Grammar and Vocabulary
Grammar and Vocabulary checks whether you can choose and form English accurately in context. Typical items ask you to fill a blank, arrange words, select the correct tense or preposition, or choose the word that fits the meaning. The exam favors high-frequency structures and collocations rather than rare exceptions.
Core rules and concepts
- Decide the time frame first: past, present, future, or unreal. Then match tense and aspect (simple, progressive, perfect).
- For conditionals, check whether the condition is real, unreal present, or unreal past.
- Relative clauses: choose who/which/that by antecedent and function; check whether the clause is defining.
- Indirect questions use statement order: "Do you know where he lives?" not "where does he live."
- Vocabulary items test collocation (make a decision, take part in) and phrasal verbs (give up, look after).
Worked example
"If I ( ) more time, I would have finished the report." Options: A) have B) had C) had had D) would have Reasoning: "would have finished" marks the result of an unreal past condition, so the if-clause takes the past perfect: "If I had had more time." A is real present; B is unreal present; D cannot appear in the if-clause.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing second and third conditional forms.
- Choosing a word by meaning alone without checking grammar (e.g., a noun where a verb is needed).
- Missing subject-verb agreement after a long subject.
- Confusing near-synonyms or phrasal verbs that look similar (look after / look for).