CA POST cheat sheet

i before e except after c, or when pronounced "ay" (receive, ceiling; neighbor, weigh); exceptions include seize, either, weird, leisure, and protein.

Double the final consonant before a vowel suffix only when the word ends in one vowel plus one consonant and the last syllable is stressed (begin → beginning; visit → visiting).

Drop a silent final e before a vowel suffix (make → making); keep it before a consonant suffix (hope → hopeful) and after soft c or g (notice → noticeable, change → changeable).

Words ending in a consonant plus y change y to i before any suffix except -ing (carry → carried, carrying; happy → happiness).

Add -es after s, x, z, ch, sh, and a consonant plus o (boxes, churches, potatoes); add -s after a vowel plus o and in shortened forms (radios, photos).

-able attaches to complete English words (readable, comfortable); -ible attaches mostly to Latin roots that are not free-standing words (visible, possible, edible).

-cede appears in concede, precede, recede; -ceed appears only in exceed, proceed, succeed; -sede appears only in supersede.

Homophones separated by meaning: their/there/they're, its/it's, principal/principle, stationary/stationery, complement/compliment.

Four context-clue types: definition (restatement after a comma or dash), contrast (but, unlike, rather than), example (such as, including), and inference (details that imply meaning).

Negating prefixes un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, non-, dis-, and a- reverse meaning (illegible, atypical); over- and under- mark degree rather than reversal.

Number prefixes: mono-/uni- = 1, bi-/di- = 2, tri- = 3, quad- = 4, dec- = 10, cent- = 100, milli- = one thousandth.

Root meanings: -dict- say, -ject- throw, -scrib-/-script- write, -port- carry, -cred- believe, -aud- hear, -spect- look, -fac-/-fect- make.

Suffixes signal part of speech: -tion/-ment/-ness form nouns; -ous/-ful/-ive/-able form adjectives; -ize/-ify/-en form verbs; -ly forms adverbs.

Denotation is dictionary meaning; connotation is emotional shading - thrifty and inexpensive read positive, stingy and cheap read negative.

Synonym items are solved by substituting the option into the original sentence and keeping only choices that preserve both meaning and register (formal versus colloquial).

Topic is one or two words naming the subject; main idea is a full sentence making a claim about that topic.

The main idea is most often stated in the first or last sentence of a paragraph; when no sentence states it, the main idea is written from the pattern of details.

A detail supports the main idea if deleting it leaves the main idea unsupported; facts that are interesting but unrelated do not count as support.

Author's purpose maps to signals: inform = dates, statistics, neutral tone; persuade = evaluative adjectives and a call to action; entertain = narrative and figurative language.

Tone is the author's attitude toward the subject, revealed by diction; mood is the feeling created in the reader - the two are not interchangeable.

A valid inference is required by the text, not merely permitted by it: if the passage reads the same when the inference is false, the inference is unsupported.

Sequence markers include first, initially, before, until, then, meanwhile, subsequently, and finally; order events by locating these words rather than by reading order.

Transition words signal structure: however/although = contrast; therefore/thus = cause-effect; for example = illustration; in addition = continuation.

Connector logic: contrast (but, although, whereas, nevertheless), cause-effect (because, therefore, consequently), addition (moreover, also, furthermore), condition (if, unless, provided that).

Verb blank procedure: locate the subject, discard intervening prepositional phrases, and match number; a singular subject takes the -s form in the present tense.

Pronoun blank procedure: identify the antecedent and match number and gender; collective nouns (team, jury, committee) take a singular pronoun when acting as a unit.

Tense rule: the blank matches the tense of surrounding verbs unless a time marker (by 1990, next year, since then) forces a shift.

Collocation rule: only one option forms the standard pairing - make a decision, take responsibility, draw a conclusion, raise a concern, meet a deadline.

Eliminate by grammar first (part of speech, agreement, tense), then by meaning; a grammatically impossible option can be removed without further analysis.

Articles and determiners: a/an before singular countable nouns, with an before vowel sounds including "an hour"; the for specific or previously mentioned referents.

Comma splice fix: two independent clauses joined by a bare comma require a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, nor, for).

Dangling modifier test: an introductory participial phrase must describe the subject of the main clause; if it does not, rewrite either the subject or the modifier.

Parallelism rule: elements joined by and, or, or in a series share grammatical form - all nouns, all gerunds, or all infinitives, never a mix.

Subject-verb agreement: phrases and clauses between subject and verb do not change number (The list of items is); and makes a compound subject plural, while or/nor agree with the nearer subject.

Concision substitutions: due to the fact that → because; at this point in time → now; in the event that → if; a large number of → many.

Active voice names the doer before the verb and is preferred; passive voice is justified when the doer is unknown, irrelevant, or deliberately de-emphasized.

Pronoun case: use the subject form after than or as when a verb is understood (She is taller than I am); use who for subjects and whom for objects.

Restrictive versus nonrestrictive: essential clauses take no commas and the relative pronoun that; nonessential clauses take commas and which.