On the grammar portion of the SAT and elsewhere it’s always between you and me. Store that away because between you and I often appears on the exam and that construction sounds correct to many students.

I’ve just spent the past few weeks reviewing some of my favorite grammar books and there’s good news to be passed on: You don’t need to crack a grammar book to do well on the grammar portion of the SAT.

Matter of fact, if you can’t name the seven types of pronouns or the 10 functions of nouns, I’d encourage you to not get a grammar book. It’ll only take the wind out of your sails.

The best way to master SAT grammar is to purchase The Official SAT Study Guide published by the College Board and start to go through the eight practice tests.

This will give you the lay of the land and insight into the minefields. There are three drills that students must do: spot errors, fix sentences, and edit paragraphs.

Students are given 35 minutes to assess 49 grammar questions and if you (Oops, I goofed again, should have written they instead of you – that’s a pronoun shift) know that the test is packed with pronoun errors it’ll be smooth sailing.

If you go through eight practice tests you’ll not only identify the shopworn traps, but also pick up speed. Here’s an easy one: If the test refers to a previous century or a calendar date prior to 2009, the verb in that sentence will generally be in the present or future tense. Wrong from the test’s point of view. Tense should be past.

A quick review of the grammar questions on the three SAT exams that I took (January, May, and October 2008) remind me that you too can easily learn enough grammar to come up large on the test. It’s such a finite universe.

I didn’t pay full-attention in grammar class, but that hasn’t held me back. I taught myself by going through practice SATs and doing the question of the day that the College Board will email to you 365 days a year.

I like the question of the day because it offers an explanation for why the correct answer is correct. After I complete the questions I then print them out, write notes about them, three-hole punch them and put them in my grammar binder.

Let’s take a look at some of the grammatical puzzles that the test presents.

Subject-verb agreement when subject and verb are separated by a long, fact-filled subordinate clause. Skip reading the clause and it’ll bring the subject and the verb together.

Subject-verb agreement when the subject seems plural. Test does this by employing a prepositional phrase that ends with a plural noun before the verb. For example: “The manager along with the fans, the media and the owners were disappointed by the loss in the first round of the playoffs.” Change the verb were to was.

The test made my eyes cross when it was first issued, but it didn’t take me long to crack the code and identify what the test likes to test. You can do the same by going through the practice tests.

You will learn that if there are two teachers, you can’t like one the most. To like a teacher the most, there have to be three or more. Three or more for a superlative.

Here’s another classical usage mistake often placed in a sentence referring to painters or novelists, and it appears on the test all of the time: “The novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin was once more widely read and was more popular in high schools than Charlotte Bronte.”

It’s improper grammar to compare a novel to a novelist. There’s little doubt that when you take the test you’ll see faulty comparison and faulty parallelism questions.

Here’s another one that stung my brain. “The decline in science education during the period had two causes: less funding for scientific research with a decrease in jobs related to space and defense.” The word with in that sentence should be changed to and so there can be two causes. Anytime you see the word “two” or “dual” on the test look for that setup.