English Language: Grammar Rules, Vocabulary and Error Spotting
What is tested
Grammar (articles, prepositions, tenses, subject-verb agreement, active-passive voice, direct-indirect narration), vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitutions, idioms), error spotting, sentence improvement, cloze passages and a short comprehension passage.
Rules that repeat every year
- Subject-verb agreement: in "one of the + plural noun", the true subject is "one", so the verb is singular.
- Articles: choose by sound, not spelling - "an hour", "a university", "an MP".
- Prepositions: after prepositions, use a gerund - "before leaving", not "before to leave".
- Tenses: with "since" or "for" marking a period continuing to now, use present perfect or present perfect continuous.
Worked example
One of the boys ___ absent yesterday. (options: were / was) The plural noun "boys" sits inside a prepositional phrase, so it cannot control the verb. The head word is "one", which is singular, and "yesterday" fixes the past tense. Answer: was.
Idioms and vocabulary
Learn idioms in a sentence, not as a list: "to bite the dust" means to fail or be defeated, not to eat dust. For synonyms, replace the word inside the original sentence and check whether the meaning survives.
Traps that cost marks
- Proximity error: letting a nearby plural noun pull the verb into plural.
- Using "an" before a consonant sound ("a European") or "a" before a vowel sound ("an honest man").
- Choosing an antonym when the question asks for a synonym.
- Answering comprehension questions from general knowledge instead of the passage.