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Why to choose this course of General English for UPSC IFS/IFoS

General English is often overlooked in UPSC IFS preparation, with many candidates focusing primarily
on their optional subjects. However, the marks for General English can range from 100 to 170 or more,
underscoring its critical importance in the selection process. It’s a section where scoring high is
achievable with the right guidance and minimal preparation.

Recognizing the value of your time and the constraints you face, we offer a streamlined, concise course
presented in a clear and accessible manner designed to be finished within 2-3 days. However, it is
advisable to study General English and practice daily for just 30-35 minute instead of giving full 2-3 days
in last. This will help you retain and score better.

This course includes numerous solved past examination questions, designed to give you a competitive
edge and help you maximize your performance in General English.

Don’t underestimate the impact this paper can have on your overall score—effective preparation is key
to leveraging its potential.

The course includes:

• Comprehensive Grammar Rules in concise form: 62 essential grammar rules are covered with
clear explanations and illustration, focusing on error detection and correction.
• Adjective and Noun Conversion: Guidelines and tips for converting adjectives to nouns and vice
versa.
• Sentence Transformation: Techniques and rules for effective sentence transformation.
• Homophones: A curated list of important homophones.
• Idioms and Phrases: Key idioms and phrases essential for the exam.
• Letter and Report Writing: Formats and tips for writing letters and reports.
• Precis Writing: Effective strategies and rules for precis writing.

This course provides all the necessary information and guidance in a streamlined and efficient manner.
This course ensures very high output to input ratio for the English Paper, given the limited preparation
time available.
While there is no shortage of content to study for the exam, this course streamlines the necessary
material to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness.

Two courses available:

1. Notes + PYQs only
2. Video classes and lectures + Notes + PYQs

Number of our students have scored high marks (140+) in General English in IFoS
You will never regret joining this course
Please Find the Sample of General English Course for UPSC IFS/IFoS
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Essential Rules of Grammar
Rule: Position of Adverb of Manner, Place, Time and Frequency

• Explanation: Adverbs provide more information about how, where, or when something happens.
The placement of these adverbs in a sentence follows specific conventions to ensure clarity and
coherence.
o Adverbs of Manner (M)
▪ These adverbs describe how an action is performed and usually answer the question
"how?"
▪ Usually placed after the verb or object.
▪ Example: "He spoke softly."
o Adverbs of Place (P):
▪ These adverbs describe where an action happens and answer the question "where?"
▪ Typically placed at the end of the sentence or clause.
▪ Example: "She placed the vase on the table."
o Adverbs of Time (T):
▪ These adverbs indicate when an action occurs and answer the question "when?"
▪ Generally placed at the end or beginning of the sentence.
▪ Example: "We will leave soon."
o Adverbs of frequency
▪ These adverbs such as "always," "usually," "often," "sometimes," "rarely," "never" are
used to indicate how often something happens.
▪ They are generally placed before the main verb in a sentence, but after the verb "to be."
▪ Example: He always helps me.
o Note: Adverbs of manner, place and time should be in sequence Manner, Place & Time (MPT)
in any sentence.
• Examples:
o Sentence: The boy sang beautifully last night at the party.
Correction: The boy sang beautifully at the party last night.
Explanation: "Beautifully" is an adverb of manner, “last night” is adverb of time & “at party”
is adverb of place. Arrangement is MTP so its wrong it should be MPT.
o Sentence: Come at 9 o’clock to my house.
Correction: Come to my house at 9 o’clock.
Explanation: The adverbial phrase "at 9 o’clock" should be placed at the end of the sentence
for clarity. Also adverb of place ”my house” will come before the adverb of time “7 o’ clock”.
o Sentence: They last evening went to London.
Correction: They went to London last evening.
Explanation: The adverbial phrase "last evening" should be placed at the end of the sentence
for clarity. Also adverb of place ”London” will come before the adverb of time “last evening”.
o Sentence: She spoke loudly yesterday at the meeting.
Correction: She spoke loudly at the meeting yesterday.
Explanation: arrangement will be MPT not MTP. “spoke” is adverb of manner, “at the
meeting” is adverb of place and “yesterday” is adverb of time.
Rule: Adverbs and Inversion
• Explanation: Inversion means verb comes before subject. When certain adverbs (like "never,"
"hardly," "seldom," "rarely", “not”, “few”, “little”, “scarcely”, “too”, “so”) are used at the

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beginning of a sentence or clause for emphasis, the usual word order can be inverted. This
means the subject and auxiliary verb (or sometimes the main verb) are swapped.
• Example:
o Sentence: Never she does help me.
Correction: Never does she help me.
Explanation: For emphasis with adverbs like "never," inversion is required: adverb + auxiliary
verb + subject.
o Sentence: She never helps me – its correct.
o Explanation: “Never” is coming in between and not at the beginning of the sentence so no
inversion.
o Sentence: Never I have met a person like her.
Correction: Never have I met a person like her.
Explanation: For emphasis with adverbs like "never," inversion is required: adverb + auxiliary
verb + subject.
o Sentence: Hardly she did attend the classes.
Correction: Hardly did she attend the classes.
Explanation: For emphasis with adverbs like "hardly," inversion is required: adverb + auxiliary
verb + subject.
Rule: Use of Articles
• Explanation: Articles ("a," "an," and "the") are used to specify nouns. "A" and "an" are indefinite
articles used for non-specific nouns, while "the" is a definite article used for specific nouns or to
tell the quality of a person.
• Examples:
o Sentence: A Mr. Rahul has come to meet me. – its correct.
Explanation: “A” is indefinite article and here by “A Mr. Rahul” means any Mr. Rahul not sure
which Mr. Rahul (Koi Mr. Rahul milne aaye hain).
o Sentence: The Einstein was a great scientist.
Correction: Einstein was a great scientist.
Explanation: "The" is not used with names like "Einstein" when referring to them as
individuals.
o Sentence: He is the Einstein of our class. - correct
Correction: He is the Einstein of our class.
Explanation: "The" is correctly used for comparison or to specify the individual within a
particular context or while telling qualities of person (here Einstein like qualities)
o Sentence: Judge in him prevailed upon the father, and he sentenced his own son to death.
Correction: The judge in him prevailed upon the father, and he sentenced his own son to
death.
Explanation: "The" is needed before "judge" to specify the particular role or quality.
Rule: Verb not taking any preposition
• Explanation: Some verb (Attacked, ordered, emphasized, affects, described, awaiting, despite,
investigated, violated, invaded, resembled)do not take any preposition when working as verb but
if same word is acting as noun then it will take preposition.
• Example:
o Sentence: The thief attacked on the man.
Correct Sentence: The thief attacked the man.

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Explanation: "Attacked" does not need a preposition like "on" when referring directly to the
object of the attack.
o Sentence: There was an attack on the man.
Correct Sentence: There was an attack on the man.
Explanation: The phrase "an attack on" is correct because "attack" is a noun that typically
takes the preposition "on" to indicate the target.
o Sentence: Rahul ordered for two cups of coffee.
Correct Sentence: Rahul ordered two cups of coffee.
Explanation: The verb "order" does not require the preposition "for" when directly specifying
the item.
o Sentence: Rahul gave an order for two cups of coffee.
Correct Sentence: Rahul gave an order for two cups of coffee.
Explanation: The preposition "for" is used correctly here to specify the purpose of the order
and order is noun.
Rule: IN / INTO
• Explanation:
o IN: Use this when there is no change in the medium or state; something is already inside or within.
o INTO: Use this when something moves or changes its state to enter or become part of something else.
• Example:
o Sentence: Rahul dived in / into the river.
Correct Sentence: Rahul dived into the river.
Explanation: "Into" is used because diving involves entering the river.
o Sentence: Rahul was swimming in / into the river.
Correct Sentence: Rahul was swimming in the river.
Explanation: "In" is used because swimming does not change the state of being in the river.
o Sentence: The girls walked in the room.
Correct Sentence: The girls walked into the room.
Explanation: "Into" indicates entering the room.

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Courses offered by Forestudy
Courses
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contact us.
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2. The course will remain valid until the
4. General English upcoming IFoS Mains examination.
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Roll no. can be published on our website,
channels etc.
Solved PYQs of past 10 years'
1. Geology Solved PYQs of both CSE and IFoS.
2. Forestry Solved PYQs
3. GK Solved PYQs
4. English Solved PYQs

Test Series
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3. GK Test Series
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Homophones

S.No. Word Meaning Sentence Use Separately Combined sentence use

1. Accept To receive a thing. She decided to accept the invitation to I will accept the offer
the party. except for the salary part.
Except Leaving apart or Everyone came to the meeting except
excluding. John.
2. Expect To hope. I expect that the weather will be nice I expect good results, but I
for the picnic. suspect some issues.
Suspect To apprehend. The detective suspects that the culprit
is someone from the neighbourhood.
3. Adopt To accept or take They decided to adopt a child from She adopted a child and is
another person's overseas. adept at parenting.
child legally.
Adept Proficient. She is very adept at playing the piano.
4. College An educational She spent four years in college She created a beautiful
institution or studying engineering and making collage of photos from
establishment, lifelong friends. her time in college,
Collage A piece of art She made a vibrant collage of her capturing all the
travel photos to hang in her living memories she had
room.
made.
5. Metal A chemical The statue was made of bronze metal. The blacksmith forged
element. the metal with great
Mettle Ability. She showed her mettle during the skill, showing his mettle
challenging times. in the face of such a
challenging task.
6. Sole part of a shoe The sole of his boot was worn thin The sole of his shoe was
after years of hiking. worn out, but his soul
Soul The spiritual or Despite the hardships, she maintained remained full of
immaterial part of a positive soul and continued to optimism despite all the
a human being or inspire those around her. hardships.
animal
7. Troop A group of The troop of soldiers moved steadily The troop of soldiers
soldiers through the dense forest. marched past the theater
Troupe A group of The theater troupe performed a where a troupe of actors
dancers, actors dazzling play that captivated the was rehearsing for their
audience. next play.
8. Yolk The yellow The chef separated the yolk from The farmer cracked open
internal part of the egg white for the recipe. an egg, revealing its
a bird's egg bright yellow yolk, while
Yoke a wooden The farmer adjusted the yoke on outside, his oxen
crosspiece that the oxen before starting the strained under the heavy
is fastened over plowing. wooden yoke.
the necks of two
animals and
attached to the
plough or cart

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that they are to
pull.

Idioms & Phrases

S.No. Idioms Meaning Use in Sentence
1. Achilles’ heels A small but fatal weakness. His Achilles’ heel was his inability to
make quick decisions.
2. Add fuel to fire To make a matter worse. Her comments only added fuel to the
fire of their argument.
3. An arm chair Good income job with high He found an armchair job in the
job comfort. company’s marketing department.
4. An axe to grind Something done for selfish She had an axe to grind in the board
reasons. meeting and it showed.
5. An iron-will Strong will power. Her iron-will was evident as she
persisted through every challenge.
6. Bite the Bullet To endure a painful or Despite her fear of the dentist, she
otherwise unpleasant decided to bite the bullet and get the
situation that is unavoidable. root canal done.
7. Draw a line Set a limit. "We need to draw a line when it
comes to our working hours."
8. Hand and glove In close cooperation. The two companies are hand and
with or Hand in glove with each other on this project.
glove
9. Pay off old To take revenge The two rivals finally faced each
scores other, eager to pay off old scores
from their previous encounters.
10. Turn over a To be entirely changed (for After the incident, he turned over a
new leaf good). new leaf and started fresh.

Converting word into noun

1. Add Suffixes:
• - tion: Often used to form nouns that denote the action or result of something.
o Educate (adjective form: educational) → Education
o Celebrate (adjective form: celebratory) → Celebration
• -sion: Used similarly to -tion, often with adjectives ending in -de or -d.
o Expand (adjective form: expansive) → Expansion
o Confuse (adjective form: confusing) → Confusion
• -ence: Converts adjectives to nouns, often indicating a state or quality.
o Different (adjective form: different) → Difference
o Evident (adjective form: evident) → Evidence
• -ance: Forms nouns indicating a state, quality, or action.
o Important (adjective form: important) → Importance
o Depend (adjective form: dependent) → Dependence
• -ness: Changes adjectives to nouns indicating a state or quality.
o Happy → Happiness
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o Dark → Darkness
• -ity: Converts adjectives to nouns, usually forming abstract concepts.
o Active → Activity
o Mature → Maturity
• -dom: Denotes a state or condition, often used with terms relating to rank or domain.
o Free → Freedom
o Wise → Wisdom

Sentence Transformation
Compound sentence into a complex sentence
• Transforming a compound sentence into a complex sentence involves combining clauses in such
a way that one clause becomes subordinate to another, often by using subordinating
conjunctions like "because," "although," "if," "since," “when,” “while,” “before,” “after,” “that,”
“so,” “that,” “whether,” “unless,” etc.
• Steps:
1. Identify the Clauses: Find the independent clauses in the compound sentence. These are
usually connected by coordinating conjunctions like "and," "but," "or," "nor," "for," or "yet."
2. Choose a Subordinating Conjunction: Decide which clause will be the main (independent)
clause and which will be the subordinate (dependent) clause. Choose an appropriate
subordinating conjunction to connect them.
3. Combine the Clauses: Integrate the clauses using the chosen subordinating conjunction,
making one clause dependent on the other.
• Example:
o Compound: Do your best, you will never regret.
Complex: If you do your best, you will never regret it.
o Compound: She aimed to win the prize and worked hard
Complex: "She worked hard so that she might win the prize."
o Compound: He did this and got punished
Complex Sentence: "He got punished because he did this."

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