One rule at a time
Verbal questions in a general aptitude paper are short, but they still eat the clock if you reread the whole sentence hoping the error will announce itself. A faster method is to test one grammar rule, reject the options that break it, and only then look at the next rule.
Use this order. It matches how most error-spotting and sentence-correction items are built:
- Subject and verb. Does the verb match the real subject in number?
- Tense. Do the verbs sit in one time, unless the meaning needs a shift?
- Pronoun. Is it clear who “it,” “they,” or “which” points to, and does it match in number?
- Modifier. Is a descriptive phrase attached to the noun it is supposed to describe?
Subject and verb
The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun that happens to sit next to it. In “The list of names is on the desk,” the subject is “list,” which is singular, so the verb is “is.” The plural “names” is only inside a phrase.
Watch “or” and “nor.” The verb follows the subject closer to it: “Neither the students nor the teacher was late.” With “and,” the subject is usually plural: “The teacher and the student were late.”
Phrases such as “along with,” “as well as,” and “together with” do not make a singular subject plural. “The captain, along with the players, was delayed” is correct. “Players” is not part of the subject.
Tense and pronouns
If the sentence is set in the past, do not drop a present-tense verb in the middle unless the fact is still true. “She said that she was tired” reports a past statement. “She said that water boils at 100 degrees” can stay in the present because the fact has not changed.
A pronoun needs one clear noun. “When Ravi met Amit, he was late” does not say who was late. If the options repair that, prefer the one that names the person. Also match number: “Each of the candidates must bring their own pen” is often tested; the strict form used in these papers is “his or her,” or a rewrite that starts with “All candidates.”
Modifiers
A phrase at the start of a sentence should describe the subject that follows it. “Walking to the exam hall, the rain started” says the rain was walking. The repair is “Walking to the exam hall, I felt the rain start,” because “I” is the one walking.
How to spend the minute
On a four-option correction item, strike any option that fails the first rule you can check. Often two options die on subject-verb agreement and you never read them for style. If two options are both grammatical, pick the shorter one that keeps the original meaning. Do not choose a fancy rewrite that adds a fact the sentence did not have.
For a short passage, read the question before the paragraph when the question is specific (“what is the main reason…”). You then know what to mark. Read the paragraph first only when the question is about tone or the passage as a whole.
The aim is not to become a grammarian in the exam hall. It is to run the same four checks in the same order so a 40-second item stays a 40-second item.