Today I’m going to share an insight with you that I’ve gained through working one-on-one with hundreds of students to get them their highest ACT and Digital SAT scores EVER. What I’ve noticed is that most high schoolers tend to have trouble with the same handful of Digital SAT grammar topics. I find myself revisiting certain grammar “vocabulary,” if you will, with many, many clients.
Now, on the one hand, you’ve got standard grammar rules that we all SHOULD know but that simply aren’t pulled out and taught to high schoolers as concrete rules. One example of this is punctuation (I’ve got a whole SAT/ACT punctuation cheat sheet here to catch you up). On the other hand, the subject of today’s post is those rules that students don’t know because they don’t even line up with how humans talk or write in the year 2024!
Despite their being somewhat fuddy-duddy, these keywords matter if your goal is to get a very high, or perfect, Reading and Writing score on the Digital SAT. You’ll need to learn to spot what the College Board considers to be the “right” answer—even if that answer is not something you’d ever say IRL!
Want to know what the top trickster words are? Read on, brave studier.
Most Important Grammar Vocab to Learn for the SAT
1) W-Words
When you’re hanging out with your friends on a Friday night, do you find yourself trading “wherebys” with one another? I’m guessing not! But just because YOU don’t use a word in your day-to-day life doesn’t mean it’s off-limits for the Digital SAT. Here are some common Relative Pronouns (“W”-words) that students most often use incorrectly….and instructions on how to use them correctly, should you encounter them on the test:
“Where”: use only if you’re actually talking about a location or place!
“When”: use only if you’re talking about time and events!
Preposition + “Which” (“in which” and “by which”): use in place of “where” or “how.”
“Whereby”: means the same thing as “by which” or “according to which” or “through which” or even “how.”
2) “They”/Them”/“Their”
Despite the fact that our culture’s thinking on gender has shifted over the past decade, at the moment, the SAT Reading and Writing section treats "they," "them," and "their" exclusively as plural pronouns, referring to more than one person or thing. The test does not acknowledge "they"/"them"/"their" as pronouns for an individual, non-binary person, or generic person whose gender isn’t specified.
To refer to a single person on the test, you'd only use "I," "you," "he" or "she" (or "me," "you," him" or "her," etc.).
If you don’t know the gender of the (single) person in a sentence from an SAT Reading and Writing text, you’d pick the option with “he or she” or “him or her” or “his or her.” You would NOT use “they” or “them” in cases where you don’t know the gender, even though one might do so in common speech these days.
Maybe the College Board will update this element soon! But, for now, I want you to know how to play by the home court rules while you’re on their turf so you can get the slam dunks you need...i.e. every single Reading and Writing section point, a fab score on the SAT, and a Yes letter to your dream college.
3) Archaic or Rarely-Used Transition Words
You might recall from past blog posts I’ve written that Transition Words come in three main varieties: Continue, Contrast, and Cause-and-Effect words. You might also recall that there can be many subgroups within these three main categories, which I spell out for you in my Guide to Transition Words.
In keeping with the theme of today’s post, a LOT of these puppies are words you might not ever say, write, text, or post in your everyday life. When I review grammar problem sets with my clients, a lot of them can’t tell me which category certain rarely-used Transition Words fall into. This is an isue! After all, if you can’t correctly identify what the Transition Word DOES, you won’t be able to deploy my top two Transition Word Techniques.
Here are the usual suspects that my students struggle with:
“Indeed”: this is a CONTINUE word that shows emphasis! You’d use it like this: <Fact or opinion.> Indeed, <exaggeration or specific detail that really magnifies the fact or opinion.>
“That is”: this is a CONTINUE word that provides information that explains or clarifies what you just said, like this: <Statement.> That is, <explanation or clarification.>
“Regardless”: this is a CONTRAST word. You’d use it like this: <Sentence.> Regardless, <sentence that contradicts the first sentence.>
“Meanwhile”: CONTRAST word that you’d use in the same way as “Regardless.”
“Still”: CONTRAST word that you’d use in the same way as “Meanwhile” and “Regardless.”
“Of course”: this is a CONTRAST phrase that you’d use to concede a point in your argument. Grammatically, you’d use it the same way you’d use “Regardless,” “Meanwhile,” and “Still.”
“Whereas”: this is a CONTRAST word, but you’d use it a little differently in a sentence than you’d use “Regardless,” because this is a Subordinating Conjunction that turns a complete sentence into a dependent clause. I’d use it like this: <Statement,> whereas <conflicting statement.>
“While”: this is a CONTRAST word, used in the same way you’d use “Whereas.”
“For”: this is a CAUSE-AND-EFFECT word that shows the CAUSE. It’s also the “F” in “FANBOYS” (Coordinating Conjunctions), so I’d use it after a comma to connect two complete sentences. It’d look like this: <Sentence,> for <sentence that shows the CAUSE of the first Sentence.>
“As such”: this is a CAUSE-AND-EFFECT word that shows the EFFECT. I’d use it like this: <Sentence.> As such, <resulting sentence.>
“Hence”: this is a CAUSE-AND-EFFECT word that shows the EFFECT. I’d use it the same way I’d use “as such.”
“To these ends”: this is a CAUSE-AND-EFFECT word that shows the EFFECT. I’d use it the same way I’d use “as such” and “hence.”
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Et voilà! Now you’ve got a handy list of key terms to review—words with the biggest gap between how we use them in everyday life versus what’s considered correct on the SAT’s Reading and Writing Section.
And if you want even MORE expert tricks and insights to majorly improve your understanding of Digital SAT grammar, you now have TWO options:
1) Work with me one-on-one to develop a Reading and Writing section prep plan catered to you. I offer both private tutoring package and one-off tutoring sessions.
2) If you’re more of a lone wolf when it comes to studying, or you need the answers NOW, or you’re looking for a great deal, you can grab my ebook Grammar Rules for the SAT, ACT + dSAT for immediate download!
