Grammar and Usage
What the domain tests
Grammar and Usage questions check whether you can identify the grammatical role a word plays in a sentence and whether the sentence obeys agreement, tense, and pronoun rules. Core concepts include subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, pronoun case and reference, modifier placement, countable versus uncountable nouns, and correct use of articles and prepositions. You should be able to label subjects, verbs, objects, and clauses quickly, because most errors become visible once you locate the true subject of a verb.
Traps to watch
- Interrupted subjects. Phrases between subject and verb do not change agreement: The box of tools is heavy.
- Indefinite pronouns. Each, everyone, somebody, neither are singular; both, few, many are plural.
- Collective nouns. Treat as singular when acting as one unit.
- Tense drift. A sentence anchored in the past must not slide into the present without reason.
- Pronoun ambiguity. If a pronoun could refer to two nouns, the sentence is faulty.
- Dangling modifiers. An opening phrase must describe the subject that follows it.
Rule of thumb
Strip the sentence to its skeleton: find the main verb, then ask "who or what does this?" That answer is the subject, and it controls agreement and pronoun case. For modifiers, check that the noun right after a comma-opening phrase is the thing being described.
Worked example
Walking to the station, the rain soaked Maya. The opening phrase describes Maya, but the subject is rain. Fix: Walking to the station, Maya was soaked by the rain.