Portuguese Language and Literature
Core concepts
Expect questions on grammar (morphology and syntax), orthography and accentuation, verbal and nominal agreement, pronoun placement, and text comprehension. You should recognise the functions of subject, predicate, object and adjunct, distinguish coordination from subordination, and identify figures of speech. Literary knowledge covers main periods (Romanticism, Realism, Modernism) and representative authors of Portuguese and Lusophone literatures.
Common traps
- Agreement with collective or partitive subjects (e.g. "a maioria dos alunos chegou/chegaram").
- Confusing "mas" (but) with "mais" (more), and "há" (there is) with "a" (article).
- Crase vs. accent: "porquê/porque/por que/por quê" depend on function.
- Misreading tone: irony and hyperbole are frequently tested in comprehension items.
- Author–period mismatches are classic distractors.
Worked example
In "Os alunos que estudaram passaram", the subject of passaram is Os alunos; the relative clause que estudaram modifies it but does not change agreement. Identify the head noun first, then check the verb.
Rule of thumb
For any agreement question, locate the nucleus of the subject (the head noun furthest from articles and prepositional phrases) and make the verb agree with it.