{"id":3577,"date":"2024-10-19T09:32:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T16:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/?p=3577"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:49:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:49:56","slug":"gmat-grammar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/gmat-grammar\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar Basics: Everything You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMPORTANT NOTE:<\/strong> The GMAT used to have a grammar-based question type, and it was called Sentence Corrections. BUT! That question type was dropped from the exam when the GMAT updated its timing, structure, and format back in November 2023. So, if you took an older version of the exam and are considering taking the test again, good news! You no longer need to devote any energy to studying the usage and mechanics of English grammar for your GMAT test preparation. That being said, some students still find the grammar content that was relevant to the old version of the exam useful. <\/p>\n

So, here’s a brief overview of grammar content that, while no longer applicable to a specific GMAT question type, might still be useful for broader verbal topics, especially if you are navigating the test as non-native English speaker. <\/p>\n

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Verbs!<\/h2>\n

GMAT grammar all starts with verbs.\u00a0 Every sentence on the GMAT has at least one verb, and sentence with clauses have more than one.\u00a0 Verbs have several properties you need to understand: number, tense, voice, and mood.<\/p>\n

Verb number<\/b> is just singular or plural.\u00a0 The GMAT Sentence Correction<\/a> loves test subject-verb agreement.\u00a0 This is straightforward with a single noun subject (e.g. “The boy walks<\/i>” vs. “The boys walk<\/i>“)\u00a0 It gets a bit trickier in the case of collective nouns, and can be quite confusing to folks when the subject is a substantive clause<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Verb have several tenses<\/b> — in addition to simple present, simple past, and simple future, verbs also have all the perfect tenses<\/a> and all the progressive tenses<\/a>.\u00a0 Many of the different tenses involve auxiliary verbs<\/a>. The use of perfect & progressive tenses gets into some little used grammatical cases, and the GMAT loves to explore this territory.<\/p>\n

Verbs have two voices<\/b> — active voice and passive voice<\/a>.\u00a0 As a general rule, the GMAT likes powerful direct language, so under most circumstances, it prefers the active voice to the passive, but it’s important to understand the cases in which the passive voice is acceptable on the GMAT Sentence Correction.\u00a0 Related to this general preference, the GMAT also likes exploring Sentence Correction splits of the noun vs. verb of the same thing<\/a> (e.g. “P indicates Q<\/i>” vs. “P is an indication of Q<\/i>“), so the emphasis on active language extends to other forms of grammar beyond verbs.<\/p>\n

Finally, here’s the one that really befuddles folks — verbs have mood<\/b>.\u00a0 In English, there are three moods:<\/p>\n