Grammar II

Grammar II is the largest English chapter (our estimate: about 6 of 16 questions) and also the widest: sentence patterns and conditionals, parts of speech and the passive, infinitive / gerund / participle, punctuation and prepositions, vocabulary and idioms.

The official model samples include a preposition item ("He is one person, I count ___ in times of difficulty": on) and a tense item, which tells you the level: single-fact recall with one tricky distractor.

2.1 Basic grammatical patterns and conditional sentences

Sentence patterns: SV (Birds fly), SVC (She is a doctor), SVO (He reads books), SVOO (She gave me a pen), SVOC (They elected him captain), SVA (He lives in Pokhara). Questions invert the auxiliary and subject; indirect questions do not.

Type	If-clause	Main clause	Meaning
zero	present	present	general truth: If you heat ice, it melts
first	present	will / can / may + verb	real future possibility: If it rains tomorrow, we will stay at home
second	past (were for all persons)	would / could + verb	unreal present: If I were rich, I would help the poor
third	past perfect	would have + past participle	unreal past: If she had studied harder, she would have passed
mixed	past perfect	would + verb	If I had taken the job, I would be rich now

Inverted conditionals drop if: Had he known, he would have come (= If he had known); Were I you, I would refuse;

Should you need help, call me Wishes: I wish I were a bird (present); I wish I had studied (past);

If only I knew Unless = if … not. Provided / as long as / in case introduce conditions. Never put will or would in the if-clause of a real condition.

2.2 Parts of speech, active and passive voice

Eight parts of speech are decided by function: light is a noun (the light), an adjective (light bag) or a verb (to light). She sings beautifully — adverb; He is a fast runner — adjective; He runs fast — adverb.

Articles a, an, the; the for something specific or unique (the sun), no article for plural general ideas, an before a vowel sound (an hour, a university).

Pronoun cases: I / me / my / mine; relative pronouns who (subject), whom (object), whose (possession), which (things), that.

Conjunctions: coordinating (and, but, or, so) and subordinating (although, because, unless); correlatives (neither … nor, not only … but also, hardly … when, no sooner … than).

Passive voice: object becomes subject; verb is be + past participle; the agent goes after by.

Tense	Active → Passive
simple present	writes → is written
present continuous	is building → is being built
present perfect	has built → has been built
simple past	wrote → was written
past continuous	was writing → was being written
future	will write → will be written
modal	can write → can be written

Questions: Who wrote this book? → By whom was this book written? Imperatives: Open the door → Let the door be opened. Verbs with two objects have two passives (I was given a pen). Intransitive verbs have no passive. Someone stole my wallet → My wallet was stolen.

2.3 Verbals: infinitives, gerunds and participles

• Infinitive (to + verb; bare after modals, let, make, see, hear): He wants to become a doctor. They made him work. After too, enough, in order to.
• Gerund (verb + -ing used as a noun): after prepositions (I look forward to seeing you; She is fond of singing) and after enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, practise, suggest, consider, keep, give up, can't help: She enjoys reading novels.
• Both with a change in meaning: stop to talk (stop in order to talk) / stop talking (cease); remember to lock (not forget a task) / remember locking (a past memory); try to (attempt) / try doing (experiment).
• Participles: present (a running horse), past (a broken window), perfect (Having finished, he left). Dangling participle is an error: Walking down the street, a dog bit me → Walking down the street, I was bitten by a dog.
• to can be a preposition (followed by a gerund): used to doing, look forward to, object to, devoted to; but used to do means a past habit.

2.4 Punctuation and use of prepositions

Punctuation: full stop, question mark, exclamation; comma separates items in a list, non-defining clauses, and joins two main clauses only with a conjunction (I like tea, but he likes coffee; a comma alone is a comma splice); semicolon joins closely related main clauses; colon introduces a list or explanation; apostrophe for possession (the boy's book, the boys' books, children's) and contractions (it's = it is, its = of it); quotation marks for speech; hyphen for compounds (well-known).

Prepositions of time and place: at a point (at 5 pm, at the station), on days and surfaces (on Monday, on the table), in longer periods and enclosed spaces (in 2020, in Kathmandu); for a period (for ten years), since a point (since 2015); by a deadline, until a continuing time; between two, among many; during a period.

Adjective / verb / noun	Preposition
fond, afraid, proud, jealous, capable, tired	of
good, bad, clever, quick, surprised	at
married, kind, similar, superior, addicted	to
interested, rich, believe	in
depend, rely, count, insist, congratulate (on)	on
agree, angry, pleased	with (person) / about, at (thing)
accuse, suspect	of
prevent, protect, differ	from
result in, die of (disease), die from (injury), blame … for, punish for, famous for

He is one person I count on in times of difficulty. The meeting was postponed owing to rain. Different from; prefer X to Y; comply with.

2.5 Vocabulary

Learn words in clusters. Synonyms: abundant = plentiful; candid = frank; diligent = hardworking; obsolete = outdated; reluctant = unwilling; scarce = rare; vague = unclear; frugal = thrifty.

Antonyms: generous ≠ stingy; ancient ≠ modern; expand ≠ contract; victory ≠ defeat; transparent ≠ opaque.

One-word substitutes: bibliophile (lover of books), philanthropist (lover of mankind who gives), misanthrope (hater of mankind), autobiography, orphan, omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), contemporary, amateur, nocturnal, herbivorous, edible, illegible (cannot be read), incorrigible (cannot be corrected), inevitable (cannot be avoided), anonymous (nameless), plagiarism (stealing others' writing), pedestrian.

Confusing pairs: affect (verb) / effect (noun), principal / principle, stationary / stationery, accept / except, advice / advise, complement / compliment, lose / loose, than / then, its / it's, emigrate / immigrate.

Prefixes and suffixes: un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, dis-, mis- (negatives); -able, -ful, -less, -ness, -tion, -ment.

Phrasal verbs: call off (cancel), put off (postpone), look after (take care of), look into (investigate), give up (stop), carry out (execute), come across (find by chance), run out of (exhaust), take after (resemble), set off (start a journey), turn down (reject), bring up (raise), make up (invent), get over (recover).

(a) A walker in the rain: if it rains, I will take an umbrella

(b) Four conditionals built from rain and flood

(a) Boudhanath Stupa: the stupa is visited by pilgrims

(b) Five active sentences turned passive by rule

(a) Shiva-Parvati Temple on Durbar Square in Kathmandu

(b) Twelve time phrases sorted by pattern into at, on, in

Chapter summary

• Match the conditional to the real or unreal time: present, future, past.
• The passive is be + past participle; progressive passives use being.
• A preposition is followed by a gerund, never a bare infinitive.
• Learn adjective–preposition and verb–preposition pairs as collocations.
• A comma cannot join two main clauses by itself.
• Idioms are learnt whole; a literal reading is nearly always the wrong option.

Practice questions

Set A — Recall (16 questions)

1. If I ___ rich, I would help the poor.aambwascweredhad been
2. If it rains tomorrow, we ___ at home.astayedbwould staychad stayeddwill stay
3. He is married ___ a doctor.atobwithcbydfor
4. She is afraid ___ dogs.afrombofcatdwith
5. The letter ___ by him yesterday.ais writtenbhas been writtencis being writtendwas written
6. The passive of "Someone stole my wallet" is "My wallet ___ stolen."awasbischasdwere
7. I look forward to ___ you.aseebseeingcsawdhave seen
8. He wants ___ a doctor.abecomingbbecomecto becomedbecame
9. She enjoys ___ novels.areadingbto readcreaddto reading
10. The word closest in meaning to "abundant" isascarcebrarectinydplentiful
11. The opposite of "generous" isakindbstingycliberaldnoble
12. A person who loves books is aaphilanthropistbmisanthropecbibliophiledcynic
13. The idiom "to bite the bullet" meansato endure a painful situation bravelybto eat quicklycto shootdto refuse
14. The idiom "a piece of cake" meansaa dessertbdangerousccostlydvery easy
15. Which sentence is correctly punctuated?aI like tea; but he likes coffee.bI like tea, but he likes coffee.cI like tea but, he likes coffee.dI like, tea but he likes coffee.
16. In "She sings beautifully", the word beautifully isaan adjectiveba nouncan adverbda preposition

Answers and explanations — Set A

1. (c) — second conditional uses were.

2. (d) — first conditional: if + present, will + verb.

3. (a) — married to.

4. (b) — afraid of.

5. (d) — a past time word (yesterday) needs the simple past passive.

6. (a) — was stolen.

7. (b) — to here is a preposition, so a gerund follows.

8. (c) — want takes an infinitive.

9. (a) — enjoy takes a gerund.

10. (d) — abundant = plentiful.

11. (b) — generous ≠ stingy.

12. (c) — bibliophile.

13. (a) — to face something unpleasant courageously.

14. (d) — something very easy.

15. (b) — a comma before the conjunction but joining two main clauses.

16. (c) — it modifies the verb sings.

Set B — Understanding (10 questions)

1. If she had studied harder, she ___ the exam.awould passbwill passcwould have passeddpassed
2. I wish I ___ a bird.awerebamcwasdwill be
3. Had he known, he ___ come.awill havebwould havecwoulddhad
4. The passive form of "Who wrote this book?" isaBy whom this book written?bWho was written this book?cBy whom is this book written?dBy whom was this book written?
5. He stopped ___ when the teacher entered the room.ato talkbtalkingctalkdto talking
6. She is the girl ___ won the first prize.awhombwhosecwhodwhich
7. He has been living here ___ ten years.aforbsincecfromdin
8. He was punished ___ stealing.aofbbycfordwith
9. "To cry over spilt milk" means toawaste foodbbe carelessccomplain loudlydregret something that cannot be changed
10. The word closest in meaning to "candid" isasecretivebfrankcrudedshy

Answers and explanations — Set B

1. (c) — third conditional: had studied … would have passed.

2. (a) — a wish about the present takes the past subjunctive were.

3. (b) — inverted third conditional (= If he had known, he would have come).

4. (d) — By whom was this book written?

5. (b) — stop doing means to cease; stop to talk would mean he paused in order to talk.

6. (c) — who is the subject of won.

7. (a) — for + period of time; since needs a starting point.

8. (c) — punished for.

9. (d) — regretting what is past and cannot be undone.

10. (b) — candid = frank and honest.

Set C — Application (6 questions)

1. Hardly had he reached the station ___ the train left.awhenbthancthendas
2. Not only did he fail, ___ he also lost his scholarship.aandbbutcsodor
3. By the time we arrived, the film ___.ahas startedbstartedchad starteddwas starting
4. He suggested that she ___ a doctor.aseesbsawcseedseen
5. The man ___ car was stolen reported it to the police.awhobwhomcwhichdwhose
6. She would rather ___ at home than go out.astaysbstaycto staydstayed

Answers and explanations — Set C

1. (a) — the correlative is hardly … when (no sooner … than).

2. (b) — not only … but also.

3. (c) — by the time + past: the earlier action takes the past perfect.

4. (c) — suggest that + subject + base verb (subjunctive).

5. (d) — whose shows possession.

6. (b) — would rather + bare infinitive.

Group D — Model answers for long questions (10 marks each, for deeper revision)

1. Explain the types of conditional sentences and the basic sentence patterns of English, with examples. [10]
2. Explain the rules for the active and passive voice and for the use of infinitives, gerunds and participles. [10]
3. Explain the rules for punctuation and prepositions, and give common idioms and word-building patterns with meanings. [10]

(a) Umbrella

(b) Boudhanath Stupa

(c) Durbar Square

Model answer D1: Conditionals and sentence patterns (10 marks)

Introduction. A conditional sentence has an if-clause (the condition) and a main clause (the result).

Type	If-clause	Main clause	Example
Zero (general truth)	Simple present	Simple present	If you heat ice, it melts.
First (real, possible)	Simple present	will + base verb	If it rains, we shall stay at home.
Second (unreal, present or future)	Simple past	would + base verb	If I were a bird, I would fly to Everest.
Third (unreal, past)	Past perfect	would have + past participle	If he had studied, he would have passed.
Mixed	Past perfect	would + base verb	If I had taken the medicine, I would be well now.

Important points.

1. In the second conditional were is used for all persons: If I were you…
2. Unless means if…not: Unless you run, you will miss the bus = If you do not run, you will miss the bus.
3. Inversion drops if: Had I known, I would have told you. Were he here, he would help. Should you need help, call me.
4. Provided that, as long as, suppose can replace if.
5. Wish and if only express unreal desire: I wish I knew the answer. I wish I had gone.

Basic sentence patterns.

Pattern	Example
S + V	Birds fly.
S + V + O	Gita reads a book.
S + V + C	The sky is blue.
S + V + IO + DO	He gave me a gift.
S + V + O + C	They elected him captain.
S + V + A (adverbial)	She lives in Pokhara.

Conclusion. The tense of the verb in the if-clause steps back as the situation becomes less real, and each pattern shows how many parts a verb needs to complete its meaning.

Model answer D2: Voice and verbals (10 marks)

Introduction. In the active voice the subject does the action; in the passive voice the subject receives it. The passive is formed with be (in the same tense) + past participle (V3), and the object of the active verb becomes the subject.

Passive of the tenses.

Tense	Active	Passive
Simple present	She writes a letter.	A letter is written by her.
Present continuous	She is writing a letter.	A letter is being written.
Present perfect	She has written a letter.	A letter has been written.
Simple past	She wrote a letter.	A letter was written.
Future	She will write a letter.	A letter will be written.
Modal	You must obey the rules.	The rules must be obeyed.

More rules. (1) Imperatives: Close the door → Let the door be closed. (2) Questions: Who wrote it? → By whom was it written? (3) Two objects: He gave me a book → I was given a book / A book was given to me. (4) The agent by… is dropped when it is unknown or unimportant.

Verbals.

1. Infinitive (to + base verb): I want to go. The bare infinitive follows modals and make, let, see, hear: She made him cry.
2. Gerund (verb + ing used as a noun) follows enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, practise, and prepositions: He avoided meeting her. I look forward to seeing you.
3. Participles: the present participle (running water) and the past participle (a broken window) act as adjectives. A participle phrase must refer to the subject: Walking along the road, I saw a snake is correct, while Walking along the road, a snake bit me is a dangling participle.
4. Change of meaning: He stopped to smoke (stopped in order to smoke) versus He stopped smoking (gave up); I remember meeting her (the past) versus Remember to post the letter (the future task).

Conclusion. Choose the active voice for a clear doer and the passive when the action matters more than the doer, and choose the verbal form that the governing verb requires.

Model answer D3: Punctuation, prepositions, vocabulary and idioms (10 marks)

Introduction. Correct punctuation, prepositions, words and idioms make writing accurate and natural.

Punctuation.

1. Full stop ends a statement; question mark a question; exclamation mark strong feeling.
2. Comma separates items in a list, a non-defining clause and the words of address: Ram, my friend, is a doctor.
3. Semicolon joins two closely related main clauses: It was late; we went home.
4. Colon introduces a list or an explanation: Bring three things: a pen, a ruler and a pencil.
5. Apostrophe shows possession (the boy's bag, the boys' bags) and contraction (don't); its (possessive) differs from it's (it is).
6. Inverted commas enclose direct speech; the hyphen joins compound words (well-known); the dash marks a sudden break.

Prepositions.

Use	Rule	Example
Time	at clock time, on day or date, in month, year, season	at 5 p.m., on Monday, in 2082
Place	at a point, on a surface, in an enclosed area	at the gate, on the table, in Kathmandu
Since / for	since a point in time, for a period	since 2020, for six years
Between / among	two / more than two	between the two friends, among the students
Dependent	adjective or verb + fixed preposition	good at, afraid of, interested in, depend on, wait for

Idioms and their meanings.

1. A piece of cake — very easy.
2. Break the ice — start a conversation.
3. Once in a blue moon — very rarely.
4. Bite the bullet — face a hard task bravely.
5. Hit the nail on the head — say exactly the right thing.
6. Spill the beans — reveal a secret.
7. Under the weather — feeling unwell.
8. Burn the midnight oil — study or work late at night.

Vocabulary (one-word substitutes). glutton — one who eats too much; philanthropist — one who loves mankind; ornithology — the study of birds; fratricide — the killing of a brother; acrophobia — fear of heights; orphan — a child who has lost both parents.

Conclusion. Accuracy in small matters, such as the preposition or the comma, is what entrance examinations test.