English Language: Grammar, Vocabulary and Reading
In the art Konkur, the English section tests grammar in context, vocabulary, word formation, cloze and short reading passages. Questions rarely ask for definitions; they place a rule inside a sentence and expect you to choose the form which fits both grammar and meaning.
Grammar cores
- Tenses: by the time / before / after + past perfect for the earlier action; since and for with present perfect; future perfect for actions completed before a future point.
- Conditionals: type 1 (if + present, will), type 2 (if + past, would), type 3 (if + past perfect, would have + past participle). Mixed conditionals connect a past condition to a present result.
- Relative clauses: who for people, which for things, whose for possession; non-defining clauses take commas and never use that.
- Passive: be + past participle, and the tense is carried by be.
- Adjective forms: -ing describes the cause, -ed describes the feeling (the exhibition was boring / I was bored).
Word formation
Common prefixes: un-, in-, im-, dis-, re-, pre-, over-. Suffixes: -tion, -ment, -ness, -able, -ful, -less, -ly. Check the part of speech the gap needs before choosing the suffix.
Worked example
By the time the exhibition opened, the artist ___ her last painting.
- Both actions are in the past.
- The finishing happened before the opening, so it is the earlier past action.
- Earlier past action needs past perfect. Answer: had finished. Simple past finished is wrong because it would place both actions at the same time.
Traps
- Choosing will after if in type 1.
- Using that in a non-defining relative clause.
- Ignoring the -ed/-ing distinction with adjectives.
- Missing a negative prefix; dis- and un- cannot always replace each other (dissimilar, not unsimilar).