English Language and Communication
English Language and Communication
The English section checks grammar accuracy, vocabulary in context, reading comprehension, and the clarity of business communication. Expect error spotting, sentence improvement, para jumbles, synonyms and antonyms, idioms, and short passages followed by inference questions.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: the number of takes a singular verb; a number of takes a plural one. With neither…nor or either…or the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Modifiers: a participial phrase must sit next to the noun it describes. Wrong: Walking to the office, the rain started. Right: Walking to the office, I was caught in the rain.
- Tenses and conditionals: keep the sequence consistent; use had for the earlier of two past actions, and were in hypothetical if-clauses (If I were…).
- Vocabulary: choose by context, not by the most familiar meaning; idioms are fixed and cannot be reworded.
- Communication: prefer active voice, short sentences and a courteous, direct tone; an email states purpose, details and action in that order.
Worked example
The number of applicants have increased sharply.
The subject is the number, which is singular; applicants is part of a prepositional phrase and does not control the verb. Correct: The number of applicants has increased sharply. Contrast: A number of applicants have increased their scores, where a number of means several and takes a plural verb.
Traps
One of my friend instead of friends; affect versus effect; since versus for; dangling participles; double comparatives such as more better; and inference questions where an option is true in real life but not stated in the passage.