English Language
English Language tests grammar in use, vocabulary and comprehension: error spotting, sentence improvement, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitution, idioms, and a short passage.
Rules that recur
- Subject–verb agreement: "One of the boys is", "Neither of them was"; a collective noun acting as one unit takes a singular verb.
- Prepositions after comparatives: senior, junior, superior, inferior, prior and preferable all take to, not "than".
- Tenses: use the present perfect for a past action with present relevance; "since" takes a point of time, "for" a duration.
- Articles: "an" before a vowel sound (an hour, an MLA), "a" before a consonant sound (a university).
- Voice and narration: keep the reporting verb tense consistent with the reported clause.
Worked example
Fill in: "He is senior ___ me by three years." The word senior is a Latin comparative and takes the preposition to; "than" belongs only with comparatives in "-er" or "more". Answer: to. The reasoning step is to classify the word first - Latin comparative versus ordinary comparative - and only then choose the preposition.
Traps
Double comparatives ("more better"); redundant prepositions such as "discuss about" and "order for"; confusing affect/effect, principal/principle and complement/compliment; and answering comprehension questions from memory instead of from the passage. In error spotting, test each part against one rule at a time.