his class.”

• Correct: “He is smarter than anyone else in his class.”

• Explanation: The comparison should be clear and logical.

3. Correlative Conjunctions: Ensure both parts of the conjunction are balanced.

For example:

• Incorrect: “She wants either to go to the movies or shopping.”

• Correct: “She wants either to go to the movies or to go shopping.”

• Explanation: Both parts of the correlative conjunction should be parallel.

4. Verb Forms: Ensure consistency in verb forms within a sentence.

For example:

• Incorrect: “She was walking to the store and buying milk.”

• Correct: “She was walking to the store and bought milk.”

• Explanation: The verbs “was walking” (past continuous) and “buys” (present) are inconsistent. Both actions should be in the past tense.

5. Read Aloud: Sometimes, reading the sentence aloud can help identify awkward or unbalanced structures.

Recognize Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Issues

Some of the useful GMAT Sentence correction tips to recognize Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement issues are as follows:

• Find the noun that the pronoun is replacing.

• The pronoun should match the antecedent in number and gender.

• The pronoun should refer to the noun (one noun).

Tip 4: Develop a Systematic Approach to Sentence Correction

Students are often seen referring to the Manhattan GMAT Sentence correction guide. However, we believe that there are many GMAT sentence correction practice questions available in the GMAT club, and all students preparing for the GMAT Focus exam should join the GMAT club. The next GMAT sentence correction tips are as follows:

Break Down Sentences into Manageable Parts

This can be done by reading it aloud and then identifying the subject, predicate, clauses, and modifiers in the sentence. After this, check the subject-verb agreement, pronoun antecedents, and usage of idiomatic expressions, and then simplify the sentence by mentally rearranging the sentence to simplify its structure.

Use the Process of Elimination Effectively

After breaking down the sentence into simpler chunks and understanding the error it could have, read all the given options, start eliminating the wrong choices that have grammar inaccuracy, also, use the split strategy to reach the most accurate option.

Split strategy: Notice the splits given in the options. For example, if two choices start with “which” and three start with “that,” focus on which is appropriate for the sentence. This can quickly help you eliminate multiple choices at once.

Tip 5: Practice with GMAT-Specific Sentence Correction Resources

The best resource that students preparing for the GMAT exam is the free GMAT club. This can be easily joined via social media applications like Facebook.

Utilize Official GMAT Prep Materials

GMAT club regularly posts and offers GMAT preparation material and practice questions. They should be utilized wisely. The best way is that students should initially understand the pattern of questions, the strategies and tips to follow to reach the correct and most accurate answers, and then start practising using the authenticated GMAT prep material available at the main web portal mba.com or GMAT club.

Tip 6: Time Management Strategies for Sentence Correction

Time management is the most essential requirement of the GMAT exam and students should consider time management on a serious note while they are practicing for the GMAT sentence correction practice questions.

Allocate Time Wisely for Each Question

As a student, even in your practice mock test time, do not give more than 1 minute and 45 seconds to any question. In case you feel you are stuck, it's time to revise the concept and overcome the weakness. Make an educated guess and move to the next question.

Practice Speed and Accuracy

Regular practice under timed conditions will help you build speed and accuracy, any wrong question attempt should be reviewed properly and strategies to overcome the weaknesses should be followed from the GMAT sentence correction guide.

Tip 7: Learn to Recognize Traps and Distractor

While practising for the GMAT sentence correction practice questions, students have to learn many grammar concepts accurately and also understand how they are assessed in the GMAT sentence correction questions. This helps them identify the errors they have to check in the GMAT sentence correction questions.

Identify Common Trap Answers

Some of the common traps are the wrong usage of idioms, pronoun-antecedent, parallelism traps, modifiers traps, wrong tenses, and the wrong splits.

Avoid Overthinking and Second-Guessing

As you start regular practice, you might find yourself stuck at times in identifying the errors because of confusion. This calls for a revision of the concept and not wasting time on that particular question. Revise the concept and overcome the weakness. Just make an educated guess if you are attempting a mock test.

Tip 8: Regularly Review and Analyze Practice Tests

Regular practice of GMAT sentence correction questions will help you overcome all the weak areas. We recommend that you keep the GMAT sentence correction rules PDF handy so that you can check the errors that you make and overcome the problems.

Review Incorrect Answers Thoroughly

Check the incorrect answers regularly so that you can identify the mistakes you are making. Revise the concepts that you are weak in and prepare accordingly.

Track Improvement Over Time

Always make a track record of the improvements and mistakes that you are making. This will help you realize the preparation requirements you still have and will be able to plan further for the success in GMAT exam.

Tip 9: Stay Calm and Focused During the Test

Calmly prepare for the GMAT sentence correction practice questions as this will help you excel in them and score high in the main exam.

Practice Relaxation Techniques Before the Exam

Be mindful and do not stress yourself, prepare smartly, and just do not work hard without analyzing the mistakes. Use the tips, tricks and strategies given in the GMAT sentence correction guide.

Trust Your Preparation and Knowledge

Trust your preparation and knowledge while you are preparing for the GMAT exam. Join online forums and engage in various activities and webinars they conduct so that you have the latest updates on the GMAT exam and also a chance to meet like-minded individuals.

Tip 10: Adapt Your Study Plan Based on Performance

While you are practising and are at a preparation stage, you should modulate your study plan according to the improvements required to excel in the main GMAT exam. Focus on overall improvement and strategies for your preparation in that way.

The candidates can thoroughly read the GMAT Focus 2024 Preparation Tips PDF to score high in the GMAT exam.

Focus on Weak Areas Identified in Practice Tests

Regularly practice the weak areas and make sure even your silly doubts are cleared. Do not hesitate to seek help from your trainers, websites, and online forums.

Adjust Your Study Techniques as Needed

As mentioned above, do not stick to a particular plan instead make regular changes as per the requirement and work on improvement at every step.

Do’s and Don’ts in GMAT Sentence Correction Section

(Suggestion: Write do’s and don’ts in the tabular form)

Example:

The candidates preparing for the GMAT Focus edition exam must prepare from the e-books given below:

• GMAT 2024 Verbal Reasoning Sample Questions

• GMAT 2024 Quantitative Reasoning Sample Questions

• GMAT 2024 Data Insight Sample Questions