TSI ELAR Study Guide
Agreement and clarity
A grammatically correct sentence requires its parts to work together. Subjects must agree with verbs, pronouns must clearly refer to the correct nouns, verb tenses must stay consistent unless there’s a reason to change, and descriptive phrases must clearly modify the intended part of the sentence.
Subject-verb agreement
Singular
The student writes every morning.
Plural
The students write every morning.
This gets harder when other words come between the subject and verb.
The subject is collection, not photographs. Collection is singular, so the verb is belongs.
Ignore interrupting phrases
Temporarily remove phrases that separate the subject from the verb.
Watch especially for phrases beginning with:
A nearby noun may distract you from the true subject. The noun closest to the verb is often not the subject.
Compound subjects
Joined by and
Usually plural.The coach and the captain are attending the meeting.
Either…or, neither…nor
Verb agrees with the subject closest to it.Neither the teachers nor the principal is attending.Neither the principal nor the teachers are attending.
Pronoun agreement and reference
Antecedent — the noun the pronoun refers to. Pronouns must agree with their antecedents and make clear who or what is being discussed.
Musicians is plural, so the plural pronoun their agrees with it.
Make the reference clear
Even when a pronoun is grammatically correct, its meaning can be unclear.
Ambiguous
When Isabel spoke with Hannah, she explained the problem.
Who explained — Isabel or Hannah?
Clear
When Isabel spoke with Hannah, Isabel explained the problem.
On the test
Prefer the revision that eliminates ambiguity and makes the intended meaning immediately clear.
Singular “they”
They, them, and their can correctly refer to one person when gender is unknown, unspecified, or irrelevant.
Don’t assume singular they is an agreement error. Focus on whether the pronoun’s reference is logical and clear.
Verb tense consistency
Inconsistent
Yesterday, Marco walked to the store and buys groceries for dinner.
Consistent
Yesterday, Marco walked to the store and bought groceries for dinner.
Both actions happened yesterday, so both verbs are past tense.
Tense changes can be correct
Tense should change when the time of the action changes.
Discovered is past because the discovery happened in 2018. Continue is present because the research is still going on.
Time clues that tell you which tense makes sense:
The goal
Not to make every verb identical — to make each verb accurately reflect when its action occurs.
Modifier placement
Misplaced
Covered in colorful leaves, Maya photographed the old bridge.
Grammatically, the phrase describes Maya.
Clear
Maya photographed the old bridge, which was covered in colorful leaves.
Introductory modifiers
When a sentence opens with a descriptive phrase, the noun right after the comma should be the person or thing being described.
Dangling
After studying all evening, the test seemed easy to Daniel.
This says the test studied all evening.
Clear
After studying all evening, Daniel found the test easy.
Watch for misplaced words
Even a single word can land in a position that creates confusion.
Does the discount exist only on Friday, or was it advertised only on Friday? The fix depends on the intended meaning:
If the ad ran Friday
Only on Friday, the store advertised a discount for customers.
If the discount was Friday
The store offered customers a discount only on Friday.
Commonly confused words
Some questions test words that sound alike or look alike but do different jobs.
Quick test
For its / it’s, substitute “it is.” If that works, use it’s. The same trick works for they’re and you’re.
TSI strategy: identify what each word belongs to
These questions get easier when you find the relationship inside the sentence.
Verb
Find its subject.
Pronoun
Find the noun it replaces.
Verb tense
Determine when each action occurs.
Modifier
Identify exactly what it’s supposed to describe.
Then ignore the distracting words and evaluate the relationship directly.
Don’t let the nearby plurals materials and products distract you. The subject is the singular noun quality.
When a sentence sounds awkward or unclear, ask who is doing what. Then identify the subject, verb, pronouns, and modifiers, and make sure each part clearly connects to the word or idea it’s supposed to.