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Syllabus
🛡️ NDA
Subject:Mathematics & General Ability

English Grammar & Comprehension

Syllabus Unit: General Ability Test (GAT)

Why it matters

Chapter overview

The English Grammar & Comprehension unit of the General Ability Test checks functional command of the language: grammar and usage rules, reading comprehension for both stated facts and inference, vocabulary built from synonyms, antonyms and word roots, and error-spotting/sentence-improvement questions that test all of the above together in a single sentence.

Mathematics & General Ability General Ability Test (GAT) 60% weightage
Live Animation1 / 4
Locate the subject
Check singular vs plural
Match the verb accordingly
Scan for tense and preposition consistency

1Grammar & Usage Rules

NDA's grammar section is rule-based, not vocabulary-based — mastering subject-verb agreement, tenses and prepositions alone clears most questions.

Learning Objectives

  • Apply subject-verb agreement rules, including tricky cases like each/every/neither and collective nouns.
  • Use the correct tense to match time-context clues in a sentence.
  • Choose the correct preposition in common fixed expressions (depend on, married to, arrive at/in).
  • Identify and correct common article (a/an/the) misuse.

Key Terms

Subject-Verb AgreementThe verb must match the subject in number — a singular subject takes a singular verb, a plural subject takes a plural verb.
Collective NounA singular-form noun referring to a group (team, jury, family); usually takes a singular verb when acting as one unit.
Preposition of Fixed UsageA preposition tied to a specific word by convention rather than logic, e.g. 'good at', 'angry with'.
Articlea/an (indefinite, one of many) vs the (definite, a specific/already-known thing).

NDA's grammar questions are largely rule-based — the same handful of rules, applied consistently, resolve the majority of the section.

Subject-verb agreement traps

  • 'Each/every/neither/either' + singular verb.
  • Collective nouns (team, jury) take a singular verb when acting as one unit.
  • Two subjects joined by 'and' take a plural verb, but joined by 'or/nor' the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
Common Mistake'Neither the teacher nor the students ___' — the verb agrees with 'students' (the nearer subject), so it's 'are', not 'is'.

Tense consistency

Match verb tense to time markers — 'since 2010' needs present perfect, 'yesterday' needs simple past; don't mix tenses within one sentence without a clear reason.

Prepositions

  • depend ON
  • married TO
  • angry WITH (a person) / angry AT (a situation)
  • good AT
  • arrive AT (a place) / arrive IN (a city or country)

Articles

'a' precedes consonant sounds, 'an' precedes vowel sounds — by sound, not spelling ('an hour', but 'a university'); 'the' is used for specific, unique or already-mentioned nouns.