Back to Course
Chapter Review

Grammar and Usage

Verb Tenses · Subject-Verb Agreement · Articles and Determiners · Prepositions · Active and Passive Voice · Direct and Indirect Speech · Sentence Completion and Structure

The 12 Verb Tenses

Each combination of time (Past, Present, Future) and aspect (Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous) produces one of 12 standard tenses, each with a distinct structure and set of signal words.

Key Points

  • •
    Simple aspect treats actions as single points; Continuous uses be + V-ing for ongoing duration
  • •
    Perfect tenses use have/has/had + V₃ to link two time points, emphasizing completion or relevance
  • •
    Perfect Continuous (have + been + V-ing) stresses the duration of an action leading up to a reference point
  • •
    Present Perfect requires indefinite time — use Past Simple when a specific past time is stated
  • •
    'Since' takes a starting point (since 2020); 'for' takes a measured duration (for five years)
  • •
    Signal words are the strongest tense clue: 'already/yet/just' → Perfect; 'now/at the moment' → Continuous
  • •
    Stative verbs (know, believe, own) generally resist continuous forms

Subject-Verb Agreement Fundamentals

A verb must match its subject in number — singular subjects take singular verbs, plural subjects take plural verbs — regardless of any intervening phrases between them.

Key Points

  • •
    The Inverse -s Rule: nouns add -s for plural (dogs), but verbs add -s for singular (barks)
  • •
    Intervening prepositional phrases ('of the students') are distractors — the verb agrees with the true subject, not the nearest noun
  • •
    Phrases like 'along with', 'as well as', 'together with' do NOT create plural subjects — they are not conjunctions
  • •
    Use the Deletion Test: mentally remove everything between subject and verb to check agreement
  • •
    'The number of' is singular; 'A number of' is plural

Compound Subjects and Indefinite Pronouns

Conjunction choice determines whether compound subjects are singular or plural, and indefinite pronouns fall into fixed categories that govern verb agreement.

Key Points

  • •
    Subjects joined by 'and' are almost always plural — exception: single-concept units ('bread and butter is served')
  • •
    'Either/or', 'neither/nor' follow the proximity rule: the verb agrees with the subject closest to it
  • •
    'Every' or 'each' before a compound subject forces singularity ('Every boy and girl has a ticket')
  • •
    Always singular: everyone, each, neither, either, nobody, anybody, somebody
  • •
    Always plural: both, few, many, several
  • •
    SANAM pronouns (Some, Any, None, All, Most) are variable — check the 'of' phrase to determine number

Articles: A, An, The, and Zero

Article choice depends on the phonetic sound of the following word (a vs. an), the specificity of the noun (the vs. zero article), and whether the noun is countable or uncountable.

Key Points

  • •
    A/An is determined by sound, not spelling: 'an hour' (silent H) but 'a university' (/j/ sound)
  • •
    'The' marks specific, known, or unique entities — required with superlatives, ordinals, and post-modified nouns
  • •
    Zero article for generalizations with uncountable or plural nouns ('Love is blind', 'Lions are predators')
  • •
    Routine places use zero article for primary purpose ('go to school') but 'the' for the building ('go to the school')
  • •
    Geography: 'the' for rivers, oceans, ranges, island groups, plural countries; zero for single peaks, lakes, most countries
  • •
    Anaphoric reference: first mention uses 'a/an', subsequent mentions use 'the'

Quantifiers and Determiners

Quantifiers specify amount and are divided by countability: 'many/few/fewer' for countable nouns, 'much/little/less' for uncountable, and 'some/any/a lot of' for both.

Key Points

  • •
    'Few' (negative, = hardly any) vs. 'a few' (positive, = some) — same logic for 'little' vs. 'a little'
  • •
    'Fewer' for countable nouns, 'less' for uncountable nouns
  • •
    'Each' emphasizes individuals separately; 'every' emphasizes the group — both take singular verbs
  • •
    'Either/neither' apply to groups of exactly two; 'every' requires three or more
  • •
    Possessive determiners (my, his, their) replace articles — never combine them ('the my book' is wrong)

Prepositions of Time and Place

Time and place prepositions follow a hierarchy from general to specific: 'in' for large/enclosed contexts, 'on' for surfaces/days, and 'at' for precise points.

Key Points

  • •
    Time: 'in' for months/years/seasons, 'on' for days/dates, 'at' for clock times — exception: 'at night'
  • •
    Place: 'in' for enclosed spaces/cities, 'on' for surfaces, 'at' for functional points (at the bus stop)
  • •
    'Since' + point in time, 'for' + measured duration, 'during' + named period (never followed by a number)
  • •
    Use 'into' for movement crossing a boundary, 'in' for static position already inside
  • •
    Transport rule: 'in' for private vehicles (in the car), 'on' for public transport (on the bus)
  • •
    Zero preposition: no preposition with 'last/next/this/every' + time, or transitive verbs like 'discuss', 'enter', 'reach'

Active and Passive Voice

Active voice foregrounds the doer; passive voice foregrounds the receiver by restructuring the sentence as Object + be (tense) + past participle.

Key Points

  • •
    Only transitive verbs (those with a direct object) can be made passive — intransitive verbs like 'sleep' or 'arrive' cannot
  • •
    The auxiliary 'be' carries the tense: is written (present), was written (past), will be written (future)
  • •
    Continuous passive inserts 'being': is being written; Perfect passive inserts 'been': has been written
  • •
    Double-object verbs (give, tell, show) produce two passive forms — the indirect object as subject sounds more natural
  • •
    Agent ('by + doer') is omitted when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant
  • •
    Pronoun shift in passive: subjective → objective (he → him, she → her, they → them)

Direct and Indirect Speech

Reported speech integrates a speaker's message into the narrator's sentence, requiring systematic changes to tenses (backshifting), pronouns, and time/place references.

Key Points

  • •
    Backshifting: Present → Past, Past → Past Perfect, will → would, can → could, may → might
  • •
    No backshift when the reporting verb is present tense ('He says he is tired') or for universal truths
  • •
    Time shifts: today → that day, tomorrow → the next day, yesterday → the day before, now → then, ago → before
  • •
    'Say' takes no object; 'tell' always requires one ('He told me', never 'He told that')
  • •
    Reported questions use statement order (Subject-Verb) and drop 'do/does/did'
  • •
    Commands/requests use told/asked + object + (not) to-infinitive, not backshifting

Sentence Completion: Logic and Direction

Transition words signal whether ideas continue, contrast, or result from each other — identifying this direction before evaluating answer choices is the most effective elimination strategy.

Key Points

  • •
    Continuation signals (moreover, because, furthermore) → blanks carry the same charge
  • •
    Contrast signals (however, although, despite) → blanks carry opposite charges
  • •
    Double-blank questions: if either word in a pair fails the logic test, the entire option is eliminated
  • •
    Part-of-speech fit: the blank must be grammatically compatible (adjective after 'very', base verb after 'to')
  • •
    Register matching: formal contexts need formal diction ('dismayed' not 'freaked out')
  • •
    Connotation matters: 'thrifty' (positive), 'economical' (neutral), 'stingy' (negative) are not interchangeable

Sentence Structure: Parallelism, Modifiers, and Errors

Structural correctness requires parallel form in lists and comparisons, proper modifier placement adjacent to what they describe, and avoidance of run-ons, comma splices, and fragments.

Key Points

  • •
    Parallelism: items in a list must share the same grammatical form (all gerunds, all nouns, or all infinitives)
  • •
    Correlative conjunctions (either/or, not only/but also) must frame identical structures on both sides
  • •
    Dangling modifier: introductory participial phrase must share its implied subject with the main clause subject
  • •
    Run-on: two independent clauses joined without punctuation — fix with period, semicolon, or conjunction
  • •
    Comma splice: two independent clauses joined by only a comma — fix the same way as a run-on
  • •
    Fragment: a dependent clause punctuated as a sentence ('Because the lab closed.') — attach to an independent clause