Grammar Smart 3rd Edition - Princeton Review 2014

Answer Key

QQ #1: Identifying Nouns

Zach Morris, Casey Jones, hosts, showcase, Blast Masters Club, musicians, area, they, instruments, Zach, Casey, banter, musicians, cream of the crop, headliner, lady, stage name, Tooth Fairy, she, rocker, New York City, she, Big Apple, She, Zach, Casey, years, they, Sundays, diner, minutes, club

QQ #2: More Nouns

1. aliens (plural); Subaru (singular, proper); juice (singular)

2. committee (singular, collective); decorations (plural); prom (singular)

3. lunch (singular); bacteria (plural)

4. Swimming (singular)

5. Wednesday (singular, proper); Wanda (singular, proper); Wichita (singular, proper); Wilbur (singular, proper)

QQ #3: Billy Wifflamoo, The Birth

dark, his, loving, hospital, jagged, bad, balding, superstitious, balding, scary, young, Billy’s, brand-new, newborn, newborn, his, normal, his, green, bloody, any, other, perceptive, other, subtle, weirder, average

(Notice that some of these adjectives could perform other functions—hospital could be a noun, for instance. Any and other could be pronouns. A word does not necessarily have a fixed part of speech—the part of speech depends on how it is used in the sentence.)

QQ #4: Identifying Adjectives

1. fewer (individual marshmallows)

2. a perfect (absolute adjective)

3. better (comparing two things)

4. spongier than (comparing marshmallow to any other single food: two things)

5. many (individual marshmallows); less (uncountable Jell-O)

QQ #5: Are You Tense?

There are several correct answers for some questions in this drill. If you wrote in any of the following you are A-Okay:

1. waits, is waiting, waited, was waiting, has waited, has been waiting

2. screamed, was screaming; forgot, had forgotten

3. will give

4. had remembered

5. will have, will be having

QQ #6: Principal Parts

1. drunk

2. laid, wept

3. hanged

4. sworn

5. lain

QQ #7: Billy Wifflamoo, The Early Years

loudly, often, later, fondly, almost, ever, Quickly, quietly, well, enough, only, extremely

QQ #8: Personal Pronouns

1. me

2. me

3 I

4. I (to mean “the hairdresser liked my hair more than I did”) me (to mean “the hairdresser liked my hair more than he liked me”). So either I or me is correct—but they give the sentence different meanings.

QQ #9: Relative Pronouns

1. that; that

2. who

3. whom

4. which

5 that

QQ #10: Billy Wifflamoo, Aliens Ate My Buick

most, many, none, each, all, anything, nothing, one another, everything, all, anything

QQ #11: Billy Wifflamoo, The Teen Years

at school, into cliques, of none, of them, in his own clique, in itself, by definition, in fact, for something, in some hidden way, for a visit, from the alien

QQ #12: Identifying Conjunctions

1. bathing and shaving

2. He was obsessed with cleanliness but his closet was a mess.

3. not only took four showers a day but also washed his clothes twice

4. either afraid of germs or afraid of looking unkempt

5. yesterday and today

QQ #13: More On Identifying Conjunctions

1. Reginald was late to work [because he washed his hair 16 times.]

2. [Since his boss was also obsessed with cleanliness,] Reginald was not reprimanded for being late.

3. Reginald will not have much of a social life [as long as he considers everyone too cavalier regarding hygiene.]

4. [Until he cleans that messy closet,] he will not sleep well at night.

5. Reginald is obsessed with filth [because he does not want to think about anything else.]

QQ #14: Parts Of Speech

Since you made up your own words for this drill, we can’t really give you an answer key. Look your words up in the dictionary to check parts of speech; remember that some words can have as many as four different parts of speech, depending on the usage. Below is just an example.

NOUNS:

1. socks

2. happiness

3. acorns

4. trout

5. hair

ADJECTIVES:

1. new socks

2. abundant happiness

3. green acorns

4. smoked trout

5. long hair

CORRECT PRONOUN:

1. they

2. it

3. they

4. it or they

5. it

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES:

1. under the new socks

2. with abundant happiness

3. in green acorns

4. after smoked trout

4. of long hair

VERBS:

1. swim

2. was dancing

3. kiss

4. am concentrating

5. be

ADVERBS:

1. swim quickly

2. was dancing crazily

3. softly kiss

4. am concentrating deeply

5. always be

Batting Practice, Part 1

Drill 1

1. E. Unique is an absolute adjective; you can’t be more or less unique. That gets rid of A, B, and C. Choice D uses the past perfect continuous (had been designing) for no

good reason. Past perfect is more appropriate because it makes clear that the dress was designed at an earlier time than Gomez thought.

2. D. That is better than which, because the clause that were made for Pinky and me defines which dresses we mean. Also, the clause is not set off by commas, which is another indicator that which would not be appropriate. That eliminates A and B. In C, the clause having been made functions as an adjective, leaving the sentence with no verb. Also in A and C the pronoun case is incorrect: made for me, not made for I. Choice E is awkward and uses hanged, which only applies to people (grotesquely enough), not dresses.

3. D. Criteria is plural; criterion is singular. So A, B, and E are out. C switches from you to one. Remember to keep pronouns consistent.

4. C. Amount applies to noncountable nouns, such as water. Cross out A, B, and D. E has a tense problem; the sentence is referring to 1978, so you need past tense (wore), not present continuous (are wearing).

5. C. Look at the clause but her and me have: the verb have requires a subject, so her or me (objective case) is incorrect. Get rid of A, B, and E. D says are being back, which is nutty. Also, pumps and tight jeans are countable nouns, so fewer is appropriate, not less.

Drill 2

1. A. When comparing two nouns, use the comparative form: more talented. Most talented is the superlative form, used to compare more than two nouns.

2. C. Wrong principal part. The past participle of begin is begun.

3. E. No problem.

4. A. Use among for more than two; between for two.

5. C. Constant is an adjective. The word being modified is changing, a verb, so we need an adverb: constantly.

Drill 3

NOTE: Pot roast and fortune cookies may be thought of as one noun.

QQ #15: Finding The Subject

1. Oscar

2. You (Note that this is implied. The entire sentence would be You, don’t walk on the grass.)

3 Who

4. socks

5. roommates

QQ #16: Billy Wifflamoo, Teen Love Idol

QQ #17:

QQ #18: Finding Direct And Indirect Objects

QQ #19: Finding Prepositional Phrases

1. In a huff; to the party

2. in a new suit; in the crowd

3. of the partygoers; on their hands

4. across the room

5. Beyond the kissing couple; with a pile; of socks; under the table; of CDs

QQ #20: Finding Infinitives

1. to scream

2. to be told (to her friend is a prepositional phrase)

3. to know

4. To have been; to have suffered

5. to find; to hold

QQ #21: Finding Gerunds

1. cleaning

2. Partying; talking on the phone

3. hiring someone; spending money

QQ #22: Identifying Participial Phrases

1. Walking quickly to work

2. Too tired to turn back

3. covered with piles of papers and phone messages

4. Throwing himself into his work

5. Laughing and pointing

QQ #23: Identifying Dependent Clauses

1. (When the party was assembled at the table) → adverb clause

2. (which was scheduled to take place at midnight) → adjective clause

3. (What made the couple so uncertain) → noun clause

4. (Because the wedding was to be held at midnight) → adverb clause

5. (After they had eaten) → adverb clause

QQ #24: Subject-Verb Olympics

(the subject is in parentheses)

1. (Bob) was

2. (Bob) is

3. (Many) are

4. (danger) does

5. (dangers) do

QQ #25: Subject-Verb Olympics

1. (Bob and Harry) look

2. (Dick) is yearning

3. (Either) (Dick) wants

4. (Neither) (Bob) desires

5. (Neither) (boys) desire

In 3, 4, and 5 the verb agrees with the noun closest to it.

QQ #26: Subject-Verb Olympics

1. (Each) is

2. (family) is; (anything) is

3. (men) are

4. (Everyone) comes; sees; have

5. (one) has; (Committee) has

QQ #27: Pronoun Agreement

1. In an election year, many of the candidates abandon their usual causes and talk instead about any issue they think will get them elected.

2. Unfortunately, a campaign manager will do virtually anything, legal or not, to ensure his or her candidate’s reelection.

3. Each of the voters makes his or her own decision. Or: All of the voters make their own decisions.

4. Everyone in the campaign office has, at one time or another, offered a suggestion for

an advertisement that would severely damage the opposing candidate’s credibility, but each person has since retracted his or her suggestion, fearing that such an advertisement would invite attacks on his or her own candidate’s credibility.

NOTE: See Part 3 Section I for tips on gender-neutral writing.

5. No error.

QQ #28: Parallel Construction

1. E. The list is: writing, managing, planning, and analyzing. Four gerunds. C and D say to manage instead of managing; A says to plan instead of planning; B sticks the preposition for where it doesn’t belong.

2. D. What is parallel here is spring and developed: did not spring ... but developed. A and B put the not in the wrong place, and set up an expectation that her suspicion sprang not from an incident but from something else. C uses the continuous tense for no good reason. E isn’t parallel: did not spring ... but was developing. This is a difficult question.

3. B. The list is: to sneak, to go, to communicate, to plan. Four infinitives. A, C, and D say planning instead of plan; D and E say communicating instead of to communicate.

4. B. The list is: that she would be; that she would figure; and that she would earn. Three that clauses. A, C, D, and E fail to say that she would figure, so none of them are parallel.

5. A. Ha! Trick question. She decided (1) to research (2) to make friends. Two infinitives, but both have dependent clauses that make it easy to lose your sense of the structure of the sentence. By bugging his phone is a modifying phrase within the which clause; it is not on the structural list of the sentence. This is a good example of a difficult GMAT question.

QQ #29: Misplaced Modifiers

1. D. What was nearly completed? Not the analysts but the report. A, B, C, and E all make the same mistake. In D, it must refer to report, because report is singular; it can’t refer to analysts, because analysts is plural.

2. B. Bob was not added to the raise and a company car. But Bob demanded a four- day work week in addition to the raise and a company car. In A the modifier is misplaced. E is not parallel: to the raise and wanted. C and D don’t make much sense.

3. E. Who was mowing the many-acred lawn? Bob, not the skies. The modifier is misplaced in A and B. C has the vulgar being as, which is never correct. D is awkward because the skies darkening is stuck into the sentence without a conjunction or preposition to clarify its relation to the sentence.

4. C. Who was depressed and sorrowfully inadequate? Bob, or a pronoun standing for Bob, not the job. The modifier is misplaced in A, B, and E. D says being that, which you should wipe out of your vocabulary; it is never correct.

5. C. Who stocked up on Doritos? Bob, so Bob must follow the comma. A, B, and E have misplaced modifiers. D is unidiomatic (preferring ... over) and otherwise atrocious.

QQ #30: Fixing Faulty Comparisons

1. Unlike mushrooms and other fungi, tomatoes are cultivated in as much sun as possible. Or: We cultivate tomatoes, unlike mushrooms and fungi, in as much sun as possible.

2. At the state fair, Pinky’s tomatoes won more prizes than Bob’s did.

3. No error.

4. Pinky had done more research on organic gardening that Bob had.

QQ #31: Idioms

1. different from

2. afflicted with

3. prohibited from buying

4. Compared with

5. dispute over

QQ #32: Diction

1. emigrated should be changed to immigrated

2. You immigrate to, emigrate from

3. incredulous should be changed to incredible

4. immanent should be changed to eminent

5. principle should be changed to principal

6. respectively should be changed to respectfully

7. sensory should be changed to sensual

8. disinterested should be changed to uninterested or not interested

9. alternates should be changed to alternatives

Batting Practice, Part 3

Drill 1

1. D. A and B make incomplete comparisons. As great as or greater than is correct, but better, and shorter, is at least as great as. C says than that of instead of that brought about by, which means the sentence would be saying insufficient rest’s stress, overwork’s stress, poor diet’s stress, all of which is awkward and false. E isn’t parallel: through resting ... and overwork.

2. B. A says where instead of in which; use where only to talk about a geographical place. A and E violate subject-verb agreement by saying collectives ... which provides. C and D also violate agreement. C starts with a dairy farmer and then says their; D is plural until the very end, when it says the farmer.

3. B. The list is: herding, warning, acting. A and E aren’t parallel. C, D, and E use like instead of such as. C and E violate pronoun agreement by saying its. D violates agreement by going from plural dogs to singular a herder.

4. C. A, B, and E make faulty comparisons: buying stocks to an investor, buying stocks to an investment. D is closer, but still makes a faulty comparison; better would be When buying stocks to when investing. D also misplaces directly—put adverbs next to the word being modified.

5. E. A, B, and C don’t use the subjunctive for the contrary to fact statement If the president were a woman. C and D say like instead of such as. A and C aren’t idiomatic; they say marked with instead of marked by.

Drill 2

1. D. Should be: or a family.

2. A. In this day and time is redundant. Better to say: Today.

3. B. Should be: asked Bob and me.

4. A. misplaced modifier. Anita Hill was speaking before the committee, not her demeanor.

5. C. this list is: inflamed, forced, and caused.

Drill 3

1. Since he kept breaking out in hives, Boris decided to go to a doctor ...(Being as is never right; idiom)

2. ...looking intently at the road ahead, playing his radio at ear-shattering volume, and scratching his ever-growing hives. (parallel construction)

3. Inspecting a particularly large and glowing hive on Boris’s rear end, the doctor responded by laughing heartily. (misplaced modifier)

4. “... one must take steps to relieve the stress in one’s life.” Or: “... but when you break out in hives . you must take steps to relieve the stress in your life.” (pronoun agreement)

5. “one of those men who are leading ...” (subject-verb agreement)

6. “If I were you I’d read Sartre ...” (subjunctive)

7. He shouted that he loved his life more than the doctor did. Or: loved his life more than he loved the doctor. (the last version doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in context.) (faulty comparison)

8. ...to pick up the prescriptions. (diction)

9. The effect of Boris’s visit ... which had the surprising effect of curing his hives. (diction)

QQ #33: Billy Wifflamoo, The Final Chapter

Billy had several more visits from the aliens. Sometimes they ate snacks on his Buick;

sometimes they played music and danced. One alien in particular became Billy’s friend. The alien taught Billy some good tricks: a foolproof method for shooting foul shots, a lip smacking recipe for tadpoles, and a way to make his eyes change color at will.

Later in life, Billy found himself married, with two small children, living in a peaceful suburb. He said that he couldn’t be happier.

“You miss the aliens,” said his wife one night, putting the children to bed.

She was right. His Buick had long ago gone to the scrap heap and the aliens, once his friends, did not appear anymore. Sometimes it made Billy sad, but he threw himself into his work as an accountant for a chain of dry cleaners, and occasionally he made a little money making bets on his foul-shooting. Although he lived a sedate, quiet life he always treasured the days of snacking with the aliens.

Part 8: World Series

QUIZ #1

1. roamed

2. from

3. are

4. whom

5. caused

QUIZ #2

1. with

2. She

3. were

4. indifferent to

5. which

QUIZ #3

1. B (misplaced modifier)

2. D (faulty comparison)

3. C (redundancy)

4. D (idiom)

5. D (diction)

QUIZ #4

1. whom, herself

2. they

3. their

4. which

5. who, those

QUIZ #5

1. Plural subjects go with plural verbs; singular subjects go with singular verbs.

2. A gerund ends in -ing. It’s the present participle form of a verb, but it functions as a noun.

3. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

4. A collective noun is a group noun, such as committee, family, or jury. Collective nouns are always treated as singular, unless you mean to show differences or disagreement within the group.

5. The subjunctive is used in (1) contrary-to-fact statements and (2) that clauses of order, command, or recommendation.

QUIZ #6

1. A. This is a faulty comparison.

2. D. A, B, and C say One, which doesn’t agree with you that comes later in the sentence. E is passive (have an avoidance) and unidiomatic (avoidance to).

3. B. A and E are redundant (reason ... is because). In C, being that is never correct. In D, the verb are doesn’t agree with the subject reason.

4. A. When comparing nouns, use like.

5. C. A and B violate subject-verb agreement by saying study ... are. D and E aren’t idiomatic.

QUIZ #7

1. The purpose of art is not to instruct, but to allow...

2. Serious political discussion is better left...

3. Correct as is.

4. Writers whom I consider...

5. Rather than comply with...

QUIZ #8

1. D. parallel construction

2. A. faulty comparison

3. H. redundancy

4. B. pronoun agreement

5. F. misplaced modifier

QUIZ #9

1. it is hoped

2. my

3. number

4. among

5. is

QUIZ #10

1. Nouns, phrases, or clauses that make up a list must be in similar form. Also, when using seesaw conjunctions, elements on either side must be in similar form.

2. Use fewer for countable, individual items, such as pencils. Use less for quantities, such as mashed potatoes or sand.

3. Ambiguous means vague, unclear. Ambivalent means having strong opposing feelings, such as love and hate, about one thing.

4. Redundancy is needless repetition. Again and again.

5. First find the verb. Then ask yourself, who or what is doing this action?

QUIZ #11

1. What are adverbs?

2. What are conjunctions?

3. What are nouns?

4. What are interjections?

5. What are prepositions?

QUIZ #12

1. A

2. A

3. A

4. E

5. E

QUIZ #13

1. Before eating, Mindy packed four items for her trip: a mousetrap, a hairbrush, a mug in the shape of a duck and a canned ham.

2. Canned ham was Mindy’s favorite food; she ate it at least once a day, usually washing it down with a root beer float.

3. “I can’t wait to leave for Costa Rica!” shouted Mindy, clutching her guidebook under arm and doing a jig.

4. Costa Rica, which is west of Panama, is extremely mountainous; Mindy had packed hiking gear long with a couple of extra canned hams for emergencies on the trail.

5. Mindy said that it was entirely possible that her life could be saved by a canned ham, if she found herself lost in the rainforest with no knowledge of which plants were edible.

QUIZ #14

1. with

2. as

3. of

4. to

5. on, in

QUIZ #15

1. D. What made his reelection unlikely? The recession. A, B, C, and E don’t give the recession as the subject of made.

2. C. In A, it has no clear antecedent. B mangles necessarily, forcing it to modify need when the meaning is unnecessary investment. D is awkward and wordy. E starts out well, but fouls up the tense: would be, not will be.

3. E. What was without electricity and phone service? Many towns. A and B violate subject-verb agreement by saying many towns was. C has a major verb problem, that being, which isn’t English. D is a little wordy and not as straight-forward as E. These phrase substitution questions mimic the GMAT, and on the GMAT, go with the simplest answer.

4. A. The comparison is whales feeding to sharks feeding, plural to plural, which gets rid of B and C. C, D, and E make the comparison using like or unlike, when it should use as do, because we are comparing an action: feeding.

5. B. The verb is recommend, followed by a that clause, which requires the subjunctive. A, C, D, and E don’t use the subjunctive.

QUIZ #16

1. Affect is not a noun unless you are talking about psychology. Affect as a verb means to influence. Effect as a verb means cause to happen.

2. Use between when you are talking about two things; use among for more than two things.

3. It’s fine to begin a sentence with because as long as you also have an independent clause eventually. Because will introduce a subordinate clause, which can’t stand alone.

4. Compare to shows difference and similarity; compare with primarily shows difference.

5. A clause has a subject and a verb; a phrase does not.

QUIZ #17

1. nauseated

2. Like

3. lies

4. he

5. was

QUIZ #18

1. (subject-verb agreement) One of the first things to find out ... is the location

2. Correct as is.

3. (parallel construction) Among the reasons . were that she was bored, that she had no further chance . and that she had a better offer.

4. (misplaced modifier) Wandering aimlessly through the city, the writer witnessed several tragic events that she recorded in her notebook.

5. (pronoun case, redundancy, use of subjunctive) The boss sent a memo to Buffy and me, recommending that we be on time to work.

QUIZ #19

1. What is a prepositional phrase?

2. What is a noun clause?

3. What is a participial phrase?

4. What is an adjective clause?

5. What is a gerund?

QUIZ #20

1. Wanda is, millions dye

2. Frogs have, which are

3. food happens to be, season is

4. Buffy and her friends realized, they had forgotten

5. Driving is

QUIZ #21

1. D (parallel construction)

2. A (misplaced modifier)

3. A (pronoun case)

4. E

5. E

QUIZ #22

1. had

2. allusion

3. claim

4. of

5. its, it (referring to photograph)

QUIZ #23

1. What is faulty comparison? (Winky ... loves geraniums more than Zippy does)

2. What is a punctuation mistake? (or more specifically, using a semicolon instead of a comma: Zippy’s favorite thing was socks, and he.)

3. What is redundancy? (cooperation together is redundant. Just say cooperate.)

4. What is diction? (never say irregardless)

5. What is a misplaced modifier? (Dragging his massive suitcase. Winky didn’t see his passport, still laying on the table.)

QUIZ #24

1. Use lay in place of put, when there is an indirect object. I lie down. I lay the snail on the rug.

2. Bring to the speaker, take away from the speaker. Bring that snail over here. Take that slimy thing with you.

3. An infinitive is the to form of the verb: to sneeze, to screw. If you place an adverb (or anything else) between the to and the verb, you are splitting the infinitive: to loudly sneeze, to slowly screw.

4. Infer means deduce. Imply mean hint. I put on my coat, trying to imply that I wanted to leave. I inferred from his tone that he was upset.

5. Use a hyphen if the adjective comes before the noun: a well-oiled machine. Don’t use hyphen if the adjective follows the noun: The machine was well oiled.

QUIZ #25

We can’t obviously, give you an answer key for your original sentences. You might ask someone who knows grammar to look them over for you, or you might turn to the respective chapter and review, to see if you avoided the pitfalls.

ERROR ANALYSIS

To help you see what areas you need work in, we’ve organized the question from the World Series by type. Circle the questions you got wrong; if there are several in any one category, Go Back And Review! (Q6:4 means Quiz #6, question 4.)

PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION:

Q1:5; Q7:1; Q10:1; Q18:3; Q21:1; Q25:2

MISPLACED MODIFIER:

Q3:1; Q8:1; Q8:5; Q18:4; Q21:2; Q25:4

TENSE:

Q1:1; Q12:1; Q17:5; Q22:1

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT:

Q1:3; Q5:1; Q6:5; Q7:2; Q9:5; Q10:5; Q15:3; Q18:1; Q20:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Q22:3; Q25:5

REDUNDANCY:

Q3:3; Q6:3; Q8:3; Q23:3

PRONOUNS:

Q1:4; Q2:2,5; Q4:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Q6:2; Q7:3, 4; Q8:4; Q9:3; Q15:1, 2; Q17:4; Q18:5; Q21:3

IDIOM:

Q1:2; Q2:1; Q3:4; Q7:2,5; Q9:4; Q14:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Q16:4; Q22:4

FAULTY COMPARISON:

Q3:2; Q6:1; Q8:2; Q15:4; Q17:2; Q23:1; Q25:1

MOOD/VOICE:

Q2:3; Q5:5; Q12:3; Q15:5

DICTION:

Q2:4; Q3:5; Q10:3; Q12:2; Q16:1; Q17:1; Q22:2; Q23:4; Q24:1, 2, 4

PARTS OF SPEECH:

Q5:2, 3, 4; Q11:1, 2, 3, 4, 5

PARTS OF THE SENTENCE:

Q16:5; Q19:1, 2, 3, 4, 5

PUNCTUATION:

Q13:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Q23:2; Q24:5; Q25:5