SAT / ACT Grammar Masterkey

While basic comparison questions involve noun comparison like the ones in the previous post, the SAT and the ACT also tests action comparison. This is an example of action comparison error: I ran faster than him. (x) While this is perfectly acceptable in spoken language, it is grammatically incorrect in the SAT. The sentence is not about two people: it is about the action of running. The correct comparison is I ran faster than he ran . In the SAT, this sentence can be taken two steps further. As mentioned earlier, repeating the same word is not recommended. Therefore, this sentence can be and should be written as I ran faster than he did . * do / does for present tense. Action comparison can also be emphasized through the use of inversion: I ran faster than he did .     I ran faster than did he.     Though this sentence sounds awkward, it is grammatically correct and is frequently used by many writers.

Comparison questions test our ability to make logical comparisons.  The idea is simple: compare people to people and things to things.      My score is higher than Mike .   (x)           (thing)            (person) This sentence is making an illogical comparison. A score cannot be higher than a person. There are three ways to fix basic comparison problems: 1.  Using Apostrophe       My score is higher than Mike's score . Remember  that repeated words can be omitted when writing in parallel structure?  Comparison questions make use of the same rules.  We may omit the repeated  words as long as the meaning is clear and the comparison is precise.       My score is higher than Mike's . 2. Using “of” Another way of writing “ England’s King ” is “ the King of England. ” We can use this information to fix a comparison error.     ...