General Hindi and General English
This section tests formal grammar and usage in both languages, not literary criticism. Hindi carries व्याकरण plus comprehension; English carries grammar, vocabulary and a short passage. It is the fastest section to convert into marks if the rules are memorised as patterns.
Hindi - the recurring items
- संधि एवं संधि-विच्छेद (स्वर, व्यंजन, विसर्ग)
- समास के भेद - तत्पुरुष, कर्मधारय, द्विगु, द्वंद्व, बहुव्रीहि, अव्ययीभाव
- उपसर्ग-प्रत्यय, तत्सम-तद्भव-देशज-विदेशी शब्द
- पर्यायवाची, विलोम, अनेकार्थी, मुहावरे-लोकोक्तियाँ, वाक्यांश के लिए एक शब्द
- कारक एवं विभक्ति, वाच्य परिवर्तन, काल, वाक्य-शुद्धि
English - the recurring items
- Subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, tense sequence, conditionals
- Error spotting, sentence improvement, cloze, idioms, one-word substitution
- Comprehension: main idea, inference, tone
Worked example
Pick the one-word substitute for 'जो कहा न जा सके'. The pattern 'जो … न …' almost always maps to an अ- or न- prefixed form, so the answer is अकथनीय, not अवर्णनीय - the latter means 'indescribable', a different root. Always check the root meaning before choosing between near-synonyms.
Traps that cost marks
- पद-परिचय questions: decide संज्ञा / सर्वनाम / क्रिया before answering; the label drives the option.
- Fixed English collocations - comply with, prefer to, superior to, discuss (no preposition).
- Comprehension answers must be supported by the passage, not by general knowledge.
- वाच्य परिवर्तन: keep the tense and the object unchanged while changing the voice.