Critical Reader The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, 4th Edition

I bought this book based on a recommendation within an Amazon review by an experienced tutor who likes Meltzer's books. I don't recall whether he had mentioned this one specifically, but he liked her as an author.Flipping to see what I thought (as there are other choices), I saw a great deal of valuable information. But later, on another check, I came across a really dreadful little mistake on a basic matter. On page 11 Meltzer says these two things about adverbs and adjectives:"Adverbs modify verbs, phrases, and other adverbs.""Adjectives modify (pro)nouns and other adjectives."Well, adverbs also modify adjectives! This ought to be said, and isn't. "A very beautiful sunset." The adverb "very" modifies the noun "sunset" to tell you more about how beautiful the sunset it. Etc.And, as for adjectives modifying other adjectives, this is first of all a contested point. And secondly, the example Meltzer gives does not even qualify.As a good example of what is arguably a case of an adjective modifying another adjective, take "she wore a bright pink dress." This is not the example Meltzer gave. What role is "bright" playing? The dress is pink. Pink is an adjective modifying dress. But is the dress also bright? Is bright also modifying dress? No, it's a bright pink dress. Not a "bright dress," whatever that would be. So what then is "bright"? Normally bright is clearly adjectival. A bright room, a bright day, etc.So in "bright pink," what do we have? Is bright acting adverbially by definition here, since it alters "pink"? Some words do act adjectivally and adverbially. Or is "bright pink" a compound adjective? A phrasal adjective? Or do we really have an adjective modifying another adjective? This is a contested matter, as a visit to Stack Exchange on this topic will show.But to make things even worse, the example given in the book of an adjective supposedly modifying another adjective is . . . not an example of that at all. Meltzer gives "some airports use short, friendly robots . . . " Even if "bright pink dress" can be argued to be an instance of an adj. modifying another adj., "short, friendly robots" can't be construed that way. The robots are friendly. And the robots are short. Both adjectives modify the noun, "robots." The kind of friendliness these robots have is not a short kind of friendliness as opposed to tall friendliness or plump friendliness! So this is not even an example of the kind of phrase that should lead us to wonder if adjectives ever modify other adjectives.Finally, it makes much more sense to introduce adjectives first, then adverbs, since adverbs sometimes modify adjectives.I realize that many grammar topics someone my age might have learned from Warriner's long ago don't really feature in the SAT, and I know that the grammar I learned long ago doesn't actually cover everything we do in English and that evolution in it is reasonable. But to leave out a basic fact about adverbs and then to garble a contentious issue in adjectives is just not helpful, and someone trying to help you score well on the SAT shouldn't confuse readers in this way.That said, I want to love this book because, for instance, the discussion of categories of transition words is quite good, and I will continue to look through it and will decide whether to keep it. But a mistake like this one shakes a reader up.As a result I'm going to evaluate another book, called SAT and ACT Grammar Mastery, by Christian Heath. It's new and has no reviews, but he lets you look inside a lot in the preview and so far I like what I see.I suppose I'll end by mentioning that I'm the author of a Latin curriculum for children, so thinking grammar issues through in detail in order to present them clearly is something I've had to do, and I sympathize with the labor and difficulty involved in doing it. I hope Meltzer will correct this error and that this is an isolated occurrence in a reliable series.As I learn more about both books I may come back and adjust this review.

After completing this book getting around a 87% on the practice test in the book, I took an official college board practice test. After reviewing answers, I found that I have gotten 13 answers WRONG in the writing section. Before the book, I have gotten 11 answers wrong consistently on college board tests. Maybe it is the way I studied, but I literally know all the concepts in this book from head to toe yet I am still performing poorly. Worst sat prep book I have ever bought, honestly...

I decided to buy this book, because quite a few websites and youtube channels have said that Erica Meltzer makes the best SAT prep books. But as I have been going through this book, I found myself more puzzled than before, because of all the errors it has in the book, the teaching of wrong information, and the exercises without any explanation to the answers.I don't recommend you to buy this book. Don't make the same mistakes I have made.

It does explain the rules but the practice problems are way too easy. It makes you think that you have mastered the material by giving easy problems that college board will never give.

I usually don’t write reviews but I had to for this one. If you’re looking for a grammar book with quality explanations for every question, don’t buy this book. This book might have good practice questions but it only provides you the answer key. I expected much more from Erica Meltzer, considering the fact that I liked her SAT Reading book which actually had explanations. So, in conclusion, do not buy this book if you want explanations paired with the questions!!