Verb Tense - learn to recognize the different tense rules on the SAT

[@Tutorllini]

Great video Mike. I can't wait to see what else you are cooking up. Sharing this with the group!

[@SetteleTutoring]

Thanks! Expect more like this one!

[@nanda28cc]

This is amazing, just a really great condensed video on things that took me weeks of studying

[@SetteleTutoring]

Thank you! I actually think this is one of my best videos. The Verb Tense stuff is really tricky, but splitting it into 3 rules helps me a lot.

[@Erenyeager50slk]

omg i can't thank you enough. i was literally asking my friend about how can i quickly spot which type of grammar does the question test me on.

[@SetteleTutoring]

Yes, spotting the right rule is so important for doing well. The Verb Tense rules are the trickiest because they look so similar. Modifiers are another easily-identifiable rule, so check out that lesson if you haven’t already.

[@rumkisumaiya4594]

I became your fan❤❤

[@Juratbek0717]

very useful video for all

[@SetteleTutoring]

Thank you!

[@ahmedijaz6031]

A good strategy. When will the video of sentence structure come out

[@SetteleTutoring]

Here’s my attempt at explaining the sentence structure rule. It’s complicated, but I hope it helps! kzbin.info/www/bejne/naSxZHh5ptJnma8

[@rumkisumaiya4594]

Please make some more videos from grammar option🙏🙏 After watching your videos, I don't want to watch any other videos My exam is in March😢

[@rumkisumaiya4594]

Please make some videos on English transition and vocabulary....

[@betsyk1234]

"jazz music WAS FORMED IN communities in New Orleans" does not sound at all like idiomatic English to me. This seems like a useful kind of video, but I would recommend imitating the style of the actual SAT test a bit more closely. I wrote the SAT test (literally) for over 10 years, so that's my basis for commenting.

[@SetteleTutoring]

I appreciate your feedback, and I would love to pick your brain some day about SAT question writing, since it’s one of my favorite parts of my job. But I also disagree with you, and I think it gets to a fundamental difference between creating the test and teaching it. First, the SAT definitely does NOT stick to idiomatic English on a large proportion of questions. Take this one from the new test, for example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/amKsfKWercl5ms0 No one-or at least no one with a good sense for clear writing-would construct a sentence with a “however” so confusingly placed. I understand that it’s grammatically correct, but come on! This may be good writing *as an SAT question*, but it’s certainly bad writing in any other context. And I think my sample question is successfully imitating this aspect of the SAT style. Students will often have to settle for answer choices that they don’t particularly like because they aren’t given the option to restructure the entire sentence. Simplifying verb tense down to past/present/future is much more effective as a teaching tool than listing out every tense in English and trying to explain exactly when each one is used. I’m actually proud of this sample question because I think it effectively makes the point that you can’t nitpick the tenses on the actual test. Even though tenses often blend and which one to use becomes the author’s choice, SAT questions must give clues that point to a provable answer, even if that answer isn’t the most idiomatically pleasing way of building that sentence.

[@betsyk1234]

Thank you for your civil reply to my critique. In this example above, "was formed" is your right answer, but on the real SAT, they never use a passive expression like this as a right or wrong answer in verb tense and aspect questions. Refer to page 185 in the official study guide, for example. If you can find one single example of a verb tense and aspect question that features a passive construction ("was ___ed" or "were ___ed") in the educator question bank, I will send you $25 via the payment method of your choice. It is very important, IMO, to model the questions carefully, and in these fairly simple questions, that should not be too tough. They do the exact same thing over and over in these questions. Also, your example using "however" may seem overly formal, or stilted, to modern ears, but it is not unidiomatic. @@SetteleTutoring

[@betsyk1234]

Also, how in God's name are you ruling out C as a right answer? (would form)

[@SetteleTutoring]

​@@betsyk1234 Well, C is not an impossible tense to squeeze in there, but it’s weird. “Would” makes it sound like it hasn’t happened yet, but we’re not talking about the time before jazz existed and anticipating its arrival: “A variety of musical styles existed in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, and jazz WOULD FORM from the blending of these styles in the 1920s.” If the sample sentence were part of a larger passage (like the SATs that you probably wrote for), then we would have more evidence pointing toward one tense or another, but the new test doesn’t give that evidence. You are doing what a lot of my students do: imagining extra sentences that justify the tense you like instead of picking the answer that most directly follows from the limited evidence the question gives us. If you think I’m wrong about how these SAT questions work, let me know, but there are lots of questions where students face similar tense decisions: 1) Why is “would” wrong here? (kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4rKZWSPeZp4iqc) Maybe we’re talking about specific periods of subfreezing temperatures in the past and explaining what the frog WOULD do to survive. 2) What about “had suggested” in this question? (kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJPGdZRsoq-Ea7c) The sentence strongly implies that Zufall suggested he repurpose the product and also suggested he change the name. But it’s not impossible that she HAD SUGGESTED he change the name earlier. 3) Or even this question where the “later” seems to make the future tense obvious (kzbin.info/www/bejne/apC5XqqEe7-mj7s). It’s certainly possible that the speaker is referring to a chapter that comes later in the book but that the students HAD LEARNED about already. Teachers frequently go through textbook chapters out of order. For all of these questions, I think the correct answer is still clear. But tenses in English are tricky. Students are reading just 2 or 3 sentences without much context, so they naturally fill in the gaps with their own imaginations, and it’s easy to imagine situations where other tenses fit. I teach them not to do that. I think you’re doing that a little right now with my sample questions, showing just how easy it is for even an expert to drift away from the evidence in the sentence. By the way, I’m absolutely loving having this conversation with you because it’s rare I get to talk with people who also have such a deep knowledge of the test. I don’t know if KZbin comments are the best way to continue, so please reach out if you ever want to talk: setteletutoring.com/contact. I’m definitely curious if you think these kinds of fuzzy tense questions are a bit of a weak spot for the new test.

[@shirin.b1238]

💀

[@MdShahadat-ki6zt]

Please, provide us digitalsat reading full types of question.

[@SetteleTutoring]

Those are harder to make, but I’m working on it. If you haven’t already watched them, I definitely recommend the Reading episodes from my strategy series. I cover the strategies for the passages and vocab using unique questions: kzbin.info/aero/PLlvPF6rDVN_tZC7TZtEwOUuYWQ9ZfJKeF

[@Ramjanrana1990]

What is 15% of 20% of 80 Please

[@SetteleTutoring]

(0.15)(0.20)(80)=2.4 Any reason you’re asking this on a grammar video? Percentages are about multiplication, and you typically want to convert the percentage into a decimal first. Since we’re multiplying, we can do both percentages at once.