English Language
What is tested
Error spotting, sentence correction, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, one-word substitution, spelling, comprehension, and voice/narration conversion. The grammar band is school-level but the distractors are close, so rule recall matters more than intuition.
Rules that recur
- Subject-verb agreement: with "one of + plural noun", the verb is singular - "One of the constables was on duty." With "a number of", the verb is plural; with "the number of", singular.
- Prepositions: discuss, resemble, order and reach take no "about/to/at" - "discuss the matter", not "discuss about the matter".
- Tense with since/for: "since" marks a point of time (since 2019), "for" a duration (for five years).
- Comparatives: avoid double comparatives such as "more better"; use "better".
- Voice: the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive, and the verb becomes be + past participle.
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: "One of the officers ______ (were/was) injured." Reasoning: the subject is "one", not "officers"; the phrase "of the officers" is a prepositional modifier. A singular subject takes a singular verb, so "was" is correct.
Traps
- Collective nouns take a singular verb when acting as one unit.
- Idioms must be learnt whole - "to let the cat out of the bag" means to reveal a secret, not to release anything.
- In comprehension, answer strictly from the passage, not from general knowledge.
- Watch spelling pairs such as principal/principle and stationary/stationery.