Niigata Public High School Entrance Examination - English cheat sheet

Question-word filter: 'When/What time' expects a clock time or date, 'How long' a duration, 'How much' a price, 'How many' a count, 'Where' a place, 'Why' a reason, 'Who' a person - predict the answer type before the options are read.

Correction markers ('actually', 'no, wait', 'on second thought', 'but') cancel the earlier number, time or plan; the value spoken after the marker is the answer.

Clock arithmetic: 'half past seven' = 7:30, 'a quarter to nine' = 8:45, 'ten to eight' = 7:50; then add or subtract durations such as 'for twenty minutes' or 'an hour later'.

Calendar expressions: 'the day after tomorrow' = two days later, 'every other day' = alternate days, 'twice a week' = two times per week, 'the third Monday' = the third Monday of the month.

Negative questions ('Don't you like ~?', 'Isn't it ~?') are answered by the fact, not by the verb: liking is confirmed with 'Yes, I do' and denied with 'No, I don't'.

Speech-act mapping: 'Why don't we ~?'/'How about ~?' = suggestion, 'Shall I ~?' = offer, 'Would you like ~?' = invitation, 'Could you ~?' = request; each has its own reply set (accept, decline, agree).

Distractor rule: an option that repeats a word heard in the recording but does not answer the question word is wrong; match every option back to the question.

Position words: 'next to', 'across from', 'between A and B', 'on the corner of', 'opposite', 'behind', 'in front of' - sketch a quick map while listening.

Number traps: 'each', 'for two', 'in total', 'half price', '20% off', 'change' require one calculation after the number is heard; the raw number alone is usually a distractor.

Fixed reply pairs: 'Thank you.' → 'You're welcome./My pleasure.'; 'I'm sorry.' → 'That's all right./Never mind.'; 'Nice to meet you.' → 'Nice to meet you, too.'

'Would you mind ~ing?' is a request; 'Not at all./Of course not.' accepts it and 'Yes' refuses. 'Do you mind if I ~?' takes 'Go ahead./Sure.'

Permission and request: 'May I ~?'/'Can I ~?' → 'Sure./Of course./I'm afraid not.'; 'Could you ~?' → 'Sure./I'm sorry, I can't.'

Invitations: accept with 'That sounds great./I'd love to.'; decline with 'I'd love to, but I have to ~.' A bare 'No' is too abrupt for the test.

Agreement forms: 'So + auxiliary + subject' after a positive statement ('So do I.'), 'Neither + auxiliary + subject' after a negative ('Neither can I.').

'How about you?/What about you?' returns the same question, so the correct reply gives the second speaker's own information, never 'Yes' or 'No'.

Polarity check: when the first line contains a negative, the correct reply shares the polarity of the intended meaning; read the whole two- or three-line exchange before choosing.

Ellipsis: 'Me, too./Me neither.' and 'I hope so./I hope not.' are complete replies; an option that merely repeats the first speaker's words is usually wrong.

Tense signals: yesterday/last week/ago → simple past; since/for → present perfect; by the time → past perfect; if/when clause → present tense with future meaning.

Agreement traps: each/every/either/neither + singular verb; 'one of the + plural noun' + singular verb; 'the number of ~' is singular while 'a number of ~' is plural.

Countability: much/little/a little with uncountables, many/few/a few with plurals; information, advice, news, furniture and homework take no plural -s.

Preposition collocations: be interested in, good at, afraid of, listen to, wait for, look for, arrive at/in, depend on, be full of.

Clause versus phrase: because/although + subject + verb, but because of/in spite of + noun or gerund.

Verb patterns: enjoy/finish/stop/mind/practice + -ing; want/hope/decide + to + verb; look forward to + -ing; stop -ing = quit, stop to do = pause in order to do.

Comparatives: as + adjective + as with the base form, not as ~ as, the -est + in/of, and the more ~, the more ~.

Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things, that after superlatives and all/only, whose for possession; an object pronoun can be omitted ('the book I bought').

Find the main verb first, then its subject; if the clause is a question, place the auxiliary before the subject ('Where did you buy it?').

Embedded questions keep statement order: 'Do you know where he lives?' not 'where does he live'.

Fixed chunks to slot as units: 'How long does it take to ~?', 'It is ~ for A to do', 'not only A but also B', 'so ~ that', 'too ~ to', 'as ~ as possible'.

'Too + adjective + to + verb' already means 'cannot', so no 'not' is added: 'too heavy to carry'.

Adjective order: opinion – size – age – shape – color – origin – material – noun ('a nice big old brown wooden desk').

Frequency adverbs (always, usually, often, never) go before the main verb but after 'be'.

A preposition required by the verb stays at the end of its relative clause: 'the pen which I write with', 'the person I talked to'.

After ordering, re-read for tense, agreement and plural -s; a correctly sequenced sentence with the wrong tense is still marked wrong.

Main idea: read the first and last paragraph first; the thesis often follows 'However,' or 'In fact,'.

Reference: it/this/they/such points to the nearest earlier noun phrase matching in number and meaning; if none fits, it stands for the previous sentence's whole idea.

Detail questions: locate the paraphrase of the option, not the identical word, then check the number, person and time attached to it.

Inference options must be supported by a stated sentence; eliminate absolutes (always, never, only, all, must) unless the passage uses them.

Contrast markers (but, however, although, instead, on the other hand) show where the writer's claim is; the emphasized side is the answer.

Paragraph-function questions ask what the paragraph does (example, reason, counter-argument, conclusion), not what it says.

Narrative timeline: list events with sequence words (before, after, while, as soon as, then) and answer ordering questions from that list.

Question order usually follows passage order, so the evidence for item 3 lies after the evidence for item 2 - use this to locate text quickly.

Condition checklist: number of sentences, word range, required content points, and any required word or tense; count every condition before writing.

Word count: aim for the middle of the stated range (25–35 → about 30); contractions count as one word; re-count after every revision.

Frame: sentence 1 = opinion, sentence 2 = 'because ~' reason, sentence 3 = example or conclusion; three sentences fill a 25–35 word limit without padding.

Opinion frames: 'I think that + subject + verb', 'I want to be a ~ because ~', 'It is important for us to ~', 'There are many ~'.

Linking words: because, so, also, for example, but - one connector per sentence is enough; do not begin every sentence with 'And'.

Error checklist: subject-verb agreement (-s), tense consistency, a/an/the, plural -s, and spelling of common words (because, friends, beautiful).

Japanese-English traps: 'I like play tennis' → 'I like playing tennis'; 'I am agree' → 'I agree'; 'many book' → 'many books'.

Punctuation: capital letter at the start of each sentence, period at the end, comma after an introductory phrase ('For example, ...').