SSC CGL Tier-II : How To Solve Sentence Improvement Questions

The SSC CGL Tier-I exam has been postponed till further notice, so the timeline for SSC CGL Tier II exam remains uncertain. But this is a golden opportunity for aspirants as it gives them an additional time for preparation.

In this post we will be covering the topic of ‘sentence correction’ in detail. We will see how important this question type is for the SSC CGL Tier-II and will list some important pints regarding how to approach and solve these question types.

SSC CGL Tier-II English Language Preparation : Importance of Sentence Improvement

One must realise that scoring in the English section is always easier as it is less time consuming. However, there is a caveat : one MUST establish a stronghold over basics such as grammar and vocabulary. In the following section, we share some tips for the sentence correction question type. But first let us take a look at the importance of this question type. The following table shows how many sentence improvement questions were asked in the SSC CGL Tier-II exam over the past 6 years.

Exam Year	No of Questions
SSC CGL Tier-II (2011)	20
SSC CGL Tier-II (2012)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2013)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2014)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2015)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2016)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2017)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2018)	22
SSC CGL Tier-II (2019)	22

SSC CGL Tier-II | English Language : How To Solve Sentence Improvement Questions

Sentence improvement is one of the most important and highly scoring section of the English Language paper. One pre-requisite of being able to solve the sentence improvement questions is a good grasp over English grammar. Superficial knowledge is not enough and one needs to understand the rules rather than just know them. So the best way of going about preparing for these questions is:

• Learn and understand the rules
• Practice a good number of questions
• Give relevant tests

In this article, we will help you with the first part of the preparation, which is learning and understanding the grammar rules. In the following section we will be listing down the common rules of grammar along with an example for better understanding.

Read this article on how increase RC scores

So read along!

SSC CGL Tier-II | English Language : Grammar Rules To Solve Sentence Improvement Questions

1. For a positive statement, the question tag used is negative and vice-versa. These type of sentences are usually used to say something and then ask for confirmation. For eg:

• It’s very hot outside, is it?      (incorrect)
• It’s very hot outside, isn’t it?  (correct)

2. In a sentence, a subject must always be in agreement with the verb. They both must either be plural or singular. For eg:

• Women is riding horses.     (incorrect)
• Women are riding horses.  (correct)

3. Collective nouns take a singular verb. Although collective nouns refer to multiple things, but they take a singular verb (as they collectively represent only one entity). Note that there are a few exceptions to the rule (poultry, cattle etc.) For eg:

• The class were summoned by the Principal.  (Incorrect)
• The class is summoned by the Principal.       (Correct)

4. When the subjects are linked with ‘and’, they take a plural verb. When subjects are linked with ‘or’, they take a singular verb. The rational behind this is, when linking with ‘and’ both things are involved and thus the subject becomes plural and takes a plural verb. whereas when linking with ‘or’ only one thing is taken into consideration and thus the subject becomes singular and takes a singular noun. For eg:

• The SSC CGL and the UPSC CSE are prestigious exams.
• The cat or the dog has gone missing.

5. Sentences beginning with every, each or everyone take a singular verb. For eg:

• Everyone are allowed to take the free trial.  (incorrect)
• Everyone is allowed to take the free trial.     (correct)

6. Comparisons should be made between similar entities. For eg:

• The malleability of gold is more than iron.             (incorrect)
• The malleability of gold is more than that of iron. (correct)

In the first example the comparison is made between malleability of gold and iron. Whereas, going by the above stated rule the comparison should be made between the malleability of gold and malleability of iron. Thus, the second sentence is correct.

7. For drawing comparisons, when the comparative degree is used the entity compared is excluded from the rest of the class. Whereas when  the superlative degree is used for comparison, the entity compared is included along with the rest of the class.

• This year’s exam paper was more difficult the any of the previous years’ papers.
• This year’s exam paper was the most difficult among all the previous years’ papers. 

8. ‘When’ denotes a general sense and ‘while’ implies a time duration of doing something. For eg:

• When preparing for a competitive exam, giving and analyzing mocks is of utmost importance. (incorrect)
• While preparing for a competitive exam, giving and analyzing mocks is of utmost importance. (correct)

9. Normally ‘than’ is used in the comparative degree, but with words like superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior, posterior and prefer ‘to’ is used. For eg:

• Prior than working here, she used to work with an MNC. (incorrect)
• Prior to working here, she used to work with an MNC.     (correct)

10. The preposition ‘off’ denotes separation, at a distance from or far from whereas the preposition ‘of‘ denotes cause, origin, quality, possession. For eg:

• The drone flew of the desired course. (incorrect)
• The drone flew off the desired course. (correct) (indicates distance)

These were few of the many rules for sentence improvement / correction. It’s a must to practice a good number of questions to get in tune with these rules and thus to be able to solve them efficiently.

We hope this helps you with your SSC CGL Tier-II preparation. Feel free to reach to us for any queries or doubts.

If you wish to get in touch with your fellow competitors for preparation of SBI Clerk 2019 Exam, you can visit Oliveboard’s discuss forum.

All the best!

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