Language II (English): Accuracy, Vocabulary and Primary ELT Pedagogy
What the paper tests
Language II (English) checks comprehension, grammar accuracy, vocabulary range and the pedagogy of teaching English as a second language at primary level. Grammar is tested in context, so read the whole sentence before choosing.
Core rules
- Tense and aspect: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous; time markers (since/for, already/yet) decide the form.
- Subject–verb agreement: “One of the boys is absent”; in “Neither the teacher nor the students were informed”, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Articles: a/an by sound, not letter - an hour, a university; the for unique or already specified nouns.
- Prepositions and phrasal verbs: depend on, discuss (no about), look after, put off.
- Voice and narration: passive needs be + past participle; reported speech shifts tense and pronouns and changes time words.
- Phonology: 44 English phonemes in RP (20 vowels, 24 consonants); silent letters in know, write, hour; stress distinguishes noun–verb pairs (REcord/reCORD).
- Pedagogy: communicative approach; phonics for decoding and whole-word recognition for fluency; TPR and rhymes for young learners; correct errors selectively, not every slip.
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: “One of the girls ___ (sing) well.” The subject is “one”, singular, so the verb is “sings”. “Of the girls” is a prepositional phrase and does not control agreement. The same logic gives “Each of the students has a book.”
Traps
“I am having a car” for possession; “discuss about”; “more better”; confusing gerund and infinitive after enjoy and want; pronouncing every -ed ending as /ɪd/; over-correcting beginners until they stop speaking.