CDS Exam 2016 : English grammer in last minute

Important shortcut rules of Grammar.

PRONOUNS

•Rule 1:  use the personal  pronouns in the order 231 ( second person, third person, first person)

•I, He and You are to finish it (wrong)
•You, He and I are to finish it ( right)

•Rule 2:  A pronoun in the nominative form should be compared with the same form of the pronoun.

•He is better than I am  ( Two nominatives  are compared )
•I respect you more than him ( Two objectives are compared)

•Rule 3: A Pronoun  in the objective  case is used after “ Let/ Between / Any/ Preposition”

•Let  you and me play ( You and me are objects)
•There is no dispute between you and me.


•Rule 4:  When a pronoun stands for a collective noun, it should be used in the singular form.

•The army has left in head quarters (As a whole)
•The committee were divided in their opinion (separate individuals)

•Rule 5:  When two singular nouns are joined by “and “, refer to the same person, the pronoun used in their place should be in singular in form.

•The collector and magistrate have done his best
•But the collector and the Magistrate have done their best.

•Rule 6: A singular pronoun should be used when two singular nouns are joined either or / neither nor.

•Either Ravi or Gopal should do his duty.

•Rule 7: A pronoun in the plural form should be used when two nouns of different members are joined by “or” or “nor”.

•Either the principal or his teachers have attended their duty.

•Rule 8: The distributive pronouns: either / neither/ none/ any/ no one” are used with singular verbs.

•Either of the two girls is diligent.
•None of the four sisters is intelligent.
•Any of the four men can do it.

•Rule 9:  The reciprocal Pronouns “ each other/ one another”

•Each other- for two person
•One another- for more than two persons.

•Rule 10: The indefinite pronoun “one” should be used as “one’s for its possessive case.

•One should love ones country.

VERBS

•Rule 1:  if the subject is of the third person, singular number (He, She, It) add “s” or “es” /es to the first form of the verb to make it singular number.

•She plays the violin every day.

•Rule 2:  The following verbs   are not usually used in the continuous form. See/smell/feel/hear/notice/recognize/see/think/agree/believe/consider/remember/hope/understand/mind/suppose/hate/love/know/etc. but they may be used in continuous forms in particular cases.

•Rule 3: The present perfect tense shold not be used with adverbs indicating past time. Instead, the simple past tense should be used.

•Rule 4:  The present perfect tense  with “for  or “since “ is used to express  an action  began at  some time  in the past  and is still  continuing up to the time  of speaking  or just  finished.

•Rule 5:  The present perfect continuous tense” is also used for actions began in the past and are still continuing.

•Rule 6: When the first action led to the second action immediately the simple past tense + simple past tense are used.
•When he opened the gate he came in.

•Rule 7:  When the first action completed before the second one started, the past perfect tense for the first finished action and the simple past tense for the second are used.
•The patient had died before the doctor arrived.

•Rule 8: After negative sentences, the question tag used should be in an ordinary interrogative form.

•She didn’t like that book, didn’t she ?(wrong)
•She did not like that book, did she (right)

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns.  For example

•Sizes : big, small, large, thick, thin

•Shapes:  triangular, round, square, circular

•Colors: black, blue, white, green, red

•Personality: happy, sad, angry, depressed

•Time: yearly, monthly, annually

•Ages: new, young, old, brand new

•Sounds: loud, noisy, quiet, silent

•Tastes: juicy, sweet

•Qualities: good, bad, mediocre

Rule 1:  In a comparison, the conjunction ‘than’ should be followed by ‘any’ other if a person /thing is compared with any other person/thing among some/ many.

•Mumbai is greater  than any city in India.(wrong)
•Mumbai is greater than any other city in India (right)

Rule 2:  In comparison the monosyllable words like “hot/easy/tall/small” should not be used with more/most.

•The question is more easier than that (right)
•The question is easier than that (right)
•He is more taller than Kumar(wrong)
•He is taller than Kumar

Rule 3:   Elder/ Eldest should be used with the members of the same family.
             Older/oldest these comparative adjective denote the age of person / thing.

•This is the eldest tree in the garden.
•This is the oldest tree in the garden.

Rule 4:  While comparing the objects, we should see that a noun is compared with another but not with some other word.

•The population of Delhi is greater than Chandigarh.(wrong)
•The population of Delhi is greater than that of Chandigarh.(right)
•The population of Delhi is greater than the population of Chandigarh. (right)
•The climate of ooty is better than Chennai(wrong)
•The climate of ooty is better than that of Chennai (right)

Articles

Rule 1:  The indefinite article ‘A’ should be used before the world ‘Half’ when it follows a whole number.

•I stayed in Mumbai for one and half years (wrong)
•I stayed in Mumbai for one  and a half years (right)

Rule 2:  The definite Article ‘THE’ should be used with a comparative adjective if the phrase ‘of the two’ is used.

•She is better of two sisters.
•She is the better of the two sisters.

Rule 3:  with the names of meals  such as breakfast /lunch/dinner/supper, no article should  be used in a general way except  in particular causes.

•I have  the breakfast at 8hrs in the morning(right)
•I have breakfast at 8hrs in the morning.

Rule 4:  The + positive Adjective represents the whole class, and takes a plural verb.

•The rich is responsible for the lawlessness in the country. (wrong)
•The rich are responsible  for the lawlessness in the country (right)

Rule 5:  After Di- transitive verbs like elect/make/appoint, articles should not be used except when they are used as Mono transitive verbs.

•We appointed  him a chairman (wrong)
•We appointed  him chairman (right)

Rule 6:  After type of/kind of/ sort of/ post of/ title of/ rank of/ articles are used.

•He was promoted to the rank of a General Manager.(wrong)
•He was  promoted  to the rank of General Manager (right)