PSAT Writing — nouns, possessives and agreement beyond the basics

Form, Structure, and Sense questions on the PSAT/NMSQT ask you to choose the right form of a word in context: a noun that is plural or possessive or both, a pronoun that agrees with its antecedent, a verb that agrees with its true subject or that takes a special mood. This material goes past the basic agreement rules into the cases that catch careful students.

The twelve quiz questions each print one original sentence with a blank. Four deal with possessive nouns: a regular plural (three gulls' nests), a singular noun that ends in s (one bus's brakes), joint ownership (Lewis and Clark's expedition), and an irregular plural (the children's reading room). Because options that differ only by an apostrophe would read as identical, each option names the form it offers before spelling it. Two questions deal with pronouns for organizations: its for a single company, and their when the real antecedent is the plural members of a board. Four deal with agreement: "the number of" with a singular verb, "a number of" with a plural one, every before a compound subject, and two subjects joined by and. The last two cover the subjunctive: the base form after "recommended that," and were in a contrary-to-fact condition. Explanations name the trap in each wrong option, such as agreeing with the nearest noun rather than the subject.

The flashcards give each rule with a short model phrase. The written sheet asks you to explain the four ways of forming possessives, joint versus separate ownership, the two uses of the subjunctive, and a step-by-step check for noun and verb forms, and to correct faulty sentences. In the spoken session the examiner gives one sentence at a time and, for possessives, asks you to spell out where the apostrophe goes.

It offers four formats: a twelve-question quiz with explanations, a set of twelve flashcards, a printable written sheet of eight open questions that is checked after you photograph your answers, and a spoken practice session with an examiner who asks one question at a time and gives short feedback at the end. It is practice material written by Zestly and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the College Board.

• Form singular, plural, joint and irregular possessives correctly
• Use its for a single organization and their for plural antecedents, and tell its from it's
• Make verbs agree with "the number of," "a number of," every before a compound subject, and subjects joined by and
• Use the subjunctive after verbs such as recommend and in contrary-to-fact conditions

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board's published description of the PSAT/NMSQT Reading and Writing section (digital format, 54 questions in 64 minutes), Standard English Conventions domain, Form, Structure, and Sense skill, as described on satsuite.collegeboard.org (checked September 2026). All sentences, notes and texts are original.