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GMAT Verbal Study Plan for Non-Native Speakers (and Others Who Want the Practice)

Monday, February 8th, 2010

By far, the easiest and fastest way to learn English is to be a tiny baby growing up in an English-speaking environment.  If you are reading this article, though, you are no longer in a position to take advantage of that opportunity, and will have to improve your English the hard way:  practice.  Not all practice is equally good, however!  English, like all living languages, is complex and constantly-changing; what is acceptable in spoken English is not always accepted in Standard (written) English.  The key to improving your English reading, processing, and writing skills for the GMAT is consistent high-quality practice.  It’s true that native speakers have a big advantage — they have typically been listening to correct English for at least two decades.  Non-native speakers, however, have a small advantage — they (unlike native speakers) have not been listening to incorrect English for two decades.  Build your study around quality writing and daily practice — and start as early as you can.

Quality writing:
New Yorker
The Economist
Harper’s Magazine
The Atlantic

A note about The Economist in particular:  you may be tempted to choose that above all the others, as it is the most business- and world news-focused.  I believe doing so would be a mistake!  The Economist is known for its very precise and concise use of language; you all should be reading it for this reason.  On the other hand, The Economist assumes a very high level of familiarity and comfort with not only standard language usage, but also the rarer, more complex, and more concise usage of English found more commonly in the humanities (it also occasionally chooses British English usage over American English usage).  The other three periodicals mentioned above have a smaller portion of their content devoted to finance and business and a greater portion devoted to the humanities — often without The Economist’s trademark concision.  You will get more practice tracking longer English sentences, which can also shed more light on English usage:  sometimes things are easier to understand when more words are used to explain!  In addition, the greater variety present in the other periodicals prepares you better for the variety of topics you’ll get in GMAT Reading Comprehension passages.  In short:  use The Economist, but not only The Economist.

One Year Away From Test Day

  • One half hour per day reading (or even listening to) quality English writing.  Podcasts/audio books are an acceptable occasional substitute; reading words on the page is better, but only one of the two is legal or smart while you’re driving to work
  • Look up words you don’t know, every time.

Six Months From Test Day

The above, plus:

  • Take a full-length practice test to assess your weaknesses; take two more in the next two months
  • Take inventory of the places you are likely to be caught due to language differences
  • Start writing down idioms that give you trouble; take note of movie/book/song titles, or other key phrases in English that can help you remember the idioms
  • Begin a weekly commitment to GMAT study, starting with the Official Guide.  Move to other sources when you have exhausted the Official Guide material

Three Months From the Week of Your Test

  • Begin taking at least two full-length practice tests every three weeks; you are taking full-length tests because the Quantitative section is also written in English. The goal is to improve your comfort level with the overall timing of the test, and to help you adjust to the range of English that appears on the full test
  • One half hour per day of Grockit GMAT Verbal Study minimum; do not save it all for one weekend afternoon
  • For harder CR and RC passages, you can also use LSAT prep materials
  • Keep reading!

One Month From the Week of Your Test

  • Take one full-length practice test per week
  • Study every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes.  You gain much more from repetition than you do from cramming
  • Keep reading!

Posted in GMAT, Verbal | No Comments »

Strengthening Your “Strengthen” Muscles In GMAT Reading Comprehension

Monday, January 25th, 2010

muscle One common GMAT reasoning question is the kind that asks you to “strengthen” the argument.  The most common mistake that people make on these kinds of questions is failing to stay close enough to the text of the argument as written.  Let’s look at an example:

Company X has instituted an Employee Wellness Program that will provide employees with free access to smoking cessation programs, nutritional counseling, and personal training services at a local gym.  Similar programs at other companies have been shown to improve workplace attendance and performance, and reduce the employer’s costs for employee health insurance.  Thus, the Employee Wellness Program will be good for both the employees and the company.

If true, which of the following would best support the conclusion of the argument above?

a) Many employees take advantage of free nutritional counseling when it is offered by employers.

b) Smoking cessation programs are only effective for 20% of those smokers who use them.

c) Personal training services at a local gym will make it easier for employees to improve their cardiovascular health and reduce the incidence of serious illness.

d) Exercising without personal training services can often lead to injury due to incorrect use of weight-training equipment.

e) Company X will give employees taking part in the smoking cessation program one paid hour off each Friday afternoon to participate in a support group.

Your first step here is to read the question itself, and notice that it’s asking you to find the answer choice that supports, or strengthens, the conclusion.  Then, as you read the argument, notice the word thus, which is a great clue to guide you to the argument’s conclusion, which is that “the Employee Wellness Program will be good for both the employees and the company.”  The argument’s evidence provides several examples of how to program is good for the company—it will “improve workplace attendance and performance, and reduce the employer’s costs for employee health insurance.”  But the conclusion talks about benefits for employees as well as the company, and the argument doesn’t state explicitly how the program will benefit them.  Now, let’s look at the answer choices one at a time.

a) Many employees take advantage of free nutritional counseling when it is offered by employers.

The counseling’s popularity might indicate that it is beneficial to the employees, but it might not.  This choice doesn’t clearly demonstrate that the Employee Wellness Program benefits the employees, and is a good example of a wrong answer that makes the test-taker work too hard in order to justify choosing it.  Here, one would have to assume that employees take advantage of the program because it is beneficial to them.  A strengthener shouldn’t require a major assumption, and therefore this choice is not the best answer.  Wrong answers like this are common, so watch out for them.

b) Smoking cessation programs are only effective for 20% of those smokers who use them.

This choice makes it LESS likely that the programs will benefit either the employees or the company.  This answer choice may catch your eye if you didn’t read the question closely enough, and are mistakenly looking for a weakener instead of a strengthener.

c) Personal training services at a local gym will make it easier for employees to improve their cardiovascular health and reduce the incidence of serious illness.

This is the correct answer.  The argument seems to imply that the increased attendance and performance and reduced health insurance costs are due to improved employee health, which would naturally benefit the employees.  This choice makes that unstated implication clear, and fills the gap in the argument.

If words like unstated and gap remind you of assumption questions, that’s a good thing!  Often, the weakness in an argument is due to the gap left by an unstated assumption, and the best way to strengthen the argument is by explicitly stating the assumption.

d) Exercising without personal training services can often lead to injury due to incorrect use of weight-training equipment.

This answer might be tempting, but again, it requires too many assumptions to tie it into the argument as a strengthener.  In order for this to strengthen the argument, one must assume that employees would still exercise without the personal training services, and that they would incorrectly use the weight-training equipment. That’s too much work for the question, and so this answer choice must be rejected.

e) Company X will give employees taking part in the smoking cessation program one paid hour off each Friday afternoon to participate in a support group.

This might benefit the employees, but it would be a burden to Company X. 

Therefore, it’s not the best choice. Lesson of the day: one key to success with strengthen questions on theGMAT is to remember that the correct answer shouldn’t take too much work to justify.

Posted in GMAT, Reading Comprehension, Verbal | 1 Comment »

Applying “Necessary” And “Sufficient” To Assumption questions

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

GMAT critical reasoning questions often ask you to identify the assumption of an argument.  The first step in doing that successfully is understanding what, exactly, they mean by “assumption.”  An assumption in GMAT-speak is the unstated link somewhere in the chain of evidence and conclusion.  Finding the assumption means, basically, finding that gap in the argument and filling it.

Assumptions can be roughly divided into “necessary” and “sufficient,” and your approach to tackling an assumption question depends in part on which kind of assumption you’re dealing with.  A necessary assumption MUST be true in order for the conclusion to follow logically based on the evidence presented.  Take, for example, the following simplified version of a GMAT question:

Jennie wears glasses.  Jennie also gets A’s in chemistry.  Therefore, Jennie must be smart.

Which of the following assumptions is necessary to support the conclusion above?

Here, you’re looking at finding the unstated idea that MUST BE TRUE in order for the argument to work logically.  Take a look at the possibilities:

a) Jennie gets good grades in all of her science classes.

b) All girls named Jennie are smart.

c) Jennie wouldn’t wear glasses if she wasn’t smart.

d) Some people who get A’s in chemistry are smart.

e) Everyone who gets an A in chemistry is smart.

Now, a few of these choices support the argument’s conclusion.  But only one of them is actually necessary to the argument.  Let’s looks at them one at a time.

a) Jennie gets good grades in all of her science classes.

This isn’t an assumption of this argument at all.  Jennie’s other science classes are outside the scope of the argument, since they are addressed in neither the evidence nor the conclusion.

b) All girls named Jennie are smart.

This choice would certainly support the conclusion; if this were true, then the conclusion would HAVE to be true.  But is this statement NECESSARY to the conclusion?  No.  Other girls named Jennie don’t have any necessary significance to this argument.  So this is not a good choice.

c) Jennie wouldn’t wear glasses if she wasn’t smart.

Again, this choice would be SUFFICIENT to make the argument’s conclusion follow from the evidence.  But is it necessary?  No.  So we’ll bypass this one.

d) Some people who get A’s in chemistry are smart.

This is the correct choice, because it MUST be true in order for the evidence to follow logically from the conclusion.  What if this wasn’t true, and no one who got an A in chemistry was smart?  If that were the case, then the conclusion would not be true, based on the evidence that Jennie gets A’s in chemistry.

e) Everyone who gets an A in chemistry is smart.

Once more, this choice is sufficient to support the conclusion, but it’s not necessary.  So it’s not the correct answer to the question that is being posed.

Now, hopefully you noticed that the correct answer here is the least extreme relevant statement.  That doesn’t always have to be the case, but for questions that ask for necessary assumptions, it’s a good general guideline.  Be wary of answer choices that are extreme; they will often be sufficient, but not necessary, and will therefore trick test-takers who aren’t careful in evaluating what exactly the question has asked them to find.

But what if the question paired with that argument looked more like this?

Which of the following assumptions, if true, best supports the conclusion above?

Well, in that case, the answer choices would look more like these:

a) Jennie gets good grades in all of her science classes.

b) All girls named Jennie are smart.

c) Jennie gets A’s in her physics class.

d) Some people who get A’s in chemistry are smart.

e) Some people who don’t wear glasses are smart.

Just as in the last example, choice a) is not relevant to the argument as an assumption.  But here, choice b) is the correct answer, because if that statement is true, then the conclusion is absolutely true.  Choices c) and e) are irrelevant in the same way that choice a) is, since physics and people who don’t wear glasses aren’t at issue here.  Now, choice d) is NECESSARY to the argument, but it is not the BEST support to the conclusion.  Even if it IS true that some people who get A’s in chemistry are smart, that doesn’t guarantee that Jennie is.

Moral of the story: keep a close eye on what the question is asking for, and read accordingly.

Have a question for Andrea or any of the Grockit tutors? Visit Grockit forums or post your thoughts here.

Posted in Critical Reasoning, GMAT, Verbal | No Comments »

Spotting Common Critical Reasoning Flaws

Monday, January 11th, 2010

As we’ve seen, flaw questions on the GMAT follow predictable patterns: the flaw always in some way addresses either how the evidence is being interpreted to lead to the conclusion, or how the evidence was obtained.  Let’s take a look at a few specific examples of common GMAT flaws.

Real Numbers v. Percentages

At Company X, 15% of the male executives took advantage of the corporate “Family Leave” program last year, enjoying 6 weeks of paid sabbatical after a birth or adoption in their family.  Only 10% of female executives at Company X took advantage of the program.  Therefore, it appears that more male executives than female executives at Company X are interested in programs that promote leave options for personal reasons.

There are actually two major flaws here, and we’ll look at the one that ISN’T the title of this sub-section first, just to get it out of the way: the evidence isn’t sufficient to support the conclusion.  The conclusion is about the “interest” of executives in “programs that promote leave options for personal reasons,” but the evidence only discusses percentages of executives who were involved in one specific program.  Drawing a conclusion about programs in general based on that evidence is unsound.  Also, participation alone is not necessarily indicative of the interest in the programs; maybe people ARE interested, but just haven’t had new babies in their families.

The more standard flaw here, though, is the “real numbers versus percentages” issue.  Evidence is presented about percentages, and based on that evidence, a conclusion is drawn about quantity.  But the conclusion is flawed: what if there are 100 male executives at Company X, and 200 female executives?  In that case, there would be 15 male executives taking Family Leave, and 20 female executives; since 20 is clearly more than 15, the conclusion would not be properly drawn in that case.  We can see, then, that percentage evidence alone is not sufficient to support a conclusion regarding “real number” quantities.

Causation v. Correlation

Studies focusing on North Americans show that single men have an average lifespan of 72.1 years; married men have an average lifespan of 73.4 years.  However, married women live an average of 75.4 years, 2.1 years less than single women, who have an average lifespan of 77.5 years.  Researchers have concluded, based on the data from those studies, that husbands suck the life-force out of their wives, prolonging their own lives at the cost of their spouses’ longevity.

Okay, first of all, the premise behind that scenario is absolutely a joke; just trying to bring a little levity to the GMAT preparations here!  ;) But seriously, the issue here is that there is a correlation between two occurrences (the increased lifespans of married men and the decreased lifespans of married women) and the argument inappropriately assumes that there must be a causal link between those occurrences.  Whenever you see an argument that presents two events—let’s call them X and Y– that occur together, and that then concludes that one event, X, must be causing the other event, Y, you should look for the possibility that Y in fact causes X, or that some outside factor, Z, is causing both X and Y.

Necessary v. Sufficient

In order to successfully navigate the Great Lakes Trail, a 47-mile hiking trail fraught with unsteady terrain, one must have a pair of supportive hiking boots.  Drew recently purchased a pair of the most comfortable and supportive hiking boots on the market.  Therefore, Drew should have no trouble navigating the Great Lakes Trail when he goes on his hiking trip next month.

Now, I know we’ve seen a lot of necessary/sufficient issues in past discussions, but in flaw questions, the application is simpler.  The correctly-identified flaw here would be that the argument takes a condition that is necessary for achieving the goal of completing the hike, and has treated it as though it is sufficient.  Good boots are necessary; without them, Drew couldn’t make the hike.  But are they ENOUGH?  What if Drew has a horrible virus and can’t even get out of bed, let alone go for a 47-mile hike?  The boots are not, by themselves, SUFFICIENT to ensure success on the hike.  As a reader, be on the lookout for arguments that don’t differentiate between necessary and sufficient conditions.

These common flaw types consistently appear on the GMAT; keep practicing on Grockit to improve your ability to spot them and improve your performance on critical reasoning questions!

Posted in Critical Reasoning, GMAT, Verbal | No Comments »

The GMAT Subjunctive Part 8 of 8: Come What May

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

The subjunctive usually refers to things that have not happened yet, whether we really want them to happen (commands, wishes) or not (suppositions, conditional statements, fearing). The subjunctive appears in very specific contexts; we shall cover the most common ones, and some of the less common ones!  Please note that the subjunctive on the GMAT is not common! If your Verbal scores are low, direct your studies toward:

  • subject-verb agreement
  • verb tense, comparisons
  • parallelism (the GMAT loves parallelism so much, the two of them should get married)

The subjunctive exists in many languages, though other languages use it more than we do in English, where it’s a somewhat strange and slowly disappearing form.

What does it look like?

The present subjunctive looks exactly the same as both the imperative (used in direct orders, like Go home! or Be careful!) and the part of the infinitive that isn’t the word to (to park or to drive).  Some call this the “plain form” of the verb, since it’s the same in all three settings (hurry, slow down, stop).  It doesn’t get different endings for being in the past tense (like take vs. taken) or in the third person singular (I eat vs. she eats).  Since Sentence Correction on the GMAT is completely dominated by third-person verbs (he/she/it jumps, they jump), the subjunctive will stand out more often:

Indicative (”normal”):  She sings her favorite song in the shower.
Subjunctive:  I suggested that she sing her favorite song in the shower.

It definitely stands out!  You won’t be able to tell a friend “She sing her favorite song in shower!” without your friend wondering whether you’ve been hit in the head too many times, because the subjunctive doesn’t live on its own, outside of a few set phrases that are basically fossils, remnants of a time when the subjunctive was more common in English (and we’ll cover those too).  When you need a present subjunctive, think of how you would form the infinitive (to sing, to cut) and remove the to:  that’s your present subjunctive (or “plain form”).

The past subjunctive looks the same as the normal (indicative) form, except in the verb to be.

The future subjunctive as it is traditionally taught looks different from the indicative and other subjunctives in all forms; some say that because it’s so different, we should call it something else and not the future subjunctive at all.  I mention this because your understanding of how this works is deeply affected by the way you were taught (for most non-native speakers of English) or the fact that you weren’t taught it at all (for most native speakers); I didn’t learn about the subjunctive until I studied other languages!  No matter how (or whether) you were taught the subjunctive, though, these are the forms you could see on the GMAT.

I’ve made this chart for your reference; I will include all of this information in every installment of this series so that you don’t have to refer back to this article:

1

I’ve highlighted the places where the subjunctive differs from the “normal” indicative.  In the future tense, you see that I have “will/shall”; traditionally, “shall” is the simple first-person future form (I/we shall, but he/she/it/you/they will), though you are not likely to see it often in American English.  “Shall” can still be used to show certainty or obligation (You shall not pass!), and also appears in legal language.

Where will I see it?

There are some common places the subjunctive can appear in English; we will be covering all of these in this series:

  • wishes (I wish that I were able to drive a motorcycle or may the best man win)
  • suppositions (If I were to go to the party, I wouldn’t finish painting the house)
  • demands and commands (She demanded that he leave her house immediately)
  • suggestions and proposals (I suggest that she think about it more)
  • conditions contrary to fact (If I were master of the universe, college tuition would be free)
  • statements of necessity (It’s necessary that they be there for your safety)
  • fearing with lest (I filled her car with gas lest she run out on her cross-country trip)
  • idiomatic phrases  (As it were or be that as it may or . . . need only . . .)

Idiomatic Phrases

These are phrases that have remained in English — sometimes in common use! — long after the subjunctive began its retreat into the history of the English language.  Some of these are similar to the uses of the subjunctive we’ve had before:  some are wishes, some are orders, some are conditions contrary to fact.  You may not have seen anything unusual about these before . . . but now you should see the subjunctives in all of them!  I’ve put the phrases I believe are more common toward the top, though I don’t have data on the actual usage:

  • if need be
  • as it were
  • if I were you; were I you
  • be that as it may
  • (God) bless you!
  • may the best man win
  • come Monday (Tuesday, etc.)
  • come what may
  • far be it from me (to do [action])
  • so be it
  • until death do us part
  • God save the Queen, God bless America, God rest ye merry gentlemen, etc.
  • …need only…   (”I need only finish this article to be done with the series”)
  • rest in peace
  • suffice it to say
  • albeit (which is a contraction all be it, another way of saying although it be)
  • truth be told
  • Heaven forbid (with the thing forbidden also in the subjunctive:  Heaven forbid (that) he forget his speech)
  • let (may) it be known
  • woe betide
  • peace be with you
  • rue the day
  • would that it were (with a sense of I wish it were)

Looking for the answer to Part 7’s answer? Read Part 7: Lest for a GMAT-style question.  Then come back to get the answer.

(The answer for Part 7: Lest’s question is C)

Thanks for reading about the subjunctive — you are now well-prepared to face what the GMAT can give you!

Posted in GMAT, Sentence Correction, Series, Verbal | No Comments »

The GMAT Subjunctive Part 7 of 8: Lest We Forget

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

The subjunctive usually refers to things that have not happened yet, whether we really want them to happen (commands, wishes) or not (suppositions, conditional statements, fearing). The subjunctive appears in very specific contexts; we shall cover the most common ones, and some of the less common ones!  Please note that the subjunctive on the GMAT is not common! If your Verbal scores are low, direct your studies toward:

  • subject-verb agreement
  • verb tense, comparisons
  • parallelism (the GMAT loves parallelism so much, the two of them should get married)

The subjunctive exists in many languages, though other languages use it more than we do in English, where it’s a somewhat strange and slowly disappearing form.

What does it look like?

The present subjunctive looks exactly the same as both the imperative (used in direct orders, like Go home! or Be careful!) and the part of the infinitive that isn’t the word to (to twist or to shout).  Some call this the “plain form” of the verb, since it’s the same in all three settings (see, hear, speak).  It doesn’t get different endings for being in the past tense (like take vs. taken) or in the third person singular (I eat vs. she eats).  Since Sentence Correction on the GMAT is completely dominated by third-person verbs (he/she/it jumps, they jump), the subjunctive will stand out more often:

Indicative (”normal”):  She makes her thank-you cards by hand.
Subjunctive:  I suggested that she make her thank-you cards by hand.

It definitely stands out!  You won’t be able to tell a friend “She make her thank-you cards by hand!” without your friend wondering whether you’ve been hit in the head too many times, because the subjunctive doesn’t live on its own, outside of a few set phrases that are basically fossils, remnants of a time when the subjunctive was more common in English (and we’ll cover those too).  When you need a present subjunctive, think of how you would form the infinitive (to sing, to cut) and remove the to:  that’s your present subjunctive (or “plain form”).

The past subjunctive looks the same as the normal (indicative) form, except in the verb to be.

The future subjunctive as it is traditionally taught looks different from the indicative and other subjunctives in all forms; some say that because it’s so different, we should call it something else and not the future subjunctive at all.  I mention this because your understanding of how this works is deeply affected by the way you were taught (for most non-native speakers of English) or the fact that you weren’t taught it at all (for most native speakers); I didn’t learn about the subjunctive until I studied other languages!  No matter how (or whether) you were taught the subjunctive, though, these are the forms you could see on the GMAT.

I’ve made this chart for your reference; I will include all of this information in every installment of this series so that you don’t have to refer back to this article:

1

I’ve highlighted the places where the subjunctive differs from the “normal” indicative.  In the future tense, you see that I have “will/shall”; traditionally, “shall” is the simple first-person future form (I/we shall, but he/she/it/you/they will), though you are not likely to see it often in American English.  “Shall” can still be used to show certainty or obligation (You shall not pass!), and also appears in legal language.

Where will I see it?

There are some common places the subjunctive can appear in English; we will be covering all of these in this series:

  • wishes (I wish that I were able to drive a motorcycle or may the best man win)
  • suppositions (If I were to go to the party, I wouldn’t finish painting the house)
  • demands and commands (She demanded that he leave her house immediately)
  • suggestions and proposals (I suggest that she think about it more)
  • conditions contrary to fact (If I were master of the universe, college tuition would be free)
  • statements of necessity (It’s necessary that they be there for your safety)
  • fearing with lest (I filled her car with gas lest she run out on her cross-country trip)
  • idiomatic phrases  (As it were or be that as it may or . . . need only . . .)

Fearing, with “lest”

The word “lest” introduces what might be called “negative purpose clauses” — doing something in order to prevent something else from happening.  The clauses with lest are things that have not happened yet, and the idea is that they should not happen!  You can replace the word lest with the phrase “for fear that” to make the sense clear — the first part of the sentence is the action taken or suggested, the second part the (negative) reason for that action:

I went to bed early lest I fall asleep during my morning staff meeting.
She put a lid on the dish lest the food make a mess inside the microwave oven.
Take your time putting that table together lest it collapse in the middle of your dinner party.

The emphasis is on negative things that are undesirable, though this emphasis is stretched a bit at times:
Do not eat at that new Italian restaurant, lest you find yourself wanting to have their delicious lasagna for dinner every night.

A GMAT-style question:

The sales team members began working longer hours during the peak season for the industry, lest both the most lucrative season of the year and the chance to impress their supervisors is missed.

A. lest both the most lucrative season of the year and the chance to impress their supervisors is missed.
B. lest they’ve missed both the most lucrative season of the year along with the chance to impress their supervisors.
C. lest they miss both the most lucrative season of the year and the chance to impress their supervisors.
D. lest both the the most lucrative season of the year along with the chance to impress their supervisors be missed.
E.  lest they’ve missed the most lucrative season of the year in the chance to impress their supervisors.

Read the final article of this series, Part 8: Idiomatic Phrases, for the answer to this question!

Looking for the answer to Part 6’s answer? Read The GMAT Subjunctive Part 6 of 8: It Is Vital That You Know for a GMAT-style question.  Then come back to get the answer.

(The answer for Part 6: Statement of Necessity’s question is B)

Posted in GMAT, Sentence Correction, Series, Verbal | 2 Comments »

The GMAT Subjunctive Part 6 of 8: It Is Vital That You Know

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

The subjunctive usually refers to things that have not happened yet, whether we really want them to happen (commands, wishes) or not (suppositions, conditional statements, fearing). The subjunctive appears in very specific contexts; we shall cover the most common ones, and some of the less common ones!  Please note that the subjunctive on the GMAT is not common! If your Verbal scores are low, direct your studies toward:

  • subject-verb agreement
  • verb tense, comparisons
  • parallelism (the GMAT loves parallelism so much, the two of them should get married)

The subjunctive exists in many languages, though other languages use it more than we do in English, where it’s a somewhat strange and slowly disappearing form.

What does it look like?

The present subjunctive looks exactly the same as both the imperative (used in direct orders, like Go home! or Be careful!) and the part of the infinitive that isn’t the word to (to poke or to prod).  Some call this the “plain form” of the verb, since it’s the same in all three settings (stop, drop, roll).  It doesn’t get different endings for being in the past tense (like take vs. taken) or in the third person singular (I eat vs. she eats).  Since Sentence Correction on the GMAT is completely dominated by third-person verbs (he/she/it jumps, they jump), the subjunctive will stand out more often:

Indicative (”normal”):  She puts ketchup on her eggs.
Subjunctive:  I suggested that she put ketchup on her eggs.

It definitely stands out!  You won’t be able to tell a friend “She put ketchup on her eggs!” without your friend wondering whether you’ve been hit in the head too many times, because the subjunctive doesn’t live on its own, outside of a few set phrases that are basically fossils, remnants of a time when the subjunctive was more common in English (and we’ll cover those too).  When you need a present subjunctive, think of how you would form the infinitive (to sing, to cut) and remove the to:  that’s your present subjunctive (or “plain form”).

The past subjunctive looks the same as the normal (indicative) form, except in the verb to be.

The future subjunctive as it is traditionally taught looks different from the indicative and other subjunctives in all forms; some say that because it’s so different, we should call it something else and not the future subjunctive at all.  I mention this because your understanding of how this works is deeply affected by the way you were taught (for most non-native speakers of English) or the fact that you weren’t taught it at all (for most native speakers); I didn’t learn about the subjunctive until I studied other languages!  No matter how (or whether) you were taught the subjunctive, though, these are the forms you could see on the GMAT.

I’ve made this chart for your reference; I will include all of this information in every installment of this series so that you don’t have to refer back to this article:

6

I’ve highlighted the places where the subjunctive differs from the “normal” indicative.  In the future tense, you see that I have “will/shall”; traditionally, “shall” is the simple first-person future form (I/we shall, but he/she/it/you/they will), though you are not likely to see it often in American English.  “Shall” can still be used to show certainty or obligation (You shall not pass!), and also appears in legal language.

Where will I see it?

There are some common places the subjunctive can appear in English; we will be covering all of these in this series:

  • wishes (I wish that I were able to drive a motorcycle or may the best man win)
  • suppositions (If I were to go to the party, I wouldn’t finish painting the house)
  • demands and commands (She demanded that he leave her house immediately)
  • suggestions and proposals (I suggest that she think about it more)
  • conditions contrary to fact (If I were master of the universe, college tuition would be free)
  • statements of necessity (It’s necessary that they be there for your safety)
  • fearing with lest (I filled her car with gas lest she run out on her cross-country trip)
  • idiomatic phrases  (As it were or be that as it may or . . . need only . . .)

Statements of necessity

Some adjectives and verb phrases that suggest or state that something is mandatory can trigger the appearance of a subjunctive as well; as with other subjunctives, it’s something that hasn’t happened yet, but as with commands and suggestions, somebody thinks that it should happen!

  • It is imperative (that)
  • It is best (that)
  • It is crucial (that)
  • It is important (that)
  • It is urgent (that)
  • It is essential (that)
  • It is vital (that)
  • It is desirable (that)
  • It is a good idea (that)
  • It is a bad idea (that)
  • It is recommended (that)

As before, some of them have a common alternate construction that does not use the subjunctive:

  • It is best to [action]
  • It is important to [action]
  • It is a good idea to [action]
  • It is a bad idea to [action]
  • It is essential to [action]

Others on the first list can be put in this alternate construction, but it is less common to do so.

A GMAT-style question:

After extensive consultation with his department heads, the giving of bottled water to every client who visited the office in person was best ceased by the organization, as a cost-cutting measure.

A.  the giving of bottled water to every client who visited the office in person was best ceased by the organization, as a cost-cutting measure.
B.  the director decided that, as a cost-cutting measure, it was best that the organization cease providing bottled water to every client who visited the office in person
C.  bottled water to every client who visited the office in person should best cease to be given as a cost-cutting measure, according to the director
D.  the director decided that as a means of costs being cut, the bottled water that they were giving out best to cease to be given out
E.  the cost-cutting director decided that it was best that the bottled water given out to every client who visited the office in person was ceased

Read the next article, Part 7: “Lest”, for the answer to this question!

Looking for the answer to Part 5’s answer? Read Part 5: Conditions Contrary to Fact for a GMAT-style question.  Then come back to get the answer.

(The answer for Part 5: Conditions Contrary to Fact’s question is D)

Posted in GMAT, Sentence Correction, Series, Verbal | No Comments »

The GMAT Subjunctive Part 5 of 8: If I Were To Score 760

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

The subjunctive usually refers to things that have not happened yet, whether we really want them to happen (commands, wishes) or not (suppositions, conditional statements, fearing). The subjunctive appears in very specific contexts; we shall cover the most common ones, and some of the less common ones!  Please note that the subjunctive on the GMAT is not common! If your Verbal scores are low, direct your studies toward:

  • subject-verb agreement
  • verb tense, comparisons
  • parallelism (the GMAT loves parallelism so much, the two of them should get married)

The subjunctive exists in many languages, though other languages use it more than we do in English, where it’s a somewhat strange and slowly disappearing form.

What does it look like?

The present subjunctive looks exactly the same as both the imperative (used in direct orders, like Eat it! or Don’t look!) and the part of the infinitive that isn’t the word to (to sleep or to dream).  Some call this the “plain form” of the verb, since it’s the same in all three settings (win, lose, draw).  It doesn’t get different endings for being in the past tense (like take vs. taken) or in the third person singular (I eat vs. she eats).  Since Sentence Correction on the GMAT is completely dominated by third-person verbs (he/she/it jumps, they jump), the subjunctive will stand out more often:

Indicative (”normal”):  She stays at home when it snows.
Subjunctive:  I suggested that she stay at home when it snows.

It definitely stands out!  You won’t be able to tell a friend “She stay at home when it snows!” without your friend wondering whether you’ve been hit in the head too many times, because the subjunctive doesn’t live on its own, outside of a few set phrases that are basically fossils, remnants of a time when the subjunctive was more common in English (and we’ll cover those too).  When you need a present subjunctive, think of how you would form the infinitive (to sing, to cut) and remove the to:  that’s your present subjunctive (or “plain form”).

The past subjunctive looks the same as the normal (indicative) form, except in the verb to be.

The future subjunctive as it is traditionally taught looks different from the indicative and other subjunctives in all forms; some say that because it’s so different, we should call it something else and not the future subjunctive at all.  I mention this because your understanding of how this works is deeply affected by the way you were taught (for most non-native speakers of English) or the fact that you weren’t taught it at all (for most native speakers); I didn’t learn about the subjunctive until I studied other languages!  No matter how (or whether) you were taught the subjunctive, though, these are the forms you could see on the GMAT.

I’ve made this chart for your reference; I will include all of this information in every installment of this series so that you don’t have to refer back to this article:

5

I’ve highlighted the places where the subjunctive differs from the “normal” indicative.  In the future tense, you see that I have “will/shall”; traditionally, “shall” is the simple first-person future form (I/we shall, but he/she/it/you/they will), though you are not likely to see it often in American English.  “Shall” can still be used to show certainty or obligation (You shall not pass!), and also appears in legal language.

Where will I see it?

There are some common places the subjunctive can appear in English; we will be covering all of these in this series:

  • wishes (I wish that I were able to drive a motorcycle or may the best man win)
  • suppositions (If I were to go to the party, I wouldn’t finish painting the house)
  • demands and commands (She demanded that he leave her house immediately)
  • suggestions and proposals (I suggest that she think about it more)
  • conditions contrary to fact (If I were master of the universe, college tuition would be free)
  • statements of necessity (It’s necessary that they be there for your safety)
  • fearing with lest (I filled her car with gas lest she run out on her cross-country trip)
  • idiomatic phrases  (As it were or be that as it may or . . . need only . . .)

Conditions Contrary to Fact

Similar to the suppositions discussed in an earlier article, conditions that are counterfactual (or hypothetical) use the subjunctive when the consequence is either not likely or known to be completely untrue.  These conditional statements come in two forms, present and past, and the form of the subjunctive used will change.

Present contrary to fact conditions

Present contrary to fact conditions use the past subjunctive with a conditional word (would, could, should, might) and a plain form main verb to express the consequence of an event considered false or highly unlikely by the speaker:

  • If she pulled a gun on me, I could use my martial arts training to kick it out of her hand!
  • If I were rich beyond my wildest dreams, I might consider buying you a cheeseburger.
  • If we needed to work any more hours this month, we would need food delivery and toilets in every cubicle to make more time for work.

Past contrary to fact conditions

The past versions of the counterfactual conditional sentence require a past perfect (or “pluperfect”) verb  in the conditional clause; there is no difference between this form in the indicative and the subjunctive.  The main verb still requires a conditional word.  The conditional part of the sentence is in the past tense, but the consequence can be in the present tense:

  • If I had driven just a little faster yesterday, I might have been caught in that terrible traffic jam that was shown on the news.
  • If we had purchased five shares of Microsoft for $105 at its IPO in 1986, those shares would now be worth over $37,000.

A GMAT-style question:

Mr. Miller would have gotten away with his elaborate scheme to scare away tourists from the seaside village, if those four teenagers and their dog should not have meddled with his plans.

A.  if those four teenagers and their dog should not have meddled with his plans
B.  if those four teenagers and their dog were not going to meddle with his plans
C.  if the meddling of those four teenagers and their dog had not been occurring with his plans
D. if those four teenagers and their dog had not meddled with his plans
E. if the meddling of those four teenagers and their dog had not occurred

Read the next article, Part 6: Statements of Necessity, for the answer to this question!

Looking for the answer to Part 4’s answer? Read Part 4: Suggestions and Proposals for a GMAT-style supposition question.  Then come back to get the answer.

(The answer for Part 4: Suggestions and Proposal’s question is E)

Posted in Sentence Correction, Series, Verbal | 3 Comments »

The GMAT Subjunctive Part 4 of 8: I Suggest That He Study

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

The subjunctive usually refers to things that have not happened yet, whether we really want them to happen (commands, wishes) or not (suppositions, conditional statements, fearing). The subjunctive appears in very specific contexts; we shall cover the most common ones, and some of the less common ones!  Please note that the subjunctive on the GMAT is not common! If your Verbal scores are low, direct your studies toward:

  • subject-verb agreement
  • verb tense, comparisons
  • parallelism (the GMAT loves parallelism so much, the two of them should get married)

The subjunctive exists in many languages, though other languages use it more than we do in English, where it’s a somewhat strange and slowly disappearing form.

What does it look like?

The present subjunctive looks exactly the same as both the imperative (used in direct orders, like Shut your mouth! or Give me that cookie!) and the part of the infinitive that isn’t the word to (to fight or to flee).  Some call this the “plain form” of the verb, since it’s the same in all three settings (sit, merge, dig).  It doesn’t get different endings for being in the past tense (like take vs. taken) or in the third person singular (I eat vs. she eats).  Since Sentence Correction on the GMAT is completely dominated by third-person verbs (he/she/it jumps, they jump), the subjunctive will stand out more often:

Indicative (”normal”):  She stops eating peaches because the fuzz gives her the chills.
Subjunctive:  I suggested that she stop eating peaches because the fuzz gives her the chills.

It definitely stands out!  You won’t be able to tell a friend “She stop eating peaches because the fuzz gives her the chills!” without your friend wondering whether you’ve been hit in the head too many times, because the subjunctive doesn’t live on its own, outside of a few set phrases that are basically fossils, remnants of a time when the subjunctive was more common in English (and we’ll cover those too).  When you need a present subjunctive, think of how you would form the infinitive (to sing, to cut) and remove the to:  that’s your present subjunctive (or “plain form”).

The past subjunctive looks the same as the normal (indicative) form, except in the verb to be.

The future subjunctive as it is traditionally taught looks different from the indicative and other subjunctives in all forms; some say that because it’s so different, we should call it something else and not the future subjunctive at all.  I mention this because your understanding of how this works is deeply affected by the way you were taught (for most non-native speakers of English) or the fact that you weren’t taught it at all (for most native speakers); I didn’t learn about the subjunctive until I studied other languages!  No matter how (or whether) you were taught the subjunctive, though, these are the forms you could see on the GMAT.

I’ve made this chart for your reference; I will include all of this information in every installment of this series so that you don’t have to refer back to this article:

4

I’ve highlighted the places where the subjunctive differs from the “normal” indicative.  In the future tense, you see that I have “will/shall”; traditionally, “shall” is the simple first-person future form (I/we shall, but he/she/it/you/they will), though you are not likely to see it often in American English.  “Shall” can still be used to show certainty or obligation (You shall not pass!), and also appears in legal language.

Where will I see it?

There are some common places the subjunctive can appear in English; we will be covering all of these in this series:

  • wishes (I wish that I were able to drive a motorcycle or may the best man win)
  • suppositions (If I were to go to the party, I wouldn’t finish painting the house)
  • demands and commands (She demanded that he leave her house immediately)
  • suggestions and proposals (I suggest that she think about it more)
  • conditions contrary to fact (If I were master of the universe, college tuition would be free)
  • statements of necessity (It’s necessary that they be there for your safety)
  • fearing with lest (I filled her car with gas lest she run out on her cross-country trip)
  • idiomatic phrases  (As it were or be that as it may or . . . need only . . .)

Suggestions and Proposals

These statements work similarly to demands and commands, covered in the previous article.  Certain words can trigger a subjunctive statement, sometimes or always accompanied by the subordinating conjunction that, which signals the beginning of the suggestion or proposal:

  • to advise (that)
  • to ask (that)
  • to desire (that)
  • to propose (that)
  • to recommend (that)
  • to request (that)
  • to suggest (that)
  • to urge (that)

Some of these verbs also function without a subjunctive:

  • to advise [person] to [action]
  • to ask [person] to [action]
  • to urge [person] to [action]

And as with commands and demands, some verbs of proposal will idiomatically  almost always avoid the subjunctive:

  • to want [person] to [action]
  • to beseech [person] to [action]
  • to plead with [person] to [action]
  • to implore [person] to [action]

A GMAT-Style Question:

Believing that his company valued his work very highly, Henrik asked that the HR department should do a salary review prior to the fifth anniversary of his being hired.

A.  Henrik asked that the HR department should do a salary review prior to the fifth anniversary of his being hired.
B.  the HR department was asked for a salary review by Henrik prior to the five-year anniversary of his hiring.
C.  the HR department was asked that they review Henrik’s salary prior to the fifth anniversary of his hiring.
D.  the HR department was asked by Henrik to review his salary prior to the five-year anniversary of his being hired.
E.  Henrik asked that the HR department do a salary review prior to the fifth anniversary of his hiring.

Read the next article, Part 5: Conditions Contrary to Fact, for the answer to this question!

Looking for the answer to Part 3’s answer? Read Part 3: Demands and Commands for a GMAT-style supposition question.  Then come back to get the answer.

(The answer for Part 3: Demands and Commands’ question is A)

Posted in Sentence Correction, Series, Verbal | 2 Comments »

Subject-Verb Agreement On The GMAT

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Subject-verb agreement on GMAT sentence corrections pose many of the same considerations as pronoun-antecedent agreement: one must be careful to distinguish singular nouns from plural ones, even when the test-makers have made that tricky.  For instance, check out the first sentence of this article; there’s a mistake.  The subject of that sentence is “[s]ubject-verb agreement,” which is singular, but the verb, “pose,” is plural.  Because the plural “corrections” is placed between them, the plural verb SOUNDS right, but is in fact incorrect.  Let’s look at a couple more examples:

The team of soccer players are represented by their mascot, a wild boar.

This sentence demonstrates the same common trick, which is that a singular subject (team) is associated with a plural noun (players); a plural verb (are) is then placed next to that plural noun, and the unwary test-taker, relying on his or her sense of what “sounds right,” is lulled into thinking that the sentence is correct as written.

Incidentally, there’s a second, similar issue here: the pronoun-antecedent monster rears its ugly head.  While the test is busy tricking you into thinking that “team of soccer players” agrees with a plural verb, it also throws in a plural pronoun, “their.”  The correct possessive pronoun for a singular entity like a team is “its.”  The corrected version of the sentence above might therefore look like this:

The team of soccer players is represented by its mascot, a wild boar.

Another trick that is used to cause subject-verb agreement confusion is the insertion of a modifying phrase between the subject and verb in order to distract from the proper agreement.  An example of that would be a sentence like this:

A yoga studio, which is offering a wide variety of classes, are opening in my neighborhood.

The subject here is “[a] yoga studio,” which is singular.  The phrase “which is offering a wide variety of classes” is offset by commas, which tells us that the information is not essential to the meaning of the sentence and is instead a modifying phrase.  The best way to check subject-verb agreement in a sentence like this is by “lifting out” that modifying phrase and reading the sentence without it.  Thus, we can read it like this:

A yoga studio are opening in my neighborhood.

Now we can see much more clearly that the singular subject does not agree with the plural verb.  The correct singular verb for this sentence would be “is,” not “are.”

How do we handle it, though, when the GMAT throws a more complicated sentence at us?  The key is to break it up into bite-sized pieces and address each of them individually until you can clearly identify any subject-verb agreement problems.  Here’s an example:

Despite the residents’ requests, the Homeowner’s Association Executive Board, which is made up of five members of the organization, haven’t issued a warning to those neighbors who have flouted the rules regarding lawn maintenance.

The two modifying phrases here—“[d]espite the residents’ requests” and “which is made up of five members of the organization”—obscure the subject and the verb, and make their disagreement more difficult to identify.  Again, “lifting” those phrases out and reading around them can help.  However, here we also have the issue of a singular noun (the Homeowner’s Association Executive Board) that sounds plural, since it’s made up of multiple people, but is in fact singular.  The plural verb “haven’t” is therefore incorrect in the sentence as written.  There are a couple of ways to fix this, each of them equally viable as an answer choice on the GMAT.

Despite the residents’ requests, the Homeowner’s Association Executive Board, which is made up of five members of the organization, hasn’t issued a warning to those neighbors who have flouted the rules regarding lawn maintenance.

Despite the residents’ requests, the five members of the Homeowner’s Association Executive Board haven’t issued a warning to those neighbors who have flouted the rules regarding lawn maintenance.

In the first version, we replace the plural verb with a singular one; in the second, the singular subject becomes plural by incorporating into it the modifying phrase.  Either one works as a correction here.

In closing, remember that on GMAT sentence corrections, it pays to keep your eyes open (for errors that “sound” fine) AND your mind open (for unexpected ways to correct those errors.) Join a Grockit game for GMAT verbal practice!

Posted in GMAT, Sentence Correction, Verbal | No Comments »

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