SAT eng notes
grammer
OVERVIEW
1. Colons
● Introductions
● When you introduce a list or explanation
● Pointing to what comes next
● Eg- i only ask for three things in a friendship: loyalty, humor, and maturity
● A colon must always follow a full sentence that makes sense as a complete
thought and logically sets up the information that follows.
2. Semicolons
● Match making
● Linking 2 related ideas
● Eg- meet kate; shes passionate about content creation and has a heart full of
compassion
● Can be used before conjunctive adverbs- however, thought.
● Ic+ semicolon+ conjunctive adverbs+ comma+ ic
● Ic+ comma+conjunctive adverbs+semicolon+ic
● To join two independent clauses
3. Commas
● Provide Clarity and organization
● Clarify relations in a sentence
● Eg- i live in two worlds, one is a world of books (provides a distinction)
● Commas are the punctuation type most often used to mark non-essential
clauses: one must be placed at the beginning, and one at the end.
4. dashes
● Add Drama and emphasis
● Indicate a change in thought
● Eg- i am not afraid of commitment- i am afraid of settling (emphasizes the
distinction between commitment and settling)
● A dash must always follow a full sentence that makes sense as a complete
thought and logically sets up the information that follows.
● dashes are identical to commas when used to set off non-essential information.
Some imp points
● semicolon= period
● On the SAT, dash ≈ colon ≈ semicolon if both sides are independent clauses.
IMP COMMA STUFF
COMMA+ FANBOYS
1. Comma + FANBOYS = Period = Semicolon
2. Comma splices
● When two sentences are joined by a comma, the result is known as a comma
splice. Comma splices are always incorrect.
● comma + pronoun (e.g., it, they, s/he, one, you, I) wrong
● Eg- Incorrect: London is a very old city, it has some extremely modern
parts. Correct: London is a very old city. It has some extremely modern
parts.
3. Comma + FANBOYS + Verb = WRONG
● When two clauses in a row have the same subject, but the subject does
not appear in the second clause, no comma is used before a FANBOYS
conjunction.
● Shortcut: comma + and/but = period, so plug in a period in place of
comma + and/but.
COMMAS AND DEPENDENT CLAUSES
● Dependent clauses (fragments) cannot stand on their own as complete
sentences.
● They begin with subordinating conjunctions, e.g., although, because, when, until,
while, since, before, and after.
● A dependent clause can be placed either before or after an independent clause
to form a sentence. When the dependent clause comes first, it must be followed
by a comma.
● Eg- Because London is a very old city, it has buildings from many different eras.
COMMAS WITH NAMES & TITLES
● When a name/title appears in the middle of a sentence, a single comma before
the name or title is incorrect. Answers with this construction can be eliminated
automatically.
● In rare instances, a comma may be required after a name/title for a separate
reason, e.g., to mark a new clause.
● Eg- Led by engineering professor Vikram Iyer, researchers at the University of
Washington have created a set of robotic devices that can change shape in
mid-air.
ADDITIONAL COMMA USES
1. To separate items in a list
● Eg- Building muscle can boost metabolism, aid weight loss, and increase
endurance.
● Note: the comma before and + final item is optional and is not tested on
the SAT or ACT.
2. To separate adjectives whose order could be reversed
● Eg- Dinosaurs may have been active, warm-blooded animals.
(You could also say active and warm-blooded, or warm-blooded, active)
● Note: Commas should also be used after introductory words or phrases
(e.g., however, in the beginning, in fact), but this usage is not normally
tested.
ADDITIONAL COMMA MISUSES
1. Before or after a preposition
● Most common prepositions: of, to, by, from, for, about, with, in, on, at
2. Between subjects and verbs
3. Between compound items (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. linked by and)
4. Before or after the word that. (A comma should also not be used when that is
optional and does not appear.)
5. Between two adjectives whose order cannot be reversed
● Eg- The Caribbean Sea contains some of the world’s most stunning coral
reefs.
6. Between adjectives and nouns
APOSTROPHES
1. Singular nouns
● Indicating singular possession
● Eg- Sarah's book, the cat's toy
2. Singular nouns ending in s
● Add 's
● E.g., Chris's house
3. Plural Nouns Ending in S
● Indicating plural possession
● Add only an apostrophe after the s
● Eg- my parents’ house
4. Plural nouns not ending in s
● Add ‘s
● Eg- He always corrects people’s grammar
Tip: when apostrophes are tested with two consecutive nouns, the correct answer usually
follows the pattern apostrophe-no apostrophe (noun’s noun, or nouns’ noun) because the first
noun must be possessing the second.
SAT math notes
INQUALITY
● multiplying or dividing an inequality by a negative number reverses the sign of the
inequality
STATISTICS
● Average (mean): total sum/n
● Median: The middlemost value when numbers are arranged in ascending order;
for an even amount of numbers, take the average of the middle two
● Mode: The number that occurs most frequently
● Range: Greatest value – least value
ALGEBRA
GEOMETRY