NMAT Grammar & Usage Notes
1. Parts of Speech
Every sentence is made of words, and words have roles: - Noun: names (dog, book, India)
- Pronoun: replaces noun (he, she, it) - Verb: action or state (run, is) - Adjective: describes
a noun (big house) - Adverb: describes verb/adjective (runs quickly) - Preposition: shows
relation (in, on, at) - Conjunction: joins words/sentences (and, but) - Interjection: sudden
feeling (oh!, wow!)
2. Sentence Structure
A sentence = Subject + Verb + Object. Example: 'Ram (Subject) eats (Verb) mango
(Object).'
3. Tenses (Basic)
Only focus on Present, Past, Future: - Present Simple: I eat food. - Past Simple: I ate food.
- Future Simple: I will eat food. - Present Continuous: I am eating. - Past Continuous: I was
eating. - Present Perfect: I have eaten. - Past Perfect: I had eaten.
4. Subject–Verb Agreement
- Singular subject → Singular verb. (He eats) - Plural subject → Plural verb. (They eat) -
Be careful with words like 'Everyone, Each, Neither' → always singular. Example:
Everyone is happy (not are).
5. Modifiers & Parallelism
- Modifier = word/phrase that describes something. Wrong: 'Running fast, the gate was
reached.' (Gate cannot run) Correct: 'Running fast, he reached the gate.' - Parallelism =
same form in lists. Wrong: 'She likes dancing, to sing, and reading.' Correct: 'She likes
dancing, singing, and reading.'
6. Pronoun Rules
- Pronoun must match noun in number and gender. Wrong: 'Each student must submit
their form.' Correct: 'Each student must submit his/her form.' - Avoid ambiguity: 'When
Ram met Shyam, he smiled.' (Who smiled?)
7. Prepositions (Common Errors)
- 'Different from' (not different than) - 'Prefer tea to coffee' (not prefer tea over coffee in
exams) - 'Discuss the issue' (not discuss about the issue) - 'Complain about' (not complain
of, unless illness)
8. Error Spotting & Sentence Correction Tips
1. Check subject–verb agreement. 2. Check tense consistency. 3. Check pronoun usage.
4. Check modifiers (no misplaced ones). 5. Check parallelism in lists.
9. Practice Examples
Q1. She go to school every day. ■ Correct: She goes to school every day. ■ Q2. Each of
the boys are here. ■ Correct: Each of the boys is here. ■ Q3. Running down the road, the
bag fell. ■ Correct: Running down the road, he dropped the bag. ■
