English Language
What this domain tests
English Language checks comprehension and correctness rather than literary flair: reading comprehension, cloze passages, error detection, sentence improvement, para jumbles, fillers, idioms, spelling and one-word substitution. A handful of grammar rules earns marks faster than a large vocabulary.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: with either…or and neither…nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject. 'One of the' + plural noun takes a singular verb.
- Tense sequence: a past-tense main clause takes a past-tense subordinate clause; use past perfect for the earlier of two past actions.
- Articles: an follows a vowel sound (an hour, an MBA), not a vowel letter (a university).
- Fixed prepositions: comply with, consist of, prefer to, superior to, capable of, insist on.
- Para jumbles: find the opener - a sentence with no pronoun and no this/these/therefore reference - then locate the closing sentence that states a conclusion.
Worked example
'Neither the manager nor the employees ____ informed about the revised contribution rates.' (was / were) The compound subject is joined by neither…nor, so the verb follows the nearest noun, 'employees', which is plural: were. Reverse the order ('neither the employees nor the manager') and the answer becomes 'was'. This single rule settles several error-spotting and cloze items in the paper.
Traps
Marking a sentence correct when only a preposition is wrong; picking a synonym that changes the register of the passage; ignoring an EXCEPT or NOT instruction; and in cloze, choosing a word that fits grammatically but contradicts the argument. Read the sentence before the blank and the one after it before deciding.