3.1 English Grammar

English Grammar and Correct Usage

The Professional CSE-PPT verbal section rewards examinees who can locate and repair a grammar error quickly. Six rule families produce almost every item you will see: subject-verb agreement, verb tense, pronoun case and agreement, prepositions, modifiers, and parallelism. Learn the signal words for each and you will recognize the trap on the first read instead of re-reading the sentence three times under time pressure.

Subject-Verb Agreement

A verb must match its subject in number: a singular subject takes a singular verb, a plural subject a plural verb. The exam hides the true subject behind an intervening phrase. In 'The report, along with its appendices, IS ready for distribution,' the real subject is the singular 'report'; the phrase 'along with its appendices' is parenthetical and does NOT change the number. The same holds for 'as well as,' 'together with,' 'in addition to,' and 'including.'

Memorize the singular-subject signal words: each, every, either, neither, one, and every pronoun ending in -one, -body, or -thing (everyone, somebody, nothing). Each of these takes a singular verb: 'Each of the employees HAS submitted the form' — not 'have submitted.' They feel plural because a plural noun follows, but grammatically they are singular.

Two phrases are constantly confused. 'The number of' takes a SINGULAR verb: 'The number of applicants IS increasing.' 'A number of' means 'several' and takes a PLURAL verb: 'A number of applicants ARE waiting.' Collective nouns — team, committee, jury, family, staff — take a singular verb in standard usage when the group acts as one unit: 'The team IS working hard to meet ITS deadline.'

With 'neither...nor' and 'either...or,' the verb agrees with the nearer subject: 'Neither the reports nor the memo WAS filed.'

Verb Tense

Use the past perfect ('had' + past participle) for the earlier of two past actions: 'By the time we arrived, the program HAD already started.' The starting happened before the arriving, so it takes 'had started.' Do not shift tenses without reason within a sentence: keep a narrative consistent.

The third (past unreal) conditional is heavily tested: 'If I HAD KNOWN the answer, I WOULD HAVE told you.' The 'if' clause uses the past perfect ('had known') to match the 'would have + participle' in the main clause. A common wrong answer offers 'knew' or 'have known.' After a modal such as 'will,' 'can,' or 'should,' use the base form: 'The committee will SCRUTINIZE the proposal' — not 'scrutinizes' or 'scrutinizing.'

Pronoun Case and Agreement

Use the subjective case (I, he, she, we, they, who) for subjects and the objective case (me, him, her, us, them, whom) for objects. After a preposition, always use the objective form: 'Between you and ME' — never 'between you and I.' To test a compound, drop the other person: you would say 'gave it to me,' so 'gave it to Jose and ME.' Use 'who' for a subject and 'whom' for an object ('To WHOM did you speak?').

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number: 'Everyone brought HIS OR HER own pen' (everyone is singular). Watch for ambiguous reference — a pronoun should point clearly to one noun.

Prepositions, Modifiers, and Parallelism

Many prepositions are idiomatic and simply must be memorized: different FROM (not 'different than'), capable OF, responsible FOR, comply WITH, consist OF, superior TO, interested IN, and agree WITH a person but agree TO a proposal.

A misplaced or dangling modifier attaches to the wrong noun. 'Walking to the office, the rain soaked me' is dangling — the rain was not walking. Fix it by naming the real actor: 'Walking to the office, I got soaked by the rain.' Keep 'only,' 'almost,' and 'just' next to the word they limit.

Parallelism requires items in a series or joined by correlatives to share the same grammatical form. Wrong: 'She likes reading, writing, and to jog.' Right: 'She likes reading, writing, and jogging.' Correlative pairs — not only...but also, either...or, both...and — must frame parallel elements: 'She is not only skilled BUT ALSO honest.'

More Agreement Traps and a Worked Fix

A few extra patterns appear on nearly every administration. 'Either' and 'neither' standing alone are singular: 'Neither IS acceptable.' 'None' takes a singular verb when it means 'not one' ('None of the files IS missing'). Amounts of money, time, and distance treated as a single unit take a singular verb: 'Five hundred pesos IS the fee'; 'Two hours IS enough time.' Gerund phrases acting as a subject are singular: 'Reading long reports IS tiring.' A relative pronoun ('who,' 'that,' 'which') takes a verb that agrees with its antecedent: 'She is one of those clerks WHO ALWAYS ARRIVE early.'

Now work one error-recognition item end to end. Given 'Neither the supervisors nor the clerk / are aware / of the new policy,' scan for agreement FIRST: with 'neither...nor,' the verb agrees with the NEARER subject, here the singular 'the clerk,' so 'are aware' is the error and should read 'IS aware.' Checking the remaining families finds no tense, pronoun-case, or preposition fault, which confirms the agreement fix is the answer. Following a fixed scan order like this is faster and more reliable than judging by ear.