Language and Grammar
The Language and Grammar domain tests your control of standard English sentence construction. Questions cover tense, subject–verb agreement, pronoun reference, prepositions, conjunctions, punctuation, sentence types and editing. You must recognise error and correct it without changing the writer's meaning.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not with a phrase between subject and verb.
- Tense consistency: keep a narrative in the past unless a shift is signalled by a time word.
- Pronoun reference: every pronoun must point clearly to one noun.
- Sentence boundaries: avoid fragments and run-ons; join independent clauses with a full stop, semicolon or conjunction.
- Punctuation: use apostrophes for possession and contraction; commas for lists, introductory phrases and non-defining clauses.
Worked example
Sentence: "The bunch of bananas were left at the market, they quickly ripened." Reasoning: The head noun is "bunch" (singular), so "were" becomes "was". The comma joins two independent clauses, creating a comma splice; replace it with a full stop or semicolon. Corrected: "The bunch of bananas was left at the market. It quickly ripened." The pronoun "it" now clearly refers to the bunch.
Traps that cost marks
- Being fooled by the noun nearest the verb.
- Using a comma between two complete sentences.
- Mixing direct and indirect speech.
- Misplacing "only", which changes meaning.
- Forgetting that "news", "mathematics" and "PNG" take singular verbs.
Key points
- Find the head noun before choosing the verb.
- Test whether each clause can stand alone.
- Keep tense and person consistent.
- Punctuate direct speech with quotation marks and commas.
- Edit for meaning, not just for sound.