Questions
5–8 MCQs per paper
Difficulty
Medium
Importance
High yield for HPCL/NTPC
Overview
Grammar and Usage forms the backbone of the English language section in Indian PSU exams, testing your ability to construct and identify error-free sentences. Mastering these rules is essential as they directly influence your score in Cloze tests, error spotting, and sentence improvement questions.
Subject-Verb Agreement
The fundamental rule is that a singular subject requires a singular verb and a plural subject requires a plural verb. In PSU exams, questions often place intervening phrases between the subject and verb to confuse candidates.
- Collective nouns (jury, committee) take singular verbs when acting as a unit
- Indefinite pronouns like 'each', 'every', and 'everyone' always take singular verbs
- Subjects joined by 'or' or 'nor' agree with the nearest subject
- The number of takes a singular verb; a number of takes a plural verb
Tenses and Sequence
Understanding the timeline of an action is critical for sentence structure. PSU exams test your ability to maintain consistent tense across complex sentences involving multiple actions.
- Present Perfect for actions started in the past and continuing to the present
- Past Perfect is used for the earlier of two past actions
- Conditional Type 1: If + simple present, will + verb
- Conditional Type 2: If + simple past, would + verb
Active-Passive and Direct-Indirect Speech
These sub-topics involve converting sentences while maintaining the original meaning and tense. These are rule-based scoring areas that allow for quick answering if you memorize the transformation patterns.
- Passive voice requires the form of 'to be' + past participle
- In reported speech, present tenses shift to past tenses
- Imperative sentences in passive voice often start with 'Let'
- Pronouns and time markers change in indirect speech (e.g., 'now' becomes 'then')
Articles and Prepositions
Articles and prepositions define the specificity and relationship of nouns in a sentence. Examiners frequently test idiomatic use and exceptions to standard positional rules.
- Use 'a/an' for indefinite items and 'the' for specific, unique nouns
- Prepositions of time: 'at' for specific hours, 'in' for months/years, 'on' for days
- Fixed preposition combinations like 'abide by', 'differ from', and 'accuse of'
- Omit articles before abstract nouns used in a general sense
Formula Sheet
Subject + Verb Agreement: S(singular) + V(s/es)
Passive Voice: Object + be + V3 + by + Subject
Conditional Type 3: If + had + V3, would have + V3
Exam Tip
Always read the full sentence to identify the temporal context before choosing a verb form, as PSU examiners frequently hide clues in the second half of the sentence.
Common Mistakes
- Failing to identify the actual subject in sentences with long prepositional phrases
- Misapplying tense changes in indirect speech when the reporting verb is in the past
- Ignoring the 'nearest subject' rule when using correlative conjunctions like 'either-or'
More Revision Notes
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