6 Grammar Rules for GMAT Verbal

Are you struggling with the GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section of the GMAT Exam? Are the GMAT grammar rules unclear to you? Worry not, we got you! Since the verbal section of the GMAT tests your proficiency in the English language, hence, it’s essential that you are thorough with the grammar rules for the GMAT Verbal section. But before we begin with acquainting you with some grammar rules, let us take a quick look at the GMAT Verbal Reasoning.

GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section 

The GMAT Verbal Reasoning section tests how proficient you are with the English language as mentioned. Moreover, it consists of 62 questions that you have to complete within 65 minutes. The Verbal Reasoning is scored between 5 to 61, which increases by one-point increment. The Verbal Reasoning is further divided into three sections — Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction. However, we will be stressing more on the sentence correction question as this is where your grammar will be tested. 

The Sentence Correction section tests your ability to construct a sentence that is grammatically correct. Each question in the sentence correction section will have a part of the sentence underlined, you are required to identify the grammatical error and rectify it with the answer choices provided to you. If you are keen on acing this section, you should be thorough with grammatical usage of certain words and the grammar rules. Let us take a look at the six basic grammar rules that will help you while attempting the sentence correction question. 

 Grammar Rules for GMAT Verbal

We will explore some grammatical concepts along with grammar rules.

Parallelism 

Parallelism refers to when a sentence or phrase is constructed with identical grammatical structure throughout. Faulty parallelism occurs when parts of the sentence are not constructed in a similar grammatical structure. For example, “I like to dancing and to write”. The rectified sentence would look like, “I like dancing and writing”. The rules to use parallelism are as follows: 

• Parallelism can be used when items in a list or series are being discussed. For example,  He went to the market, bought vegetables, and washed them. 
• Parallelism can be rectified by coordinating conjunctions. Some coordinating conjunctions include — and, but, nor, so, and yet.
• Parallelism should be used when you are comparing two things. For example, she likes writing letters more than reading them.

Gerunds 

Gerunds refer to either nouns or verbs that end with -ing. Gerunds tend to make the sentence long and wordy. To avoid that, there are certain rules you need to follow.

• You should avoid using gerunds in the beginning of sentences. You can do so if it is absolutely necessary. 
• When using helping verbs such as am, been, are, and were, it has to be in the progressive tense. For example, “I have been going to pottery classes since January.”

Subject-Verb Agreement 

The subject-verb agreement refers to the relationship between a subject and verb, wherein they are in agreement. The agreement can be on the basis of number, case, or person. There are very simple rules you have to follow to avoid any errors; the rules are as follows: 

• If you are using a singular noun, a singular verb can only accompany it. 
• If you are using  a plural noun, a plural verb can only accompany it. 
• However, the singular noun form takes on the letter “s”, whereas the plural noun form remains unchanged.

Modifiers 

A modifier refers to nouns that serve as adjectives and adverbs that help describe objects or people. There is only one rule with the modifier, you need to add the modifier either before or after the noun you choose to describe.  

When Does a Faulty Comparison Occur? A faulty comparison occurs when the comparison to a noun or noun phrase is missing. You can avoid making any errors by following these rules: 

• Make a comparison between two people or two things. Avoid comparing a person with an object or vice versa.

• Do not make double comparisons as it will confuse the reader. For example, “She is more better at what she does than him”. The word “more” is redundant in this sentence, so we will rephrase it to, “She is better at what she does than him.” 

These are the basic grammatical concepts and grammar rules for the GMAT Verbal section that you have to be familiar with. Once you learn the GMAT grammar rules thoroughly, you can easily spot errors and rectify them quickly.