Language Usage and Grammar
Language Usage and Grammar checks whether sentences are accurate and meaningful. Expect subject–verb agreement, tense and aspect, pronoun reference, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, comparatives, conditionals, reported speech, and punctuation. Many items ask you to choose the option that is grammatically correct and fits the sentence.
Core rules
- Find the true subject before checking agreement. Phrases between subject and verb do not change it: The box of tools is heavy.
- With either…or and neither…nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the teacher nor the students were ready.
- Keep tense consistent unless the meaning requires a shift: She said she was tired.
- Check pronoun case and reference: between you and me, not between you and I.
- Join two independent clauses with a full stop, semicolon, or conjunction; a comma alone creates a comma splice.
- Use fewer with countable nouns and less with uncountable nouns.
Worked example
“The list of items ___ on the desk.” Options: were, was, have been, are. Reasoning: The subject is list (singular). of items is a prepositional phrase and does not control the verb. The correct choice is was. Were and are agree with items, a trap.
Traps
- Matching the verb to the nearest noun rather than the subject.
- Missing a hidden subject in questions: Where are the keys?
- Using less with countable nouns instead of fewer.
- Dangling modifiers: Walking home, the rain started implies the rain was walking.
- Shifting from past to present without a time signal.