SSC CGL (Combined Graduate Level) English Comprehension Syllabus

Distinguish between 'Stationary' and 'Stationery'.

'Stationary' (with 'a') means not moving/fixed; 'Stationery' (with 'e') means writing materials like paper and pens.

Distinguish between 'Principal' and 'Principle'.

'Principal' means the head of an institution or a main/chief thing; 'Principle' means a fundamental rule or belief.

Distinguish between 'Affect' and 'Effect'.

'Affect' is usually a verb meaning to influence; 'Effect' is usually a noun meaning the result/outcome.

Distinguish between 'Complement' and 'Compliment'.

'Complement' means something that completes or goes well with another; 'Compliment' means an expression of praise.

What are the eight parts of speech in English?

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

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

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, usually telling how, when, where, or to what degree (e.g., 'She runs quickly').

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

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

List the three main tenses and their basic time references.

Present (action now/habitual), Past (action completed before now), and Future (action yet to happen). Each has simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms.

What is the structure of the Present Perfect tense, and when is it used?

Structure: has/have + past participle (e.g., 'She has eaten'). It is used for actions completed at an unspecified time or those with present relevance.

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 plays' vs. 'They play').

In subject-verb agreement, what verb form do two singular subjects joined by 'and' take, and what about subjects joined by 'or/nor'?

Two singular subjects joined by 'and' usually take a plural verb. With 'or/nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject (e.g., 'Neither he nor they are coming').

What verb (singular or plural) do words like 'each', 'every', 'everyone', and 'neither' take?

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

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

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

When is the article 'an' used instead of 'a'?

'An' is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (e.g., an hour, an MLA), while 'a' is used before a consonant sound (e.g., a university, a one-rupee coin).

What is the function of a conjunction? Name the two main types.

A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses. The two main types are coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) and subordinating conjunctions (because, although, if).

Which preposition is used to indicate a point of time (e.g., 5 o'clock), a day, and a month/year respectively?

'At' for a point of time (at 5 o'clock), 'on' for days/dates (on Monday), and 'in' for months/years/long periods (in June, in 2024).

What is 'Error Spotting' in SSC CGL English?

A question type where a sentence is divided into parts and the candidate must identify which part contains a grammatical error (or mark 'no error' if correct).

Spot the error: 'One of my friend / is going / to London / tomorrow.' What is the correction?

Error is in 'One of my friend'; it should be 'One of my friends' (the noun after 'one of' must be plural).

Spot the error: 'He is senior / than me / by five years.' What is the correction?

Error is 'senior than me'; it should be 'senior to me' (words like senior, junior, superior, prior take 'to', not 'than').

What is Narration (Direct and Indirect speech)?

Narration is reporting someone's words. Direct speech quotes the exact words within inverted commas; Indirect (reported) speech conveys the meaning without exact quotation and requires changes in tense, pronouns, and time expressions.

In Direct-to-Indirect speech, how do 'now', 'today', and 'tomorrow' change?

'Now' becomes 'then', 'today' becomes 'that day', and 'tomorrow' becomes 'the next day'.

When converting Direct to Indirect speech, what happens to the tense of the reported clause if the reporting verb is in the past?

The reported clause tense usually shifts back: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could, etc. (back-shifting of tenses).

What is the basic rule for converting Active voice to Passive voice?

The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, the verb changes to 'be + past participle', and the original subject becomes the agent (often with 'by').

Convert to passive voice: 'The teacher praised the student.'

'The student was praised by the teacher.'

In passive voice, how is a question like 'Who wrote this letter?' transformed?

'By whom was this letter written?'

What is 'Sentence Improvement' in competitive English exams?

A question type where a part of a sentence (often underlined/bracketed) may contain an error, and the candidate must choose the option that best improves or correctly replaces that part (or 'no improvement').

Improve the sentence: 'He prefers tea than coffee.'

'He prefers tea to coffee.' ('Prefer' takes 'to', not 'than').

What are 'Para Jumbles' or Sentence Rearrangement questions?

Questions where several jumbled sentences (or sentence parts) must be reordered to form a coherent, logically sequenced paragraph.

What is a key strategy for solving Sentence Rearrangement / Para Jumbles?

Identify the opening sentence (introduces the topic, no pronoun reference), find logical/chronological links, and use connectors, pronouns, and transition words to determine the correct sequence.

What is the difference between the comparative and superlative degrees of an adjective?

The comparative degree compares two things (e.g., 'taller', 'more beautiful'), while the superlative degree compares three or more, indicating the highest degree (e.g., 'tallest', 'most beautiful').