Grammar and Usage: Agreement, Form, and Placement
Core concepts
Grammar and Usage items test whether a sentence obeys the basic agreements and forms of standard written English. Four areas cover most questions: nouns and articles (countable vs. uncountable, singular vs. plural, a/an/the), pronouns (case, number, and clear reference), verbs (tense consistency, irregular past forms, subject–verb agreement), and modifiers (placement, plus comparative and superlative forms).
Common traps
- Agreement across an interrupting phrase: The list of items is long. The head noun controls the verb, not the nearest noun. Watch each, every, either, neither (singular), and a number of (plural) versus the number of (singular).
- Pronoun case after prepositions and in comparisons: between you and me; She is taller than I (am).
- Unmotivated tense shifts inside one sentence.
- Fewer with countable nouns, less with quantities; never double a comparative (more easier).
- Misplaced only, or a dangling opener: Walking home, the rain caught me fails because the opening phrase must describe the subject.
Rule of thumb
When a verb is underlined, locate its true subject by crossing out every prepositional phrase sitting between them, then match singular to singular. Example: Each of the new students has a locker. “Each” is singular, so “has” is correct even though “students” sits directly beside the verb.