General English
What this domain tests
General English checks grammar, vocabulary and comprehension through error spotting, fill-in-the-blanks, synonyms/antonyms, idioms, sentence improvement and short passages. Read the whole sentence before choosing an option.
Core rules
- Subject-verb agreement: the verb agrees with the subject, not with a phrase after it. In 'Neither ... nor', the verb usually agrees with the nearer subject.
- Tenses: use present perfect for past action with present relevance; use simple past with a definite past time.
- Prepositions and articles: learn fixed collocations (depend on, insist on, capable of) rather than translating from Hindi.
- Vocabulary: answer from context; a word may have a different sense in the passage.
- Idioms: treat them as fixed units; 'break the ice' means to start a conversation, not to break something.
Worked example
'Neither the clerk nor the auditors ___ present.' The nearer subject is 'auditors' (plural), so the verb is 'were'. If the sentence were 'Neither the auditors nor the clerk ___ present', the answer would be 'was'.
Traps
Long options are not automatically correct; 'since' needs a point of time and 'for' a duration; double negatives cancel; in comprehension, do not import outside facts.