Language Conventions and Grammar in Context
What this domain tests
This domain checks whether you can apply grammar, usage, punctuation, and spelling accurately - and, crucially, in context. Rather than isolated rules, questions ask you to choose the correct form within a sentence or passage, fix errors, or explain why a construction is right. Expect subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, verb tense consistency, sentence completeness, punctuation (commas, apostrophes, quotation marks), and commonly confused words.
Core rules and concepts
- Subject-verb agreement. Match the verb to the true subject, ignoring interrupting phrases: The box of old letters was in the attic. Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each, neither) are singular.
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement and reference. A pronoun must agree in number and refer clearly to one antecedent.
- Verb tense consistency. Keep tenses logical within a passage; shift only to show a real change in time.
- Sentence completeness. A fragment lacks a subject or verb; a run-on joins independent clauses without proper punctuation or conjunction.
- Punctuation. Use commas for items in a series, after introductory elements, and around non-essential clauses. Apostrophes mark possession (the students' work) and contractions; its is possessive, it's means it is.
- Commonly confused words. their/there/they're, your/you're, affect/effect, then/than, fewer/less.
Worked example
Sentence: "Each of the players, despite their injuries, were determined to finish the game."
Reasoning: The true subject is Each (singular), so the verb should be was, not were. The interrupting phrase of the players, despite their injuries does not change the subject. Corrected: "Each of the players, despite their injuries, was determined to finish the game." Notice the trap: the plural nouns near the verb pull the ear toward were, but agreement follows the actual subject.
Traps that cost marks
- Matching the verb to the nearest noun instead of the real subject.
- Using their with a singular antecedent where the register requires agreement.
- Mixing its/it's or their/there/they're under time pressure.
- Creating a comma splice (two independent clauses joined only by a comma).
- Placing an apostrophe on a plural that is not possessive (the 1990's for a decade).