🔤 General English

📌 0. Exam Pattern & 2025 Paper Analysis (3 min read)

• Prelims: 100 questions, 2 hours. English = 10 questions (fixed in every shift).
• The official syllabus (SI/Subedar 2026 rulebook) says only "Angreji bhashayi bodh" (English language comprehension) for Prelims — that means basic grammar + vocabulary + sentence sense.
• We went through the 120 English questions of the official 2025 paper (16–21 Jan 2026, 12 shifts). The table below shows how many times each topic came.

📌 1. Parts of Speech & Verbals (7 min read)

In English every word does a "job" — that job is its part of speech. Golden rule: the part of speech is decided not by the word but by its job in the sentence. "Fast" can be a noun (a fast), an adjective (a fast car) and an adverb (runs fast).

1.1 Adjective vs Adverb — confusing words

• Not all adverbs end in "-ly": fast, hard, late, early, well, soon, very, often, only, then — these are adverbs too.
• Some adverbs and adjectives have the same form: a fast train (adj) / he drives fast (adv); a hard task (adj) / work hard (adv); an early bus (adj) / came early (adv).
• There are also adjectives ending in -ly: friendly, lovely, lonely, costly, ugly, silly, likely (a friendly man — adjective).
• Hard vs Hardly: He works hard (with effort) ≠ He hardly works (he barely works). Late vs Lately: came late (after the right time) ≠ lately (recently).
• "The then": the then Prime Minister = the PM of that time → here then = adjective (it describes the noun "Prime Minister").
• "Mere": her mere presence → mere = adjective (describes the noun presence).
• "Only": Only if you try... → only = adverb (modifies the clause). Wherever you place only, the meaning changes: Only I met him / I only met him / I met only him.
• After linking verbs (be, seem, look, feel, taste, smell, sound, become) an adjective comes: The food tastes good (not well); She looks beautiful.

1.2 Verbals — Gerund, Infinitive, Participle

• Verbs followed by a gerund: enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, deny, suggest, admit, practise, risk, can't help, look forward to, be used to, object to → I look forward to meeting you (not to meet).
• Verbs followed by an infinitive: want, decide, hope, agree, refuse, plan, promise, expect, afford.
• Reduced relative clause: remove "who/which + verb" and use a participle — Students who complete the assignment... → Students completing the assignment will get extra credit. Passive: The book which was written by him → The book written by him.
• Possessive before a gerund: I don't mind his coming late (formal English).

📌 2. Articles — a / an / the (6 min read)

A/An = indefinite (any one, singular countable). The = definite (that particular one). Most important: a/an is decided not by the spelling but by the first sound.

2.1 When "The" is used

• Already mentioned / both know it: I saw a dog. The dog was black.
• Only one in the world: the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky.
• Superlative & ordinals: the best, the tallest, the first, the last.
• Rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges, groups of islands: the Ganga, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Himalayas, the Andamans.
• Holy books, newspapers, musical instruments: the Gita, the Hindu, plays the flute.
• "The + adjective" = the whole class: the poor, the rich, the blind (plural verb).
• Countries with plural/union names: the USA, the UK, the Netherlands.
• "The + comparative, the + comparative": The more you practise, the better you become.

2.2 When no article (zero article)

• Uncountable nouns in a general sense: Milk is essential for kids. / gather information / give advice.
• By + transport: by train, by bus, by car, by air.
• Languages, subjects, sports, meals (general): speaks English, studies history, plays cricket, have breakfast.
• Names of persons, cities, most countries: Bhopal, India, Mount Everest (single peak — no article).
• School, college, hospital, church, prison, bed — for their real purpose: go to school (to study), went to hospital (for treatment). For any other purpose: went to the school to meet the teacher.
• "Others" in a general sense: sets her apart from others.

📌 3. Tenses & Conditionals (10 min read)

Tense = the form of the verb that shows both the time (present/past/future) and the state of the action (simple / continuous / perfect / perfect continuous). 3 × 4 = 12 tenses. In the exam, catch the tense by looking at time-marker words (since, for, by the time, before, this time next year).

3.1 Since vs For

• Since + point of time (from when): since Monday, since 2015, since morning, since childhood.
• For + period of time (for how long): for two hours, for five years, for a long time.
• Both are usually used with the perfect / perfect continuous: I have lived here since 2015 / for ten years.

3.2 Must-know tense rules (favourites of error spotting)

• Present perfect + definite past time ✗: I have seen him yesterday → I saw him yesterday. With "ago", always past simple.
• No future in a time/condition clause: after when, before, after, until, as soon as, if, unless, by the time use the present tense: I will call you when he comes (will come ✗).
• By the time + present → main clause future perfect: By the time you arrive, we will have finished. By the time + past → past perfect: By the time the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
• No sooner had ... than / Hardly (Scarcely) had ... when: No sooner had he left than it started raining. (then ✗)
• As if / As though (unreal) → past tense; if it is "be", use were: He talks as though he knew everything. / She behaves as if she were the boss.
• It is (high) time + past: It is high time we left.   I wish + past: I wish I were rich.
• No continuous for stative verbs: know, believe, understand, like, love, hate, want, own, belong, contain, seem → I know him (am knowing ✗).
• "How many times has India won the World Cup till now?" — "till now" = present perfect.

3.3 Conditional Sentences (If-clauses)

Inversion (removing If): If he had known → Had he known the truth, he would have acted differently. / If I were → Were I you... / If you should need → Should you need help, call me.

📌 4. Subject-Verb Agreement (8 min read)

Basic rule: singular subject → singular verb (is, was, has, V1+s), plural subject → plural verb (are, were, have, V1). The tricky part is identifying the real subject.

📌 5. Active-Passive Voice (8 min read)

Active: the doer comes first — The police caught the thief. Passive: the one the action was done to (object) comes first — The thief was caught by the police.

3-step method: (1) Make the object the subject. (2) Use be-form + V3 according to the tense (table below). (3) Put the old subject in "by + object form" (if needed; "by them/someone/people" is often dropped).

The passive of perfect continuous tenses and the future continuous is normally not asked in the exam.

5.1 Special cases

• Pronoun change (after by): I→me, we→us, you→you, he→him, she→her, they→them, who→whom.
• Question (Wh-): Who wrote this book? → By whom was this book written?   Did he write it? → Was it written by him?   What did he say? → What was said by him?
• Imperative: Open the door. → Let the door be opened.   Request: Please help me. → You are requested to help me.   Order: Leave the room. → You are ordered to leave the room.
• Passive → Active: make the doer after "by" the subject, keep the tense the same. We were told to put it... (doer not given) → They told us to put it...
• Intransitive verbs (no object) have no passive: die, arrive, sleep, go, come, happen, belong, sit, laugh (without object). She belongs to the club / He died suddenly / They arrived early — passive impossible. They repaired the bike (object: bike) → passive can be made.
• Verbs with two objects (give, tell, show, teach): He gave me a book. → I was given a book (by him) or A book was given to me.
• When the doer is unknown / not important, the passive is natural: Ten people were injured in the accident.

📌 6. Direct-Indirect Speech / Narration (9 min read)

Direct: someone's exact words in inverted commas — He said, "I am busy." Indirect (Reported): we report it in our own words — He said that he was busy.

6.1 Rule 1 — Tense change (when the reporting verb is in the PAST: said, told, asked)

The tense does NOT change when: (a) the reporting verb is present/future (He says that he is busy); (b) universal truth (The teacher said that the earth revolves round the sun); (c) a fact/habit that is still true (She said that her parents live in Kerala — both are accepted as correct, backshift is optional).

6.2 Rule 2 — Pronoun change (SON formula)

• S — 1st person (I, we, my) → according to the Subject of the reporting verb. She said, "I..." → she.
• O — 2nd person (you, your) → according to the Object of the reporting verb. He said to me, "You..." → I/me. If there is no object, the reporter (me).
• N — 3rd person (he, she, they) → No change.

6.3 Rule 3 — Time & place words

6.4 Sentence types

6.5 Indirect → Direct (reverse)

Tense one step forward (would → will, was → is), pronouns back (he → I, me → you), add inverted commas: He said that he would help me. → He said, "I will help you."

📌 7. Prepositions (7 min read)

7.1 In / On / At — Time & Place

7.2 Confusing pairs

• Between (between two) / Among (more than two): divide between two brothers / among five brothers.
• Beside (next to) / Besides (in addition to): sat beside me / Besides English, he knows Hindi.
• In (position) / Into (motion of going inside): He is in the room / He jumped into the river.
• By (doer) / With (instrument): The snake was killed by him with a stick.
• Since (point of time) / For (period) — see the tenses section.
• Die of (disease: died of cancer) / die from (cause/injury: died from wounds).
• Angry with (person) / angry at (thing/behaviour). Agree with (person) / agree to (proposal).

7.3 Fixed prepositions (appropriate preposition)

7.4 Verbs without a preposition (extra preposition = error)

discuss about, enter into the room, reach at the station, return back, resemble to, comprise of, emphasise on, order for a pizza — correct: discuss the matter, enter the room, reach the station, return, resemble his father, comprise three parts, emphasise the point, order a pizza.

📌 8. Conjunctions & Inversion (6 min read)

8.1 Rules

• No "but" with Although/Though: Although he was ill, but he came ✗ → Although he was ill, he came (or "…, yet he came").
• Unless = if not — do not add "not" again with it: Unless you don't work hard ✗ → Unless you work hard, you will fail.
• should after Lest: Walk carefully lest you should fall.
• Both…and (both…as well as ✗); not only…but also (dropping but ✗); so…that, such…that.
• Parallelism: same form on both sides of a correlative: He is not only intelligent but also hardworking (adj + adj).
• When joining two complete clauses with a coordinating conjunction, the comma comes before the conjunction: She wanted to go for a walk, but it was raining, and so she stayed at home.

8.2 Inversion after negative adverbials

If a sentence starts with Rarely, Seldom, Never, Hardly, Scarcely, No sooner, Not only, Little, Nowhere, Under no circumstances, Only then, use helping verb + subject (question-like order):

• Rarely have people complained about the service.
• Never have I seen such a sight. / Seldom does he come late. / Not only did he abuse them, but he also beat them.

📌 9. Modals (can, may, must...) (8 min read)

A modal is always followed by V1 (base verb) — He can swim (swims / to swim ✗). Modal + have + V3 = a guess / regret about the past.

9.1 Modal + have + V3 (past)

📌 10. Question Tags (4 min read)

A short question at the end of a statement — It was the best concert, wasn't it? Rule: positive statement → negative tag; negative statement → positive tag. The tag has the same helping verb + a pronoun subject.

📌 11. Degree of Comparison (5 min read)

11.1 Rules

• Double comparison ✗: more better, most tallest.
• Latin comparatives + "to" (not than): superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior, prefer, preferable → He is senior to me.
• No "than" after Elder: He is elder than me ✗ → older than me ✓ / my elder brother ✓.
• Absolute adjectives have no comparison: unique, perfect, complete, ideal, round, square, supreme, chief, entire (more unique ✗).
• Than any other + singular noun: He is taller than any other boy in the class.
• One of the + superlative + plural noun: one of the best players.
• Compare the same kind of thing (that of / those of): The climate of Mumbai is better than that of Delhi.
• Positive degree: as…as (positive/negative), so…as (negative only): He is not so tall as his brother.

📌 12. Punctuation (7 min read)

In 2025, "Choose the option with the INCORRECTLY punctuated sentence" came in 7 out of 12 shifts. The 8 rules below solve almost all of them.

• Its (possessive, no apostrophe) vs It's (= it is / it has).
• Comma before a question tag: It was the best concert of the year, wasn't it?
• Direct speech: "What a terrible idea this is!" he said. / "It's too late," the manager said. (comma/!/? inside the quotation marks)
• Hyphen when writing numbers 21–99: twenty-one, forty-five, ninety-nine.
• Oxford comma (comma before "and" in a list) is optional: "5, 6 and 7" and "Paris, Rome, and Berlin" are both correct.

📌 13. Homophones & Homonyms (8 min read)

• Homophones: same sound, different spelling and meaning — brake / break, coarse / course.
• Homonyms: same spelling and sound, different meaning — bank (for money / side of a river).

13.1 High-frequency homophone pairs

13.2 These are NOT "homophones" (different sound) — trap pairs

accept / except, personal / personnel (different stress: PER-sonal vs person-NEL), farther / further, affect / effect, lose / loose, quite / quiet, desert / dessert — these are "confusable words", not true homophones.

13.3 Homonyms (one word, many meanings) — asked in 2025

📌 14. Prefix & Suffix — Word Formation (7 min read)

A prefix joins at the start of a word and changes its meaning (happy → unhappy). A suffix joins at the end of a word and often changes the part of speech (child → childish: noun → adjective).

14.1 Negative prefixes (which prefix is correct?)

Trap: in many words "in-/dis-/pre-" is not a prefix or does not give the meaning "not": incident, income, inhabit, discuss, disaster, premium, president.

14.2 Other prefixes

pre- (before: preview, prehistoric, prepaid) · post- (after: post-war) · re- (again: rewrite) · sub- (under: subway) · inter- (between: international) · trans- (across: transport) · co- (together: co-worker) · ex- (former: ex-president) · anti- (against: antibiotic) · bi-/tri-/multi- (2/3/many) · mono-/poly- (one/many) · auto- (self) · tele- (far).

14.3 Suffixes — part of speech change

14.4 Same suffix, different meanings

• -hood: stage of life → childhood, adulthood, boyhood; relationship/group → brotherhood, neighbourhood; state/quality → falsehood, likelihood.
• -ism: doctrine/belief system → capitalism, socialism, Buddhism, Marxism; activity → tourism; act → criticism; quality → heroism. (In organism, -ism does not carry a suffix meaning.)
• -ive: tendency/capacity → active, creative, protective. (Archive, survive, connive — here "-ive" is not a suffix, it is part of the word.)

📌 15. Collocations (5 min read)

Collocation = words that naturally go together. They are remembered not through grammar but through usage: "heavy rain" ✓, "strong rain" ✗; "commit a crime" ✓, "do a crime" ✗.

📌 16. Synonyms & Antonyms (10 min read)

In 2025 the synonym/antonym words were quite tough (abstruse, parsimonious, iniquity, prevarication). So below there are two lists: (A) PYQ words + their options (learn them all — these words can come again), (B) high-frequency basic words.

16.A PYQ words and their options (with meanings)

16.B High-frequency basic words

📌 17. One-Word Substitution (8 min read)

8 questions in 2025 — all from the standard list (ambidextrous, cartographer, etymologist, semantics, anthropologist, hypocrite, accomplice, contraband). Learn this list:

17.1 Persons

17.2 Crime, law & police (special for SI)

17.3 Studies (-logy / -ics) and others

17.4 Places & Government

Aviary (birds) · Apiary (bees) · Arsenal / Armoury (weapons) · Granary (grain) · Orchard (fruit trees) · Mint (coins are made) · Hangar (aeroplanes) · Kennel (dog) · Stable (horse) · Mortuary / Morgue (place to keep dead bodies) · Cemetery (graveyard).
Autocracy (absolute rule of one person) · Bureaucracy (rule of officials) · Anarchy (no government, lawlessness) · Oligarchy (rule of a few people) · Plutocracy (rule of the rich) · Theocracy (rule of religious leaders).

📌 18. Idioms, Phrases & Phrasal Verbs (9 min read)

The meaning of an idiom does not come from its words — the whole phrase gives a different meaning. Tip: remove options by looking at the context of the sentence (positive/negative, control/confusion).

18.1 Idioms asked in 2025

18.2 High-frequency idioms

18.3 Phrasal verbs

📌 19. Spelling (5 min read)

19.1 Spelling rules

• i before e, except after c (when the sound is "ee"): believe, achieve, field / receive, ceiling, deceive. Remember the exceptions: seize, weird, either, neither, foreign, height, leisure.
• Final consonant doubling: one syllable / stress on the last syllable + short vowel + one consonant → double: stop → stopped, begin → beginning, occur → occurred, refer → referred. If the stress is on the first syllable, no doubling: visit → visited, open → opened, offer → offered.
• Drop the silent "e" before a vowel suffix: make → making, write → writing, hope → hoping. Keep it before a consonant suffix: hope → hopeful, care → careful. Exceptions: notice → noticeable, courage → courageous (the e stays to keep the soft c/g).
• Consonant + y → i: happy → happiness, carry → carried, study → studies. Vowel + y → y stays: play → played, enjoy → enjoyed.
• Only one "l" in the -ful suffix: hopeful, beautiful, grateful (gratefull ✗).

19.2 Commonly misspelt words (correct spelling)

📌 20. Error Spotting & Sentence Improvement (7 min read)

The sentence is divided into 3–4 parts; one part has an error (or "No error"). Find it with a checklist, not by guessing — follow the order below:

20.1 Sentence Improvement method

• Replace the underlined part with each option one by one and read the whole sentence.
• First remove options with wrong grammar (tense, SVA), then those that change the meaning, then those with long/extra words.
• Choose "No improvement" only when the underlined part is correct on every point of the checklist.

📌 21. Fill in the Blanks & Cloze Test (5 min read)

The "fill in the blanks" format came a lot in the 2025 paper (tense, articles, modals, collocations, SVA) — all of that is covered in the sections above. Cloze test = many blanks in one passage; it did not come in 2025, but understand the format.

📌 22. Para Jumbles / Sentence Rearrangement (5 min read)

Some sentences (P, Q, R, S) are given in a jumbled order; you have to choose the correct logical order. It did not come in 2025, but it is part of the "comprehension" portion of the syllabus.

📌 23. Reading Comprehension Strategy (5 min read)

No passage came in the 12 shifts of 2025, but here is a basic strategy for preparation:

• Read the questions first (only the questions, not the options) — you will know what to look for in the passage.
• While reading, form the main point of each paragraph in your mind in 3–4 words.
• Question types: (1) Main idea / Title — should cover the whole passage, neither too broad nor too narrow. (2) Fact-based — written directly in the passage, find the line. (3) Inference — not written, but definitely follows from the passage. (4) Vocabulary in context — the meaning of the word that fits that sentence. (5) Tone — positive / critical / neutral / optimistic.
• Do not use your outside knowledge — answer only according to the passage.
• Options with extreme words (always, never, all, only) are often wrong, unless the passage says so.

📌 24. Last-Day Revision Sheet (4 min read)