HUNDRED GOLDEN RULES TO FIND OUT ERRORS IN ENGLISH FOR ALL EXAMS

HUNDRED GOLDEN RULES FOR ENGLISH  
( Part-I ----- 1 to 25 )

HUNDRED GOLDEN RULES TO FIND OUT ERRORS IN ENGLISH FOR ALL EXAMS

CORRECTION OF SENTENCES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR ALL EXAMS 

A. SUBJECT - VERB AGREEMENT

1 . Two or more Singular Subjects connected by and usually take a Verb in the Plural.

For example,

Incorrect- Hari and Ram is here. 
Correct- Hari and Ram are here.
2. If two Singular Nouns refer to the same person or thing, the Verb must be Singular.

Incorrect- The Secretary and Principal are coming.

Correct- The Secretary and Principal is coming.

(Here the same person is .Secretary as well as Principal)
3. If the Singular Subjects are preceded by each or every, the Verb is usually Singular.

For example,

Incorrect- Every boy and girl were ready.

Correct- Every boy and girl was ready.

4. Two or more Singular Subjects connected by or, nor, either ..... or, neither .... nor take a Verb in the Singular.

For example,

Incorrect- Neither he nor I were there.

Correct- Neither he nor I was there.

5. When the Subjects joined by 'or/nor are of different numbers, the Verb must be Plural, and the Plural Subject must be placed next to the Verb.

For example,

lncorrect- Neither the Assistant Masters nor the Headmaster was present.

Correct- Neither the Headmaster nor the Assistant Masters were

present. '

6. When the Subjects joined by or, nor are of different persons, the Verb agrees in person with the one nearest to it.

For example,

Incorrect- Either he or I is mistaken.

Correct- Either he or I, am mistaken.

7. A Collective Noun takes a Singular Verb when the collection is thought of as a whole, a Plural Verb when the individuals of which it is composed are thought of.

For example,

Correct- The Council has chosen the President.

Correct- The military were called out.

8. Some Nouns which are singular in form but plural in meaning, take a Plural Verb.

For example,

Incorrect- Mathematics are a branch of study in every school.

Correct- Mathematics is a branch of study in every school.

9. Words joined to a Singular Subject by with, together with, in addition to, or, as well as, etc. are parenthetical, and therefore do not affect the number of the Verb.

For example,

Incorrect- The Chief, with all his men, were massacred .• Correct-The chief, with all his men, was massacred.

10. When the Subject of the Verb is a Relative Pronoun care should be taken to see that the Verb agrees in Number and Person with the Antecedent of the relative.

For example,

Incorrect- I, who is your friend, . will guard you,r interests.

Correct- I, who am your friend will guard your interests.

B. USES OF PARTICIPLES AND INFINITIVES

11. Ask, advise, allow, command, force, forbid, invite, encourage, compel, beg, order•, imagine, instruct, permit, persuade, tell, require, remind, teach, etc. are followed by Object + To +V2

For example,

Incorrect- He advised to do it by me.

Correct- He advised me to do it. But if these are used in Passive Voice, then they are followed by To +V,.

For example,

Correct- She was permitted to go with him.

12. Know is followed by how/ where/when/why and Infinitive.

For example,

Incorrect- I know to write a letter.

Correct- I know how to write a letter.

13. After let, bid, behold, watch, see, feel, make etc. we use Bare-Infinitive and not To-infinitive.

For example,

Incorrect- I heard him to speak on several subjects.

Correct- I heard him speak on several subjects.

14. Bare Infinitive is used after Modal Auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, dare not, need not).

For example,

Incorrect- You need not to work hard.

Correct- You need not work hard.

15. Had better, had rather,had as soon ... as ... , had sooner etc. are fol-lowed by Bare Infinitive.

For example,

Incorrect- He had better to go now.

Correct- He had better go now. 16. Conjunction than is also fol¬lowed by Bare Infinitive.

For example,

Incorrect- He had better read than to write.

Correct- He had better read than write.

17. When but is used as a Preposition and preceded by any form of the Verb do, then but is followed with Bare Infinitive.

Incorrect- He did nothing but to wander.

Correct- He did nothing but wander.

18. Every Participile must have a Subject of Reference.

For example,

Incorrect- Being a rainy day Vijay decided to stay at home.

Correct- It being a rainy day Vijay decided to stay at home.

19. For completed action Having + Va is used in Active Voice, whereas Having + been + Va or Being + Va is used in Passive Voice. After should not be used in such a sentence.

For example,

Incorrect- After the leader having been killed, the followers ran away.

Correct- The leader having been killed, the followers ran away.

20. Participles like considering, judging, referring, concerning, regarding, viewing, broadly speaking etc. do not take any Subject of Reference.

For example,

Correct - Considering the case, I took the decision.

Here I is not a Subject of Reference of considering. So, there is no Subject of Reference for 'considering, still the sentence is correct.

C. USES OF VERBS

21. When there are two Subjects in a sentence and they are not in the same Number, then we must have to use separate Auxiliaries (is, are, am, was, were, have, has) for both of them.

For example,

Incorrect- Three- killed and one were injured.

Correct- Three were killed and one was injured.

22. A single Verb should be made to serve two Subjects, only when the form of Verb is same for both the subjects.

Incorrect- I am seventeen years old and my sister fourteen.

Correct- I am seventeen years old and my sister is fourteen.

23. Two auxiliaries can be used with one principal Verb, only when the form of the principal Verb is appropriate to both the auxiliaries. '

Incorrect- He never has, and never will take such strong measures.

Correct- He never has taken, and never will take such strong measures.

24. When there is only one auxiliary to two principal Verbs it should be correctly associated with the both.

Incorrect- Ten candidates have passed one failed.

Correct- Ten candidates have passed, one has failed.

25. A Past Tense in the main clause should be followed by a Past Tense in the subordinate clause.

Incorrect- He succeeded because he works hard.

Correct- He succeeded because he worked hard.

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QUESTIONS ON COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH FOR BANK EXAMS AND OTHER EXAMS

QUESTIONS ON COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH FOR BANK EXAM:

Questions on Common Errors are almost common in every Bank Clerical exam. Five to ten questions are asked on common grammatical or idiomatic errors. To answer the questions on Common errors, a candidate must have a good command over the grammatical rules.

In the question generally a sentence which is divided into four parts is given. A candidate is to find out the part which contains the error. The error may be due to the defective use of a word or the use of a word which should not be made or missing of a word which must be used to make the sense clear.

To spot the part which contains an error may be a difficult task. For ex¬ample, a sentence can be made correct by making change in one part or more than one parts. But in objective type questions, a question should not have more than one answer. So, a candidate has to find out the part by changing which the sentence can be made correct.

See the source of another confusion:

* He advised (1 lime (2)/go there (3).

In this sentence there is a confusion. The sentence can be made correct by using to before go.

He advised me to go there (Correct).

Now if the use of to makes the sentence correct here, in which part the error is. Is it in part (2) or in part (3)?

We can add to at the end of part (2) or at the beginning of part (3) to make the sentence correct.

Our Suggestions :

In such type of confusing situation a candidate has to evaluate the relative importance of both the parts. For example, here Bare Infinitive (go) is used in place of To-infinitive, to go. So the defect is in the use of go and it can be made correct by adding to before go. As go- is in part (3) so the answer is (3). Though such types of

. confusion are very rare but a clear understanding will make you more confident.

Now arises the question of grammatical rules. In our day to day. conversation or in casual writings or T.V. talks we follow that grammatical rules are not strictly followed. In such situations the emphasis is on language or the primary purpose of the language. Language is a medium through which a person makes another person or other persons understand the idea hel she likes to convey. Grammatical rules are formulated to overcome the differences between the idea one ex¬presses and idea one grasps. If grammatical rules were not tiiere, then he chances of misunderstanding would be much higher. So, grammatical rules evolved as a standard rules which are followed at the time of expressing some ideas or understanding some ideas expressed by others. But one thing must be made cl~ar that the grammatical rules are not something rigid, nor they are a must in conversation or informal language. Rules themselves are .changing. You might have followed that, nowadays, will is used in the First Person (singular & plural) Future Indefinite Tense. Earlier it was like that -

Future Indefinite Tense

Singular Plural

Number Number

1st Person I shall go. We shall go

2nd Person You will go. You will go.

3rd Person He will go. They will go.

At that time will was used in the First person to express firm determination. Now shall is not used or we may say that shall has become an obsolete word. And in place of shall we use will.

-See High School English Grammar & Composition by Wren and Martin.

But now, the question arises, "Should we stick to grammatical rules when such words are being obsolete day by day?" For this you decide on your own. But for Common Errors, there is no alternative but to follow the standard grammatical rules.

In case of a general student, to develop a command over all grammatical rules is not a easy nut to crack. Specially to an candidate who has completed his graduation grammatical rules are long forgotten. To re¬shuffle them is, of course, a time consuming affair. One who is in touch with his/her younger brothers or sisters and helping them in English grammar may find the task easier. But for a thorough preparation, a candidate may resort to "A Mirror of Common Errors by A.K. Singh" published from Kiran Prakashan. That must be fol¬lowed by a continuous practice using the practice sets.

If a candidate likes to follow the commonly known grammars one must be choosy. Generally a grammar contains a host of information. Classification, elaboration and other theo-etical aspects are given much impor-tance and a part of which may be proved fruitful to a candidate of Bank Clerical Exam. If you follow the ques¬tion papers of recently held exams, you can notice that, to give a good ac¬count to oneself, a candidate need not waste his time in studying and practising each and every grammatical rule. From the previously held exams, it appears that the following topics are gaining more importance now a days-

(i) Subject-Verb Agreement.

(ii) Uses of Participles and Infintives.

(iii) Uses of a, an, the. (iv) Uses of Modals

(v) Adjectives & Adverbs. (vi) Appropriate Preposition.

(vii) Superfluous Expressions and Slangs.

(viii) Pronouns and Cases.

As selective rules meant for Bank Clerical Exams are rarely available so, a collection of 100 rules are given for your convenience.

RELATIVE SYNONYMS & ANTONYMS SHORTCUTS PREPARATION

RELATIVE SYNONYMS & ANTONYMS SHORTCUTS PREPARATION

As mentioned earlier, there are five to six questions on Relative Synonyms and Antonyms. Generally some words or phrases in the passages are printed in bold. Below the passage these words/phrases are given, followed by five options. A candidate is to select the correct Synonym/Antonym of the given words in context to the meanings of the words in the passage.

In English a word generally bears several meanings. So the meaning which a word bears in particular de¬pends upon the context in which it is being used.Nowadays, generally no ques¬tion is asked on Absolute Synonym or Antonym. So, a discussion on that topic is futile. But for the convenience one must have a clear idea about the meanings and synonyms/antonyms of certain important terms. Besides that a candidate should develop the qual¬ity to guess the meaning a word bears in a particular passage in a particular context. That can be developed gradu¬ally only if a candidate is a regular newspaper reader. But an idea on ab¬solute synonyms/antonyms of certain words is helpful. Remember, unlike absolute Synonyms/Antonyms, Rela¬tive Synonyms and Antonyms are se¬lected on the basis of the meaning a word bears in the passage.

Now consider the following ex¬ample:

Directions (1-10) : Read the fol¬lowing passage very carefully and answer the questions given below appropriately. There are certain words in the passage printed in bold letters to lead you to find them out easily in order to help you in answering some of the questions.

I worked as health secretary for about five years from the middle of 1962 to the middle of 1967. Thereaf¬ter I worked as finance secretary until the end of 1969. Indiscipline was rampant in the health department. In¬tense lobbying to secure plum postings was the order of the day. Ministers, legislators, senior offic¬ers and other influential people openly pleaded the cause of their pro¬teges. The Health Minister was an honest, well-meaning politician. He approved my proposals to bring about some system and objectivity in postings and transfers and put an end to lobbying. But those efforts met with only limited success. Doctors suc¬ceeded in getting desired postings by resorting to bribery. On the eve of the elections, the then minister sent down over 100 transfer orders from his camp office. They were in conflict \\lith the g.uidelines and quite a few were con¬fusing in as much as two doctors were posted to the same place, or one per¬son was posted to more than one post. I did not carry out the orders. I submitted a note to Chief Minister

through the Chief Secretary pointing out why the orders should not be implemented. The Chief Secretary supported me. The Chief Minister de¬cided that the minister's orders should not be implemented. All the doctors who had paid money were disap¬pointed. In several other departments also corruption became widespread. In the works departments corruption had existed since a long time in the matter of awarding contracts. Now bribes were freely offered to 'Secure transfer to particular posts, and even for getting promotions.

_ As Finance Secretary I found that the finances of the state were in a precarious condition. Financial disci¬pline had evaporated. Long before the advent of the wireless and the tele¬phone, the British had included in the Treasury Code a rule (Rule 27) em¬powering collectors to draw money from the treasury to meet emergencies like floods, earthquakes, devastating fires, etc. To my dismay I found that col¬lectors were freely drawing money for all manner of trivial purposes. under Rule 27 of the Treasury Code .. In one case a collector had drawn money under the rule to buy a staff car for the SDO of another district. All checks and balances had disappeared. There was no accountability and anyone could do what he pleased. Resorting to a number of harsh measures I could restore a measure of financial discipline. But the administration con¬tinued to be in disarray.- 

1 . How many years did the author work as health secretary ?

(1) He worked as health secre¬tary until the end of 1969

(2) He worked as health secre¬tary before he took over• as finance secretary

(3) He worked as health secre¬tary till the health minister was found to be a man of integrity

(4) He worked as health secre¬tary for about five years

(5) He did not work as health secretary at all

2. According to the author what was the order of the day?

(1) Strict discipline

(2) Cut throat competition

(3) Racial discrimination (4) Intense lobbying

(5) None of these

3. How did the doctors succeed in getting desired postings ?

(1) Through dedicated service (2) By working in the health minister's constituency

(3) By joining hands with the un-derworld criminals

(4) 8y resorting to sycophancy (5) 'By resorting to bribery

-4. When the health minister sent down 100 transfer orders from his camp office, how did the author react? (A) He immediately obeyed the minister

(B) He did not carry out the orders (C)He submitted a note to Chief Minister through the Chief Secretary (1) Only (A)

. (2) Only (B)

(3) Only (A) & (B) (4) Only (B) & (C) (5) Only (A) & (C)

5. What happened whan the Chief Minister decided that the minister's orders should not be imple¬mented?

(1) The author was very happy (2) The author arranged a tea party to celebrate his victory

(3) The doctors resigned and left the hospitals

(4) The health minister submitted his resignation

(5) All the doctors who had paid money were disappointed

Directions (6-10) : Choose the word whiCh is MOST OPPOSITE in meaning of the word given in bold as used in the passage.

6. Intense

(1) Active (3) Feeble (5) Devise 7. Success

(1) Defeat (3) Abrupt (5) Difficult 8. Conflict

(1) Conformity

(2) Disagreement (3) Attest 4) Combat (5) Manifest

9. Supported

(1) Advocated (2) Betrayed

(3) Opposed (4) Abandoned

(5) Proposed 10. Promotion

(1) Premonition (2) Facilitate

(3) Demotion (4) Obstruction

(5) Encourage

[Syndicate Bank Clerk Exam., 17.04.2005]

ANSWERS 

1. (4) 2. (4) 3. (5) 4. (4)

5. (5) 6. (3) 7. (4) 8. (1)

9. (3) 10. (3) 

§ EXPLANATIONS §

6.(3) The word 'intense' means very strong. Out of the given answer choices the word 'feeble' means weak, faint. Hence, the words intense and feeble are antonymous.

7.(4) The words success and fail¬ure are antonymous.

8.(1) In the passage, the word 'conflict' means a serious disagree-ment. Out of the given answer choices, the word 'conformity' means behaviour etc. that conforms to estab¬lished rules, customs etc. Hence, the words conflcit and conformity are antonymous.

9.(3) In the passage the word support (Verb) means to help some-body/something by one's approval. Out of the answer choices, the word oppose (Verb) means to express strong disapproval of or disagreement with something/somebody with the aim of preventing or changing a course of action. Hence, the words supported and opposed are antonymous.

10.(3) The words promotion and demotion are antonymous .

SHORT CUTS FOR COMPREHENSION TEST FOR ALL EXAMS:

SHORT CUTS FOR COMPREHENSION TEST FOR ALL EXAMS:

Word comprehension bears the following meanings:

1. Comprehension is the ability to understand something.

For example,

This was utterly beyond her comprehension.

2. Comprehension is full knowledge and understanding of the mean¬ing of something.

For example,

They turned to one another with the same expression of dawning comprehension, surprise, and relief.

3. When pupils do comprehension, they do an exercise to find out how well they understand a piece of spoken or written language.

For example,

The course also features creative writing exercises and listening com-prehension.

When we use comprehension as a topic, it bears the third meaning. The word comprehension comes from the word comprehend, which means to understand. So, the Comprehension Test is based on the understanding capacity of a person/candidate. This is included in the scheme of the exam to test candidates' capacity to under-stand what is said or implied in the passage. Whether a candidate has understood what is said or implied in the passage is tested by asking ques¬tions on the passage.

In the Bank Clerical exam., a passage is given, followed by ten to fifteen questions. Ambng these ques¬tions, some are general questions on what is. said in the passage or ideas conveyed in the passage and some are on the terms used in the passage. These are the questions on syn¬onyms and antonyms. In most of the cases six (3+3) questions are asked separately. But in certain cases 3 or 4 questions are asked, which are scat¬tered among the general questions and don't appear separately. Number of general questions asked, ordinarily vary from 9 to 11. But for a deeper analysis of the questions asked on comprehension and the current trend, we must make a comparative study with suitable examples. Following are two passages appeared in Bank Clerical exams. These examples are given for comparison and for the con¬venience of further analysis.

We may classify.the questions asked in different exams into three types. Classifications are made on the basis of complexities which one faces at the time of answering the questions.

General, Type-1 question is that question, the clue to answering that contains in one place or in a sentence in the given passage.

General, Type-2 question is that question, the clue to answering that contains in more than one places or sentences in the passage. This type of questions is more complex, and so-lution is a time--consuming process. This type of question may remain in the following pattern :

• Which of the following state-ments is/are true in the context of the passage?

• Which of the following state-ments is/are false in the context of the passage?

In the recently held Bank Cledcal . exams, the presence of such type of questions showed a rising trend.

General, Type-3 questions are different from the above mentioned two types of question as the clue to answer this type of questions cannot be found in any sentence or part of the passage. Rather the answer should be made on the basis of what is implied in the passage. As the an¬swer cannot be made on the basis of what is said in the passage, this type of questions is real test of compre¬hending capacity.

To answer this type of question, one has to depend on his compre-hending capacity. The answer is no-where contained in the passage. If you can comprehend the passage wholly or if you guess the idea or message which the writer likes to con¬vey through the passage, then only you can answer this question. Other patterns of such type of questions are-

• Choose a suitable title of the passage from the options given below.

• From the reading of the pas¬sage we can infer that.

• From the reading of the pas-

sage it seems that the author is-

(1) an economi~t

(2) a political commentator (3) a newspaper journalist (4) a government servant (5) None of these

• The tone of the passage is-(1) cynical (2) analytical (3) descriptive (4) subjective (5) None of these

Different other patterns of ques-tions may be formed in such type. Type-3 is the most complex type of questions and the number of such type of questions is increasing day by day. To develop command over the solution of such type of questions, you may rely on PRATIYOGITA KIRAN and Practice Work Book published from KIRAN PRAKASHAN. And it is only through continuous practice you can earn this ability. For your conve¬nience the meanings of some terms related to such type of questions are given below :

1. Cynical : If you describe some¬one as cynical, you mean they be¬lieve that people always act selfishly. If you are. cynical about something, you do not believe that it can be suc¬cessful or that the people involved are honourable. Cynical means critical.

2. Descriptive : A description of someone or something is an account which explains what they are or what they look like. Descriptive language or writing indicates what someone or something is like.

3. Analytical: An analytical-way of doing something involves the use of logical reasoning. Analysis is the process of considering something carefully or using statistical methods in order to understand it or explain it.

Nowadays, in Bank Clerical ex-ams passages are getting complex. Earlier, passages were on historical facts and most of them were descrip-tive. A story, part of an autobiography or academic study of natural phenom¬ena were the subject matter of pas¬sages. Now we find most of the pas¬sages are on current economy. They are critical in nature and presentation is not very easy. Only a regular reader of newspapers can comprehend them fully. So, it is advisable that a candi¬date, if not a regular reader of news¬paper, should form the habit and con-centrate on editorial pages. Side by side persistent practice with the help of standardised practice sets will be fruitful for the candidate.

POINTS TO REMEMBER 

As the passages are lengthy and complex, so solution of questions on comprehension is time consuming af-fair. As the examination is time bound and you have to answer all the ques¬tions within a limited time, the follow-ing advice may prove fruitful for you:

• First read the question instead of the passage.

• After reading the questions, read the passage carefully and when¬ever you find the exact words or the answer of the questions then mark the right choice.

• If there is any doubt, read the passage again and answer the questions.

• If there is any question on the theme of the passage or the heading, look for the clue in the first or the last sentence of the passage. But hint in these sen¬tences may not be reliable al¬ways.

SYLABUS FOR BANK EXAMS ENGLISH LANGUAGES PAPER:

SYLLABUS FOR BANK EXAMS ENGLISH LANGUAGES PAPER:

Bank Clerical Exams are conducted by different BSRBs. So a standard syllabus for all boards can be hardly expected. But if we consult the question papers of exams conducted by the different boards in the past two years we find a striking symmetry in the questions asked. But this does not mean that there are not deviations or difference, or all these question papers had exactly similar composition and pattern. But, at the same time it is not true that a generalisation is not possible. In generalisation, we find the syllabus as follows : 

1. Comprehension Test

2. Common Errors

3. Fill Up the Blanks

4. Cloze Test

5. Jumbled Sentences

6. Jumbled Words

7. Spelling Errors

8. Phrase Meaning

9. Phrase Replacement

To be prepared for Bank Clerical Exam. a candidate must concentrate on the above mentioned topics. One cannot spare any of these topics. As mentioned earlier, the composition may vary, pattern may be changed from one Board to another,but a can-didate should not overlook any of these topics.

Among these, some topics are sure to be included in the question paper. Such topics are-Comprehen-sion Test, Common Error, Cloze Test, FiU up the Blanks. Our experience confirms that irrespective of the Board, every question paper containsall these topics. But remaining topics are not sure to appear in the exam. For example, if there are questions on Jumbled Sentences, questions on Jumbled Words are not likely to find their place in the same question pa-per. This shows that between these two topics, one is alternative to the other. Number of questions asked in English Language is fifty (50). Gener¬ally a question paper takes one of the following compositions : 

Probable Composition-A

No. of as.

1. Comprehension Test 15

2. Common Errors 10

3. Cloze Test 10

4. Fill up the Blanks 5

5. Jumbled Sentences 5

6. Spelling Errors 5

Total 50 

Probable Composition-B

1. Comprehension Test 1~

2. Common Errors 5

3. Phrase Meaning 5

4. Cloze Test 10

5. Fill up the Blanks 5

6. Jumbled Sentences 5

7. Spelling Errors 5

Total 50 

Rare Composition

1. Comprehension Test 1 5

2. Fill up the Blanks 5

3. Cloze Test 10

4. Phrase Replacement 10

5. Phrase Meaning 5

6. Jumbled Sentences 5

Total 50 

The above-cited schedules are only imaginary. Reality may differ; specially in future. One thing should be remembered in the context of the type of questions or topics covered is that the question pattern and composition of the question paper are changing rapidly and questions be¬coming tougher day by day. 

Now you have an indepth idea about the syllabus of the Bank Clerical English language paper. After discussing the syllabus we switch over to topic-wise discussion. In this discussion, obviously, Comprehension Test comes first.

PREPARE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE BANK & ALL EXAMS

PREPARE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE BANK & ALL  EXAMS:

English is a menace for many and a means to reach the goal for many others. So far the Bank Clerical exams are concerned it is a stumbling block indeed. Vast vocabulary and complex grammatical rules are enough to dust your lust for a clerical birth.

As you know, your performance in this paper is not counted at the time of preparing final list of qualified can¬didates. But this does not mean that it has no importance at all or prepara¬tion is easier than any other subject. Rather it is more difficult than any other subject. Some of you may be exceptionals. Some of you may be eonfident enough to devote less at-tention or spend less time and labour for the preparation of this subject. But you are only exceptions. What our experience dictates us to believe is that the general candidates find this sub¬ject a complex one" and to improve someone's perception in this subject is much more difficult than any other subject. Empirical evidences prove that a substantial number of candi¬dates cann't qualify despite scoring good marks in other papers. The rea¬son is-they cann't score the mini¬mum qualifying marks in English. Dif¬ficulties in this paper may have differ¬ent sources. Some difficulties are due to nature of the subject itself. On the contrary some other candidates may find it difficult for reasons which are purely their personal ones. To sum up, general causes are of the following nature:

1. Foreign Language : In India, few people have English as their mother tongue. Besides that, general candidates are not exposed to this language. Environment is not conge-nial for the development of a good command over this language. Though English medium institutions are pro¬liferating, but it may take a long time for the common Indians to switch over to English as a link language or al¬ternative to the mother tongue. The percentage of English educated people in India is merely two per cent. Efficiency of these two per cent is also not beyond doubt.

2. Lack of Spontaneous Affin¬ity: General character of human be¬ings or students is that they are averse to a subject which seems to be complex or which does not generate ready and perceptible result. So, we find an overwhelming popularity of Mathematics among the stud",;1ts. Quite contrary to that, they only com-plain against English as if it were not a scoring subject and pay little atten¬tion to it. Their performance in English is poorer than Mathematics. But the nature of the subject cannot be made the sale factor. The fact lies elsewhere. If you calculate the total time devoted to Mathematics and compare it with the total time engaged in English, you will find the answer. So, English can¬not be blamed for your poor perfor¬mance in English. Rather, it is your lack of interest or well-planned effort which is to be blamed.

3. Lack of Persistent Efforts :

For general students, English re-mains confined to school and college exams, S'lPplication form fill up, etc. and hardly drawn into day-to-day life. After graduation one may hardly read a story or a novel or a' poem in En-glish. Remember we are talking of general students.

4. Deficiency in Comprehension Capacity : Students often complain that a particular story or passage is beyond their comprehensive capacity. It is full of bombastic words. It is very complex, very monotonous, so on and so forth ... lt is very likely that some be¬ginner finds a passage or poem diffi¬cult. There are teachers in schools and dictionaries on your table to help you decipher bombastic words and com¬plex stories. During school and col¬lege days these are general prob¬lems. Solutions are also ready at hands. But there is no guarantee that one will not find a piece of literature beyond his comprehension after hav¬ing his university degree. In this case you have no other alternative than to refer a dictionary. But dictionary does not come to rescue in all the cases. This is because a word bears a num¬ber of different meanings. It may be difficult to select which of the given meanings is relevant in the context of . the passage/story to which the particu¬lar word belongs. Searching for a word in a thick dictionary is a time consurhing and disturbing affair. This does add to the problem.

Clue : Most of you have a basic concept on the language. At least you need not search for the meaning of every word. Some of the words in a piece of literature may appear to be all greek to you. But for these words also, you need not consult dictionary at the first instance. First of all, you try to understand the sense of the word in the context of the passage, make an assumption and try to clarify it from the preceding and succeeding sen¬tences as well as the sense of the sentence in which it belongs.

Here is an example-

"The woman's voice came down. She was quickly hustled into the car. The car went out, leaving only the flickering yellow light of the oil lamp beside Hukum Chand's bed. He rose, picked up the lamp and the table, and put them in the cornar by the door. The moth circled the glass chimney, hitting the wall on either side. The geckos crawled down from the ceil-ing to the wall near the lamp. As the moth alighted on the wall, one of the geckos crept up stealthily behino. it, pounced, and caught it fluttering in~ts jaws. Hukum Chand watched the whole thing with •bland indiffer-ence:'-Page 90, Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh 

In this paragraph some words and phrases like hustled into, flick-ering, geckos, steathily, pounced, etc. may create problem. Take for ex-ample-hustled into-"She was quickly hustled into the car". If you stop here and brood over on the prob¬able meaning of the particular phrase hustled into, you may not come across any. So, you should carryon. In the next sente.nce, we find "The car went out... .. " Now think again and try to connect the happenings described in the succeeding sentence with that of the sentence which contains hustled into. You can make a clear assumptiuon. It seems that hustled into means got into. As in the next sentence, we find the car went out, so got into fits for hustled into. From that we can conclude that, not only the meanings of words used in a sen¬tence/paragraph condition or make the meaning of the sentence/para¬graph clear but the meanings of words are also conditioned by the context in which they are used. This shows that, we can have an idea of the meanings of various complex words used in a passage from the sense of the passage itself. A regular reader may not know the meanings,of various words. But he or she can guess the idea disseminated through a passage. This is more convenient. More convenient in the sense that, English vocabulary is a vast one with innumerable words. One word bears different meanings : different words bear same meaning. How dare you read English newspaper or books ? So, the only way out is to give em¬phasis on the sense of overall mean¬ing of the sentence or paragraph as a whole, than to search for the mean¬ings of various particular words. Now, one naturally may ask a very relevant question-what about the words which conditions the meanings of the sentence or paragraph? 

Of course, there may be some words regarding which a reader can not make any presumption or no guess can be made regarding the otmeaning. In such a case there is no alternative but to .consult a dictionary. 

In this way a serious reader can en¬rich his/her vocabulary.

What do we learn from this discussion ? 

One should not discard reading something when one comes across bombastic or uncommon words. He should try to make a guess about the meanings of these words and try to comprehend the content of the sentence or paragraph as a whole. And for the remaining words, the mean-ings of which are not at all clear and which are key to the understanding of the passage, one should consult dic-tionary. That type of exercise makes a candidate rich in comprehending ca-pacity as well as word stock. A regular reader will find that gradually his need for the elephantine book goes on diminishing.