English Language and Grammar
What this domain tests
English grammar and usage: tenses, articles, prepositions, subject–verb agreement, active and passive voice, direct and indirect speech, degrees of comparison, idioms, synonyms and antonyms, spelling, error spotting and cloze.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: one of + plural noun takes a singular verb; each, every, either and neither are singular.
- Articles: a before consonant sounds, an before vowel sounds (an hour, a university); the for unique things and superlatives.
- Since takes a point of time, for takes a duration.
- Passive voice: the object becomes the subject, and the verb becomes a form of be plus the past participle.
- Reported speech: shift the tense one step back, adjust pronouns to the reporter, and change said to into told.
Worked example
Choose the correct verb: One of my friends ___ a doctor. Reasoning: the subject is one, not friends. The phrase of my friends is a prepositional modifier, so the verb agrees with one and takes is. The same logic gives Each of the boys was present.
Traps
- Fixed pairs: hardly had … when, no sooner … than, scarcely … when.
- Double comparatives such as more better are always wrong; use better.
- Advice is the noun, advise the verb; practice the noun, practise the verb.
- Verb-preposition pairs: discuss takes no about, married takes to, comprise takes no of.
- Idiom questions test the whole phrase, never the literal meaning of the single word.