Role Of A Company Chairman Within A Public Limited Company And The Content of The Chairman’s Report of Reckitt Benckiser Plc. The WritePass Journal

Role Of A Company Chairman Within A Public Limited Company And The Content of The Chairman’s Report of Reckitt Benckiser Plc. Introduction  Ã‚   Role Of A Company Chairman Within A Public Limited Company And The Content of The Chairman’s Report of Reckitt Benckiser Plc. ). It is the responsibility of the chairman to set the agenda of the board and ensure that there is enough time for discussing all the items in the agenda with specific emphasis placed on strategic issues that affect the company.   The chairman should facilitate the effective contribution of NEDs in particular and ensure that constructive relations exist between executive directors and NEDs. This ensures that a culture of openness is prevalent in the board. In addition, the chairman should ensure that directors receive accurate, timely and clear information. In addition, the chairman should promote effective communication with shareholders. . The chairmans statement of Reckitt Benkiser Plc contains some important information. It contains information regarding the performance of the company during the year ended 2011. It provides details of the difficult environment in which the company operated and the strategies that the company implemented. For example, the Chairman begins by stating that the company performed well in a turbulent business environment. The chairman also notes that a new CEO was appointed during the year. This was a significant event for the company because the CEO is very important in implementing the companys strategy. The chairman further notes that the company witnessed an improvement in its cash flows during the year which enabled it to pay down part of its debt. The strong cash position also enabled the company to increase its dividend by 9% from the year 2010 figure to 125 pence per share. The chairmans statement also focused on the companys strategy. The chairman notes that considering the changing business environment, the company has redefined its vision and purpose to align itself with the opportunities and challenges of the environment in which it operates. The chairman believes that the new vision and purpose are fundamentally sound and will result in the creation and growth in shareholder value. The chairman concludes by making a statement on corporate governance. Accordingly the chairman notes that the Board conducted its regular reviews of the performance and results of the business including reviews with management on strategy, brands, geographic area and functional performance as well as detailed reviews of human resources, corporate responsibility and reputation, controls and business risks (Reckitt Benkiser Plc, 2011). Critical Evaluation of the IFRS Foundation’s convergence Agenda The IFRS foundation is working through its subsidiary body, The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to develop a global set of accounting standards that can be used across different. The foundation is making efforts to promote the convergence of national standards with International Financial Reporting Standards. For example, the IASB has been working on a Joint Conceptual Framework project with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board to ensure the convergence of US GAAP standards with IFRSs. In addition, the IASB has made significant progress in achieving convergence of national accounting standards of different countries with IFRS. For example, in 2002, the European Union (EU) issued Regulation EC No. 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council requiring all EU listed firms to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards on or before 1st January 2005 (European Union, 2002; Jermakowicz and Gornik-Tomaszewski, 2006; Epstein and Jermacowicz, 2007). Thi s meant that more than 7000 firms were required to prepare financial statements that complied with IFRS standards during the year ending 31st December 2005. Moroever, in 2007, the United States (U.S) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which regulates the trading of securities in the U.S decided to waive the requirement that foreign firms listed in the U.S should reconcile their financial statements with U.S Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) (SEC 2007; Street and Linthicum, 2007). Moreover, the SEC has considered proposals to allow U.S firms to prepare financial statements that are in compliance with IFRS (GAAP) (SEC 2007; Street and Linthicum, 2007). IFRS is increasingly gaining recognition as a global set of accounting standards. Zalm (2008) observes that the number of countries that had replaced their national GAAP with IFRS was approximately 100 in 2008. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board have been working on a joint project to harmonise IFRS with U.S GAAP. The objective is to enhance the comparability of financial statements prepared under both standards and to improve the understandability, relevance and reliability of financial reports prepared using either U.S GAAP or IFRS. In order to evaluate the convergence project, this paper benefits and costs of convergence. Benefits of Convergences Improvement in FDI flows One of the benefits of convergence is that it will result in an increase in cross-border capital flows such as foreign direct investment (FDI) (Chen et al., 2010). Convergence will result in a reduction in the degree of information asymmetry between home country and foreign users of the information reported in financial statements (Chen et al., 2010). Users of financial statements will be able to compare financial statements prepared across different countries and thus make better investment decisions. It has also been argued that widespread adoption of IFRS will reduce or eliminate differences in accounting standards across the globe. This will result in a reduction in information processing costs and to an increase in cross-border economic transactions (Chen et al., 2010). According to the European Commissioner, McCreavy for example, adopting IFRS standards as a global set of accounting standards will result in more efficient allocation of resources and greater cross-board investment which will enhance economic growth in the EU (McCreavy, 2005). Enhancement of the quality of Financial Reports A potential benefit of the adoption of IFRS standards is that it will result in high quality and more corporate reporting practices. This will in turn improve market liquidity, lower costs of capital and enhance resource allocation. Greater market liquidity is consistent with a more efficient capital market. Improving market liquidity will result to a decline in transaction costs and increase the number of people participating in the market. An increase in the number of market participants will result in more efficient markets because more people will ensure that securities are always trading at their equilibrium prices (Bodie et al., 2007). Costs of Convergence Despite the potential benefits cited for convergence some investor groups believe that it is still very early to determine whether IFRS can effectively serve as a global set of accounting standards (SEC, 2010). The main argument offered is that IFRS is yet to be sufficiently developed or applied in practice to the extent that one can judge its ability to serve as a global set of accounting standards. According to the SEC (2010) IFRS lacks guidance in certain significant areas. In areas where there is guidance, such guidance tends to require much latitude before it can be comparable with US GAAP. There are jurisdictional variants in the application of IFRS which pose significant challenges to the adoption of IFRS. In order for IFRS to be applied globally, countries will need to converge in many other areas such as auditing, taxation, legal systems, etc. According to commentators, existing US GAAP standards are already universally accepted as high quality financial reporting standards. In addition, not all firms in the US require capital from global capital markets or market securities internationally. Therefore, the convergence agenda is likely going to result in increased costs for US companies. Investors and large firms in the US also felt that there were significant challenges and risks associated with having an international institution as the ultimate body that would issue accounting standards for issuers of securities in the US. Significant concerns were raised over whether this was likely going to be a wise policy taking into account the long standing role of the SEC as the oversight body over the financial reporting process in the US. Another concern raised is that incorporating IFRS standards into the financial reporting system in the US will have a negative impact on the compliance with corporate governance requirements in the US. For example, the Sarbanes Oxley Act prescribes a number of corporate governance rules that US companies with comply with such as ensuring that the audit committee has at least one independent non-executive director with financial expertise. Investor groups in the US feel that the IFRS agenda may affect the ability of US companies to comply with these rules and as such the convergence agenda of the IFRS foundation is likely not going to be feasible in so many countries. In addition, Hail et al. (2009) argue that accounting standards play a limited role in improving the quality of financial reports. There are other institutional factors that contribute to the enhancement of financial reporting quality. For example, the reporting incentives of firms and the enforcement of standards have been cited as important factors that determine the quality of financial reports. Hail et al. (2009) further contend that comparability of financial reports cannot be guaranteed by the adoption of a single set of accounting standards across different countries. Comparability can only be fully achieved if the reporting incentives of firms are similar. Therefore, the argument that comparability of financial statements will improve as a result of the adoption of IFRS remains questionable. Furthermore, it is not correct to view accounting standards in isolation from other important factors of a country’s institutional framework. There must be a match between the institutional framework and accounting standards. This means that if a country adopts accounting standards that do not properly match with the elements of its institutional framework can result in undesirable consequences for the economy as a whole irrespective of whether the new accounting standard unambiguously improves the element itself. SECTION B Environmental Reporting By Reckitt Benkiser Plc. According to the Sustainability report of the Reckitt Benckiser Plc, the companys strategy incorporates a commitment to run the business in a manner that is responsible, environmentally sound and sustainable. With respect to the environment, the company is committed to ensuring that the workplace environment is safe and healthy. It is also committed to ensuring that the employment environment attracts, developed and retains the right talent of people to manage the business. The company has a life cycle carbon management program and a sustainable operational excellence program. With respect to the life cycle carbon management program, the company is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emission. The life cycle management approach is used to reduce CO2 emission right across the product life cycle. This approach is used because the largest emissions occur when consumers use products. For example, Air Wick launched a ground-breaking air fresher product which replaced the traditional propellant gases with compressed air. The natural propellant delivers a cleaner fragrance experience in a safer way than butane or nitrogen. The propellant is non-flammable and non-hazardous. Using compressed air in place of butane saves 5,000 tonnes of butane per year which in turn saves 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions (Reckitt Benckiser Plc, 2011b). It should be noted that there is no specific legislation that governs environmental reporting in the UK. The only legislation that governs the reporting of CO2 emissions in the UK is the Climate Change Act of 2008 and the Energy Act of 2010. The Climate Change Act aims at reducing CO2 emissions. The Climate Change Act and the Energy Act led to the implementation of the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which represents a mandatory climate change and energy saving scheme. The scheme aims at enhancing energy efficiency and CO2 emissions. The sustainability report of Reckitt Benckiser Plc is to some extent in compliance with the Climate Change Act and the Energy Act 2010 (Gray et al., 2010). Despite the absence of legislation on environmental reporting in the UK, a significant number of attempts have been made to encourage businesses to provide sustainability and environmental reports on a voluntary basis. Businesses are often encouraged through codes of practice and environmental reporting guidelines. Reckitt Benkiser Plc might have been influenced by these encouragements to disclose information relating to its environmental and social performance. Despite the absence of legislation, it has been argued that voluntary disclosure of environmental and social performance helps in enhancing firm value. For example, McGuire et al. (1988); Davis (1960); and Roberts (1992) provide evidence suggesting that there is a positive link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure levels and firm performance. The evidence also suggests disclosure of environmental performance is positively related to firm value. This explains why Reckitt Benkiser Plc has made an effort to d isclose information about its environmental performance. Advanatges a Company may gain by adopting and disclosing voluntary environmental Accounting Practices Adopting voluntary environmental accounting can help a company improve its reputation (ICAEW and EA, 2010). Voluntary environmental accounting can be viewed by users of financial statements as a positive signal that the company is using efficient and low cost manufacturing techniques which results in efficient use of resources. As such the company’s share price can increase if it discloses positive information. In addition, customers and can view the company as having concern over its environment. customers are not interested in buying from companies that do not have regard for their external environment. Consequently voluntary disclosure of environmental information can result in an improvement in the company’s sales and financial performance (Gray et al., 2010). How Future Environmental Accounting will continue to support accrual accounting and going concern. Accrual accounting is essential because not all transactions are settled in cash. It enables organisations to record transactions that have not been settled in cash as credit transactions. The going concern assumption assumes that the business will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. Environmental accounting will support accrual accounting in that it will enable businesses to continue recording all transactions irrespective of whether they are settled in cash or not. With respect to going concern, environmental accounting will enable users of financial statements to assess the impact of the company on its environment and determine whether the company will be able to continue as a going concern. Section C. Classification of the Convertible Bond The convertible bond in question is a compound financial instrument because it has both debt and equity characteristics. According to IAS 32, Financial Instruments, Presentation, the instrument’s component parts should be accounted for separately. The accounting should be done according to their substance based on the definitions of liability and equity. The entity is required to make the division between equity and debt at issuance and is not allowed to make any amendments in response to changes in market conditions such as a change in the market interest rate, share prices, or other event (Deloitte, 2012). Therefore, the instrument will be classified as a compound instrument including debt and equity components. The debt component is the contractual obligation of the company to pay cash and the equity component is the option of the holder to convert the bond into common shares of the issuer (Epstein and Jermakowicz, 2007; Deiloitte, 2012). Calculation of the Equity Component The present value of the bond is calculated as follows: Year Discount Factor (9%) Interest/Principal Present Value 1 0.9174 0.08 0.073392 2 0.8417 0.08 0.067336 3 0.7722 0.08 0.061776 4 0.7084 0.08 0.056672 5 0.6499 4.08 2.651592 Debt Element 2.910768 Equity Element 1.089232 The bond pays a coupon of   $.08million (2% x $4million) per annum. At the end of the year, the bond is expected to repay the coupon plus principal of $4.08million. The cash flows need to be discounted at the market interest rate of 9% on similar non-convertible bonds. The present values are based on the discount factors for the 9% interest rate. It can be observed that the present value of the bond is $2.91million. This represents the debt component of the financial instrument. The equity component is calculated by subtracting the debt component from the amount raised from the issue of the security. Therefore, the equity instrument is equal to $4million less $2.91million. This gives $1.19million. Closing Figure in the Statement of Financial Position The closing figure in the statement of Financial Position is based on the following amortisation Schedule: Year Cash Paid Interest Expense Discount Amortised Liability ($millions) 0 2.91 1 0.08 0.36 0.28 3.19 2 0.08 0.29 0.21 3.40 3 0.08 0.31 0.23 3.62 4 0.08 0.33 0.25 3.87 5 0.08 0.35 0.27 4.14 References Gray, R., Collins, D., Bebbington, J. (2007) Environmental and Social Accounting Reporting, Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research. ICAEW and EA (2010) TURNING QUESTIONS INTO ANSWERS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORTING, available online at: environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Business/TECPLN8045_env_report_aw.pdf [accessed: 25th April 2013]. Deloitte (2012) IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation [online] IAS Plus: Available at: iasplus.com/en/standards/standard31 [accessed: 26th April 2013]. McGuire, J. B., Sundgren, A., Schneeweis, T. (1988), â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance†, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 854-872; Academy of Management, Available online at: jstor.org/stable/256342 Davis, K. (1960, Spring). Can business afford to ignore social responsibilities? California Management Review, 2, 70-76. Roberts, R. W. (1992), â€Å"Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: An application of stakeholder theory†, This article is not included in your organizations subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organizations agreement with Elsevier. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 595-612 Bodie, Z. Kane, A., Marcus, A. J. (2007). Investments. 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill Duangploy, O., Gray, D. (2007)   ‘‘Big Bang’’ Accounting Reforms In Japan: Financial Analyst Earnings Forecast Accuracy Declines As The Japanese Government Mandates Japanese Corporations To Adopt International Accounting Standards Advances In International Accounting, vol. 20, pp. 179–200 Epstein, J. B., Jermakowicz, E. K. (2007), â€Å"Interpretation and Application of International Financial Reporting Standards†, Wiley. European Union, 2002. Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European parliament and of the council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards. Official Journal of the European Communities September 11, 2002, L. 243/1 L. 243/4. Zalm G. (2008), Prepared statement of Gerrit Zalm, Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, before the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, available online at: iasb.org/NR/rdonlyres/A318265C-10E4-4051-A7D1-DCC9E4D763C5/0/Prepared_statement_Gerrit_Zalm.pdf [accessed: 9th April, 2012].

Strategies for Improving Sentences on SAT Writing

Strategies for Improving Sentences on SAT Writing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Improving sentences is the biggest subsection in SAT Writing. There are 49 total multiple choice questions on the SAT Writing section, and 25 of those are improving sentences questions. Arming yourself with specific strategies to answer these questions will be extremely beneficial to you and your SAT Writing score. In this post, I’ll do the following: Offer a general approach to use for answering sentence improvement questions. Detail the most common errors and clues for locating them. Show you how to correct the most common grammar errors. Provide example questions. General Approach to Improving Sentences For each improving sentences question, you should follow the same general approach to help ensure that you have an efficient method to consistently select the correct answer. By following these steps, you'll become less likely to make careless mistakes and more likely to arrive at the right answer in a timely manner. #1: Read the Sentence and Try to Identify Any Specific Errors in the Underlined Portion When you first read through the sentence, attempt to locate specific errors based on your knowledge of the grammar rules that are tested on the SAT Writing section. #2: Eliminate Obvious Wrong Answer Choices Eliminate any choices that are clearly wrong. If an answer choice creates another grammatical error or does not address the error you identified in the original answer choice, then you can immediately eliminate that answer choice as an option. Don't eliminate an answer choice solely because it sounds wrong. For all of the multiple choice SAT Writing questions, rely primarily on your knowledge of grammatical rules. #3: If You Don't Notice Anything Wrong With the Original Sentence, Look at the Answer Choices to Determine if You Overlooked an Error Sometimes reading the answer choices will make the error in the original sentence more apparent. Also, if an answer choice is more concise than the underlined portion of the original sentence and grammatically correct, then that will be the right answer. #4: Plug the Phrase in the Answer Choice Back Into the Original Sentence If an answer choice looks like it could be right, plug the phrase back into the original sentence. Sometimes reading the whole sentence will allow you to more easily determine if an answer choice is correct or if it creates an additional error. Use this step to verify your selection or testan answer choice you're unsure about. #5: Go Through The Answer Choices Until You Locate the Correct Improvement or Determine that No Change is Needed Your work is done once you find the answer choice that fixes the error in the original sentence and does not create an additonal error. You can quickly look at the remaining choices to verify that you have selected the best answer. If, after looking through the answer choices, you determine that the original sentence is correct, then select answer choice A, which is always the same as the underlined portion of the original sentence. Keep in mind that answer choice A will be right about 10%-20% of the time. Now that we have a general approach for sentence improvement questions, we can look at the specific grammar errors that repeatedly appear in the sentences in this subsection. I'll let you know the clues for spotting these errors and how to improve sentences that contain them. Read below for all the grammar rules you need to know for improving sentences. The Specific Grammar Errors: Signs and Improvements I arranged these grammatical errors by how often they tend to appear in sentence improvement questions, with the more common errors first and the least common ones last. All of these errors have appeared on previous SATs, and you should be familiar with all of these rules. Wordiness If a sentence suffers from wordiness, it is not written in the most concise grammatically correct way. Here are some tips for how to locate a wordy sentence. Signals Wordy sentences often contain gerunds in the underlined portion. Also, these sentences tend to employ the commonly used wordy phrases referenced in the article on wordiness. Once you spot a wordy sentence, it can generally be corrected in the following ways. Improvements Remember that the most concise grammatically correct answer choice will be right. Refer to the article on wordiness for the typical corrections to the commonly used wordy phrases. Parallelism Parallelism refers to the grammar rule that requires you to use the same pattern of words for two or more words or ideas in a sentence. Errors in parallelism occur when items in a list or phrases before and after a conjunction are not written in the same grammatical form. Check out the clues for identifying a parallel structure question. Signals A sentence is likely testing your knowledge of parallelism if the underlined portion is part of an "x, y, and z" list construction. Additionally, if an underlined phrase follows a conjunction, it often includes a parallel structure error. Because they're more difficult, parallelism questions tend to be found near the end of the subsection. Improvements To correct parallelism errors, put items in a list or phrases before and after a conjunction in the same grammatical form. For example, if two items in a list are in the gerund form, then the third item should be in the gerund form as well. Faulty Modifiers Another common grammar error on the improving sentences subsection is the faulty modifier. The basic rule regarding modifiers is that they must be placed next to the word they're modifying. So, how do you spot a faulty modifier? Signals Almost all of the faulty modifier questions deal with dangling modifiers. When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase, the intro must be immediately followed by a comma and then the noun it's describing. If the underlined phrase follows an introductory clause and a comma, make sure that the noun being described comes right after the comma. Improvements Place modifiers next to the words they describe. For the common dangling modifier questions, the noun being described should be placed right after the comma. Pronoun Agreement On the SAT, pronoun agreement means that pronouns must always have a clear antecedent and agree with the nouns they replace. Signals If a pronoun is part of the underlined phrase, look for errors in pronoun agreement. You must be able to identify an antecedent and the pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number. Improvements Every pronoun on the SAT should have a clear antecedent. The antecedent is the noun that the pronoun refers to. If a pronoun doesn't have a clear antecedent, replace it with a noun or make sure that the improved sentence does give ita clear antecedent. Also, make sure to use singular nouns with singular antecedents and plural pronouns with plural antecedents. My favorite pronoun Idioms/Wrong Word For questions related to idioms or word choice, you have to know how to properly construct idiomatic expressions and how to properly use specific words. These questions often do not correspond with a grammar rule and are the only ones where you may have to rely on what sounds right to correctly answer the question. Signals The idioms on the SAT tend to involve prepositions, gerunds, and infinitives. If any of these parts of speech are underlined, make sure that any idiomatic expression in the phrase is properly constructed. If one word of a word pair is in the underlined phrase, that can also signal a wrong word error.Common word pairs include "not only...but also", "both...and", "either..or", and "neither...nor". Note that conjunctions or adverbs in the underlined phrase can signal a word choice error as well. Improvements Typically, an improperly constructed idiomatic expression can be fixed by changing the preposition or the verb form. Word pair errors can be corrected by replacing the word that doesn't belong in the word pair with the word that does. For example, change "either...and" to "either...or." Make sure that the words in the underlined phrase express the intended meaning of the sentence. If the sentence shows contrast, then there should be a word like "but", "despite", or "although" in the sentence that indicates contrast. Run-Ons A run-on sentence (coming soon) consists of two or more complete thoughts that are not separated by the proper punctuation. Signals Usually, you'll find a run-on sentence created by a comma splice. Two complete thoughts will be separated by a comma. Improvements You can fix the comma splice by changing the comma to a semicolon. Or, you can change the construction of the sentence so that the comma is no longer separating two complete thoughts. Fragments A sentence fragment (coming soon) doesn't express a complete thought. Signals Sentence fragments often have a gerund or relative pronoun in the underlined phrase. Occasionally, a participle will be in the underlined portion and the sentence won't have a verb. Improvements Get rid of the relative pronoun or replace gerunds and participles with verbs. Make sure the improved sentence has a verb and expresses a complete thought. Subject-Verb Agreement Subject-verb agreement is a rule that states that all subjects must agree with their verbs in number. Singular subjects take singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Signals If a verb is underlined, especially if the answer choices have different present/present perfect tense conjugations, then you should check for a subject-verb agreement error. Improvements Change the verb from plural to singular or from singular to plural. Just a few more rules to go Verb Forms Verb form (coming soon) questions will test you on verb tenses, gerunds, and infinitives. You need to know which tense and verb form to use in a given sentence. Signals Verb form questions will have a verb, gerund, or infinitive in the underlined phrase. The answer choices will have different different verb forms. Improvements Follow consistency rules with verbs and make sure that all verb tenses are being used properly. In sentences with gerunds or infinitives, verify that all idiomatic expressions are constructed correctly. Relative Pronouns Relative pronouns (coming soon) are "who", "whom", "whose", "which", "where", "when", and "that". Relative pronouns must agree with the nouns they're replacing. For example, use "where" when referring to places and "when" when referring to a specific time. Signals If a relative pronoun is part of the underlined phrase, then there may be a relative pronoun error. Improvements Make sure you use the proper relative pronoun for the noun that is being replaced and that the pronoun has a clear antecedent. Occasionally, you will have to remove a relative pronoun to fix a sentence fragment. Illogical Comparisons The rule for illogical comparisons is that you can only compare equivalent things. Signals The underlined phrase will often follow a word in the comparative form. In every illogical comparison question, there will be a comparison in the sentence. Improvements Make sure the sentence is comparing like things. For example, you have to compare books to books and people to people. You can't compare a book to a person. Noun Agreement Noun agreement means that a singular person/thing can't be a plural noun and vice versa. Incorrect: John and Sarah want to become a doctor. Correct: John and Sarah want to become doctors. Signals Multiple nouns in a sentence, including one in the underlined phrase, can signal a noun agreement error. Improvements When necessary, make sure nouns agree in number. Now that we're familiar with all of the specific grammar rules covered on the improving sentences subsection, here are some more general rules to keep in mind. General Tips The Most Concise Answer is Often Right Underlined phrases in sentence improvement questions will often be awkward and wordy. Focus on selecting the clearest, most concise answer choice. Consistency is Key Many of the grammar errors have to do with inconsistency. Errors in parallelism, verb forms, and comparisons can often be fixed by focusing on consistency. Gerunds, Especially "Being", Often Signal an Error Sentence improvement questions tend to use gerunds to create fragments, wordiness, and idiom errors. If a gerund is part of an underlined phrase, make sure the gerund is being used correctly. Use these tips to answer actual questions from the SAT Writing section. Real SAT Examples We're going to use the grammar rules and strategies you've just learned to answer the followingsentence improvement question. First, let's try to identify any errors in the underlined portion of the sentence. The presence of the gerunds "tempting" and "straining" signals that there is likely a parallelism, fragment, or wordiness error. After reading the entire sentence, you should recognize that it lacks a main verb and is not expressing a complete thought. As such, this sentence is a fragment. One possible way to correct this error would be to change the gerunds to verbs, so let's keep that in the back of our minds as we go through the answer choices. Immediately, we can get rid of A and D because they keep "tempting" in the gerund form, and thusdon't fix the error. Answer choice B fixes the fragment by changing "tempting" to "tempt" but creates a word choice error. The correct word pair is "not only...but also" rather than "not only...but then." Upon first glance, answer choice C might look correct, but you should always make sure that every verb is in the proper form and tense. The subject of the sentence is "demands", which is plural. Therefore, the verb should be in the plural form. The verbs "tempts" and "strains" are in the singular form, so answer choice C creates an error in subect-verb agreement. We're left with answer choice E. The verbs "tempt" and "strain" are consistent and they agree with the subject. The resulting sentence is no longer a fragment and there is no additional error. The correct answer is E. We'll use the same process to answer another real SAT question from the improving sentences subsection. Again, we'll start by trying to find the error in the underlined portion. The first word "was" is a verb. Remember to make sure all underlined verbs are in the correct form and agree with their subjects. The subject of this sentence is "two", which is plural, but the verb is "was", which is in the singular form. There is an error in subject-verb agreement. After looking at the answer choices, we can get rid of A, B, and C right away since none of those choices correct the subject-verb agreement error. Those eliminations leave just choices D and E, both of which replace "was" with the correctly conjugated verb, "were." However, D also includes the exra word "the," so it is less clear and concise than E. Remember that the most concise grammatically correct answer choice will be correct. The answer is E. What's Next? Read this article to learn the big secret to SAT Writing. If you want more review on all of the grammar rules tested on the SAT Writing section, check out the complete guide to SAT Writing grammar and what's actually tested on SAT Writing. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial: