Compulsory English practice questions for UPSC Mains 2026.

Rule: a verb agrees in number with its subject — singular subject, singular verb; plural subject, plural verb. Three common traps: (1) intervening prepositional phrases — the verb agrees with the head noun, not the nearest noun ('The bouquet of roses is on the table'); (2) collective nouns can take singular or plural depending on whether the group acts as a unit or as individuals ('The committee has decided' / 'The committee have disagreed among themselves'); (3) 'either … or' and 'neither … nor' take a verb that agrees with the nearer subject.

Approach: find the head noun of the subject before deciding the verb form. Strike out prepositional phrases mentally. For collective nouns, ask whether the group is acting as one or as many. For correlative conjunctions, the verb is decided by proximity.

What an examiner expects: the rule stated cleanly in one sentence; corrected sentences with the change underlined; a one-line justification per sentence.

Common pitfalls: (1) matching the verb to the nearest noun rather than the head noun; (2) over-correcting collective nouns to always-singular; (3) ignoring the proximity rule for correlatives.

Rule: within a sentence or a closely linked passage, keep the tense consistent unless the meaning genuinely requires a shift. The most common error is mixing past and present in the same narration without reason. The sequence-of-tenses rule says that a subordinate clause normally moves into the past when the main clause is in the past ('He said that he was tired'), with three exceptions: universal truths, habitual actions, and historical present.

Approach: read your sentence aloud; if the time frame shifts mid-sentence and you cannot justify the shift, fix the verb. In reported speech, the reporting verb in the past pulls the reported verb back one tense ('I am' becomes 'he was').

What an examiner expects: the rule stated cleanly; corrected sentences with the verb change underlined; a one-line justification.

Common pitfalls: (1) using historical present then drifting back to past; (2) failing to back-shift in reported speech; (3) over-correcting universal truths into past tense ('He said the earth moved around the sun').

Rule: indefinite articles 'a' and 'an' introduce a singular countable noun mentioned for the first time or generic in reference; 'a' before consonant sounds, 'an' before vowel sounds. The definite article 'the' is used when the noun refers to something specific or previously mentioned, or unique ('the sun', 'the Prime Minister'). Plural and uncountable nouns take no article when used in a general sense.

Approach: for each noun ask: countable or uncountable? Singular or plural? Specific or generic? First mention or repeat mention? Unique? Use this checklist to choose.

What an examiner expects: the rule stated cleanly; corrected sentences with the article change underlined; a one-line justification.

Common pitfalls: (1) using 'a' before vowel sounds — sound, not spelling, decides ('an honest man', 'a university'); (2) using 'the' before plural generic nouns ('the dogs are loyal' should be 'dogs are loyal' for a general claim); (3) dropping the definite article from unique singulars.

Rule: new English words are typically formed by attaching a prefix (added at the front, usually changing meaning) or a suffix (added at the end, usually changing the part of speech). Knowing the productive families — negative prefixes ('un-', 'in-', 'im-', 'il-', 'ir-', 'dis-', 'non-'), and noun-forming suffixes ('-tion', '-ment', '-ity', '-ness'), verb-forming suffixes ('-ise/-ize', '-ify', '-en') and adjective-forming suffixes ('-able', '-ful', '-less', '-ous') — helps both reading speed and writing precision.

Approach: identify the base word's part of speech; decide what part of speech is needed; choose a suffix that performs that transformation. For negation, the choice between 'un-', 'in-', 'im-', 'il-', 'ir-' is partly determined by the first letter of the base ('il-' before 'l', 'ir-' before 'r', 'im-' before 'b/m/p').

What an examiner expects: the rule stated cleanly; correct forms supplied for prompts (verb to noun, adjective to noun, noun to adjective); a one-line justification.

Common pitfalls: (1) using the wrong negative prefix ('unpossible' instead of 'impossible'); (2) doubling consonants incorrectly when adding suffixes; (3) confusing '-ic' and '-ical' adjectives (economic vs economical).