Language Comprehension
Language Comprehension
The 20 language questions lean on reading: two or three passages with three or four questions each, plus para jumbles, para summary, vocabulary in context, grammar and error identification, sentence completion and analogies. Passages typically come from business, economy, technology and social science - the same register as the rest of the paper.
Core technique
- Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph first; the author's stance usually sits in the closing lines.
- For vocabulary, return to the sentence, not the dictionary - the tested word often carries a second, less familiar meaning.
- Para jumbles: find the opener (general, definitional, no pronouns), then chain by pronouns (this, these, it), by full-name-before-abbreviation order, and by connectors (however, therefore, for example).
- Para summary: the answer must cover the whole passage including its conclusion; a true-but-partial statement is wrong.
- Grammar: check subject-verb agreement, parallelism, misplaced modifiers, then pronoun reference.
Worked example
Sentences: (A) It is this mismatch that makes the shortage acute. (B) India trains large numbers of engineers each year. (C) Employers, however, report that few are job-ready. (D) The gap between supply and employability is the real problem. B introduces the topic; C contrasts with the connector "however"; D names the gap; A's "this mismatch" points back to the gap in D. Order: B-C-D-A. A cannot open the paragraph because "this" needs an antecedent.
Traps
- Picking an extreme option ("always", "never") when the passage hedges ("often", "may").
- Answering from general knowledge rather than from the text.
- Assuming the shortest sentence must be the jumble's opener.
- Confusing lookalikes: restive (restless) with restful; ingenuous (naive) with ingenious.