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🇮🇳 SSC CGL · subject
SSC CGL English Comprehension Syllabus
Every chapter and topic of English Comprehension examined in SSC CGL — 3 chapters, 10 topics, plus 50 flashcards written against it.
English Comprehension syllabus — full chapter and topic list
Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for English Comprehension in SSC CGL, not a summary of it.
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Grammar
4 topics- Tenses
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Prepositions
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Vocabulary
4 topics- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- One word substitution
- Idioms & Phrases
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Reading Comprehension
2 topics- Passage
- Cloze Test
English Comprehension flashcards for SSC CGL
24 of 50 cards from the English Comprehension deck — real questions with worked answers.
What are the three main tenses in English, and what time does each refer to?
Present (current/habitual action), Past (completed/earlier action), and Future (action yet to happen).
What are the four aspects each tense is divided into?
Simple (Indefinite), Continuous (Progressive), Perfect, and Perfect Continuous.
What is the structure of the Present Perfect tense?
Subject + has/have + past participle (V3). Example: She has finished the work.
What is the structure of the Past Continuous tense?
Subject + was/were + verb-ing. Example: They were playing cricket.
Which tense uses 'had + past participle' and when is it used?
Past Perfect; used for an action completed before another past action. Example: He had left before I arrived.
What is the structure of the Future Perfect tense?
Subject + will have + past participle (V3). Example: I will have completed it by Monday.
In a sentence with two past actions, which tense marks the earlier action?
The Past Perfect (had + V3) marks the earlier action; the Simple Past marks the later one.
Which time expressions typically signal the Simple Present tense?
Adverbs of frequency such as always, often, usually, every day, generally, and never.
What is the structure of the Present Perfect Continuous tense?
Subject + has/have + been + verb-ing. Example: She has been studying for two hours.
What is a transitive verb, and how does it differ from an intransitive verb?
A transitive verb takes a direct object (She wrote a letter); an intransitive verb does not (He slept).
What is a finite verb versus a non-finite verb?
A finite verb changes with subject and tense (He runs); a non-finite verb (infinitive, gerund, participle) does not and cannot serve as the main verb alone.
What are the three non-finite forms (verbals) in English?
Infinitive (to run), Gerund (running, used as a noun), and Participle (running/run, used as an adjective).
What is an auxiliary (helping) verb? Give the two types.
A verb that helps the main verb form tense, mood, or voice. Types: Primary auxiliaries (be, have, do) and Modal auxiliaries (can, may, must, etc.).
What is subject-verb agreement?
The verb must match its subject in number and person; a singular subject takes a singular verb (He plays) and a plural subject a plural verb (They play).
With 'either...or' / 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with which subject?
With the subject nearer to the verb. Example: Neither the teacher nor the students were present.
What are the three principal (forms) parts of a verb? Give an example.
Base form (V1), Past (V2), and Past Participle (V3). Example: go, went, gone.
What is a linking (copular) verb? Give examples.
A verb that connects the subject to a complement describing it, e.g., be, seem, become, appear, feel, look.
What is an adjective?
A word that describes or qualifies a noun or pronoun, telling its quality, quantity, or number. Example: a tall building.
What are the three degrees of comparison of adjectives?
Positive (tall), Comparative (taller), and Superlative (tallest).
What is the rule for using the comparative degree with 'than'?
Use the comparative form + 'than' when comparing two things. Example: She is smarter than her brother.
What are the main kinds of adjectives?
Adjectives of quality, quantity, number, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, and distributive.
What is the correct order of adjectives before a noun?
Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose (e.g., a lovely small old round brown wooden box).
How are comparatives and superlatives formed for short vs long adjectives?
Short adjectives add -er/-est (fast, faster, fastest); long adjectives use more/most (more beautiful, most beautiful).
Give two irregular adjective comparison sets.
good–better–best; bad–worse–worst (also little–less–least; many/much–more–most).
Planning English Comprehension for SSC CGL
English Comprehension is about 19% of the SSC CGL syllabus by topic count — 10 of 53 topics, spread over 3 chapters. At roughly 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic, a first pass runs to about 8 hours.
The heaviest chapters are Grammar (4 topics), Vocabulary (4 topics), Reading Comprehension (2 topics) . Front-load those while your energy is high; the short chapters are better revision filler later.
Work top-down: read the chapter, then tick topics off individually rather than marking the whole chapter done. Sub-topics are where silent gaps hide.
English Comprehension (SSC CGL) FAQ
What is in the SSC CGL English Comprehension syllabus?
English Comprehension is split into 3 chapters — Grammar, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension, containing 10 topics and 0 sub-topics in total.
How is English Comprehension structured in the SSC CGL syllabus?
3 chapters. English Comprehension accounts for about 19% of the topics in the whole SSC CGL syllabus (10 of 53).
How long should I spend on English Comprehension for SSC CGL?
Budget around 8 hours for a first pass through English Comprehension — about 45 minutes per topic plus 12 minutes per sub-topic across its 10 topics. Add revision cycles on top.
Are there flashcards for SSC CGL English Comprehension?
Yes — a 50-card English Comprehension deck. Sample cards are printed on this page, and the full deck is free in the Examius app with spaced repetition scheduling.