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Syllabus
💼 CAT
Subject:Management Aptitude Syllabus

Grammar & Paragraph Summary

Syllabus Unit: Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)

Why it matters

Chapter overview

This unit covers CAT's core language-precision skills — tense and subject-verb agreement rules, spotting the exact grammatical error in a sentence, condensing a paragraph to its essential gist, and reading vocabulary and idioms correctly from context — all of which underpin sentence correction and para-summary questions in VARC.

Management Aptitude Syllabus Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) 34% weightage
Live Animation1 / 4
70
Simple Past
55
Present Perfect
40
Past Perfect

1Grammar, Tenses & Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement depends on the TRUE grammatical subject, not the noun sitting closest to the verb — this is the rule CAT tests most.

Learning Objectives

  • Apply the rule that singular indefinite pronouns (each, neither, either, everyone) always take a singular verb.
  • Identify the true grammatical subject of a sentence when other nouns intervene between subject and verb.
  • Distinguish the correct use of the present perfect ('has done') from simple past ('did') based on whether an action's effect continues into the present.
  • Apply correct tense sequencing when a sentence combines a past-tense main clause with a subordinate clause.

Key Terms

Subject-Verb AgreementThe grammatical rule that a verb must match its TRUE subject in number (singular/plural), regardless of other nouns appearing between them.
Singular Indefinite PronounsWords like 'each', 'neither', 'either', 'everyone', 'nobody' that are always grammatically singular and require singular verbs and pronouns.
Present Perfect TenseFormed with 'has/have + past participle'; used for actions completed at an unspecified time whose effect continues into the present.
Intervening Phrase TrapA prepositional or descriptive phrase placed between the subject and verb that tempts the writer to match the verb to the wrong (closer) noun.

The single most tested grammar rule on CAT is subject-verb agreement — and the trap is almost always an **intervening phrase** that sits between the real subject and the verb, tempting agreement with the wrong noun.

Singular indefinite pronouns

'Each', 'neither', 'either', 'everyone', 'nobody' are ALWAYS singular, no matter how the sentence continues. 'Neither of the two boys HAS finished HIS homework' is correct — not 'have' or 'their', despite 'two boys' appearing nearby.

Common Mistake'Each of the students HAVE submitted...' is wrong — 'each' (not 'students') is the true subject, so it must be 'HAS submitted'.

Tense selection

  • Simple past: a completed action at a specific past time ('I visited Paris in 2019').
  • Present perfect: a completed action with a present-relevant effect, no specific time stated ('I have visited Paris').
  • Past perfect: an action completed before another past action ('I had finished dinner before he arrived').
Exam TipNever mix a specific past time marker (e.g. 'yesterday', 'in 2019') with the present perfect tense — 'I have visited Paris in 2019' is grammatically incorrect; use simple past instead.