English Language and Comprehension
English tests grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension in a practical, exam-oriented way. Expect error spotting, fill in the blanks, sentence improvement, synonyms and antonyms, idioms, one-word substitution, rearrangement and a passage with inference questions. Accuracy depends on identifying the grammatical subject and the context of the passage.
Core rules
- Subject-verb agreement: with “neither…nor” and “either…or”, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- “One of the” takes a plural noun but a singular verb: “One of the workers is absent.”
- Articles: use “a” before consonant sounds and “an” before vowel sounds, not merely before vowel letters.
- Prepositions are fixed by usage: “comply with”, “differ from”, “deprived of”.
- In comprehension, answer from the passage, not from general knowledge.
Worked example
“Neither the supervisor nor the workers ___ present.” The subjects are “supervisor” and “workers”; with “neither…nor”, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, “workers”, so the correct form is “were”: “Neither the supervisor nor the workers were present.” If the order were reversed-“Neither the workers nor the supervisor”-the singular “was” would be correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Matching the verb to the first subject instead of the nearer one.
- Choosing an option because it sounds formal rather than grammatical.
- Ignoring the tense of the surrounding passage.
- Confusing idioms with literal meanings.
- Spending too long on one vocabulary item in a timed paper.