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IBPS Clerk study materials
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IBPS Clerk: English Language for IBPS Clerk

IBPS Clerk · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

English Language for IBPS Clerk

IBPS Clerk English Language tests whether you can read quickly and apply grammar rules under sectional timing. Prelims has 30 questions in 20 minutes; Mains has 40 questions in 35 minutes. Expect reading comprehension, cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, para jumbles, fillers and word-usage questions.

Core rules

  • Subject-verb agreement: in “one of + plural noun”, the verb agrees with “one”; neither/either/each/everyone is singular.
  • Parallelism: after not only … but also, both … and, either … or, keep the same grammatical form.
  • Modifiers: an opening participial phrase must describe the subject of the main clause.
  • Para jumbles: the first sentence usually has no backward pronoun or connector; use however, therefore, moreover to fix order.
  • RC: every answer must be supported by the passage; general truth is not enough.
  • Fillers and word swap: check collocation, preposition and whether the word fits both sentences.

Worked example

“One of the reasons why the scheme failed were poor monitoring.” The subject is One, not reasons; reasons is the object of of. So the verb must be singular: was. Options with were or have been are wrong.

Traps

Choosing “no improvement” without testing the original; RC options that are true but not stated; confusing affect/effect and principal/principle; missing a plural noun after “one of”; pronoun ambiguity in improvement options.