Nagano Entrance English cheat sheet

Numbers and times: listen for contrastive stress (thirteen vs thirty; a quarter past vs a quarter to) and write digits immediately.

Direction and location cues: prepositions such as across from, next to, between, on the corner of, opposite mark the answer in map-style items.

Reason/result signals: because, so, that's why, therefore introduce the cause or consequence the question usually asks for.

Negation traps: cannot, hardly, rarely, not until, no longer reverse the expected meaning; mark negative words on the script.

Speaker intent: rising intonation on a statement signals a question or doubt; falling intonation signals a completed statement.

Distractor pattern: the first number or name mentioned is often corrected later ("Actually, make it..."), so confirm the final value.

Time-order items: before, after, by the time, as soon as set the sequence; the event mentioned last is not always the latest in time.

Note-taking shorthand: use arrows (→), plus/minus (+/−), and abbreviations (mtg, appt, dept) to keep pace with the audio.

Main-idea items: the answer restates the whole passage, not one detail; reject options that are true but too narrow.

Detail items: locate the keyword in the passage, then read the sentence before and after it for context.

Vocabulary-in-context: substitute each option into the original sentence; the correct choice preserves the sentence's logic.

Reference words (it, they, this, such): the referent is usually the nearest preceding noun phrase that agrees in number.

Inference items: the answer must be supported by the text; an option requiring outside knowledge is wrong.

NOT/EXCEPT items: three options are stated in the passage; the answer is the one absent or contradicted.

Tone and purpose: adjectives and modal verbs (must, should, may) reveal whether the writer is neutral, critical, or promotional.

Time management: a short passage with five items should take about one minute per item; skip and return if a line is unclear.

Paragraph function: identify whether each paragraph introduces, supports, contrasts, or concludes; answers often hinge on this structure.

Pronoun chains: track he/she/it/they across sentences; a shift in referent usually marks a new subtopic.

Contrast markers (however, although, on the other hand) often carry the author's real claim; underline them.

Cause-effect markers (thus, consequently, as a result, lead to) connect the evidence to the conclusion.

Chronology: dates and sequence words (first, later, eventually) organize narrative and historical passages; sketch a timeline.

Author's attitude: words with evaluative force (remarkable, flawed, controversial) indicate stance; neutral is the default only when no evaluation appears.

Insertion and order items: test each position by checking whether the sentence's pronouns and connectors fit the surrounding text.

Overall structure questions: match the passage to patterns such as problem–solution, claim–evidence, or comparison–contrast.

Collocation pairs: make a decision, take part in, pay attention to, do homework; the verb is fixed, not interchangeable.

Phrasal verbs: look after (care for), look into (investigate), look up to (respect), look forward to (anticipate); the particle changes meaning.

Idioms with fixed form: a piece of cake (easy), under the weather (ill), break the ice (start a conversation), hit the books (study).

Prepositional idioms: depend on, interested in, good at, afraid of, similar to, different from; memorize the preposition with the adjective.

False friends for Japanese learners: naive vs ナイーブ (innocent), mansion vs マンション (apartment), claim vs クレーム (complaint).

Word families: decide/decision/decisive, economy/economical/economic; choose the form that fits the grammatical slot.

Formal vs informal register: commence/begin, purchase/buy, require/need; formal items appear in notices and business writing.

Countability: information, advice, furniture, luggage are uncountable; use a piece of or an item of, never a plural -s.

Subject-verb agreement: each, every, either, neither, everyone take singular verbs; the number of takes singular, a number of takes plural.

Tense sequencing: after when/before/after/until/as soon as, use present for future (I'll call you when I arrive).

Conditionals: if + present, will; if + past, would; if + had + past participle, would have + past participle.

Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things, whose for possession, where for places; omit only object relatives.

Participles: -ing for active or ongoing meaning, -ed for passive or completed meaning (the surprising news vs the surprised audience).

Comparatives: as ... as for equality, the more ... the more for correlation; use much/far to modify comparatives, not very.

Inversion after negative adverbials: Never have I seen, Not only did she, Hardly had he arrived when ... .

Article rules: a/an for first mention and professions; the for unique or previously mentioned nouns; no article for general plurals and uncountables.

Adjacency pairs: offer → accept/decline; apology → acceptance; request → grant/refusal; the reply must match the first move.

Politeness formulas: Could you ...?, Would you mind ...? (reply: Not at all.), I'm afraid ... softens refusals.

Shop and restaurant scripts: May I help you? / I'm just looking. / Could we have the bill, please? / Keep the change.

Phone scripts: May I speak to ...? / Speaking. / Hold on, please. / Can I take a message?

Direction-giving: Go straight, turn left at the second corner, it's on your right; responses confirm with Got it or Thank you.

Declining invitations: use I'd love to, but ... or I'm afraid I can't; a bare No is pragmatically inappropriate.

Small talk openings: Nice to meet you / How's it going? / How about you? keep the exchange moving; avoid direct personal questions.

Register check: formal service encounters use may/could; casual peer talk uses can/will and tag questions.

Pronoun rule: a sentence beginning with it/this/they/these cannot come first unless the referent is in the same sentence.

Connector rule: however, therefore, in addition, for example signal a relation to the preceding sentence; place them accordingly.

Article rule: a/an signals first mention; the signals a noun already introduced; use this to order noun phrases across sentences.

Time and sequence: first, then, next, after that, finally define order; dates and tenses must be consistent.

General-to-specific: topic sentence → explanation → example → conclusion is the most common paragraph pattern.

Question-answer adjacency: a direct question is followed by its answer, not by another question, in expository paragraphs.

Lexical chains: repeated or synonymous words (climate → weather → temperature) link adjacent sentences; follow the chain.

Cohesion check: read the proposed order aloud; a correct order flows without a missing link or an unexplained jump.

Subject insertion: Japanese often omits the subject; supply I/you/they from context in English, since English requires an explicit subject.

Politeness mapping: です/ます → standard polite English (no honorifics); ください → please + imperative; いただく → receive/have something done.

Auxiliary selection: 〜ている → be -ing (ongoing) or have -ed (result); 〜たことがある → have -ed before; 〜つもりだ → intend to / be going to.

Passive and causative: 〜れる/られる → be + past participle; 〜させる → make/let/have someone do; choose by whether force or permission is meant.

Word order: Japanese verb-final → English SVO; move the verb to position two and place time/manner adverbials after the object.

Counters and numbers: 一つ/一人/一枚 → one / one person / one sheet; do not translate the counter literally as a separate noun.

False friends: クレーム → complaint (not claim); ナイーブ → innocent (not naive); テンション → excitement (not tension).

Natural English: avoid literal 直訳 such as I think that ... is ... when a simple statement is more idiomatic; keep register consistent.

Paragraph structure: topic sentence → two or three supporting sentences → concluding sentence; one idea per paragraph.

Thesis placement: state the main claim in the first paragraph and restate it in the conclusion using different wording.

Cohesion devices: use however, moreover, for instance, as a result, in contrast to link sentences; avoid repeating the same connector.

Sentence variety: mix simple, compound, and complex sentences; a short sentence after a long one adds emphasis.

Word count control: plan three body paragraphs of about four sentences each to reach a 120–150 word target.

Common errors to check: subject-verb agreement, article use, tense consistency, and preposition choice after adjectives and verbs.

Formal register: avoid contractions, slang, and vague words (thing, stuff, a lot of); prefer specific nouns and verbs.

Editing pass: read once for content and once for grammar; check that every pronoun has a clear referent.