English
The English portion of the PPSC one-paper test checks control of grammar, vocabulary, sentence correction, comprehension, and usage rather than literary history. Expect direct MCQs on prepositions, subject–verb agreement, tenses, active and passive voice, direct and indirect speech, synonyms and antonyms, idiom meaning, and one or two short passages.
Core rules
- Subject–verb agreement follows the subject, not the nearest noun: 'Neither of the boys is present' because 'neither' is singular.
- Use 'since' with a point of time and 'for' with duration: since 2010, for five years.
- Use 'between' for two items and 'among' for more than two.
- Present perfect links a past action to the present; past simple pairs with a finished time marker such as 'yesterday'.
- In reported speech, shift tense and pronouns consistently unless the statement is a universal truth.
Worked example
'Neither of the candidates ___ submitted the form.' The subject is 'neither', which is singular, so the answer is 'has'. If the sentence were 'Neither the candidates nor the clerk ___', the verb would agree with 'clerk'.
Traps
- Choosing a synonym by sound rather than by context.
- Mixing 'since' and 'for'.
- Using 'among' with two people.
- Dangling modifiers: 'Walking down the road, the tower was seen' is wrong because the tower did not walk.
- Double negatives such as 'I don't have no money'.
Read the whole sentence before answering; one preposition can change the meaning.