English - Grammar, Usage and Vocabulary
What the paper checks
The English portion rewards control of everyday grammar and word knowledge rather than literary interpretation. Four areas recur: (1) grammar and usage - subject–verb agreement, tense consistency, articles, prepositions, pronouns, active/passive voice, direct/indirect speech; (2) error spotting and sentence improvement, where one part of a sentence must be judged; (3) vocabulary - synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitutions, idioms and phrases, spelling; (4) a short comprehension or cloze passage.
Traps
- Agreement with interrupting phrases. In "One of the officers who ___ on duty", the verb agrees with one (singular), not officers.
- Neither/either/or/nor agree with the nearer subject: "Neither the pilots nor the engineer was present."
- Since vs for: since takes a point in time, for takes a duration.
- few / a few / the few and little / a little shift meaning; a few is positive, few means almost none.
- Uncountables (information, advice, luggage, equipment) take singular verbs and no plural -s.
- Double comparatives ("more better") and wrong prepositions after verbs (discuss about, comprise of) are planted deliberately.
Rule of thumb
For any sentence question, find the main subject and main verb and ignore everything between them; then check that the sentence's time marker matches the tense used. In vocabulary items, substitute each option into the sentence and read it aloud - the option that preserves both meaning and grammar wins.
Worked example: "The number of applicants ___ risen sharply." The subject is number, not applicants, so the answer is has.