Grammar: Tense, Voice, Narration, Articles and Transformation
Domain and what it tests
The Grammar domain tests control of tense, voice, narration, articles, prepositions and sentence transformation in objective and short-answer formats. Accuracy matters more than complex sentences: one wrong auxiliary or preposition can cancel an otherwise correct answer.
Core rules and concepts
- Tense: use time markers; distinguish present perfect from past simple; universal truths stay present in reported speech.
- Voice: object becomes subject; use past participle; the by-agent is optional; intransitive verbs have no passive.
- Narration: backshift one step; adjust pronouns and time/place words; yes/no questions use if or whether; imperatives use to or not to.
- Articles: a/an by sound; the for unique or already known nouns; zero article for general plurals and uncountables.
- Prepositions: learn collocations such as died of, married to, capable of, insist on.
- Transformation: too...to becomes so...that...not; no sooner...than takes inversion; unless equals if...not.
Worked example
Transform: 'As soon as the teacher entered, the students stood up.' Model: 'No sooner had the teacher entered than the students stood up.' Reasoning: 'No sooner' is a negative adverbial, so the auxiliary 'had' moves before the subject; 'than' introduces the second event; past perfect marks the earlier action.
Traps
- Double past in reported speech: 'He said that he had went'.
- Confusing said and told: told needs an object.
- Forming a passive from an intransitive verb.
- Writing 'an university' instead of 'a university'.
- Adding a preposition after discuss, enter or marry.
- Changing meaning during transformation.