English Language
English Language tests standard written English: grammar, vocabulary, idioms, sentence correction, cloze and reading comprehension. The emphasis is on precision-one wrong preposition or verb form changes the answer-so practise rule-based elimination rather than ear-based guessing.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: 'one of + plural noun' takes a singular main verb; 'who/which' takes the number of its antecedent.
- Neither/nor and either/or: the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Tenses: since/for with present perfect; past perfect for the earlier of two past actions.
- Prepositions: comply with, consist of, prefer to, capable of.
- Articles: a/an by sound; the for unique or already specified nouns.
- RC: answer from the passage; distinguish main idea, inference and tone.
Worked example
'One of the constables who ___ on duty has been suspended.' Choose was/were. The main verb 'has' agrees with 'one' (singular). But 'who' refers to 'constables' (plural), so the relative clause needs 'were'. Answer: were. This is the 'one of the + plural noun + who' trap: the relative pronoun looks back to the plural noun, not to 'one'.
Traps
Proximity agreement; dangling modifiers; double negatives; affect/effect and principal/principle; treating idioms literally; choosing an RC option that is true in real life but absent from the passage.