Grammar, Syntax and Sentence Structure
Grammar, syntax and sentence structure
Most grammar items in verbal tests do not ask you to name parts of speech; they ask whether a sentence is clear, complete and consistent. Six issues recur.
- Subject–verb agreement, especially across interrupting phrases ('The list of items is'), with collective nouns, and in inverted structures ('Among the reasons are cost and delay').
- Pronoun reference - every it, they, this, which needs one unambiguous antecedent. A pronoun with two possible owners is a fault even if the sentence is grammatical.
- Modifier placement - a descriptive phrase must sit beside what it describes. 'Walking to the station, the rain began' misplaces the modifier; the rain was not walking.
- Parallelism - items in a list or comparison must share grammatical form: 'reading, writing and to calculate' should be 'calculating'.
- Tense consistency - do not shift tense without reason; keep conditionals coherent.
- Completeness and punctuation - fragments, run-ons and comma splices. A comma cannot join two independent clauses; use a full stop, semicolon or conjunction.
Rule of thumb: strip the sentence to subject, verb and object and check it survives; then reinsert each phrase and ask what it modifies. For long options, prefer the clearest and shortest - correct answers are usually built from plain structures, while distractors add words.
Trap: the option that sounds most formal but contains a misplaced modifier or a mismatched pronoun. Read each option silently and locate the pronoun's owner before deciding.