PAF Aeronautical Engineering English Syllabus

What is the structure of the Future Perfect tense?

Subject + will/shall have + past participle (e.g., 'By Friday I shall have completed the report').

State the basic rule of Subject-Verb Agreement.

A verb must agree with its subject in number and person: 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, what verb form do two singular subjects joined by 'and' take?

They usually take a plural verb (e.g., 'Ali and Sara are friends'), unless they denote one idea/person (e.g., 'Bread and butter is my breakfast').

When subjects are joined by 'or'/'nor', which subject does the verb agree with?

The verb agrees with the subject nearer to it (e.g., 'Neither the teacher nor the students were present').

What is the Active Voice?

In the active voice, the subject performs the action of the verb (e.g., 'The dog chased the cat'). The doer is the focus.

What is the Passive Voice?

In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (e.g., 'The cat was chased by the dog'). The receiver is the focus.

What is the general rule for changing active voice into passive voice?

The object becomes the subject, the verb changes to 'be + past participle' (matching the tense), and the original subject is placed after 'by'.

Change to passive voice: 'She writes a letter.'

'A letter is written by her.'

What is Direct Narration (Direct Speech)?

Direct narration reports the exact words of the speaker inside quotation marks (e.g., He said, 'I am tired').

What is Indirect Narration (Reported Speech)?

Indirect narration reports the meaning of the speaker's words without quotation marks, often using a conjunction (e.g., He said that he was tired).

When changing direct to indirect speech, how do present tenses change?

They shift one step back into the past: present simple to past simple, present continuous to past continuous, and present perfect to past perfect.

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

'now' becomes 'then', 'today' becomes 'that day', and 'here' becomes 'there'.

Convert to indirect speech: She said, 'I am writing a letter.'

She said that she was writing a letter.

State the common rules for forming the plural of nouns.

Usually add -s (book/books); add -es after s, ss, sh, ch, x (box/boxes); change -y to -ies after a consonant (city/cities); some change -f to -ves (leaf/leaves).

Give the plurals of: man, woman, child, foot, tooth, mouse.

men, women, children, feet, teeth, mice (irregular plurals).

What is grammatical gender? Name its four types.

Gender shows the sex of a noun/pronoun. Types: Masculine (male), Feminine (female), Common (either, e.g., teacher), and Neuter (no sex, e.g., table).

Give the feminine forms of: king, lion, horse, nephew, bull.

queen, lioness, mare, niece, cow.

What are the three degrees of comparison of adjectives?

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

How are the comparative and superlative degrees of long adjectives formed?

By placing 'more' before the adjective for the comparative and 'most' for the superlative (e.g., beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful).

Give the three degrees of comparison for 'good' and 'bad'.

good - better - best; bad - worse - worst (irregular).

What is a synonym?

A synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word (e.g., big/large, happy/glad).

Give synonyms for: brave, honest, beautiful.

brave = courageous; honest = truthful; beautiful = gorgeous/lovely.

What is an antonym?

An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning to another word (e.g., hot/cold, up/down).

Give antonyms for: ancient, victory, expand.

ancient = modern; victory = defeat; expand = contract.

What is one-word substitution? Give an example.

It is the use of a single word in place of a phrase or group of words, e.g., 'a person who studies stars' = an astronomer.

Give one-word substitutions for: 'one who flies an aircraft' and 'a place where aeroplanes are kept'.

A pilot/aviator; a hangar.

Give the one-word substitution for: 'a government by the people', 'one who cannot read or write', and 'a medicine that kills germs'.

Democracy; an illiterate; an antiseptic.

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a fixed group of words whose meaning is different from the literal meaning of the individual words (e.g., 'a piece of cake' = something very easy).

What do these idioms mean: 'to break the ice' and 'once in a blue moon'?

'To break the ice' = to start a conversation/relieve tension; 'once in a blue moon' = very rarely.

What do these idioms mean: 'to burn the midnight oil' and 'to let the cat out of the bag'?

'To burn the midnight oil' = to study or work late into the night; 'to let the cat out of the bag' = to reveal a secret.