General English / Hindi Language
General English / Hindi Language
This domain tests grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and sentence correction in English and Hindi. English items include error detection, fill-in-the-blanks, synonyms/antonyms, idioms, spelling, and reading comprehension. Hindi items include संधि, समास, मुहावरे, पर्यायवाची, विलोम, तत्सम-तद्भव, and वाक्य शुद्धि.
Core rules
- English subject-verb agreement: with 'either...or' and 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject. 'Neither the supervisor nor the workers were present' is correct.
- Tense: keep the tense consistent with time markers; use past perfect for the earlier of two past actions.
- Prepositions: learn collocations such as 'comply with', 'depends on', 'capable of'.
- Vocabulary: choose by context, not by the most familiar meaning; idioms are fixed expressions.
- Hindi संधि: identify the vowel combination: स्वर संधि, व्यंजन संधि, विसर्ग संधि. For समास, expand the compound into a phrase to identify the type.
- Comprehension: locate the answer in the passage; do not import outside facts.
Worked example
'Neither the supervisor nor the workers ___ present.' The conjunction 'neither...nor' makes the verb agree with the nearer subject, 'workers', which is plural, so the answer is 'were'. If the sentence were 'Neither the workers nor the supervisor ___ present', the nearer subject 'supervisor' is singular, so 'was' would be correct.
Traps
Matching the verb to the first subject in neither/nor sentences; treating a Hindi मुहावरा literally; choosing a synonym that fits the dictionary but not the sentence; and answering comprehension from memory instead of the passage.