English Language
English Language
This section tests comprehension and control of formal written English - the register used in policy notes, reinsurance correspondence, and internal reports. Expect reading comprehension, error spotting, sentence correction, cloze tests, para jumbles, synonyms and antonyms, and idiom usage. Passages are often business- or insurance-themed, but the grammar tested is general.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not the nearest noun. Write 'One of the clauses has', not 'have'.
- Collective nouns take a singular verb when acting as one body: 'The committee has decided.'
- Tense sequence: reported speech and conditionals must keep logical time relationships.
- Modifiers should sit next to what they modify; dangling participles change meaning.
- Para jumbles: track pronouns, discourse markers such as however and therefore, and chronology before judging flow.
- RC: separate stated fact from inference; eliminate options that are true in the world but unsupported by the passage.
Worked example
'One of the reinsurers who have signed the treaty have declined the claim.' The relative clause refers to 'reinsurers' (plural), so 'who have signed' is acceptable. The main verb must agree with 'one', so it should be 'has declined'. Correct: 'One of the reinsurers who have signed the treaty has declined the claim.' The intervening phrase is not the subject.
Traps
Do not choose an RC option because it sounds authoritative; verify line support. In error spotting, check every segment, including prepositions and articles. In cloze, read the whole sentence for tone and tense. In para jumbles, a pronoun without an antecedent cannot open the paragraph.