Grammar and usage tactics for CUET English

This is the short version of the six grammar lessons. The paper asks only a few grammar questions of its own, but the same rules decide error spotting, sentence improvement and many rearrangement questions, so they are worth an evening.

What is the method for each kind of question?

Question	Method
Tense or agreement blank	Time words choose the tense; the real subject chooses the number
Article, preposition or modal	A or an by the sound; the fixed preposition; what the modal says
Spotting the error	Verb first, then its form, then pronoun, article, preposition, comparison
Replace the part	Decide if it is wrong before reading options; read each in the full sentence
The correct sentence	Find the words that change; test only those
Voice	Object to the front; "be" + past participle in the same tense
Narration	Pronouns fit the reporter; tense one step back; now → then
Figure of speech	Find what the line does; match it to one test

Which time words decide the tense?

• Ago, yesterday, last year, in 2019: simple past. Never "has" or "have" with these.
• Since (a starting point), for (a length) up to now, yet, already, just: present perfect.
• Every day, usually, always, a general truth: simple present.
• Now, look!, listen!: present continuous.
• The earlier of two past events: past perfect ("had left before we arrived").
• If, when, before, unless about the future: present, never "will".
• If ... had done: would have done.

Which subjects trip up agreement?

• Singular: each, every, everyone, one of, neither of, the number of, many a, news, mathematics, furniture, information, luggage, advice, an amount taken as one.
• Plural: a number of, police, people, cattle, children, scissors, trousers.
• Either ... or, neither ... nor, not only ... but also: the nearer subject.
• Along with, as well as, together with: the first subject.
• A fraction, half, a lot of: the noun after "of".

Which small words come up again and again?

• An before a vowel sound (an hour, an MBA); a before a consonant sound (a university, a one-rupee coin).
• The: unique things, superlatives, rivers and ranges, instruments, "the rich". None: games, meals, one mountain, go to school.
• At a time, on a day, in a month. For a length, since a start.
• Good at, afraid of, interested in, depend on, different from, senior to, prefer ... to, married to, comply with. No preposition: discuss, reach, enter.
• Must not forbids; need not frees. Should have regrets; must have concludes; can't have rules out.

Which errors are set most often?

• Each of ... have; one of the best player; the quality of the mangoes are.
• Has visited ... last year; is raining since morning; did not went; has rang.
• A honest; the Mount Everest; discussed about; reached at; return back.
• More taller; senior than; although ... but; no sooner ... when; neither ... or.
• Between you and I; me and my friend went; played very good.

What changes in voice and narration?

Active	Passive
writes / is writing / has written	is written / is being written / has been written
wrote / was writing / had written	was written / was being written / had been written
will write / must write	will be written / must be written
Close the door.	Let the door be closed.
Who wrote it?	By whom was it written?

Direct	Reported
am, is / do / did, have done	was / did / had done
will, can, may, must	would, could, might, had to
now, today, tomorrow, yesterday, ago	then, that day, the next day, the day before, before
this, here	that, there

Questions take if or the wh- word and the order of a statement. Orders take to, negative orders not to. A universal truth keeps its tense.

Which test names each figure?

• Like or as: simile. Is, without like: metaphor. Human action: personification. Spoken to, often with O: apostrophe.
• Exaggeration: hyperbole. Understatement with not: litotes. A gentle word: euphemism.
• Two opposite words: oxymoron. An impossible statement that is true: paradox. Balanced opposite halves: antithesis. The opposite of what is meant or expected: irony.
• Something linked: metonymy. A part for the whole: synecdoche. A word moved from a person to a thing: transferred epithet.
• First sound repeated: alliteration. Vowel repeated: assonance. Sounds like its meaning: onomatopoeia. Words repeated at the start: anaphora. Two meanings at once: pun.