NDA (National Defence Academy) Exam English (GAT Paper II, Part A) Syllabus

English (GAT Paper II, Part A) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for English (GAT Paper II, Part A) in NDA (National Defence Academy) Exam, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Grammar and Usage

   5 topics

   • Parts of Speech
     • Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs
     • Verbs, prepositions, conjunctions
   • Tenses and Verb Forms
     • Present, past and future tenses
     • Subject-verb agreement
   • Articles, Determiners and Modals
     • Use of a, an, the
     • Modal auxiliaries and their functions
   • Voice and Narration
     • Active and passive voice transformation
     • Direct and indirect speech
   • Sentence Structure and Error Detection
     • Spotting grammatical errors
     • Sentence improvement
2. 2

   Vocabulary

   4 topics

   • Synonyms and Antonyms
     • Word meanings in context
     • Choosing the closest opposite
   • Idioms and Phrases
     • Common English idioms
     • Phrasal verbs
   • One Word Substitution
     • Replacing phrases with a single word
   • Spellings and Word Formation
     • Commonly misspelt words
     • Prefixes, suffixes and root words
3. 3

   Comprehension and Cohesion

   3 topics

   • Reading Comprehension
     • Identifying main idea and inference
     • Vocabulary in context
   • Ordering of Words and Sentences
     • Jumbled sentences rearrangement
     • Sequencing of words in a sentence
   • Sentence Completion and Cloze
     • Filling in the blanks contextually
     • Cloze test passages

English (GAT Paper II, Part A) flashcards for NDA (National Defence Academy) Exam

24 of 50 cards from the English (GAT Paper II, Part A) deck — real questions with worked answers.

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

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

2. What is the difference between a common noun and a proper noun?

   A common noun names a general class of person, place, or thing (boy, city); a proper noun names a specific one and is capitalized (Rahul, Delhi).

3. What is an abstract noun? Give an example.

   A noun that names an idea, quality, or state that cannot be perceived by the senses, e.g., honesty, freedom, happiness.

4. What is a collective noun? Give two examples.

   A noun naming a group of individuals as a single unit, e.g., team, herd, jury, flock.

5. What are the four main types of pronouns with an example each?

   Personal (he, they), Possessive (mine, theirs), Reflexive (myself, themselves), and Relative (who, which, that).

6. What is the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb?

   A transitive verb takes a direct object (She wrote a letter); an intransitive verb does not need an object (He slept).

7. What is the function of an adverb, and what does it typically modify?

   An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, telling how, when, where, or to what degree (e.g., quickly, very, here).

8. What is a conjunction? Name the three types.

   A word that joins words, phrases, or clauses. Types: Coordinating (and, but, or), Subordinating (because, although, if), and Correlative (either…or, neither…nor).

9. List the three degrees of comparison of adjectives with the example 'good'.

   Positive (good), Comparative (better), and Superlative (best).

10. What is the formula for the Simple Present tense, and when is it used?

    Subject + V1 (+s/es for third person singular). Used for habitual actions, general truths, and fixed facts (e.g., The sun rises in the east).

11. What is the structure of the Present Continuous tense?

    Subject + is/am/are + verb-ing. Used for actions happening now or around the present time (e.g., She is reading).

12. What is the structure of the Present Perfect tense and its typical use?

    Subject + has/have + V3 (past participle). Used for actions completed recently or with present relevance (e.g., I have finished my work).

13. What is the structure of the Past Perfect tense and when is it used?

    Subject + had + V3. Used for an action completed before another past action (e.g., The train had left before we arrived).

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

    Subject + will have + V3. Used for an action that will be completed before a specified future time (e.g., By 2030 I will have graduated).

15. Give the three forms (V1, V2, V3) of the verb 'go'.

    go – went – gone.

16. Give the three forms (V1, V2, V3) of the verb 'begin'.

    begin – began – begun.

17. When are the articles 'a' and 'an' used?

    'A' before words beginning with a consonant sound (a book, a university); 'an' before words beginning with a vowel sound (an apple, an hour).

18. When is the definite article 'the' used?

    Before specific or previously mentioned nouns, unique objects (the sun), superlatives (the best), rivers, oceans, and groups (the rich).

19. What is a determiner? Give three categories with examples.

    A word placed before a noun to specify it: Articles (a, the), Demonstratives (this, those), and Quantifiers (some, many, few).

20. What are modal verbs? List five common ones.

    Auxiliary verbs that express ability, permission, possibility, or obligation: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would.

21. What is the difference in usage between 'can' and 'may'?

    'Can' chiefly expresses ability; 'may' expresses permission or possibility (e.g., I can swim; May I come in?).

22. What modal expresses strong obligation or necessity, and what expresses advice?

    'Must' expresses strong obligation/necessity; 'should' (or 'ought to') expresses advice or recommendation.

23. How do you change an active sentence to passive voice?

    The object becomes the subject, the verb changes to be + past participle (V3), and the original subject becomes the agent with 'by' (often omitted).

24. Convert to passive: 'They built the house.'

    The house was built (by them).

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