English Language and Comprehension
English Language and Comprehension tests standard written English: grammar and usage, error spotting, sentence improvement, idioms, cloze passages, and reading comprehension. The grammar tested is narrow and repetitive, so learn the rules that generate most errors.
High-yield grammar
- Subject-verb agreement: one of the + plural noun takes a singular verb; each, either, neither, and everyone are singular; with neither...nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Parallelism: items in a list share the same grammatical form.
- Tense sequence: keep the sentence's tense frame unless a time marker justifies a shift.
- Modifiers: place a modifier next to the word it describes, or it dangles.
- Articles and prepositions: learn fixed pairs such as comprise, consist of, prefer to, and superior to.
Worked example
Neither the manager nor the clerks ___ available.
The nearer subject is clerks, which is plural, so the verb is were. With either...or and neither...nor, the verb follows the subject closest to it.
Reading comprehension
Read the questions first, then the passage; answer only from what the passage states or implies. For tone and inference questions, match the author's attitude words rather than your own opinion.
Traps
- Over-correcting: not every sentence contains an error.
- Judging by sound rather than by rule.
- Importing outside knowledge into a comprehension answer.
- Missing a second error in error-spotting questions.
- Choosing an idiom's literal meaning.
- Treating a passage's example as its main idea.