General English: Grammar Rules, Vocabulary and Correction
What is tested
The General English section of the UPPSC AE paper checks functional grammar and vocabulary rather than literature: synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitutions, idioms and phrases, spelling, fill-in-the-blanks with prepositions and articles, sentence correction and improvement, and occasionally active–passive or direct–indirect conversion.
Rules that repeat
- 'One of the' + plural noun + singular verb: One of the boys is absent.
- 'The number of' takes a singular verb; 'a number of' takes a plural verb.
- 'No sooner … than' and 'hardly/scarcely … when' - never pair hardly with 'than'.
- After 'prefer', use 'to' with a noun or gerund: prefer tea to coffee; prefer reading to watching.
- Idioms: bite the dust = to fail; a bolt from the blue = a total surprise; burn the midnight oil = to work late.
Worked example
Correct this sentence: "The number of applicants have increased sharply this year." The subject is 'the number' (singular); 'of applicants' is a prepositional phrase and cannot control the verb. So 'have' becomes 'has'. Note the contrast: had the sentence opened with 'A number of applicants …', the plural 'have' would be correct, because 'a number of' means 'many'. This one contrast answers a large share of agreement items.
Traps that cost marks
- Subject–verb agreement broken across phrases; 'along with' and 'as well as' do not make a singular subject plural.
- 'Since' versus 'for': since takes a point of time, for takes a duration.
- Wrong prepositions after verbs: avoid 'discuss about', use 'married to', and drop the 'of' in 'comprise'.
- Spelling of accommodate, occurrence, committee and separate.
- Picking a synonym that fits only one sense of the word without reading the sentence context.