SSC CGL English · Free notes
Grammar: SSC CGL English
Grammar has 414 questions in the SSC CGL Tier I bank: 103 from the 2023 shifts, 89 from the 2024 shifts and 222 from the 2025 shifts, and 296 of them EASY. Three in four ask you to change a sentence between active and passive voice or between direct and indirect speech, and the 2025 shifts asked those changes both ways. Both changes follow fixed steps (keep the tense, swap the doer and the receiver; move the tense back, change pronouns and time words), so learn the steps once and check each option against them.
The handout has every subtopic, worked example, formula and trap with answers shown. The formula sheet is the chapter’s formulas and traps alone, on one page.
Subtopic notes
Active and Passive Voice
227 PYQsChanging a sentence between active and passive: the receiver becomes the subject, the verb becomes be + past participle in the same tense, and the doer moves to by.
Direct and Indirect Speech
82 PYQsReporting what someone said: moving the tense back, changing pronouns and time words, reporting questions and orders, and going from indirect speech back to the words actually spoken.
Sentence Grammar
105 PYQsGrammar inside one sentence: the tense and conditional a sentence needs, the connectors and relative words that join its clauses, articles and parts of speech, and phrasal verbs and fixed prepositions.
Formula & revision sheet
0 formulas · 1 reference tables · 20 gotchas across all subtopics — the exam-eve cheat-sheet
Formula & revision sheet
0 formulas · 1 reference tables · 20 gotchas across all subtopics — the exam-eve cheat-sheet
Watch out for (6)
- Changing the tense→ The passive in every tense
- Agreeing with the old subject→ The passive in every tense
- Losing the question→ Questions and commands
- By who→ Questions and commands
- Dropping the preposition→ Modals, two objects and verbs with a preposition
- Known by→ Modals, two objects and verbs with a preposition
Watch out for (6)
- Backshifting a universal truth→ Reporting a statement
- Forgetting the time and place words→ Reporting a statement
- Keeping the question order→ Reporting questions, orders and exclamations
- That with an order→ Reporting questions, orders and exclamations
- Moving a fixed form forward→ From indirect speech back to direct
- Leaving the speaker in the third person→ From indirect speech back to direct
Reference tables (1)
Phrasal verbs and fixed prepositions16 rows
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Asked in |
|---|---|---|
| break into | enter by force | 2023 |
| cut down (on) | reduce | 2023 |
| take over | assume charge from someone | 2023 |
| come up | be raised for discussion | 2023 |
| iron out | settle a problem | 2023 |
| pass down | hand from one person to another | 2023 |
| put off | postpone | 2024 (twice) |
| come up with | think of, produce | 2024 |
| lay out | set out in detail | 2024 |
| shy away from | avoid | 2025 |
| clean out | empty of unwanted things | 2025 |
| take up | begin, deal with | 2025 |
| expand on | explain in more detail | 2025 |
| phase out | withdraw gradually | 2025 |
| arrive at | reach (an agreement, a conclusion) | 2025 (twice) |
| give up | surrender, betray (one's sources) | 2025 |
Watch out for (8)
- Will in the time clause→ Tense and conditionals
- The simple past for the earlier action→ Tense and conditionals
- That after a comma→ Connectors and relative clauses
- No inversion after not until→ Connectors and relative clauses
- An article chosen by the letter→ Articles, agreement and parts of speech
- An interjection for the wrong feeling→ Articles, agreement and parts of speech
- Reading a phrasal verb word by word→ Phrasal verbs and fixed prepositions
- A near phrase with another meaning→ Phrasal verbs and fixed prepositions
PYQ weightage by concept
10 concepts · 414 PYQs — where the marks actually sit, so you know what to drill first
PYQ weightage by concept
10 concepts · 414 PYQs — where the marks actually sit, so you know what to drill first
| Concept | PYQs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| The passive in every tense | 165 | 40% |
| Questions and commands | 36 | 9% |
| Modals, two objects and verbs with a preposition | 26 | 6% |
| Concept | PYQs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| From indirect speech back to direct | 38 | 9% |
| Reporting a statement | 27 | 7% |
| Reporting questions, orders and exclamations | 17 | 4% |
| Concept | PYQs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Articles, agreement and parts of speech | 36 | 9% |
| Phrasal verbs and fixed prepositions | 32 | 8% |
| Tense and conditionals | 19 | 5% |
| Connectors and relative clauses | 18 | 4% |
Test yourself on Grammar
20 past SSC CGL questions from this chapter, timed at 12 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.