Introduction to Grammar for CAT

1. CAT grammar adheres to the rules of “Standard Written English.” “Standard Written English” refers to formal writing that follows the rules that you find in grammar books. Since proper written English often differs from spoken English, the correct answer will not always be the one that sounds the best to you. You cannot rely on your ear alone; you must become familiar with the grammar rules of written English. 2. The CAT tests a limited number of grammar rules. English grammar contains hundreds of very specific rules. The CAT tests only a few of these, so devote your energy to mastering the most common rules.. 3. Grammar is key – but style is important, too. The best answer must be clear and grammatically correct, but without redundancy, and with proper punctuation. Idioms must be used correctly. Look for grammatical errors first; then check for errors in style. 4. Sentences may contain more than one error. Sentence Correction questions contain discrete, identifiable errors. Be on the lookout for sentences containing two or three errors. Just because an answer choice corrects one error in the sentence doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right choice. The best answer will correct all errors in the original sentence. 5. Incorrect answer choices are incorrect. Sentence Correction answer choices are variations of the correct answer. Incorrect answers will almost always be identifiable as such. Even if an answer choice sounds strange, don’t rush to eliminate it unless you can find a definite error. Read the entire sentence. Do not simply read the underlined part of the sentence, because context may be important in determining the correct answer. Look out for spelling, capitalization, or punctuation; they are covered in Sentence Correction questions. Look for clues indicating which grammar rule the question is testing. Keep an eye out for the following issues: Agreement: Look for pronouns, verbs, and nouns — do they agree? Modifiers: Look for introductory phrases set off by a comma — is the modifier used correctly? Parallels: Look for commas separating words in a list as well as expressions such as “not only…but also”; “both…and”; “either…or”; “neither…nor” — is everything parallel? Look for the answer choice that preserves the meaning of the original sentence and fixes its errors without creating any new ones. Eliminate answer choices with grammatical errors The CAT tests only a limited number of grammar error types. Therefore, you only need to learn a handful of rules – you don’t need to master every grammatical and stylistic rule of Standard Written English to do well on the CAT. Seven Types of Errors in Sentence Correction 1. Subject-Verb Agreement 2. Modifiers 3. Parallelism 4. Pronoun Agreement 5. Verb Time Sequences 6. Comparisons 7. Idioms These are the grammar topics you need to be thorough with in order to solve these questions meticulously in a quick manner because after solving RCs, there will not be enough time in your hand. english grammar for cat pdf cat grammar practice questions best grammar book for cat preparation grammar for cat exam pdf cat english questions with answers cat grammar syllabus cat sentence correction questions with solutions cat english preparation pdf