Comprehension, Communication and English Language
What is tested
Reading comprehension, grammar and usage, vocabulary in context, sentence correction, and precise written communication such as letters and précis.
Rules
- Comprehension: read the questions first, then the passage, and answer strictly from the passage rather than from general knowledge.
- Grammar traps cluster around subject–verb agreement with collective nouns, parallelism in lists, misplaced modifiers, and countability pairs such as fewer/less and number/amount.
- Vocabulary: choose the option matching the sentence's register; a synonym list memorised without context misleads.
- Communication: keep one idea per paragraph in letters and précis, and preserve the original tense and person.
Worked example
Sentence: "Neither the district officers nor the commissioner were informed about the review meeting." Reasoning: with "neither…nor", the verb agrees with the nearer subject, "the commissioner", which is singular. So "were" is wrong and "was informed" is correct. If the order were reversed - "Neither the commissioner nor the district officers" - "were" would be right. The proximity rule governs, not the first subject.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an option that is true in the world but not stated in the passage.
- Writing "comprise of" instead of "comprise".
- Changing the author's tone in a précis, which loses fidelity marks.