Tips & Tricks for English Usage

English is the language of business management in the world. English is a meant

not only for
communication, but also national and international commerce.
In India, as well English has become a link language now. Factoring this, even t
he Parliament has
recognized English as an official language in addition to Hindi ?.
English usage is an essential part of assessment tests conducted by Employer
organizations...Needless to say, one needs to have great skills in English Usage
. A good score in
English Usage impresses interviewers as well.
English Usage section generally covers questions from three major sub sections;
Grammar, Verbal
Ability & Reading Comprehension. We are sharing important tips, tricks and websi
tes which can help
you enhance your vocabulary & reading skills. Practice them by heart to enhance
your knowledge
base.
All the best!
Contents
Grammar.........................................................................
........................................................... 3
Few good websites for you to brush up grammar- ................................
............................. 3
Verbal Ability..................................................................
........................................................... 4
Few short tricks & websites to learn verbal ability ...........................
.................................. 5
Reading Comprehension ..........................................................
................................................. 6
Speed reading techniques & important websites .................................
.............................. 6
Grammar
Grammar is a set of rules, which govern any language. And this holds true for En
glish language as
well. Obviously, this is the heart of any language.
It takes effort and time to excel in grammar, and is the most fundamental block
in mastering a
language.
The questions from this section are invariably part of any aptitude test.
Questions based on Grammar covers topics like, Articles, Prepositions, Tense, Ge
rund, Phrases &
Idioms, Parts of Speech etc.
Grammar section, in the test, can have following question types:
o Active Passive
o Articles
o Prepositions
o Tense
o Sentence Correction
o Sentence Formation
o Speech
o Phrases and Idioms
To solve these questions you need to be well versed with grammar rules. Spend ti
me making notes
which will help you in final revision.
Some of the important tricks for improving in grammar are :
Master the basics
You need to get hold of some books of grammar which can help you master the basi
cs. For example

there are books like one authored by Wren and Martin which cover all the topics of
Grammar
comprehensively.
Read and practice
The more you read, the better you get with your grammar too. Functional grammar
deals with the
way in which words and word order are used in social perspectives to get the mes
sage across.
You may want to go through the list of commonly made mistakes in grammar.This ca
n be immensely
helpful.
Few good websites for you to brush up grammarRoad to Grammar is a very simple si
te that teaches you grammar with the help of practice quizzes.
Link: www.roadtogrammar.com
Some sample examples on grammar questions can be as follows:
Q. Fill in the blanks of the sentence with the correct set of articles:
Robin Uthappa threw away his wicket with __ injudicious cut at __ ball too close
to him, but during
his brief stay in __ middle, indicated he is quite comfortable.
a, a, the
an, a, the
the, the, the
the, an, the
Q. Choose the best option from those given below to replace the underlined porti
on of the
sentence:
The fact that the terrorists left no pamphlets has laid credence to the apprehen
sion in certain
Quarters that it may have been orchestrated to discredit the security forces.
A) has layed credence to the apprehension
B) was laid credence to the apprehension
C) had laid credence to the apprehension
D) has lent credence to the apprehension
Verbal Ability
Verbal ability is essentially about having a good vocabulary. A good vocabulary
in turn is
fundamental to good spoken English and good skills in reading comprehension.
Verbal ability section, in the test, can have following question types:
o Analogy
o Sequencing
o Spelling
o Synonyms / Antonyms
o Sentence Formation
A few tricks & websites to improve verbal ability
Read Voraciously
Reading is the most effective way to get new vocabulary. When you read, you see
words being used
in context and that s what makes it much more effective than, merely memorizing wo
rd lists. Find
meanings of the difficult words which you encounter while reading any newspaper,
novel, books etc.
You need to actively work at reviewing and remembering each of the new word you
encounter.
Memorize the Word Lists
There are some important Word Lists in books like Barrons Guide and the students s
hould try and
learn those Word Lists:
Use Flash Cards to memorize new words. www.quizlet.com is a great source to find a
nd
memorize using flash cards. A flashcard or flash card is a set of cards bearing

information, as words
or numbers, on either or both sides, used as a learning drill to aid memorizatio
n.
Word Dynamo www.dynamo.dictionary.com is a Great source of online activities to
practice
vocabulary. You can learn from thousands of Word Dynamo expert created free stud
y guides from
SATs, to language, to vocabulary.
Any which way, it is critical for students to have a good vocabulary of at least
1000 good words.
Use It or Lose It
Don t settle after you learn a new word by reading it or looking it up in the dict
ionary: these are
good starts, but it s by using the new words that you truly commit them to your lo
ng-term memory.
Be creative and try to use your newly learned words in as many ways as possible:
? Write them down
? Say them aloud
? Create sentences with them, mentally or in writing
? Try to use them in a conversation
? Discuss them with friends
Play word games
Traditional word games can be great fun. These include scrabble, boggle, and cro
sswords. There are
also many web sites that have word games. Often these sites can hook you up with
an opponent, so
you don't even need to find people to play with.
Some of the sites for word games are:
? Yahoo Games- games.yahoo.com/word/
? Crossword Puzzles- www.crossword-puzzles.co.uk/
Some examples on questions in Verbal ability section can be :
Q. Choose the correct options to fill the blank in the sentence given below:
She begged to be allowed to go and her parents finally ......
a. arrogated
b. arbores
c. acquiesced
d. Any of the above
Q What does the word CONSANGUINITY mean?
(A)kinship
(B)friendship
(C)bloodletting
(E)understanding
So just get going on improving your Verbal ability.
Reading Comprehension
In general, aptitude tests have 5 -10, questions on Reading Comprehension . Master
ing this section
is difficult, but not impossible. Try following few tricks to improve your RC sc
ore.
Speed reading techniques & important websites
I. Speed reading is a useful and valuable skill- Many people read at an average
rate of 250
words per minute. This means that an average page in a book or document would ta
ke you
1-2 minutes to read. However, imagine if you could double your rate to 500 words
per
minute. You could zip through all of the content in half the time. You could the
n spend the
time saved on other tasks, or take a few extra minutes to relax and de-stress. A
nother

important advantage of speed reading is that you can better comprehend the overa
ll
structure of an argument. This leads to a "bigger picture" understanding, which
can greatly
benefit your work and career.
II. Eliminate vocalization or sub-vocalization- As you read (sounding out the wo
rds either out
loud or in your head). Instead of reading word by word, read in chunks of words,
or even full
sentences. Don't reread text that you have already read. Doing so will only disr
upt your
brain's flow and will slow you down.
III. Practice, practice, practice- you have to use your skills on a regular basi
s
o Choose easy material to start with
when you begin speed reading, don't use a
challenging textbook.
o An English newspaper should be read daily. Start with the front page and other
news which you find interesting. But the objective should be to start studying
Editorial section of Newspaper as fast as possible. In fact it may take you a
minimum of 3-4 week s time before you reach a stage that you can start reading
Editorial section of the newspaper.
o Check www.wikihow.com to discover various speed reading techniques
o www.eyercize.com/practice/read/ is a free online speed reading tool that can he
lp
you become an accomplished speed reader.
o www.ireadfaster.com is a speed reader designed to improve online-reading skills
. It
flashes the provided text as chunks at a specified rate. It helps to increase yo
ur
reading speed by practicing your eyes, reducing sub-vocalization and eliminating
regressions.
o How to Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis: This is a book that
teaches readers not just how to read faster, but also techniques
that can help them retain what they have read. Speed reading techniques are not
just about
counting how many words an individual can read in a minute. To actually read som
ething states that
it is important that the person understands what is being read.
Some sample examples on Reading Comprehension questions can be as follows:
Let us assume that this document is the one on which your comprehension abilitie
s are to be
judged?. So here come the questions now:
Q. Which of the following helps you in improving your vocabulary?
a. RAM Cards
b. EPROM cards
c. Flash Cards
d. IQ cards
The correct answer is Flash Cards .
Q .For improving which skill does one need to Eliminate Vocalization ?
a. Verbal ability
b. Reading Comprehension
c. Grammar
d. All of the above.
The correct answer is Reading Comprehension .
We hope you find this document useful.
Best of Luck.