General English
What the section tests
General English in KVS PRT checks the grammar, vocabulary and comprehension a primary teacher must model in class. Expect error spotting, fill-in-the-blank, synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitution, idiom meaning and short reading passages.
Core rules to apply
- Subject–verb agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not with a phrase between subject and verb. Phrases such as along with, as well as and besides do not make a singular subject plural.
- Articles: use a/an with indefinite singular countables and the with unique nouns, superlatives and previously specified nouns. Choose an by vowel sound, not vowel letter: an hour, a university.
- Tenses: present perfect links a past action to the present; past simple is for a finished past time.
- Prepositions: learn verb + preposition pairs such as depend on, listen to, capable of and prefer to.
- Error spotting: check subject–verb concord, pronoun agreement, articles, prepositions and comparatives; more better is always wrong.
Worked example
The teacher along with her students were present at the assembly.
Reasoning: the subject is The teacher (singular). Along with her students is a parenthetical phrase, so the verb must be was. Correct sentence: The teacher along with her students was present at the assembly.
Traps that cost marks
- Collective nouns such as team or jury take a singular verb when acting as one unit.
- Write one of the boys is, not are; each and every are singular.
- In comprehension, answer from the passage rather than from general knowledge.
- When correcting a sentence, make the minimal change and preserve the original meaning.