Grammar and Lexical Competence
Grammar and Lexical Competence tests control of form and meaning in context. Items may be discrete sentences or short texts, but the deciding evidence is usually a time marker, a countability fact, a preposition collocation, or a word-formation pattern. Read the whole sentence before looking at the options.
High-value grammar areas
- Tense and aspect: present perfect for experience or unfinished time; past perfect for an earlier past event; continuous forms for duration or temporary situations.
- Agreement: singular subjects with intervening phrases; indefinite pronouns; collective nouns.
- Articles and determiners: a/an for first mention or one of many; the for shared or unique reference; zero article for general plurals.
- Conditionals and modals: third conditional for unreal past; modal + have + past participle for speculation or regret.
- Non-finite forms: gerund after prepositions and certain verbs; infinitive after others; purpose and result clauses.
Lexical competence
Learn words in chunks: make a decision, take responsibility, heavy rain, deeply concerned. For word formation, identify the required part of speech from the gap, then apply the correct prefix or suffix. For phrasal verbs, record whether the verb is separable and whether the particle changes the meaning.
Worked example
“By the time the guests arrived, the caterers ___ the tables.” Options: A laid B had laid C have laid D were laying. Reasoning: “By the time” plus a past arrival establishes a past reference point. The table-setting happened before that point, so the past perfect is required: had laid. “Have laid” connects to the present and is wrong here. “Were laying” would mean the action was still in progress at arrival, which the sentence does not imply. “Laid” is the simple past of lay, but it does not mark the earlier event. The correct answer is B.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing by sound rather than by the time marker or collocation.
- Confusing lay/laid/laid (to put something down) with lie/lay/lain (to recline).
- Missing negative prefixes or wrong suffixes in word formation.
- Ignoring countability: much/many, less/fewer, a piece of information.
- Selecting a phrasal verb that fits grammatically but reverses the meaning.
Check the completed sentence for both grammar and logic before moving on.