文法・読解 (Bunpou/Dokkai): Sentence Grammar and Short Reading
What 4Q tests in 文法・読解
This section combines sentence-level grammar, sentence ordering, passage grammar, and short/medium reading. At 4Q, the grammar core is basic sentence patterns: particles は/が/を/に/で, tense and politeness, て-form, た-form, ない-form, comparison, request, permission, and simple conditionals. Reading passages are short and practical, but questions often depend on one connector, one referent, or one stated reason.
Core rules
- Build sentences around the final predicate. In Japanese, the verb or adjective at the end controls tense, polarity, and politeness.
- For ordering, place time expressions early, then place, then object, then verb. Relative clauses sit directly before the noun they modify.
- Track particles as labels: が marks the subject, は marks the topic, を marks the direct object, に marks destination/time/recipient, and で marks location of action or means.
- In passage grammar, read the sentence before and after the blank. Choose a connector by logic: しかし contrasts, だから gives a result, それで gives a consequence, and ても concedes.
- In reading, underline the question word and find the sentence that answers it. Do not choose an option just because it repeats a word from the passage.
Worked example
私は＿＿＿＿＿＿読みました。 Items: ①田中さんに ②借りた ③本を ④昨日. Correct order: ④①②③ → 昨日田中さんに借りた本を読みました. Reasoning: 昨日 is time and comes first; 田中さんに marks the source of borrowing; 借りた is a plain relative clause modifying 本; 本を is the object of 読みました.
Traps
- Missing tense: 借りた本 is “a book I borrowed,” not “a book I will borrow.”
- Putting を before a relative clause that needs が or に.
- Choosing a connector by translation rather than by the logic of the two sentences.
- Answering from general knowledge instead of from the passage.