Sentence Improvement
How the replace-the-underlined-part question works, the recurring patterns it tests - parallelism, modifier placement, conciseness, idiom and preposition - and when the right answer is 'no improvement'.
What you will be able to do
- Read a sentence-improvement item and identify what the underlined part is being tested for.
- Apply the common improvement patterns: parallelism, misplaced or dangling modifiers, wordiness, idiom.
- Reject an option that fixes one fault but introduces another.
- Choose 'no improvement' when the original is already correct and clear.
What is inside this lesson
- 1How the question is built
- 2A way to work the item
- 3The recurring patterns
- 4Options that fix one thing and break another
- 5Worked example: two items
- 6When 'no improvement' is right
- 7Doing it under time
- 8Quick revision
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How the question is built
A sentence-improvement item gives one sentence with a part underlined and four or five replacements for that part. One option, often the first, repeats the underlined part unchanged and means "no improvement needed".
Unlike error detection, this question asks for the best version, not just whether something is wrong. So an option can be grammatical and still be worse than another because it is longer, less clear, or changes the meaning.
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