General English: Grammar Accuracy and Practical Usage
General English tests formal, error-free usage rather than literary flair. Expect spot-the-error items, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, one-word substitutions, spelling, sentence improvement, and a short comprehension passage.
Core rules
- Subject-verb agreement: 'one of' plus a plural noun takes a singular verb; 'neither...nor' and 'either...or' take a verb matching the nearer subject; a collective noun acting as one unit takes a singular verb.
- Tenses: use the present perfect with 'since' and 'for'; use the past perfect for the earlier of two past actions; never use the present perfect with a finished past marker such as 'yesterday'.
- Articles: 'a' before consonant sounds, 'an' before vowel sounds (an hour, a university), and 'the' for unique things and superlatives.
- Prepositions: fixed pairs decide many answers, for example 'married to', 'superior to', 'prefer to', while 'comprise' and 'discuss' take no 'of' or 'about'.
- Voice and narration: when converting direct to indirect speech, shift the tense and the pronouns consistently and adjust time words such as 'today' to 'that day'.
Worked example
Spot the error: 'One of my friend are coming today.' Two faults are present. After 'one of' the noun must be plural, so 'friends'. The true subject is 'one', which is singular, so the verb must be 'is coming'. Correct sentence: 'One of my friends is coming today.'
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing confusables: affect and effect, principal and principle, stationary and stationery, advice and advise.
- Picking a synonym by sound rather than by meaning.
- Hunting for a verb error when the fault lies in a preposition after the verb.
- Ignoring the passage and answering comprehension questions from general knowledge.