Usage of "as"

* as an adolescent

* as more and more

* A do/does sth., just as B do/does

* just as A do/did/does sth., so B do/did/does

* just as C do, so too + ....

* The same noun as/that ...

* sth./sb. + be + that same for/to sth./sb as for/to sth./sb.

* sth. + be the same as sth.

* such as >> like

* as ... go ...

* so ... as to

* even as = just as

* as long as = if

* inasmuch as = because

* not so much ... as

Sub-sentence

Adv.
* time: when, once, as, while
when > once > as

* goal: so that, in order that

* result: so / such ... that, so (that)

* reason: because, as, since
because > as > since

* RangBu: thought, although, even though, even if, whenever, where ever, however, while, however much

Noun.
* who, which, what, when, where, how, why, that, if, whether
* order of sub. verb.
* whatever, whoever
* whether
* that (TongWeiYu)

DingYu
* 关系代词的数和人称要和先行词一致, 注意主格，宾格
* 关系副词的先行词总是时间，地点或理由的名词
* that, whom may omit or not
* that vs. which
* 当先行词为介词宾语，一般要介词前置
* n./pron. + of + which / whom
* which 先行词绝对不能是句子
* 先行词靠近原则

* omission
* when, while, if, though, until, once, whether, unless, no matter what,
引导的从句中，谓语动词为be，而主语与主句的主语相同，从句的主语和动词be常省略

* A1 is to A2 what A3 is to A4.
* A logarithm is what is known in algebra as an exponent.
* what is now known as A
* while + doing

The present participle and the past participle

1. participle > attributive clauses
1.1 the tense must agree with the subject in participle
1.2 modal verbs attributive clauses can't be replace by participle
1.3 permanent property use the present participle

2. check logic subject of the participle

To do sth.

* It is adj. for noun/pronoun to do sth.
* important, essential, vital, necessary, pointless, unnecessary
* normal, common, usual, rare
* It is adj. + to do sth.
* difficult, nice, necessary, worthwhile, important
* to do sth. is to do sth.

* ask/consider/decide/discover/understand/wonder/think how/where/whether to do sth.

* attempt, arrangement, claim, decision, determination, failure, hope, need, plan, promise, refusal, resolution, tendency, proposal, wish to do sth.

* ability, ambition, anxiety, eagerness, inclination, patience, reluctance to do

* only, last, next, first, second noun. to ..

* A book to read
* A book to read it (wrong)

* a place to live in
* a place in which to live
* a place to live (wrong)

* to be doing
* to have done

* to affect the trajectories of ballistic missiles and induce ...
* attempt to metabolize, or render harmless, the chemical irritant ..
* a procedure that allows voters to propose and pass laws, as well as to repeal them.
* say that all one has to do with cattle is leave them alone while they feed themselves and then corral them and drive them to market

* what we'll do is (to) tell here the truth
* All he did was (to) make others work
* The bus broke down. The only thing we could do was (to) talk there
* The thing to do is (to) clear the road

Parallelism

1. structure consistency
* -ing, to+v
2. similar function
* object - object
3. no confusing meaning

4. phrase
* and, also, as well as, besides, both...and, neither...nor, nor, not only...but(also), either...or, rather than, whether...or, not...but, from...to

5. not...but(rather) , rather than >> instead of

6. from...to
* from...(up/down)to is Wrong

7. a, b, and c
* a, b, or c
* a, b, as well as c

* there should be and/or/as well as, before the last element of the list, otherwise, it is wrong.

Tense

general rule: won't change the tense of the sentence without sufficient reason

1. present tense
2. past tense
3. future tense

4. -ing

5. perfect tense (important)
* present perfect
* just, already, yet, ever, never, for two years, since 1973, in the last decade, in the past ten years, recently
* past prefect
* by the time, by the end of 1984
6. main/sub sentence tense disagreement
* object sentence use present tense if it represents a fact or truth

7. be v.-ed
* by

8. virtual
* virtual present: were/v+ed (should/would/could/might + v)
* virtual past: had v+ed (should/would/could/might have + v+ed)
* virtual future: should/were to + v.ed (should/would/could/might + v)

9. subjective judgment
* advise, demand, require, insist, motion, recommend, suggest, mandate, order
* it is (essential, imperative, important, necessary, urgent, vital)
* were + sub. / should/had + sub. + v.

Pronoun

1. that/those of sth.
2. each other vs. one another
3. they .. they ..
4. it, which CAN'T refer to the whole sentence
5. sth of sb's
sth. is a subset
sb's is the set

Subject and verb agreement

many rules exists in the topic of subject and verb agreement

my summary:
* uncountable noun should be followed by singular form, unless "a large sums of" or "quantities of"
* plural countable noun should always be followed by plural verb.

* singular:
* one of
* -ing, to be, as subject
* a and b (a and b refer to the same thing)
* either(neither) of
* another, each one, no one, neither, the other, each, each of, either, everything, anything, something
* no
* specified noun
* time, distance, measurement

* plural:
* two of
* a and b, both a and b
* half(rest, plenty, part, fifty percent) of
* both(few, many, several) of
* all(none, most, any) of

* no effect modifiers
* along with, as well as, accompanied by, besides, combined with, in addition to, including, rather than, no less than, together with, with, for example
* form, type, kind of

* closest agreement
* there be
* reverse ordered
* either ... or, neither ... nor, not only ... but (also), nor, or
* one of xx that

* non-countable
* a amount of
* quantity of
* much
* little

* countable
* a number of
* many
* few

* special
* The students each have a book

my tips:
* check the answers at first to identify the grammar point that ETS is checking.
* it is sometimes not hard to see that the point is about subject and verb agreement.

Liu Zhengmin's Grammar Book Study - 1

The 1st chapter: noun, and -ing

1. noun vs. -ing
noun emphasize on state or result
-ing emphasize on action

2. the -ing, a -ing
if a corresponding noun exists, should use noun

3. use "the" to specialize
a + noun, or nouns, represent general stuff

4. a of b, a is the core noun

5. of vs that
5.1 distinguish core noun
5.2 a fact that, importance of, conclusion of, conclusion that
5.3 abstract noun of (short noun)

6. modifier for noun
6.1 n. + adj, ex. the jobs available to Women
6.2 n. + jiechi, ex. a child with reading problems
6.3 adv. + V. -ed + n, ex, seemingly limited number
6.4 n. + v. -ed / -ing
6.5 n., v. ed / -ing, that ...
6.6 n., which ..., of sth.

7. -ing
7.1 adhere to, attribute to, contribute to, resort to, assent to, aspire to, appeal to, attach to, yield to, look forward to, object to
7.2 advocate, appreciate, avoid, deny, enjoy, fancy, imagine, justify, miss, postpone, practice, prevent, quit, resist, risk, suggest, warrant

Finished first round of SC OG

I've finished the 1st round of SC OG by last weekend.
The error rate is about 37%. Not too bad, in my view.

I have some feeling of the SC questions now.

2 weeks

working on sentence correction (official guide). I am improving, finished 230 questions.

It's really useful. I have to think about my writing style after finished such amount of sentence correction.

I've noticed some focus points of the SC.

1. Parallelism, in terms of clause, verbs, structure, comparison
2. Idioms, credit with, require that do, ... I should summarize the idioms from the OG.
3. Subject, verb, tense. They should be harmonized.
4. Pronoun, should be clear which object is referred.
5. Concise.