General English
What this domain tests
General English in Allahabad High Court Group C tests functional grammar and comprehension rather than literary criticism. Expect subject–verb agreement, tenses, articles, prepositions, pronouns, active/passive voice, direct/indirect narration, sentence improvement, error spotting, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitution, idioms and phrases, spelling, and a short reading passage.
Core rules and concepts
- Locate the subject before choosing the verb; a phrase between subject and verb does not change its number.
- With one of + plural noun, the verb agrees with one: One of my friends is...
- Use since for a point of time and for for a duration.
- Keep modifiers next to the word they describe; in voice and narration, preserve the original tense relationship.
- In comprehension, answer only from the passage; reject options that are true in general but absent from the text.
Worked example
Question: One of my friends ___ going to Delhi. Options: is, are, were, have. Reasoning: The grammatical subject is one, which is singular; of my friends is a prepositional phrase and cannot make the verb plural. The sentence needs a present singular form, so is is correct. If the subject were my friends, are would be correct. Answer: is.
Traps that cost marks
Do not confuse its and it's, affect and effect, or the number of (singular) and a number of (plural). Either and neither take singular verbs in standard usage. In idioms, never choose the literal meaning: to let the cat out of the bag means to reveal a secret. Check the spelling of commonly tested words such as accommodate, occurrence, and committee.