English Language
English Language in this selection tests whether you can read, understand and produce precise formal English - the register you will use in orders, reports and briefings. Expect grammar and usage items, synonyms and antonyms, idioms, sentence correction or error spotting, paragraph ordering, and a comprehension passage.
Core areas
- Subject–verb agreement: each, every, either, neither and everyone are singular; with “neither … nor”, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Tenses and sequence of tenses; present perfect versus simple past (a finished time expression such as “yesterday” forces simple past).
- Articles, prepositions, and fixed prepositions in phrasal verbs (comply with, insist on, consist of).
- Active to passive, and direct to indirect speech (backshift of tense, pronoun changes).
- Connectors: although/despite, because/because of, so that/in order to.
- Vocabulary: one-word substitutes and commonly confused pairs - affect/effect, principal/principle, stationary/stationery, complement/compliment.
Worked example
“The squadron, along with its ground crew, was deployed at dawn.” Is the verb correct? Yes. The comma-separated phrase “along with its ground crew” is an aside, not part of the subject, so the subject remains the singular “squadron” and takes “was”. Had the sentence used “and” - “the squadron and its ground crew were deployed” - the subject becomes plural and the verb must be “were”.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing an option because it is grammatically possible while ignoring what the sentence means.
- In comprehension, selecting a statement that is true in the passage but does not answer the question asked.
- Missing a double negative or a misplaced modifier (“Having finished the drill, the officer dismissed the cadets” implies the officer finished the drill).
- Mixing British and American spellings; this exam uses British English.
Read the whole sentence before deciding; error-spotting items usually contain exactly one fault.