English Notes: English Grammar Short tricks Notes For Competitive Exams

Short Notes of English grammar. These notes will help you to pass the exam. These notes are created by experts and best for UPSC, SSC, NDA, Navy, Airforce, Army, Teacher exams, state exams and other exam.

Downloadpdfnotes provides you important notes of English Grammar. In this article we will provide you important short tricks of English grammar for competitive and board exams. you can get here these notes.

Some important (Sub-Verb Agreement) notes of English Grammar

Two singular subjects connected by or, either/or, or neither/nor require a singular verb.

Some Examples:

I. My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
II. Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
III. Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.

A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects. The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.
Hasty writers, speakers, readers, and listeners might miss the all-too-common mistake in the following sentence:

I. Incorrect: A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.
II. Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)

Verb in an or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence agrees with the noun or pronoun closest to it.
Some Examples:

I. Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes on that shelf.
II. Neither the serving bowl nor the plates go on that shelf.

Basic rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
Some Example:

I. A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

But note some exceptions:

II. Breaking and entering is against the law.
III. The bed and breakfast was charming.

In both above sentences, breaking and entering and bed and breakfast are compound nouns.
Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.
Some Examples:

I. Three miles is too far to walk.
II. Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.
III. Ten dollars is a high price to pay.

With collective nouns such as group, jury, family, audience, population, the verb might be singular or plural, depending on the writer's intent.
Some Examples:

I. Most of the jury is here OR are here.
II. All of my family has arrived OR have arrived.
III. A third of the population was not in favor OR were not in favor of the bill.
IV. The staff is deciding how they want to vote.

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English Notes: English Grammar Short tricks Notes For Competitive Exams