Overview: What Do the SAT and ACT Test in English Grammar?
The SAT and ACT test for formal, academic, standard English, which is not necessarily the same way that students speak or write. Many errors are especially insidious because the correct form and the incorrect form are very close. However, some idiom errors involve words that actually mean the opposite from each other.
What Is the Proper Form of the Verb?
The verb form doesn’t is used with third-person singular subjects, such as in the sentence “He doesn’t want to take the test this month.” The verb form don’t is used with all other subjects, but never when the subject is in the third person singular. Similarly, the verbs done and seen are used with helping verbs, such as had, has, or have, never alone. When gone is used as a verb, it is also used with a helping verb. However, the verb went is the past tense of to go, and is not used with a helping verb.
What about Lie and Lay?
Correct usage of the verbs lie and lay depend on what is doing the action. The verb lie, with parts lying, lay, and lain, means “to recline.” It is not followed by a direct object, but often by an adverb or adverb phrase, telling just where someone or something is reclining. The verb lay, with parts laying, laid, and laid, means “to put (something) down.” It is followed by a direct object, such as “Lay the plates on the table.” The verbs set and sit follow similar patterns, as sit is never followed by a direct object, but set is.
What about Homonyms?
Homonyms can be especially troublesome, as they are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. For example, their is a possessive pronoun, such as “their books,” there is an adverb referring to place, and they’re is a contraction of they are. The word too means the same as also, two is a number, and to is a preposition.
What Word Pairs Mean the Opposite of Each Other?
The words take and bring are not synonyms. Bring means to carry from a distant place to a nearer one, while take means from a near place to a distant place. Similarly, learn and teach are not synonyms. To learn is to get knowledge, while to teach is to give knowledge.
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