English Language and Comprehension: Grammar Rules That Repeat
The English section measures control of standard written English - grammar, usage and vocabulary - plus the ability to answer from a passage without importing outside knowledge. Expect error spotting, cloze/fill-in-the-blank, sentence improvement, idioms and one-word substitution, and two or three comprehension passages.
Rules that recur every year
- Subject–verb agreement follows the head noun, not the nearest noun: "One of the files is missing." In "one of the officers who have signed", the relative clause is plural because 'who' refers to officers.
- Articles: 'a/an' for a countable singular on first mention; 'the' for unique objects, superlatives, rivers and mountain ranges.
- Prepositions: 'since' with a point of time, 'for' with duration; 'comprise' takes no 'of'; 'superior to', 'prefer to'.
- Countability: fewer with countable nouns, less with uncountable; number versus amount.
- Reported speech: present becomes past, 'will' becomes 'would', and time markers shift back.
Worked example
"Neither the manager nor his assistants ___ aware of the change." Under neither…nor the verb agrees with the nearer subject. 'Assistants' is plural, so the answer is 'were'. Had both subjects been singular, 'was' would be correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Absolute comprehension options ('always', 'never', 'all') are usually wrong; the right option must be textually supported.
- 'Infer' questions ask what follows from the passage, not what is stated verbatim.
- Dangling modifiers: an opening participle must describe the subject of the main clause.
- Indian-English usages that sound natural but are non-standard: 'discuss about', 'return back', 'cope up with'.