Air University Entry Test English Syllabus

One-word substitution: A person who eats everything (both plants and meat).

Omnivore.

What are the eight parts of speech in English?

Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

What is the function of an adjective?

It modifies or describes a noun or pronoun (e.g., the 'red' car, a 'tall' man).

What is the function of an adverb?

It modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb, often telling how, when, where, or to what degree (e.g., ran 'quickly').

What part of speech connects words, phrases, or clauses?

A conjunction (e.g., and, but, or, because, although).

What part of speech shows the relationship of a noun/pronoun to another word, usually indicating position or direction?

A preposition (e.g., in, on, under, between, to).

What is the basic rule of subject-verb agreement?

A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb (e.g., 'He runs' / 'They run').

In subject-verb agreement, which verb is correct: 'Each of the boys (is/are) present'?

Is — 'each' is singular and takes a singular verb.

When two subjects are joined by 'either...or' or 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with which subject?

The subject nearer to the verb (e.g., 'Neither the teacher nor the students are ready').

Does a verb following a collective noun acting as a single unit take singular or plural form?

Singular (e.g., 'The committee has decided').

Which verb is correct: 'The news (is/are) good'?

Is — 'news' is an uncountable/singular noun.

What are the three articles in English, and which are definite vs indefinite?

'A' and 'an' are indefinite articles; 'the' is the definite article.

When do you use 'a' versus 'an'?

Use 'a' before a consonant sound (a book) and 'an' before a vowel sound (an apple, an hour).

What are determiners? Give examples.

Words placed before a noun to clarify what it refers to (e.g., this, that, my, some, many, each, every, all).

Which article is correct: 'He is ___ honest man'?

An — 'honest' begins with a vowel sound because the 'h' is silent.

Do we normally use an article before a proper noun like a person's name?

No — proper nouns (e.g., 'Ahmed', 'Pakistan') usually take no article.

What is an 'error identification' question?

A sentence divided into parts where you must spot the part containing a grammatical mistake (or mark 'no error').

Identify the error: 'She don't like coffee.'

'don't' should be 'doesn't' (singular subject 'she' needs 'doesn't').

Identify the error: 'He is more taller than his brother.'

'more taller' is a double comparative; correct is just 'taller'.

Identify the error: 'One of the student is absent.'

'student' should be 'students' ('one of the' is followed by a plural noun).

Identify the error: 'I have visited him yesterday.'

'have visited' should be 'visited' — a definite past time ('yesterday') needs the simple past, not present perfect.

What is a 'single-blank completion' question?

A sentence with one blank that must be filled with the most appropriate word to make it grammatically and contextually correct.

Fill the blank: 'Despite his wealth, he lived a very ___ life.' (frugal/lavish)

Frugal — 'despite' signals contrast with wealth, so a simple/economical life fits.

Fill the blank: 'The scientist's ___ research led to a major breakthrough.' (careless/diligent)

Diligent — a positive result implies hard, careful work.

What is a 'double-blank completion' question?

A sentence with two blanks; both words must fit grammatically and logically, so the correct option is the pair that fits together.

Fill the double blanks: 'Although she was ___, she remained ___ in the face of criticism.' (talented/calm)

Talented ... calm — both fit the contrast and tone introduced by 'although'.

In a double-blank question, what is the best strategy if one word in a pair clearly does not fit?

Eliminate that entire option, since both blanks in a pair must be correct.

What is 'contextual word choice'?

Selecting the word whose precise meaning and connotation best fit the surrounding sentence context, not just any synonym.

Contextual choice: 'The lawyer gave a ___ argument that convinced the jury.' (cogent/feeble)

Cogent — meaning clear, logical and convincing, which fits a winning argument.

What is a 'sentence structure error' (such as a run-on sentence)?

A grammatical flaw in how a sentence is built, e.g., a run-on (two independent clauses joined without proper punctuation) or a sentence fragment (incomplete sentence).

Fix the run-on: 'It was raining we stayed home.'

Add a connector or punctuation: 'It was raining, so we stayed home.' (or use a semicolon/period).

What is a misplaced modifier, with an example?

A descriptive word/phrase placed too far from what it describes, causing confusion (e.g., 'Walking down the street, the trees were beautiful' — wrongly suggests the trees were walking).