Royal Navy Recruiting Test (RT) Verbal Ability Test Syllabus

What do the prefixes "un-", "in-" and "dis-" generally indicate? Give one example of each.

They generally indicate negation or opposite. Examples: "unhappy" (not happy), "incorrect" (not correct), "dishonest" (not honest).

What does the suffix "-able" mean, and what word is formed from "comfort" + "-able"?

The suffix "-able" means "capable of" or "able to be". "comfort" + "-able" = "comfortable".

What does the prefix "pre-" mean? Give an example word.

The prefix "pre-" means "before". Example: "preview" = to view before, or "predict" = to say before.

Form a noun from the verb "decide" using a suffix, and name the suffix.

"decide" + "-sion" = "decision". The suffix "-sion" (or "-ion") turns the verb into a noun.

What is the plural of "child", "foot" and "mouse"?

The irregular plurals are: child → children, foot → feet, mouse → mice.

What is the plural of words ending in a consonant + "y", such as "city" and "army"?

Change the "y" to "i" and add "-es": city → cities, army → armies.

What is the plural of "knife", "leaf" and "half"?

Change the "f" or "fe" to "v" and add "-es": knife → knives, leaf → leaves, half → halves.

Give the plural of "crisis", "analysis" and "criterion".

crisis → crises, analysis → analyses, criterion → criteria.

What are the plurals of "sheep", "aircraft" and "series"?

These nouns are unchanged in the plural: sheep → sheep, aircraft → aircraft, series → series.

State the basic rule of subject-verb agreement for singular and plural subjects.

A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb, e.g. "The soldier marches" (singular) vs "The soldiers march" (plural).

Choose the correct verb: "Each of the recruits ___ (has / have) passed."

"has" — "each" is a singular pronoun, so it takes the singular verb "has".

Choose the correct verb: "The team ___ (is / are) ready for the exercise."

"is" — "team" is treated as a singular collective noun acting as one unit, so it takes "is".

In "Neither the officer nor the sailors ___ (was / were) present," which verb is correct and why?

"were" — with "neither...nor", the verb agrees with the nearer subject, which is the plural "sailors".

Rewrite in correct word order: "sea the across sailed ship the".

"The ship sailed across the sea." (Subject + verb + rest, following standard English word order.)

What is the standard word order of a basic English statement (declarative sentence)?

Subject + Verb + Object (SVO), often followed by adverbials of manner, place and time, e.g. "The crew (S) loaded (V) the supplies (O) quickly."

Complete the sentence with the right word: "The recruits had to ___ their fitness before joining (prove / approve / improve)."

"prove" — meaning to demonstrate or show that something is true; "The recruits had to prove their fitness."

Complete the sentence: "Despite the bad weather, the patrol ___ to complete the mission (managed / manages / managing)."

"managed" — the past tense is needed to match the past context, giving "the patrol managed to complete the mission."

Choose the correct word: "The new equipment had a positive ___ on performance (affect / effect)."

"effect" — "effect" is the noun meaning a result; "affect" is usually a verb meaning to influence.

Choose the correct word: "You should take your kit ___ you go (their / there / they're / where)."

"where" — meaning "to the place that"; "Take your kit where you go." (Their = belonging to them, there = a place, they're = they are.)

What is tense consistency, and what is wrong with: "He opened the door and walks inside"?

Tense consistency means keeping the same tense throughout related actions. The sentence wrongly mixes past ("opened") and present ("walks"); it should be "He opened the door and walked inside."

Correct the tense error: "While we were marching, it starts to rain."

"While we were marching, it started to rain." Both verbs should be in the past tense for consistency.

In a verbal reasoning passage task, what do the three judgements "True", "False" and "Cannot tell" each mean?

True = the statement logically follows from the passage; False = the statement contradicts the passage; Cannot tell = there is not enough information in the passage to decide either way.

In True/False/Cannot tell questions, why must you ignore your own outside knowledge?

Because answers must be based only on the information given in the passage. Outside knowledge may be correct in reality but "Cannot tell" applies if the passage itself does not state or imply it.

Passage: "All recruits must complete a swimming test. Tom is a recruit." Statement: "Tom must complete a swimming test." True, False or Cannot tell?

True — since all recruits must take the test and Tom is a recruit, it logically follows that Tom must complete it.

Passage: "The base canteen opens at 7am on weekdays." Statement: "The canteen opens at 7am on Sundays." True, False or Cannot tell?

Cannot tell — the passage only mentions weekdays and gives no information about Sunday opening times.

What is meant by the "main point" (or main idea) of a passage, and how do you find it?

The main point is the central message the author most wants to convey. Find it by identifying the overall topic and the idea repeated or supported throughout, often stated in the opening or closing sentence.

What is the difference between a main point and a supporting detail in a passage?

The main point is the central, overall idea; a supporting detail is a specific fact, example or reason that backs up and develops that main idea.

What does it mean to "draw a conclusion" from a text, and how does it differ from a stated fact?

Drawing a conclusion means using the information given to work out something that is implied but not directly stated. A stated fact is written explicitly, whereas a conclusion is inferred logically from the evidence.

Passage: "By the time the team reached the summit, the sun had set and the temperature dropped sharply." What conclusion can you reasonably draw?

You can reasonably conclude that conditions on the summit were cold and that the climb took a long time (lasting until after sunset).

When choosing the word that best fits a sentence's meaning, what two clues should you use?

Use context clues (the surrounding words and overall meaning of the sentence) and grammatical clues (the required word class and tense), so the chosen word fits both the sense and the grammar.