Grammar and usage in context
Grammar questions embed choices in short contexts and test tense, subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, comparatives, and relative clauses.
Core rules
- Find the true subject before choosing a verb form; ignore phrases between the subject and verb.
- Use time signals to fix tense: now, yesterday, since, by next week.
- Articles: a or an for first mention or one of many; the for a specific or already known item.
- Conjunctions must match the logic: contrast, cause, condition, or addition.
- Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things, whose for possession, that for defining clauses.
- Prepositions often come in fixed phrases, so learn them in chunks.
Worked example
'The students who ___ in the gym are waiting for the bus.' A is, B are, C was, D be. Reasoning: the main subject is 'The students', and 'who ___ in the gym' is a relative clause modifying students. The relative clause verb agrees with plural students, and present tense matches 'are waiting'. Answer B. A common trap is choosing 'is' because 'gym' is the nearest noun.
Traps
- Nearest-noun agreement errors.
- Shifting tense inside one sentence without a time signal.
- Confusing fewer and less, or some and any.
- Double negatives such as 'didn't do nothing'.
Exam habit
Say the sentence silently with each option and identify the grammatical job of the blank before relying on meaning alone.