Reading and Writing
Digital SAT grammar rules to review
Most grammar questions become easier when you identify the relationship between the words around the underlined part. Review the rule, eliminate answers that break it, and confirm that the sentence still says what the passage means.
High-value grammar checks
- Sentence boundaries: A period, semicolon, or coordinating conjunction can join two independent clauses. A comma alone cannot.
- Transitions: Read the sentence before and after the blank, then name the relationship—contrast, cause, example, or continuation—before looking at the choices.
- Subject–verb agreement: Ignore interrupting phrases and match the verb to the real subject.
- Modifiers: Put a descriptive phrase next to the noun it describes; reject an answer that creates an impossible or unclear modifier.
- Concision: When two answers are grammatically correct, prefer the one that communicates the same precise meaning with fewer unnecessary words.
Practice loop
- Search the strategy deck for grammar and filter to Reading and Writing.
- Explain the rule without looking at the answer.
- Complete a timed official set, tagging each miss by rule.
- Return to the quiz after a delay so recall, not recognition, does the work.
For the current test and official practice, use College Board’s SAT site and Bluebook practice.