Grammar, Vocabulary, and Spelling
What this domain tests
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Spelling tests Standard Written English under exam pressure: sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, pronoun case and reference, modifier placement, parallelism, tense consistency, punctuation, capitalization, word choice, and spelling of common and law-enforcement terms.
Core rules
- Find the true subject before checking agreement; ignore prepositional phrases and parenthetical material. Each, every, either, and neither are singular when they stand alone as the subject.
- With either/or and neither/nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- A comma alone cannot join two independent clauses; use a period, semicolon, or coordinating conjunction.
- Attach modifiers to the word they describe; a dangler often appears at the start of a sentence.
- Keep lists and correlative pairs parallel: not only ... but also; either ... or.
- Use precise legal terms: counsel is a lawyer, a council is a governing body; illicit means unlawful, elicit means draw out.
Worked example
Sentence: Each of the troopers who responded to the crash ___ required to submit a report. Reasoning: The subject is Each, not troopers or crash. Who responded is a relative clause modifying troopers. Each is singular, so the verb is was. The plural noun near the blank is a trap.
Traps that cost marks
- Matching the verb to the nearest noun instead of the subject.
- Using a comma splice in a long sentence.
- Shifting tense in a narrative.
- Choosing a familiar word that does not fit the context.
- Misspelling high-frequency terms such as occurrence, affidavit, privilege, accommodate, judgment, and separate.