FPSC General Recruitment Test English Syllabus

English syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for English in FPSC General Recruitment Test, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Grammar

   7 topics

   • Parts of Speech
   • Tenses
   • Subject-Verb Agreement
   • Articles and Determiners
   • Direct and Indirect Speech
   • Active and Passive Voice
   • Punctuation and Capitalization
2. 2

   Vocabulary

   5 topics

   • Synonyms
   • Antonyms
   • One-Word Substitutions
   • Idioms and Phrases
   • Commonly Confused Words
3. 3

   Sentence Structure

   6 topics

   • Sentence Correction
   • Spotting Errors
   • Sentence Completion
   • Sentence Rearrangement
   • Phrasal Verbs
   • Prepositions Usage
4. 4

   Comprehension and Composition

   4 topics

   • Reading Comprehension
   • Precis Writing
   • Paragraph Writing
   • Letter and Application Writing

English flashcards for FPSC General Recruitment Test

23 of 49 cards from the English deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the eight parts of speech in English grammar?

   Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection.

2. Define a 'collective noun' and give two examples.

   A collective noun names a group of people or things treated as a single unit. Examples: team, jury, flock, herd, committee.

3. What is the difference between an abstract noun and a concrete noun?

   A concrete noun names something perceivable by the senses (table, dog); an abstract noun names an idea, quality, or state (honesty, freedom, courage).

4. Name the three degrees of comparison for adjectives, with an example of each.

   Positive (tall), Comparative (taller), and Superlative (tallest).

5. List the twelve tenses in English (the four aspects across three times).

   Present/Past/Future Simple, Present/Past/Future Continuous, Present/Past/Future Perfect, and Present/Past/Future Perfect Continuous.

6. What is the structure of the Present Perfect tense, and what does it express?

   Structure: subject + has/have + past participle (e.g., 'She has finished'). It links a past action to the present or expresses a completed action at an unspecified time.

7. Give the formula for the Past Continuous tense and its main use.

   Formula: subject + was/were + verb-ing (e.g., 'They were playing'). It describes an action in progress at a specific point in the past.

8. What is the structure of the Future Perfect tense?

   Subject + will have + past participle (e.g., 'By 2026 he will have graduated'). It expresses an action that will be completed before a future time.

9. State 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' vs. 'They run').

10. In Subject-Verb Agreement, what verb form do two singular subjects joined by 'and' take?

    They normally take a plural verb (e.g., 'Tom and Jerry are friends'), unless they denote a single idea (e.g., 'Bread and butter is my breakfast').

11. When subjects are joined by 'either...or' or 'neither...nor', which subject governs the verb?

    The verb agrees with the subject nearer to it (e.g., 'Neither the manager nor the workers are present').

12. Do words like 'each', 'every', 'everyone', and 'none' usually take a singular or plural verb?

    They take a singular verb (e.g., 'Each of the boys is present'; 'Everyone was happy').

13. What are the three articles in English, and how are they classified?

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

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

    Use 'a' before a consonant sound (a book, a university) and 'an' before a vowel sound (an apple, an hour). It depends on sound, not spelling.

15. What are determiners? Give three categories with examples.

    Determiners introduce nouns. Categories: articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, those), possessives (my, their), and quantifiers (some, many, few).

16. How do you change a direct statement to indirect speech when the reporting verb is in the past tense?

    Backshift the tense (present→past, past→past perfect), change pronouns appropriately, and replace the comma and quotation marks with 'that' (e.g., He said, 'I am tired' → He said that he was tired).

17. In reported speech, how do 'now', 'today', 'tomorrow', and 'here' change?

    now→then, today→that day, tomorrow→the next day, here→there, ago→before, this→that.

18. How is a direct question converted to indirect speech?

    Use 'asked/inquired', change to statement word order, and for yes/no questions add 'if/whether' (e.g., He said, 'Are you ready?' → He asked if I was ready).

19. What is the basic rule for converting an active sentence to passive voice?

    The object becomes the subject, the verb changes to a form of 'be' + past participle, and the subject becomes the agent introduced by 'by' (often optional).

20. Convert to passive: 'The chef cooks the meal.'

    'The meal is cooked (by the chef).'

21. How is the passive voice formed in the Present Continuous tense?

    is/am/are + being + past participle (e.g., 'The house is being built').

22. Which tenses generally cannot be changed into the passive voice?

    The perfect continuous tenses and the future continuous tense are not normally used in the passive.

23. What is the main difference in use between a comma and a semicolon?

    A comma separates items in a list or clauses with a conjunction; a semicolon joins two closely related independent clauses without a conjunction (e.g., 'I came; I saw').

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