English: Comprehension, Grammar and Usage for AEEE
AEEE English tests reading comprehension, grammar and usage, vocabulary and sentence structure. Passages are typically short factual or argumentative excerpts followed by inference and detail questions; the grammar items target tense, subject–verb agreement, articles, prepositions, voice, reported speech and sentence correction. Vocabulary covers synonyms, antonyms, idioms and one-word substitutions.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: the verb agrees with the grammatical subject, not with a noun in an intervening phrase. "The list of items is long."
- Each, every, either, neither, anyone and everybody are singular: "Each of the students has submitted the assignment."
- With "one of + plural noun", the verb is singular: "One of the reasons is clear."
- Use the present perfect for an action begun in the past and continuing, or with "since" and "for": "She has worked here since 2019."
- In reported speech, shift tense back one step and adjust pronouns and time markers: "today" becomes "that day".
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: "Neither the manager nor the employees ___ informed about the change." With "neither … nor", the verb agrees with the nearer subject, which is "employees" (plural). So the answer is "were": "Neither the manager nor the employees were informed about the change." The same proximity rule applies to "either … or" and "not only … but also". If the same sentence read "Neither the employees nor the manager ___", the singular "was" would be correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Being guided by the noun nearest the verb rather than the actual subject.
- Choosing an answer that is true in real life but not stated in the passage; comprehension answers must be traceable to the text.
- Confusing affect (verb) with effect (noun), and advice (noun) with advise (verb).
- Mismatched tense within one sentence when the time frame has not changed.
- Dangling modifiers: the opening phrase must describe the subject that follows it.