IMAT Reading Skills and General Knowledge · English Language and Grammar
Sentence Roles, Common Errors, Vocabulary and Language Families
Name the job each word does in a sentence, avoid the errors examiners plant, read new words from their context, and know how Europe's languages group into families.
Why this matters
The two Cambridge questions in this chapter (2020 and 2022) asked which language does not belong to a family, Romance in one and Slavic in the other. Sentence roles and common errors are the ground any grammar item stands on.
Concept 1 of 4: Parts of speech and sentence roles: subject, object and clauses
A word's part of speech is what kind of word it is; its role is the job it does in this particular sentence. The same word can change kind: 'a test' is a noun, 'to test' is a verb. Find the verb first, then ask who or what does it (the subject) and who or what receives it (the object).
Definition
- The subject does the action of an active verb (or receives it in a passive one), and the verb agrees with it.
- The direct object receives the action. The indirect object is the person or thing it is done for or to. In 'She gave the patient a leaflet', the leaflet is the direct object and the patient the indirect object.
- A clause has its own subject and verb. A main clause can stand alone; a subordinate clause depends on it and usually starts with a word such as because, although, if, when, which, who.
- A relative clause (who, which, that, whose) describes a noun: 'the nurse who works at night'.
| Part of speech | Job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, thing, place or idea | doctor, cell, Rome, freedom |
| Pronoun | Stands in place of a noun | she, it, them, who, which |
| Verb | Expresses an action or a state | analyse, is, seems |
| Adjective | Describes a noun | rapid, chronic, red |
| Adverb | Describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb | rapidly, very, often |
| Preposition | Links a noun to the rest of the sentence (place, time, relation) | in, on, by, during |
| Conjunction | Joins words or clauses | and, but, because, although |
| Article or determiner | Comes before a noun and limits it | a, the, this, some |
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
The subject is not always the first noun
In 'In the corner stood an old microscope' or 'The results of the test were clear', the first noun is not the subject. Find what the verb agrees with: 'results were', not 'test was'.
Concept 2 of 4: Common errors: agreement, pronouns, its and it's, who and whom, fewer and less
Grammar items usually test a short list of errors that native speakers also make. Each has a quick test you can run in your head, so you do not need to rely on what sounds right.
Definition
- Agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun of its subject, not with the nearest noun. 'The list of names is long.'
- Each, every, everyone, either, neither take a singular verb in careful English.
- Pronoun reference: a pronoun must point clearly to one noun. 'When the doctor met the patient, she smiled' is unclear: who smiled?
- Quick tests: expand it's to 'it is' or 'it has'; replace who or whom with he or him; ask whether you can count the thing one by one (fewer) or only measure it (less).
| Rule | Correct use | Quick test | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| its or it's | its = belonging to it; it's = it is or it has | Say 'it is': if it fits, write it's | The cell lost its nucleus. It's late. |
| who or whom | who = subject; whom = object, often after a preposition | he → who, him → whom | Who called? To whom did you write? |
| fewer or less | fewer with plural nouns you can count; less with things you measure | Can you count them one by one? | fewer patients, less blood |
| Subject and verb | The verb agrees with the head noun | Cover the 'of ...' phrase | The box of samples is ready. |
| Each, neither, everyone | Singular verb | Read as 'each one' | Each of the students has a locker. |
| their, there, they're | belonging to them; a place; they are | Expand they're to 'they are' | They're in their room over there. |
| affect or effect | affect is usually a verb; effect is usually a noun | Can 'the' go in front? Then effect | Stress affects sleep; it has an effect on sleep. |
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
Less with things you can count
'Less patients' is a common error: patients can be counted, so it is 'fewer patients'. 'Less' goes with things measured rather than counted: less water, less time. Everyday English does say 'less than ten euros' or 'less than five kilometres', treating the amount as a single quantity.
Concept 3 of 4: Vocabulary in context: working out an unknown word
In an exam you will meet words you have never seen. The sentence around the word, the word's parts (prefix, root, suffix) and words it resembles in languages you know usually give enough to choose among five options. Resemblance can also mislead, so always check your guess against the sentence.
Definition
- Context clues: a definition in brackets or after a comma; an example ('such as'); a contrast ('but', 'unlike', 'although'); a cause or a result ('so', 'because').
- Prefixes: un-, in-, dis- (not); pre- (before); post- (after); hyper- (over, above normal); hypo- (under, below normal); anti- and contra- (against).
- Roots and suffixes common in medicine: cardi- (heart), derm- (skin), hepat- (liver), nephr- and ren- (kidney); -itis (inflammation), -ectomy (removal), -ology (study of).
- Cognates: many English words share Latin roots with Italian, Spanish or French (hepatic, epatico). False friends look the same but mean something else: 'eventually' means in the end, not possibly; 'actually' means in fact, not currently; 'sensible' means reasonable, not sensitive.
Worked example
Work out the meaning of the underlined word: 'This drug is contraindicated in pregnancy, so doctors prescribe a different one to pregnant women.'
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
False friends
'Eventually' means in the end, 'actually' means in fact, 'sensible' means reasonable, and a 'library' lends books rather than selling them. A word that looks like one in Italian, Spanish or French may not mean the same thing; check your guess against the sentence.
Concept 4 of 4: Language families of Europe: Romance, Germanic, Slavic and the rest
Most European languages belong to the Indo-European family and descend through branches from older languages. Questions ask which language does not belong to a branch, and the traps are languages whose location or alphabet points the wrong way: a Romance language surrounded by Slavic neighbours, a Baltic language next to Poland, a Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet.
Definition
- Indo-European is the large family that includes most European languages. Its main branches in Europe are Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, Celtic, Greek and Albanian.
- Romance languages descend from Latin.
- Not Indo-European: Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian (Uralic); Basque (an isolate, related to no known language); Maltese (Semitic, related to Arabic); Turkish (Turkic).
- Location and alphabet are not family. Bulgarian is Slavic and written in Cyrillic; Romanian is Romance; Maltese uses the Latin alphabet but is Semitic.
| Branch or family | Members | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| Romance (from Latin) | Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Romanian | Romanian is Romance although most of its neighbours speak Slavic languages or Hungarian |
| Germanic | English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic | English is Germanic, though much of its vocabulary comes from Latin and French |
| Slavic | Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian | Some use Cyrillic and some the Latin alphabet; the alphabet does not decide the branch |
| Baltic | Lithuanian, Latvian | Neighbours of the Slavic languages, but a separate branch |
| Celtic | Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton | Breton is spoken in France but is Celtic, not Romance |
| Greek and Albanian | Greek; Albanian | Each is a branch of Indo-European on its own |
| Not Indo-European | Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian (Uralic); Basque (isolate); Maltese (Semitic); Turkish (Turkic) | Maltese uses the Latin alphabet but is related to Arabic |
Practice this conceptself-check · 3 quick reps
Geography is not family
A language spoken among Slavic neighbours can be Romance (Romanian) or Baltic (Lithuanian). A language spoken in France can be Celtic (Breton), and Basque, spoken in Spain and France, belongs to no family at all. Learn the branch of each language, not its location.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Reference tables (3)
Parts of speech and sentence roles: subject, object and clauses8 rows
| Part of speech | Job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, thing, place or idea | doctor, cell, Rome, freedom |
| Pronoun | Stands in place of a noun | she, it, them, who, which |
| Verb | Expresses an action or a state | analyse, is, seems |
| Adjective | Describes a noun | rapid, chronic, red |
| Adverb | Describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb | rapidly, very, often |
| Preposition | Links a noun to the rest of the sentence (place, time, relation) | in, on, by, during |
| Conjunction | Joins words or clauses | and, but, because, although |
| Article or determiner | Comes before a noun and limits it | a, the, this, some |
Common errors: agreement, pronouns, its and it's, who and whom, fewer and less7 rows
| Rule | Correct use | Quick test | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| its or it's | its = belonging to it; it's = it is or it has | Say 'it is': if it fits, write it's | The cell lost its nucleus. It's late. |
| who or whom | who = subject; whom = object, often after a preposition | he → who, him → whom | Who called? To whom did you write? |
| fewer or less | fewer with plural nouns you can count; less with things you measure | Can you count them one by one? | fewer patients, less blood |
| Subject and verb | The verb agrees with the head noun | Cover the 'of ...' phrase | The box of samples is ready. |
| Each, neither, everyone | Singular verb | Read as 'each one' | Each of the students has a locker. |
| their, there, they're | belonging to them; a place; they are | Expand they're to 'they are' | They're in their room over there. |
| affect or effect | affect is usually a verb; effect is usually a noun | Can 'the' go in front? Then effect | Stress affects sleep; it has an effect on sleep. |
Language families of Europe: Romance, Germanic, Slavic and the rest7 rows
| Branch or family | Members | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| Romance (from Latin) | Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Romanian | Romanian is Romance although most of its neighbours speak Slavic languages or Hungarian |
| Germanic | English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic | English is Germanic, though much of its vocabulary comes from Latin and French |
| Slavic | Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian | Some use Cyrillic and some the Latin alphabet; the alphabet does not decide the branch |
| Baltic | Lithuanian, Latvian | Neighbours of the Slavic languages, but a separate branch |
| Celtic | Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton | Breton is spoken in France but is Celtic, not Romance |
| Greek and Albanian | Greek; Albanian | Each is a branch of Indo-European on its own |
| Not Indo-European | Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian (Uralic); Basque (isolate); Maltese (Semitic); Turkish (Turkic) | Maltese uses the Latin alphabet but is related to Arabic |
Watch out for (4)
- The subject is not always the first noun→ Parts of speech and sentence roles: subject, object and clauses
- Less with things you can count→ Common errors: agreement, pronouns, its and it's, who and whom, fewer and less
- False friends→ Vocabulary in context: working out an unknown word
- Geography is not family→ Language families of Europe: Romance, Germanic, Slavic and the rest
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