English Language & Comprehension
English Language & Comprehension tests standard written English: reading comprehension, grammar and usage, error spotting, sentence improvement, fill-in-the-blanks, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, and spelling. DSSSB AE items are generally conventional rather than literary, so grammar rules and precise vocabulary earn marks.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: with 'neither...nor' or 'either...or', the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Tenses: use present perfect for an action linked to now; use past simple for a finished past time.
- Prepositions: learn fixed collocations such as 'comply with', 'averse to', 'capable of', and 'insist on'.
- Modifiers: a participial phrase should modify the noun immediately after it.
- Comprehension: answers must be supported by the passage, not by general knowledge.
Worked example
'Neither the supervisor nor the workers ___ present at the site.' Options: was, were, is, has. The compound subject joins a singular and a plural noun with 'nor'. Under the proximity rule, the verb follows 'workers', which is plural. The correct choice is 'were'. 'Was' would be right only if the nearer subject were singular, as in 'Neither the workers nor the supervisor was present.'
Traps
- Choosing an option that is grammatical but changes the intended meaning.
- Missing parallel structure in lists.
- Confusing 'affect' (verb) with 'effect' (noun), and 'principal' with 'principle'.
- Over-reading comprehension passages and importing outside facts.
- Ignoring the article or preposition that follows a verb in idioms.