GMAT精华小结：语法还是语意？这是个问题.

　　GMAT考试之所以考语法，是因为商学院要确定他们的申请者掌握了商业写作的两个要则：

　　1. 语法：句子是否遵循标准英语写作的规则?

　　2. 语意：句子是否清晰地表达了作者的意图?

　　一、语法

　　Much of the language that you hear in everyday speech actually violates one rule or another. The GMAT tests your ability to distinguish between good and bad grammar, even when the bad grammar seems natural.

　　如Does everyone have their book? 这在日常生活中很常见，然而它的语法是错误的，正确说法应该是Does everyone have his or her book?

　　比较常用的语法知识点有sentence structure, modifiers, parallelism, comparisons, pronouns, verbs, and idioms.这些在以后都会分章节来总结的。

　　二、语法之5个要知道的语法术语

　　1. Clause 句子A clause is a set of words that contains a subject and a working verb，即句子一定要有主语和谓语

　　如She applied for the job. 主语是she，谓语是applied

　　For any sentence, you could ask, “Who (or what) did what?” and the (correct) answer will point to the subject and working verb.任何一个正确的句子，都能回答“谁”“做”了什么。

　　句子有分为独立句子和非独立句子，虽然他们都有主语和谓语，但是非独立句子不能单独存在。要注意，非独立句子一定要有主语和谓语，除非在某些特定情况下能省略主语。

　　如上述例子所示，如果没有独立句子“Although she didn't have much work experience.”将会导致“sentence fragment”错误。

　　2. Modifier 修饰语

　　A modifier provides additional information in a sentence, beyond the core subject and verb.

　　举一个最简单的例子“the happy child” the word happy, an adjective, is a modifier.

　　修饰语也可能很复杂，如The large dog, which has black fur, is a Labrador. “which has black fur”就是修饰dog的nonessential modifier。什么是nonessential modifier呢?就是去掉这个修饰语后，句子的意思很清楚、没有歧义：The large dog is a Labrador.

　　还有一种修饰语是essential modifier，如The job that she started last week is much harder than her previous job. 之说以说that she started last week是essential modifier，是因为去掉这个修饰后，句子就有歧义了。The job is much harder than her previous job. Which job? What job?不知道呀。

　　3. Sentence Core 句子核心

　　The core of a sentence consists of any independent clauses along with some essential modifiers.

　　4. Conjunction 连词

　　Conjunctions are words that help to stick parts of sentences together.

　　Coordinating conjunctions并列连词(能够连接两个独立的句子)：for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. 如“and”连接词He worked hard, and a raise was his reward.

　　subordinating conjunctions从属连词：although，because, while, though, unless, bore, after, and if. 如，Although she didn't have much work experience, she was offered the job.

　　5. Marker 标记

　　A marker is a flag or clue that a certain kind of issue is being tested. Maker并不是an official grammar term, 但它很重要，比如看到unlike这个marker时，你会马上想到这要考查比较(comparisons)。

　　三、语意

　　要能够清楚地表达作者的意图。Confusing writing is bad writing. If you have to read a sentence more than once to figure out what the author is saying—or if the sentence lends itself to multiple interpretations—it is not a good sentence.

　　GMAT语法prer to concision，如果用6个字能够表达清楚题意，GMAT将不愿意用7个字的说法，当然concision只是prerence而不是rule，当只剩下两个选项时才建议从简洁原则出发进行排除，主要关注语法和语意。Furthermore, Official Guide (OG) explanations often label a sentence wordy or awkward without additional explanation; typically, these sentences have a meaning problem or an idiom error.

　　举个例子Tomorrow, she bought some milk. 这个句子没有语法错误，但语意却不和逻辑，如果是bought的话，应该发生在过去;如果是tomorrow，应该是will buy。

　　If, however, the original sentence is confusing, you will need to discern the author's intent. Fortunately, this intent will not be buried too deeply.

　　The GMAT tends to make use of “small” errors in meaning that can be easy to overlook. Most instances of meaning errors fall into one of three major categories:

　　1. Choose your word

　　2. Place your words

　　3. Match your words