This short video gives a strategy about how to attempt sentence correction questions on GMAT in an effective way.
The strategy will help you approach all GMAT sentence correction questions. Watch the video carefully and apply this in all the SC questions that you solve henceforth.
How to Attempt Sentence Correction on GMAT
How to Attempt Sentence Correction on GMAT
This short article will provide you with an efficient approach for solving any GMAT sentence correction question; at Experts' Global, we call it the Read Vertically Compare Horizontally strategy. We will explain this sentence correction strategy by employing it on the following sample question:
A Labor Department study states that the
numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian workforce.
A - numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
B - numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
C - numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
D - number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
E - number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase
On your GMAT, you will find the sentence correction questions in this format- a mother sentence with an underlined portion, followed by the five answer choices. When you start working on a sentence correction question, begin by reading the mother sentence; however, once you reach the underlined portion, you must come down to the answer choices. In a GMAT sentence correction question, the underlined portion of the mother sentence is always the first answer choice and must be read as such. After reading the first option, read the remaining four answer choices, in order. As you read the answer choices horizontally, keep comparing them vertically; any differences that you see between the options might be an opportunity to eliminate some answer choices.
Let us illustrate how this sentence correction strategy works by applying it to this sample GMAT question. We will begin by reading the mother sentence up to "states that the", and then begin reading the answer choices. As we vertically compare the answer choices, it immediately becomes apparent that there is a three-two split in the answer choices; two of the answer choices begin with the singular "number", and three begin with the plural "numbers". As "numbers of women" is incorrect, we can comfortably eliminate Options A, B, and C. Now the question is between Options D and E; once again, we will read the options horizontally and compare them vertically to find differences that will help us eliminate one of them. By comparing the two options vertically, we can clearly see that Option E has a number of problems; the use of "was raised" changes the meaning of the sentence, something that will immediately disqualify any GMAT sentence correction answer choice, and the usage of "was raised" with "increased" is redundant. Thus, having eliminated four options, we can safely say that the best answer choice is Option D. Remember, the best approach for effectively solving a sentence correction question is the process of elimination.
A Step-Wise Recap
1. Start reading the sentence.
2. When you reach the underlined part, come down to the answer choices.
3. Compare the answer choices vertically, as you read them horizontally.
4. Use the 'grid' below to eliminate four choices. Remember, on the GMAT, it is not about the 'correct' answer choice; it is about the 'best' of the given answer choice.
5. Before confirming your answer choice, read the complete sentence once to ensure that your chosen answer choice is leading to a complete sentence.
This article has deliberately been kept brief; for a more elaborate explanation, please refer to Experts' Global's Stage One Sentence Correction videos.
