Quick Summary: English Grammar is the most predictable part of GATE General Aptitude 2027. Every year 1 to 2 questions test subject-verb agreement, tenses, articles, prepositions, pronouns and sentence correction. This guide covers the exact rules GATE tests, 8 solved previous-year and GATE-style questions, a 5-question practice set, a one-page rule sheet and the traps that cost aspirants a mark they had already earned.
📋 Table of Contents
- Why English Grammar matters in GATE GA
- What the official GA syllabus says
- Subject-verb agreement
- Tenses and conditionals
- Articles, prepositions and pronouns
- Sentence structure, parallelism and modifiers
- Shortcuts and traps
- Solved PYQs and GATE-style questions
- Practice set
- One-page rule sheet
- Common mistakes
- FAQs
Why English Grammar matters in GATE GA
General Aptitude carries 15 marks in every GATE paper, and Verbal Aptitude usually contributes 4 to 6 of those marks. Grammar is the cheapest of them. A grammar question takes 30 to 45 seconds if you know the rule and costs you a negative mark if you guess by “what sounds right”. Students from DA, RA, CS, ME, EE, CE and EC all face the same GA section, so this one chapter pays off in every paper.
GATE grammar questions are not school-level fill-in-the-blanks. They typically ask you to pick the grammatically correct sentence out of four nearly identical options, or to fill a blank with the right verb form or preposition. The difference between options is one word. If you know the rule, it is a free mark. If you do not, every option looks fine.
Scores like 15/15 in GA are built on exactly these predictable questions. Here is roughly how much grammar has contributed over the years.
| Year | Marks from grammar (approximate, across papers) | Typical question type |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 to 2 | Verb form fill-in, sentence correction |
| 2020 | 1 to 2 | Prepositions, articles |
| 2021 | 1 to 3 | Tenses, subject-verb agreement |
| 2022 | 1 to 2 | Pick the correct sentence |
| 2023 | 1 to 2 | Conditionals, modifiers |
| 2024 | 1 to 2 | Verb form, pronoun reference |
| 2025 | 1 to 2 | Sentence correction, parallelism |
| 2026 | 1 to 2 | Fill-in with verb and preposition |
What the official GA syllabus says
Notice the word “basic”. GATE does not test obscure rules. It tests about 15 core rules, repeatedly, in slightly different clothing. The sections below are organised around those rules. For the full GA structure, weightage and strategy, start at the GATE General Aptitude 2027 hub.
Subject-verb agreement
The verb must agree with its subject in number, not with the noun that happens to sit closest to it. GATE exploits this by inserting a long phrase between the subject and the verb.
- Prepositional phrases do not change the subject. “The list of candidates is ready.” (subject: list)
- Either/or, neither/nor: the verb agrees with the nearer subject. “Neither the students nor the teacher was present.”
- Each, every, everyone, nobody, either, neither take a singular verb. “Each of the boys has a book.”
- Collective nouns (team, committee, family) are singular when acting as a unit. “The committee has decided.”
- “A number of” is plural; “the number of” is singular. “A number of students are absent. The number of students is small.”
- Quantities as one unit are singular. “Five kilometres is a long walk.”
- Subjects joined by “as well as”, “along with”, “together with” keep the verb matching the first subject. “The engineer, as well as his assistants, was praised.”
(A) The quality of the components used in these machines are poor.
(B) The quality of the components used in these machines is poor.
(C) The quality of the components used in these machines were poor.
(D) The qualities of the component used in these machines is poor.
Solution: The subject is “quality” (singular). “Of the components used in these machines” is a prepositional phrase and does not change the number. So the verb must be “is”. Option (D) has a plural subject “qualities” with a singular verb. Answer: (B)
Tenses and conditionals
GATE tests tenses through time markers. Find the time word first, then pick the tense.
| Time marker | Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| yesterday, last year, in 2019, ago | Simple past | She joined ISRO in 2019. |
| since, for, already, yet, just, so far | Present perfect | She has worked there since 2019. |
| by the time, before + past event | Past perfect | The train had left before we arrived. |
| while, when + ongoing action | Past continuous | I was reading when the power failed. |
| by next year, by 2030 | Future perfect | By 2030 we will have built the plant. |
Conditionals are a GATE favourite. There are three you must know cold.
- First (real): If + present, will + base verb. “If it rains, the match will be cancelled.”
- Second (unreal present): If + past, would + base verb. “If I were the director, I would change the policy.” (“were” is used for all persons.)
- Third (unreal past): If + past perfect, would have + past participle. “If he had studied, he would have passed.”
The trap: never put “will” or “would” inside the if-clause. “If he would have studied” is wrong in standard English and GATE marks it wrong.
(A) was (B) had been (C) would have been (D) has been
Solution: “Last year” and “would not have flooded” signal an unreal past situation, which is the third conditional. The if-clause needs past perfect: “had been built”. Option (C) wrongly places “would” inside the if-clause. Answer: (B)
Articles, prepositions and pronouns
Articles
- “A” or “an” depends on sound, not spelling: a university, a European, an hour, an MBA, an honest man.
- “The” is used for things already known, unique things (the sun, the Ganga), superlatives (the best), and ordinals (the first).
- No article before uncountable nouns used generally (advice, information, furniture, research), before most proper nouns, and before plural nouns used generally (Engineers are practical people).
Prepositions GATE loves
| Correct | Common error |
|---|---|
| different from, superior to, prefer X to Y | different than, superior than, prefer than |
| discuss the matter (no “about”) | discuss about the matter |
| comprises / consists of / composed of | comprises of |
| married to, agree with a person, agree to a plan | married with, agree to a person |
| since 2019 (point), for five years (duration) | since five years |
| between two, among three or more | between the five teams |
Pronouns
- Subject pronouns after “than” and “as” in formal comparison: “He is taller than I (am).”
- Object pronouns after prepositions: “between you and me” (never “between you and I”).
- “Who” is a subject, “whom” is an object. Test: replace with he/him. “Whom did you call?” (You called him.)
- Every pronoun must have a clear antecedent that matches in number. “Each student must submit his or her (or their, in modern usage) form.” GATE avoids this ambiguity, so focus on number matching.
(A) than, over (B) from, to (C) from, than (D) than, to
Solution: Standard usage is “different from” and “prefer X to Y”. Answer: (B)
Sentence structure, parallelism and modifiers
These rules decide the “pick the correct sentence” questions, which are the most common grammar format in recent GATE papers.
Parallelism
Items in a list, or joined by “and”, “or”, “not only … but also”, “either … or”, must be in the same grammatical form.
Wrong: “She likes reading, to swim and cycling.” Right: “She likes reading, swimming and cycling.”
Wrong: “He is not only intelligent but also works hard.” Right: “He is not only intelligent but also hardworking.”
Misplaced and dangling modifiers
A modifier at the start of a sentence must describe the subject that immediately follows the comma.
Wrong: “Walking into the lab, the equipment looked new.” (The equipment was not walking.) Right: “Walking into the lab, I noticed the equipment looked new.”
Comparisons
- Compare like with like: “The climate of Chennai is hotter than that of Pune.” (Not “than Pune”.)
- Use comparative for two, superlative for three or more: “the taller of the two”, “the tallest of the three”.
- Never double a comparative: “more better”, “most tallest” are wrong.
Fewer vs less, much vs many
“Fewer” and “many” go with countable nouns (fewer errors, many students). “Less” and “much” go with uncountable nouns (less water, much effort).
(A) Having finished the experiment, the report was written by the students.
(B) Having finished the experiment, the students wrote the report.
(C) Having finished the experiment, the report by the students was written.
(D) The students, having finished the experiment, the report was written.
Solution: “Having finished the experiment” must describe the students, who are the ones that finished it. Only (B) places “the students” right after the modifier. (A) and (C) are dangling modifiers; (D) is not a complete sentence. Answer: (B)
Shortcuts and traps
❌ Matching the verb to the nearest noun instead of the real subject.
❌ Putting “will” or “would” inside an if-clause.
❌ Using “less” for countable nouns (“less students”).
❌ Comparing a city with a climate (“hotter than Pune”) instead of “than that of Pune”.
❌ Choosing “between you and I” because it sounds formal; it is wrong.
❌ Spending more than 60 seconds on a 1-mark grammar question.
Solved previous-year and GATE-style questions
The questions below are reconstructed in GATE’s format. Where I am confident of the year and paper, it is tagged; otherwise the question is labelled GATE-style. For 100+ more questions with video solutions, use the PiyushAI GATE Aptitude Test Series.
(A) had asked, submitted (B) asked, had submitted (C) asks, submitted (D) had asked, submit
Solution: Two past events; the asking happened before the submitting, so the earlier event takes past perfect: “had asked”, and the later one takes simple past: “submitted”. Answer: (A)
(A) Neither the manager nor the workers was aware of the fault.
(B) Neither the manager nor the workers were aware of the fault.
(C) Neither the manager or the workers were aware of the fault.
(D) Neither the manager nor the workers is aware of the fault.
Solution: “Neither” pairs with “nor”, eliminating (C). With “neither … nor”, the verb agrees with the nearer subject “workers” (plural): “were”. Answer: (B)
(A) is (B) are (C) was (D) has been
Solution: The relative pronoun “who” refers to “engineers” (plural), not to “she”. Several engineers are fluent; she is one of them. So the verb is “are”. Answer: (B)
(A) have, is (B) has, are (C) have, are (D) has, is
Solution: “The number of” is singular: “has increased”. “A number of” is plural: “are from”. Answer: (B)
(A) The course teaches students to analyse data, to build models and presenting results.
(B) The course teaches students analysing data, to build models and presenting results.
(C) The course teaches students to analyse data, build models and present results.
(D) The course teaches students to analyse data, building models and present results.
Solution: All three items must share the same form. Only (C) uses the base verb throughout after “to”. Answer: (C)
(A) receded (B) has receded (C) had receded (D) was receding
Solution: “By the time” plus a past event (“reached”) requires the past perfect for the earlier completed action. (D) would mean the water was still receding at that moment, which is grammatically possible but does not fit “by the time”, which signals completion. Answer: (C)
(A) The committee have submitted their report to the dean, whom is on leave.
(B) The committee has submitted its report to the dean, who is on leave.
(C) The committee has submitted their report to the dean, whom is on leave.
(D) The committee have submitted its report to the dean, who is on leave.
Solution: “Committee” acting as a unit is singular: “has”, “its”. “Who” is the subject of “is on leave”, so “whom” is wrong. Answer: (B)
(A) There were less errors in the second draft than in the first.
(B) There were fewer errors in the second draft than the first.
(C) There were fewer errors in the second draft than in the first.
(D) There was fewer errors in the second draft than in the first.
Solution: “Errors” is countable, so “fewer”. The subject “errors” is plural, so “were”. The comparison must be parallel: “in the second draft than in the first”. Answer: (C)
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General Aptitude is 15 marks in every GATE paper and the easiest 15 marks to lose to silly mistakes. The PiyushAI Aptitude Test Series by Piyush Wairale (IIT Madras) gives you topic-wise tests on exactly this chapter, full-length GA mocks in the real GATE interface, detailed video and text solutions, and All-India rank analysis.
Practice set
Attempt these in 5 minutes before opening the key.
- “Each of the sensors ______ calibrated before the test.” (A) were (B) was (C) have been (D) are
- “If the pump ______ running overnight, the tank would be full by now.” (A) was (B) had been (C) would be (D) has been
- Choose the correct sentence. (A) The data was discussed about in the meeting. (B) The data were discussed in the meeting. (C) The data were discussed about in the meeting. (D) The datas were discussed in the meeting.
- “He is ______ honest officer and ______ ex-serviceman.” (A) a, a (B) an, an (C) an, a (D) a, an
- Select the correct sentence. (A) Of the two designs, the second is the most efficient. (B) Of the two designs, the second is more efficient. (C) Of the two designs, the second is the more efficienter. (D) Of the two designs, the second is most efficient.
Show answer key
- (B) “Each” is singular; the past passive “was calibrated” fits “before the test”.
- (B) Unreal past condition with present result: “had been running” (mixed conditional, if-clause in past perfect).
- (B) “Discuss” takes no “about”; “data” is treated as plural in formal technical writing, and “datas” does not exist.
- (C) “Honest” starts with a vowel sound (silent h): “an honest”. “Ex-serviceman” starts with the vowel sound “e”: “an ex-serviceman”.
- (B) Two items compared: use the comparative “more efficient”; the superlative needs three or more.
One-page rule sheet
2. Each, every, either, neither, everyone, nobody: singular verb.
3. Either/or, neither/nor: verb agrees with the nearer subject.
4. “The number of” singular; “a number of” plural.
5. Collective nouns as a unit: singular (committee has, team is).
6. “One of the X who …” : verb agrees with X (plural).
7. since + point of time; for + duration; present perfect with both.
8. Earlier of two past actions: past perfect (had + V3).
9. Conditionals: If + present / will; If + past / would; If + had V3 / would have V3. No will/would in the if-clause.
10. a/an by sound: an hour, a university, an MBA, a one-rupee coin.
11. different from, superior to, prefer to, married to, consists of, discuss (no about).
12. between two, among three or more.
13. fewer/many for countable; less/much for uncountable.
14. Comparative for two, superlative for three or more; never double them.
15. Who = subject (he), whom = object (him). Object pronoun after prepositions: between you and me.
16. Opening modifier must describe the subject that follows the comma.
17. Items in a list or pair (not only … but also) must be parallel in form.
18. Compare like with like: “that of”, “those of”.
Common mistakes
❌ “If I would have known” (should be “If I had known”).
❌ “Since five years” (should be “for five years”).
❌ “He is senior than me” (should be “senior to me”).
❌ “One of the student” (should be “one of the students”).
❌ “Myself Piyush” in formal writing (should be “I am Piyush”).
❌ Reading the whole sentence four times instead of isolating the changing word.
FAQs
How many grammar questions appear in GATE General Aptitude?
Typically 1 to 2 questions (1 to 3 marks) per paper, within the 5 to 6 Verbal Aptitude questions. The format is usually a fill-in-the-blank with verb or preposition options, or a “choose the grammatically correct sentence” question.
Which grammar topics are most important for GATE 2027?
Subject-verb agreement, tenses with time markers, the three conditionals, prepositions with fixed pairings, articles by sound, parallelism and dangling modifiers. These seven areas cover almost every grammar question asked since 2015.
Is there negative marking for grammar questions?
Yes. Grammar questions are MCQs, so a wrong answer costs one-third of the marks (for 1-mark questions, 1/3 mark). Never guess by instinct; apply a rule or leave it.
Is the PiyushAI Aptitude Test Series enough for GA?
Yes. The Best GATE Aptitude Test Series 2027 has topic-wise tests on grammar and every other GA chapter, full-length GA mocks in the GATE interface, solved PYQs from 2010 to 2026 and All-India rank analysis. Pair it with the free guides on this site and you do not need any other GA resource.
Do I need a grammar book for GATE?
No. A standard grammar book covers hundreds of rules; GATE tests fewer than 20. Learn the rule sheet above, solve 60 to 80 questions from previous years and mock tests, and revise the trap list the week before the exam.
Stop losing easy marks. Practise this topic under exam pressure.
Previous in series: GATE General Aptitude 2027: Complete Guide | Next in series: Vocabulary & Word Usage for GATE Aptitude 2027
Related guides: GATE General Aptitude 2027 hub | All GATE General Aptitude articles | GATE DA Syllabus 2027 | GATE RA Syllabus 2027
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