Grammar and Language Functions
What is tested
Grammar and language functions test control, not terminology alone: tense, subject–verb agreement, voice, reported speech, conditionals, degrees of comparison, articles, prepositions, question tags, sentence types and synthesis.
Core rules
- Agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not the nearest noun. 'One of the boys is ...'
- Passive: object becomes subject; use the correct form of be + past participle; keep tense.
- Reported speech: shift tense back one step unless the reporting verb is present or the statement is a universal truth; change pronouns and time/place words.
- Conditionals: first (real), second (unreal present), third (unreal past).
- Sentence combining: decide the logical relationship (cause, contrast, condition) before choosing a connector.
Worked example
Direct: 'The teacher corrected the notebooks yesterday,' said Ravi. Reported: Ravi said that the teacher had corrected the notebooks the day before. Reasoning: reporting verb 'said' is past, so 'corrected' becomes 'had corrected'; 'yesterday' becomes 'the day before'; no question word is needed because this is a statement. Passive version: 'The notebooks were corrected by the teacher yesterday.'
Traps
- Shifting tense in reported speech when the sentence is a universal truth.
- Forgetting to change 'this/here/now'.
- Using 'by' with intransitive verbs.
- Double comparatives such as 'more better'.
- Using a comma splice instead of a connector.