Key facts

  • CET Senior Secondary General English covers articles, determiners, tenses, sequence of tenses, voice, narration, prepositions, translation, vocabulary...
  • Grammar questions test rule plus meaning: choose the form that fits the time clue, subject, object, reporting verb, noun and surrounding words.
  • Translation questions require natural ordinary English and Hindi;
  • Vocabulary questions cover synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution and official or technical terms with their Hindi equivalents.
  • Comprehension questions should be answered from the passage itself: main idea, stated facts, inference, reference words, tone and vocabulary-in-contex...

Key Points at a Glance

  1. 1

    CET Senior Secondary General English covers articles, determiners, tenses, sequence of tenses, voice, narration, prepositions, translation, vocabulary, comprehension and letter writing.

  2. 2

    Grammar questions test rule plus meaning: choose the form that fits the time clue, subject, object, reporting verb, noun and surrounding words.

  3. 3

    Translation questions require natural ordinary English and Hindi; do not copy word order mechanically when tense, article, preposition or idiom needs adjustment.

  4. 4

    Vocabulary questions cover synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution and official or technical terms with their Hindi equivalents.

  5. 5

    Comprehension questions should be answered from the passage itself: main idea, stated facts, inference, reference words, tone and vocabulary-in-context.

  6. 6

    Letter-writing questions may test official, demi-official and informal formats through objective questions on structure, tone, subject line, salutation and closing.

  7. 7

    The safest exam method is to identify the question type, apply the exact rule, and then reread the final answer for meaning and natural expression.

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Tenses and Sequence of Tenses

Tense shows the time and form of an action. CET questions usually test simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous forms in present, past and future time. First ask: when did the action happen, is it complete, is it continuing, and does the sentence show habit, fact, plan, result or a past-before-past relation? “She goes to school daily” shows a habit, “She is going to school now” shows an action in progress, “I have completed the form” shows a present result, and “I had completed the form before the bell rang” shows one past action before another past action.

Sequence of tenses means that the tense of a subordinate clause should fit the tense and meaning of the main clause. If the reporting or main verb is in past time, the following clause often shifts back: “He said that he was ill.” Universal truths generally do not shift: “The teacher said that the sun rises in the east.” Time words also guide the answer. “Since” usually gives a starting point, “for” gives duration, “yesterday” points to past simple, and “already” often points to a perfect form.

Exam method: underline the time clue, identify whether the action is complete or continuing, and then check whether the second clause agrees with the first clause.

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PredictedPredicted Questions

Use these prompts to test answer structure before moving to practice.

15MThis content is not available yet.5 marks · 50 words

Model Answer

had submitted

~50 words · 5 marks