AP EdCET: General English

What the section tests

AP EdCET General English assesses reading comprehension, grammar and usage, vocabulary, sentence correction and transformation. Questions are usually short, so marks are lost through a single overlooked clue rather than through lack of long essays. Revise rules, then apply them to isolated sentences.

Core rules

• Concord: the verb agrees with the subject, not the nearest noun. With either...or / neither...nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject. One of + plural noun takes a singular verb.
• Tense: use present perfect for an action continuing or with since/for; past perfect for the earlier of two past actions; keep conditionals consistent.
• Articles and prepositions: choose a/an by sound, use the for a unique or superlative noun, and learn fixed collocations rather than translating.
• Transformation: in passive voice, keep tense and number; in indirect speech, shift tense and pronouns only when the reporting verb is past.
• Vocabulary: synonym/antonym items need the word's meaning in context; idioms must be learnt as whole units.

Worked example

Neither the principal nor the teachers ___ informed. Options: was / were. The conjunction is neither...nor, so the verb follows the nearer subject, teachers (plural). Answer: were. If the sentence were Neither the teachers nor the principal ___, the answer would be was. Do not apply a blanket rule that neither...nor is always plural.

Traps

• The number of students is singular; a number of students is plural.
• Since marks a point of time; for marks duration.
• In comprehension, an option may be true in general but not stated or implied in the passage.
• Do not choose a synonym by sound; test it in the sentence.