This document serves as a study guide for GMAT sentence correction, outlining the fundamentals of sentence structure, including subjects, objects, predicates, phrases, and clauses. It emphasizes the importance of understanding complete and incomplete sentences, as well as the various types of verbals—gerunds, participles, and infinitives—and their grammatical functions. Additionally, it provides guidelines on punctuation, specifically the correct usage of colons and semicolons.

1. Sentence Correction Basics
For The GMAT:
A 5-Day Handbook
(Please read this Prep Material before attending your
Sentence Correction Classes)
Day 3

2.  Subjects, Objects and Predicates
 Phrases and Clauses
 Verbals
 Punctuations
Contents of SC Pre-Read
Day 3: Parts of Sentences

3. Parts Of Sentences
This is a collection of phrases and clauses that link together to form sentences..
Consider the following sentences:
 After it stopped raining
 While he was sleeping
 Until you reach home safely
Do you find anything ambiguous about these sentences? Are they complete by
themselves? Certainly not!
These are ‘sentence fragments’ as they express unfinished ideas.

4. Parts Of Sentences (Contd.)
Now, consider these sentences:
 Jenny drove his car.
 He wept.
 Joseph ran.
These sentences are complete and make sense. Thus, these are not examples of
sentence fragments.
Remember: A sentence fragment is not necessarily short – it is just incomplete.
Read more about Sentence Fragments here!

5. Subject, Object & Predicate
The 3 main parts of a sentence are Subject, Object and Predicate.
Subject
Subject refers to the person or a thing who or which performs the action of the
verb. In simpler words, subject is the ‘noun’ to which the sentence's verb refers.
Examples:
 Julie is eating lobster.
 Annie has written this poem.
In the first sentence, the verb or the action
is ‘eating’. This action is performed by
‘Julie’, who is the subject of the sentence.
In the second sentence, ‘Annie’ is the
subject who is performing the action of
‘writing’.

6. Subject, Object & Predicate (Contd.)
Object
Object refers to the person or a thing upon whom or upon which the action of the
verb is performed. It showcases the subject’s action.
In the first example, the action of ‘eating’ is performed upon the ‘lobster’.
So, ‘lobster’ is the object of the sentence. And in the second example, the action of
‘writing’ is performed upon the poem, so ‘poem’ is the object in this sentence.
A sentence may have indirect objects along with the direct ones.
Example:
 Please send me that email.
In this example, ‘email’ is the direct object and ‘me’
is the indirect object.

7. Subject, Object & Predicate (Contd.)
Predicate
Predicate refers to what a person or a thing does or did or what happened to a
person or a thing. A predicate consists of a verb and other parts of speech.
Certain rules for predicates:
 The predicate must agree in number with the subject
 It must have the correct tense
 It must be in the proper voice (active or passive)
In the sentence “Julie is eating breakfast”, the phrase ‘is eating’ is the predicate.
In the sentence “Annie has written the poem”, ‘has written’ is the predicate.
Thus, a predicate must have a verb. Sometimes, a verb by itself can also be a
predicate. However, predicate and verb are NOT synonymous.

8. Phrases & Clauses
Phrases
A phrase is a collection of words that makes some sense, but not complete sense.
Examples:
 After lunch…
 The book Fredrick gave me…
Clauses
A clause is a collection of words that consists of
both a Subject and a Predicate. A clause may or
may not be able to stand independently and
make complete sense on its own.

9. Types of Clauses
1. Independent Clause
Can stand on its own and make complete sense. It contains sufficient information
to construct a complete sentence.
Examples:
 Betty didn’t like the main course but she enjoyed dessert.
In the above sentence, we have two independent clauses — "Betty didn’t like the
main course" and "she enjoyed dessert ", joined by a coordinating conjunction
"but“.
Each of these makes complete sense on its own.

10. 2. Dependent Clause
This cannot stand by itself and does not make sense on its own. It is dependent on
some other clauses to form a meaningful sentence.
Examples:
 If you lend me that book, I will be grateful to you.
 When I was in New York, I worked for a law firm.
Phrases & Clauses (Contd.)
Phrases make up a clause and clauses make up a sentence.
It is important to understand the differences in these, because the use of
punctuation depends on these.
Test your understanding of clauses here!

11. A verbal refers to a word formed from a verb but which works as a different part of
speech, such as a noun or an adjective. These words signify action in a general
way, without limiting the action to any time or subject.
There are 3 kinds of Verbals – Gerunds, Participles & Infinitives
Gerunds
A gerund refers to a verbal that ends in –ing, and
which functions as a noun.
Examples:
 Dancing made him famous.
 My favorite pastime activity is fishing.
In the above examples, words like ‘dancing’ and ‘fishing’ are used as nouns and
not as verbs, making them gerunds.
Verbals : Gerunds
Read more about Gerunds here!

12. Participles
A participle refers to a verbal that usually ends in –ing or –ed and is used as an
adjective. Since participles function as adjectives, they can modify only nouns or
pronouns.
Examples:
 The night sky was dotted with shooting stars.
 Her cheeks were stained with drying tears.
Verbals: Participles
Read more about Participles here!

13. 1. Present participles
Present participles express ‘what a thing does’ and usually end in –‘ing’. E.g.
talking, loving, hurting, weeping, shouting etc.
Examples:
 Have you heard the story of the sleeping beauty?
 The dancing dolphins captured the attention of the tourists.
In these sentences, words such as ‘sleeping’ and ‘dancing’ express something more
about beauty and dolphins respectively, thus forming present participles .
Verbals: Types of participles

14. 2. Past Participles
Past participles denote a past or completed action or time and generally express
‘what was done to a thing’. They usually end in –ed, -en, -d, -t, or –n. E.g.
cracked, lost, repaired, required, arisen, beaten, anchored, and so on.
Examples:
 Are you still looking for the lost watch?
 Please throw away the cracked mirror.
In these sentences, words such as ‘lost’ and ‘cracked’ are
used as adjectives to modify the nouns ‘watch’ and
‘mirror’ respectively, thus forming past participles.
Verbals: Types of participles

15. Infinitives
An infinitive comprises the word ‘to’ and a verb (in its simplest form) and functions
as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Infinitive uses the base form of the verb: to eat,
to be, to say, to play, to deliver, to eat and so on.
Examples:
 Please help him to pack lunch.
 Do not pretend to be someone you aren’t.
Types of infinitives:
The perfect infinitive (to have + past participle)
The continuous infinitive (to be + present participle)
The perfect continuous infinitive (to have been + present participle)
The passive infinitive (to be + past participle)
Verbals: Infinitives
Read more about Infinitives here!

16. Punctuation marks enable us to structure our sentences more accurately. For
e.g. period/full-stop(.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation mark (!),
colon (:), semi-colon (;), apostrophe (&), brackets (()), quote (“), hyphen (-) etc.
Punctuation
The colon (:) and semi-colon (;) are tested on the GMAT.
Colon(:)
The colon is used in 2 situations:
While introducing a list:
Beth is planning to buy a few vegetables: capsicum,
ladyfinger, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower and snake gourd.
While introducing an explanation or an example:
There was only one possible explanation: the flight had
never arrived.

17. Semicolon(;)
Semicolons are used to split sentences that are grammatically independent but
still have closely linked meaning.
Example:
 Annie is fond of ice creams; Joseph prefers chocolates.
Sometimes, conjunctions can be used in place of semicolons.
Example:
 Annie is fond of ice creams but Joseph prefers chocolates.
We cannot use a comma in place of a semicolon – this would result in what is
known as a “run-on sentence”.
Example:
 Annie is fond of ice creams, Joseph prefers chocolates. 
Punctuation (Contd.)

18. Copyright Notice And Legal Disclaimer
Copyright Notice
As of 2012, CrackVerbal Edutech Pvt. Ltd. is the copyright holder of this study material. It is under our discretion to demand
consideration in exchange for waiver of any of the conditions listed.
Where the study material or any of its content is already in the public domain under law currently applicable in India or any location
where the study material is used, that status is in no way affected by the license.
Legal Disclaimer
The information contained in these slides is for general information purposes only. We endeavor to keep the information up to date
and correct, however, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness,
accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the slides or the information, products, services, or related graphics
contained on the slides for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will CrackVerbal be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage,
or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of these slides.
Through these slides you may be able to link to other websites which are not under the control of the owner of the slides.
The owner has no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily
imply a recommendation or endorsement of the views/information expressed within them.
GMAT™ and GMAC™ are registered trademarks of the Graduate Management Admission Council™. GMAC does not write, sponsor,
or endorse this product, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner of these slides.