Sentence Correction Tips for GMAT

The Sentence Correction questions in the GMAT exam ask you to choose the correct grammatical format of a sentence. In practice there are only a few categories of mistakes that they tend to test. I have listed these categories below. Please click on one of the following links:

Remember, more often than not, a sentence correction question will present you with a combination of several errors at once. They must all be corrected, and no other errors must be introduced. The following sections deal with the different errors separately, but the example questions may present you with multiple errors, so be careful!

General Principles

Concentrate on the parts of the different options which differ. Consider the following question:
When I saw Mum struggling through the door with the shopping, I remembered I promised to help her.
struggling through the door with the shopping, I remembered I
struggled through the door with the shopping, I had remembered I
struggling through the door with the shopping, I had remembered that I had
struggling through the door with the shopping, I remembered that I had
struggled through the door with the shopping, I had remembered that I had
I have colour-coded the parts of the answer that differ from each other. As you can see, the phrase "... through the door with the shopping, I ..." is identical in each option and can be ignored for the purpose of sentence correction.
Having read the question, don't bother looking at option (A). It simply duplicates the original. By all means choose (A) if you think that the original is correct, but there is no point in reading the original question and then reading (A) in great detail. Remember, time is pressing!
Try to spot particular errors. Glance through the options, to see if there is some aspect of grammar that you immediately recognise. "Aha! I know this! This is a ..... question!" Then look for the options that correct that error. But be careful - the option that you choose must correct errors in the original without introducing other errors!
The best way to solve sentence correction questions is via a process of elimination. The correct answer may not be perfect, but it should be the least bad option. If you can eliminate all the options containing grammatical errors, then what you are left with must be the correct answer!
You should always keep the same basic meaning as in the original, except when that meaning is patently stupid. Consider the following question:
Beautifully restored to its original condition, the antique dealer displayed the cabinet in his window.
Beautifully restored to its original condition, the antique dealer displayed the cabinet in his window.
The antique dealer, beautifully restored to its original condition, displayed the cabinet in his window.
The antique dealer beautifully restored the cabinet to its original condition and displayed it in his window.
The antique dealer restored the cabinet beautifully to its original condition and displayed it in his window.
The antique dealer displayed the cabinet, beautifully restored to its original condition, in his window.
All the options here are grammatically correct, so we must judge them on their meaning and apply some common sense. The original sentence (and, of course, option (A)) and option (B) imply that it was the antique dealer who had been restored to his original condition (although the pronoun "its" is used, which should be a give-away that something is wrong) - clearly this is stupid! Options (C) and (D) both imply that the antique dealer was the one who restored the cabinet, but there is no suggestion of this in the original, and we must keep as much of the meaning of the original sentence as common sense allows. Only option (E) makes sense in this question. Hence option (E) is the correct answer, even though its meaning differs slightly from that of (A).
Finally, when you have chosen an option, mentally insert it in the sentence in place of the original underlined section. The option must make sense in context. Does it now sound correct? Have any stupid inconsistencies been introduced?

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