English: grammar, vocabulary and comprehension
English / Language Comprehension in PECE checks reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and sentence correction at a functional level. The passages are short, but the options are close; the grammar questions usually test agreement, tense, articles and prepositions rather than obscure rules.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb. Words like each, every, either, neither, anyone and everyone are singular.
- Tenses: keep the sequence consistent; use present perfect for an action with present relevance, past simple for a finished past action.
- Articles: ‘a’ before consonant sounds, ‘an’ before vowel sounds, ‘the’ for specific or unique nouns.
- Prepositions: learn collocations - depend on, consist of, interested in, good at, married to.
- Reading comprehension: answer only from the passage; do not import outside facts.
- Vocabulary: use the sentence context to choose a synonym or antonym; check whether the blank needs a positive or negative word.
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: ‘Each of the students ___ submitted the form.’ Reasoning: the subject is ‘each’, not ‘students’. ‘Each’ is singular, so the verb must be singular: has. The phrase ‘of the students’ is a prepositional modifier and does not change the number of the subject.
Traps
Being fooled by a plural noun next to the verb; using ‘its’ for ‘it is’; mixing ‘affect’ (verb) and ‘effect’ (noun); choosing a comprehension option that is true in general but not stated in the passage; and changing tense in the middle of a sentence.