English
English in the PN Cadet initial test checks whether you can read a short passage accurately and choose the grammatically correct, idiomatic option under time pressure. Expect synonym/antonym items, sentence completion, error spotting, punctuation, comprehension, and simple precis or passage-based inference.
Core rules
- Make the verb agree with its real subject: The list of candidates is long, not are.
- In either/or and neither/nor sentences, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the cadets nor the instructor was present.
- Keep tense consistent unless the meaning requires a shift; learn conditionals: If I were selected, I would...
- Use context, not sound, for vocabulary: affect is usually a verb, effect usually a noun.
- For comprehension, locate the line that supports the answer; do not import outside knowledge.
Worked example
Question: Neither the cadet nor the instructors ___ aware of the changed timing. Options: was/were. The nearer subject is instructors (plural), so choose were. If the order were reversed - Neither the instructors nor the cadet - the answer would be was.
Traps
Do not assume none is always singular; it can take singular or plural depending on sense. Do not confuse lie/lay, its/it’s, principal/principle. In comprehension, the option that sounds most dramatic is often wrong; the correct answer is the one the passage actually supports. In error-spotting, check articles and prepositions last, because they are easy to miss.