Grammar and Structure
Grammar and Structure tests whether you can choose the form that makes a sentence grammatical and natural. Typical items cover tense and aspect, subject–verb agreement, articles and determiners, prepositions, pronoun reference, clause structure, conditionals, comparatives, parallelism, and word order. Many questions hinge on one grammatical signal, so identify the signal before reading the options.
Find the grammatical subject
For agreement, ignore interrupting phrases. In “The list of items ___ on the desk,” the subject is list, not items, so the verb is is. Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each, neither) are usually singular; “the number of” is singular, while “a number of” is plural.
Use time and logic signals
Words such as since, by the time, already, and tomorrow determine tense. “By the time the guests arrived, she ___” needs had finished, not has finished. Conditionals follow fixed patterns: If + present, will + base; If + past, would + base; If + had + past participle, would have + past participle.
Worked example
“Neither the manager nor the assistants ___ aware of the schedule change.” A. was B. were C. is D. has been Reasoning: With neither … nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, “assistants,” which is plural. The sentence describes a past state, so were is correct. A and C are singular; D is singular and present perfect. Answer: B.
Traps that cost marks
- Proximity agreement: matching the verb to a noun next to it rather than to the true subject.
- Missing inverted order: “Only after the meeting ___ the decision” requires did they announce, not they announced.
- Confusing count and noncount nouns: information, advice, equipment take singular verbs and no plural -s.
- Dangling modifiers: an opening participle must describe the subject of the main clause.
- Choosing a tense that is grammatically possible but ignores the time signal.