English Language and Comprehension: Grammar and Reading
What the domain tests
English Language and Comprehension in DSSSB JE checks standard written English: grammar (tense, subject–verb agreement, articles, prepositions, voice, narration), vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution, idioms), error spotting, sentence improvement, para jumbles, cloze and reading comprehension.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: 'neither/either/each/everyone' is singular; 'one of + plural noun' takes a singular verb.
- Articles: 'an' before a vowel sound, not merely a vowel letter - 'an hour', 'a university'.
- Prepositions: 'since' with a point of time, 'for' with duration; 'married to', 'composed of', 'superior to'.
- Voice: keep the tense and retain the object as subject.
- Comprehension: answer only from the passage; do not import outside facts.
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: 'Neither of the boys ___ present.' 'Neither' is a distributive pronoun and is singular, even though 'boys' is plural. The verb must be 'was'. Answer: was. If the sentence used 'both', the verb would be 'were'.
Traps
Matching the verb to the nearest noun rather than the subject; using 'discuss about' (discuss takes no preposition); confusing 'affect' (verb) with 'effect' (noun); treating 'phenomena' as singular; and in para jumbles, choosing a sentence that reads well alone but breaks the pronoun link.