Grammar Basics: Articles, Tenses & Agreement
What it is
Grammar questions under this skill are single-point items: choose the correctly spelt word, the right verb form, the right article, the right question tag, or the right degree of comparison. The options are near-misses of one another, so exactly one rule decides each item. Picking the one grammatically correct SENTENCE out of four is a different item type — the Sentence Correction lesson covers that one.
The core method
Name the format first, then apply its rule. Spelling — say the word in syllables and check the doubled consonants and the vowel in the unstressed syllable (occurrence, accommodation, maintenance). Verb form — fix the tense from the time-marker or the reporting verb, then make the verb agree with the subject in number and person; after the infinitive marker to, the verb stays bare. Articles — a/an match the SOUND of the next word, not its spelling. Question tags — keep the auxiliary of the main clause and reverse its polarity. Degree of comparison — comparatives take than and two things, superlatives take the and three or more. Agreement and the since/for pairing are worth drilling too, but the papers usually print them as error-spotting or sentence-correction items, so the Sentence Correction lesson is where they pay off.
Worked example
Choose the correctly spelt word.
A. Accomodation
B. Accommodation
C. Acommodation
D. Accomadation
Break the word into syllables instead of trusting how it looks: ac-com-mo-da-tion. It carries two doubled consonants, cc and mm, and the unstressed middle syllable is mo, not ma. Only B has all three. Answer: B.
Choose the correct form: "The teacher instructed the students ___ silent during the test."
A. remaining
B. to remain
C. remained
D. remains
A reporting verb of instruction — instructed, advised, told, asked — takes an object and then the full infinitive, and after the marker to the verb keeps its bare form. Answer: B.
Try the same checklist on an articles question: "She is ____ honest woman." "Honest" starts with a silent h, so it sounds like it begins with a vowel (/ɒ/) — "an honest woman" is correct, even though the spelling starts with a consonant letter.
Common traps
- Judging "a" vs "an" by the spelled letter instead of the spoken sound (hour, honest, university, one-time).
- Missing subject-verb agreement when a phrase sits between subject and verb ("The list of items is long" — not "are").
- Mixing a duration word with "since," or a specific-point word with "for."
What the exam tests here
Across the 3 papers we hold, this skill was asked 8 times, around 2.7 a paper.
What it actually asked:
- choose the correct question tag for a statement (2026)
- choose the verb form that completes the sentence (2026)
- selecting the correct verb form after an infinitive marker (2025)
- selecting the correctly spelt noun for a sentence (2025)
- verb form after a reporting verb of instruction (2025)
- choose the correct article before a noun (2024)
- choose the correct degree of comparison (2024)
- identify the correctly spelt word (2024)
Worked example 2 — finding the true subject before choosing the verb
Choose the correct form: "The list of items ___ on the desk." (is / are)
Strip the prepositional phrase. "Of items" modifies list; it cannot supply the subject, because a subject never sits inside a prepositional phrase. The subject is list, singular, so the answer is is.
The same test resolves the whole family: "A bouquet of roses is beautiful", "The quality of the mangoes was poor", "Each of the students has submitted". In every case the plural noun nearest the verb is a decoy.
Two exceptions worth carrying. With neither… nor and either… or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: "Neither the manager nor the clerks were present." And with a collective noun, the verb is singular when the group acts as one and plural when its members act individually: "The committee has decided" but "The committee have taken their seats."
Speed technique
Cross out every phrase beginning with of, with, along with, as well as, together with, including. None of them changes the number of the subject.
Articles: a before a consonant sound, an before a vowel sound — so an hour, a university, an MBA. The written letter is irrelevant.
Tense sequence: a past-tense main clause normally takes a past-tense subordinate clause. The exception is a universal truth — "He said that the earth revolves round the sun."
A sentence with two verbs joined by and must keep them in the same form: "She likes reading and writing", not "reading and to write".
Terms you must not confuse
- Its vs it's — possessive vs "it is".
- Fewer vs less — countable vs uncountable.
- Between vs among — two vs more than two.
- Each/every — always singular, however many follow.
Check yourself
- "Neither of the answers ___ correct."
Show answer
is — neither is singular. - "He is one of those who ___ always late."
Show answer
are — the relative clause refers to those. - "A university" or "an university"?
Show answer
A — it begins with a y sound.
If you get stuck
Strike out every phrase between the subject and the verb and re-read what is left. Most agreement questions become obvious the moment the intervening prepositional phrase is gone, and the phrase is there precisely because it obscures the answer.
Try it: Grammar questions
Real questions from the PGCET MBA bank on exactly this skill. Pick an answer to see the full solution — the intuition, the worked steps, the faster methods and the traps.
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: Everybody in the class ____ present for the surprise test today.
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option B
'Everybody' (like everyone, somebody, nobody, each) is grammatically singular, so it always takes a singular verb — 'is present' — no matter how many people are actually involved.
'In the class' is just a prepositional phrase describing everybody, not a second subject.
So 'everybody' is singular and takes 'is present', option B.
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: The team ____ played extremely well this season and deserves the trophy.
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option B
'Team' is a collective noun. When the group is treated as a single unit (as it is here, alongside the singular verb 'deserves' later in the sentence), it takes a singular verb: 'has played'.
Using 'have' would treat 'team' as a set of separate individuals, which clashes with the singular 'deserves' already in the sentence.
So the collective noun 'team' takes the singular verb 'has' here, option B.
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: A number of students ____ absent from yesterday's lecture due to the heavy rain.
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option C
'A number of' means 'several/many' and is treated as plural, so it takes a plural verb ('were').
This is the opposite of 'the number of', which refers to a single figure/count and takes a singular verb.
The past-tense marker 'yesterday' also rules out the present-tense options.
So 'a number of students' takes the plural verb 'were', option C.
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: I ____ finished my homework, so I can go out and play now.
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option A
The sentence links a recently completed action ('finished my homework') to its present relevance ('can go out now') — the classic use of the present perfect.
With the subject 'I', the correct auxiliary is 'have', and 'already' sits between the auxiliary and the main verb: 'have already finished'.
So the correct present perfect form here is 'have already' finished, option A.
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: Neither the students nor the teacher ____ satisfied with the exam schedule announced this week.
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: option D
In a 'neither…nor' (or 'either…or') construction, the verb agrees with the subject NEARER to it, not the one farther away.
Here the nearer subject is 'the teacher' (singular), so the verb must be singular: 'is satisfied'. 'Are'/'have' wrongly agree with the farther, plural subject 'students'.
So the verb agrees with the nearer subject 'the teacher', giving 'is', option D.
Answer above — every one shows its working.