SAT Grammar Tips: The Answer Choices Tell You the Rule

The four choices tell you the rule before you read a word of the sentence. Look at what changes from one choice to the next:

That matters most on punctuation, where the trap that catches the most students is one small mark: the comma. Students add one where none belongs. They use one where a semicolon goes.

On punctuation, students scoring in the 500s on Reading and Writing get 62% right. Students at 700+ get 82%. That gap is rules you can learn.

Reading the choices is the first tip, and the rest build on it: cross out two choices that do the same job, give every comma a job or leave it out, cover the middle to find the main verb, and take the module in order. Here’s each one, with three of our most-missed questions to try them on, plus a quick quiz on reading the choices.

Read the Choices First

Each change in the choices points to one rule, and one question to ask. Here’s every pattern, how many points it costs, and the lesson that teaches it:

What Each Change Is Testing

• The same words, different punctuation

  Ask: Where does one full sentence end?

  Joining sentences, colons, commas in pairs

  −18 points

• Singular and plural verbs

  Ask: What’s the real subject?

  Subject-verb agreement

  −7 points

• Forms of one verb: -s, -ed, -ing, to

  Ask: Does the sentence already have its main verb?

  Complete sentences

  −5 points

• The same words in a new order, after an opening phrase

  Ask: Who or what does the phrase describe?

  Dangling modifiers

  −3 points

• One verb in different tenses

  Ask: When does it happen?

  Verb tense

  −2 points

• An apostrophe that moves around

  Ask: Does it own the next word?

  Apostrophes

  −2 points

• However or therefore in every choice, punctuated differently

  Ask: Does the first sentence end before the word or after it?

  Punctuating “however”

  −2 points

• it, they, its, their

  Ask: Which noun does it stand for?

  Pronouns

  −2 points

Points lost: what the average student loses on each rule in one SAT. Each missed question costs about 13 points.

Short on time? Start at the top. Punctuation costs the most: about 18 points a test, more than agreement and main verbs together. When the choices are logic words like however or for example, it’s a transition question, and those have their own section below.

Try it. Here are four real questions with the sentence hidden. Name the question the choices ask, then see the sentence.

One more move before the hard questions: when two choices do the same job, both are wrong. A period and a semicolon both end a full sentence. So if both show up, cross out both: the test has only one right answer. The one exception is a list whose items already have commas. There, semicolons separate the items.

The next three questions are some of the most-missed in our question bank. If one catches you, that’s the trap doing its job.

Punctuation: Where Does One Sentence End?

When only the punctuation changes, split the sentence at the blank and check each side. A full sentence has a subject and a main verb. It also has no opener like although or because that makes it lean on something else.

Two full sentences can meet with:

• a period
• a semicolon
• a comma plus a joining word (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
• a colon or a dash, when the second sentence explains the first

A comma alone can’t join two sentences. That’s called a comma splice, and it’s the wrong answer students pick most. Try this one:

Both sides here are full sentences. They just have long subjects: “that lightning’s current can exceed…” and “measuring that current…”. That’s why more students chose the comma than the right answer. When a sentence starts with that or an -ing word, keep reading until you find its verb.

Miss one like this on Aniko and it comes back, with similar questions on the same rule.

Full lessons: Joining two sentences: period, semicolon, comma + “and” and Colons and lists.

The Comma Trap: Name Its Job or Leave It Out

Every comma on the SAT has a job. There are four:

• separating items in a list
• joining two sentences, with a joining word like and or but
• ending an opening phrase (“After the storm, …”)
• a pair around extra words you could cross out

If you can’t name the comma’s job, leave it out. When the answer has no punctuation, most students who miss it add a comma. This question shows why:

Cross out the name, and the sentence no longer says which method the team used. So the name is essential. A name that tells you which one takes no commas. Paired commas are only for extra words the sentence could lose. The name feels like extra information, and that’s why nearly two in three students put commas around it.

Full lessons: When not to use a comma and Essential or extra: names, “who” and “which”.

Verbs: Cover the Middle, Read What’s Left

When the choices are forms of one verb, ask first: does the sentence already have its main verb? This is one of the most-missed grammar questions we have. Try it before you read on.

What’s left is “This explanation ___ aligns with references.” It already has its main verb, aligns. So the blank can’t be a second one, and only contending fits. An -ing word can’t be the sentence’s main verb, and neither can to + a verb.

When the sentence does need a main verb, the question is agreement or tense. Cover the middle again to find the real subject. Then put it and they in front of each choice. If the choices split between them, it’s agreement: pick the one that matches your subject. If every choice works with the same one, it’s tense. Look for a time word, and match the verbs around the blank.

Here’s agreement from the quiz: “A network of fans, positioned behind the equipment racks, ___ responsible for moving warm air away…” The choices are have been, is, are and were: three go with they, one with it. Cover the middle: “A network ___ responsible.” One network, so it: is.

Full lessons: Complete sentences, Subject-verb agreement and Verb tense.

Transitions: When the Choices Are Logic Words

When the choices are words like however, therefore and for example, the question is about meaning, not punctuation. Cover the choices. Shrink each sentence to a few words. Then name how the second one moves:

• Same way: one more point, an example, a stronger claim (moreover, for example, in fact)
• Cause: a result (therefore, as a result)
• Turn: a contrast or a correction (however, instead)
• Time: a next step (then, afterward)

Cross out every choice that goes the wrong way. The same-job rule works here too. If two choices mean the same thing, like therefore and thus, neither is the answer.

On about 2 in 5 transition questions, more than one choice still goes the right way. Then put each one’s plain meaning in the blank. In fact means “it’s even truer than that.” Instead means “not that, this.” Only one will read right.

Full lessons: SAT transition words and Close transitions. For practice, try 25 Super-Hard SAT Transitions Questions.

Pacing: Go in Order

Take the module in order. You get about 71 seconds a question. If one hits 90 seconds and you still have no way in, guess, mark it and move on.

If grammar is your fastest type, try one practice test starting with the grammar questions and keep whichever order scores higher. More in How should I pace myself on the SAT? and SAT Reading Tips.

Make It Automatic

Reading the choices first gets fast with reps. Drill one pattern at a time until you spot it before you read the sentence.

On Aniko, every grammar question you miss goes to your Error Log. Hit Retry and you answer it again, plus similar questions on the same rule. The pattern keeps coming back until you spot it on sight. Alongside it:

• The question bank’s Boundaries (punctuation) and Form, Structure and Sense (verbs, pronouns, agreement), free and sorted by skill
• The SAT Grammar and Punctuation course when a rule needs a full lesson
• Then, once the bank feels easy, 50 Super-Hard SAT Grammar Questions, the hardest we have

Quick Answers