Verbal Ability

The question and the strategy

In a spotting-the-error question, a sentence is divided into parts marked (a), (b), (c) and (d) (or (e) for "no error"). You must find the part that contains an error of grammar or usage. About one in five sentences is correct, so "no error" is a real answer, but do not choose it early.

A step-by-step method

The most repeated error patterns

1. Subject–verb agreement

• The quality of the products are good. → is.
• Each of the students have passed. → has.
• Neither the teacher nor the students was present. → were (nearer subject).
• A number of applicants is waiting. → are; but the number of applicants is ...
• Mathematics are my favourite subject. → is.
• One of my friends are an engineer. → is.

2. Tense and time expressions

• He has left for Delhi yesterday. → left. (present perfect with a definite past time)
• I am working here since 2015. → have been working.
• If it will rain, we will not go. → rains.
• By the time we reached, the train left. → had left.
• He used to going there. → used to go (or is used to going).
• No sooner did he arrive when ... → No sooner had he arrived than ... ; Hardly had he arrived when...

3. Pronouns

• Between you and I, ... → me.
• He is taller than me. → I (than I am) — in careful English.
• Each of the boys did their work. → his (formal singular).
• Everyone must do their duty. — accepted; in exam choose his or her if given.
• Me and my friend went out. → My friend and I.
• The man who I met yesterday ... — acceptable informally; whom is the grammatical object form.
• Myself will do it. → I myself.
• It was me who did it. → I (formal).

4. Articles

• He is a honest man. → an.
• She is an European. → a (sound "yu").
• The gold is a precious metal. → Gold (no article for a material noun in general).
• He plays the cricket. → no article (games).
• Mount Everest is the highest peak → correct; The Mount Everest ... ✗.

5. Prepositions

• He is married with a doctor. → married to.
• She is senior than me. → senior to.
• He discussed about the matter. → discussed the matter.
• I congratulated him for his success. → on.
• The bridge is different than the old one. → different from.
• He was blamed of the theft. → blamed for.
• I am looking the book. → looking for.

6. Adjectives and adverbs

• This is the more better plan. → better (no double comparative; likewise most unkindest → unkindest).
• He runs fastly. → fast.
• He works hardly. → hard (hardly means "scarcely", so he hardly works means he does almost no work).
• This is the most best solution. → best.
• He is elder than me. → older (elder is for family members with than avoided: my elder brother).
• She is the best of the two sisters. → the better (two persons → comparative).
• This book is more cheaper. → cheaper.

7. Nouns — number and countability

• He gave me many advices. → much advice.
• I have little friends here. → few.
• The informations are wrong. → information is.
• He bought a furniture. → a piece of furniture.
• Two dozens of eggs. → two dozen eggs (no -s after a number).

8. Conjunctions

• Though he is poor, but he is honest. → remove but.
• Unless you do not work, you will fail. → Unless you work.
• Scarcely had he left than ... → when.
• Not only he but his brother is guilty. → but also (the pair is not only ... but also).
• He is as tall than his brother. → as tall as his brother.
• He cannot help to laugh. → cannot help laughing (or cannot but laugh).

9. Parallel structure

Items in a list or comparison must have the same grammatical form:

• He likes reading, to write and swimming. → reading, writing and swimming.
• She is intelligent, hard-working and has honesty. → honest.
• The work was quick, cheap and done well. → quickly done, cheap and of good quality.

10. Misplaced or dangling modifiers

• Walking down the road, a car hit him. → While he was walking down the road, a car hit him. (the participle must refer to the subject)
• He only wants a cup of tea. — the position of only changes the meaning; put it before the word it modifies.

11. Comparisons

• The population of Delhi is larger than Mumbai. → that of Mumbai (compare like with like).
• His work is better than his brother. → his brother's.
• This road is wider than any road in the city. → than any other road.
• He is the taller of the three. → tallest.

12. Verb forms

• He has went to school. → gone.
• The glass was broke. → broken.
• I had wrote a letter. → written.
• He lay the book on the table. → laid (lay/laid = put; lie/lay = recline).
• He let me to go. → let me go (bare infinitive after let, make, help, see, hear).
• I cannot to swim. → cannot swim (modal + bare infinitive).

13. Redundancy (unnecessary words)

The reason is because ... → The reason is that ...; return back, repeat again, revert back, advance planning, cooperate together, and also, more superior, very unique, the same identical.

14. Word choice and confused words

affect/effect, accept/except, principal/principle, complement/compliment, stationary/stationery, lose/loose, later/latter, farther/further, beside/besides, emigrate/immigrate, continual/continuous, imply/infer, especially/specially, economic/economical.

15. Idioms and fixed expressions

Many a man is ... (singular); one of the best ... that ...; as good or better than → as good as or better than; rather than + V1 or V-ing; prefer X to Y (not than); would rather + V1; it is time + past.

What is being tested

• A synonym is a word with almost the same meaning as another (big – large).
• An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning (big – small).

Most questions give a word (sometimes inside a sentence, with the word in bold or underlined) and four options. Words rarely have exactly the same meaning; the exam wants the option that is closest in the given context.

Method

Word building

Common prefixes

Common roots

bene (good): benefit, benevolent · mal (bad): malice, malevolent · dict (say): dictate, predict · scrib/script (write): describe, script · spect (look): inspect, spectator · port (carry): transport, portable · vert/vers (turn): convert, reverse · cred (believe): credible, incredible · chron (time): chronology, chronic · pathy (feeling): sympathy, apathy · phobia (fear), philia (love).

Frequently tested words

The lists below give common exam words with a close synonym and an antonym. Learn them in groups, not one at a time.

Positive words

Negative words

Neutral or general words

Higher-level exam words

Near-synonyms and shades of meaning

Some words are close but not identical.

Word forms to remember (often used in antonym options)

• Antonym through a prefix: possible → impossible, legal → illegal, regular → irregular, honest → dishonest, mortal → immortal, visible → invisible, ability → inability, agree → disagree.
• Opposite words with no shared form: victory – defeat, love – hatred, hope – despair, expand – contract, wisdom – folly, accept – reject, praise – criticise, guilty – innocent, rural – urban, vertical – horizontal.

Common mistakes

1. Choosing a synonym in an antonym question (or the reverse) — read the question line twice.
2. Ignoring context — the word may be used in a less common meaning.
3. Picking a word with the right meaning but the wrong tone (e.g., stingy for thrifty).
4. Ignoring the part of speech — a noun should be matched with a noun.
5. Skipping unknown words — use prefixes, roots and the sentence to guess.

How to build vocabulary

1. Read editorials and note the new words with their sentences.
2. Learn words in groups (all words meaning brave, lazy, increase).
3. Learn synonym and antonym together — each pair is one memory.
4. Revise the lists regularly; use each new word in your own sentence.

What reading comprehension tests

A reading comprehension (RC) section gives one or more passages (150–500 words) followed by questions. It tests whether you can understand, interpret and evaluate what you read — not what you already know. The answer is always in the passage (directly or by logical inference); your outside knowledge or opinion is not the basis.

Types of passages

• Factual / descriptive: science, history, technology, geography.
• Argumentative / opinion: the writer takes a position and defends it.
• Narrative: a story or incident.
• Analytical / social: economy, environment, education, government policy.

How to read the passage

Question types and how to answer

1. Main idea / central theme / best title

• The main idea covers the whole passage, not one paragraph or detail.
• Ask: What is the passage mostly about? What single sentence would summarise it?
• Wrong options are usually: too narrow (a detail), too broad (goes beyond the passage), opposite (contradicts), or irrelevant.
• Title: short, catchy, but accurate to the main idea.

2. Detail (factual) questions

• Ask about a specific fact stated in the passage.
• Find the keyword in the passage (a name, number, place, term) and read the sentence before and after.
• The correct option is often a paraphrase, not the exact wording.
• Wrong options may use passage words but twist the meaning.

3. Inference questions

• Ask what is implied or can be concluded, though not stated.
• Words: infer, imply, suggest, conclude, it can be understood that.
• The answer must be strongly supported by the passage, but not directly stated.
• Avoid extreme options (always, never, all, only, completely, impossible) unless the passage is equally extreme.

4. Vocabulary in context

• Asks the meaning of a word or phrase as used in the passage.
• Read the sentence and replace the word with each option to see which fits.
• Ignore the most common meaning if it does not fit — the word may be used in a special sense.
• Use context clues: synonyms, antonyms, examples, explanation.

5. Tone and attitude of the author

6. True / false / "which is NOT stated"

• Check each option against the passage.
• For "NOT true / EXCEPT" questions, three options are true and one is false — verify each.

7. Purpose / structure questions

Why does the author mention X? How is the passage organised? → Ask what job the example, the quotation or the paragraph does (illustrate, contrast, support, refute).

8. Application / extension

Ask what would most likely follow or how the idea applies to a new situation; base the answer on the logic of the passage.