English Language: Grammar in Use, Vocabulary and Comprehension
English Language in this paper tests functional grammar and comprehension rather than literature. Expect synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitutions, idioms, fill-in-the-blanks, error spotting, sentence improvement, rearrangement of sentences into a coherent paragraph, and a short unseen passage with direct questions.
Rules that repeat every year
- Subject–verb agreement: "One of + plural noun" takes a singular verb; with "neither…nor" and "either…or", the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Tense signals: since/for pair with present perfect; "yesterday" and "last year" force simple past.
- Articles: "an" before vowel sounds (an hour, an MLA), "a" before consonant sounds (a university, a European).
- Prepositions: "discuss" and "describe" take no "about"; "comprise" takes no "of"; "comprise" is not followed by "of" in careful usage.
- Passive of present perfect = has/have been + past participle.
Worked example
"Neither the teacher nor the students ___ present." Reason it out: with neither…nor, the verb follows the subject nearest to it. The nearest subject here is "students", which is plural, so the verb is "were". Reverse the order - "Neither the students nor the teacher" - and it becomes "was". The same proximity rule governs either…or and not only…but also.
Traps that cost marks
- Picking a synonym that is correct in isolation but wrong in the sentence's context.
- Being misled by a long phrase between subject and verb ("The list of items ___ long" → is).
- Confusing affect/effect, principal/principle, advice/advise, lie/lay.
- In paragraph rearrangement, choosing by theme instead of following pronoun and connector links (this, however, therefore, consequently).
- Answering comprehension questions from general knowledge instead of the passage.