English Language — Intermediate

Error detection: the recurring trap categories worth knowing by name

Subject-verb agreement traps:
  "The list of items ARE on the table." (WRONG — "list" is the
    subject, singular, so "IS" is correct; "items" is inside a
    prepositional phrase and doesn't determine verb agreement)
  "Each of the students HAVE submitted their assignment."
    (WRONG — "each" is singular, so "HAS" is correct, despite
    "students" appearing nearby)

Preposition traps:
  "He is different THAN his brother." (commonly used but
    considered incorrect in formal/exam English — "different
    FROM" is the standard correct form)
  "She complied TO the rules." (WRONG — "complied WITH")

The subject-verb agreement traps specifically follow a recognizable pattern worth naming explicitly: exam sentences deliberately place a plural noun physically close to the verb (inside a prepositional phrase or after "each/every") specifically to tempt a candidate into agreeing the verb with the nearby plural noun rather than the actual (often singular) grammatical subject. Recognizing this specific trap pattern — identifying the TRUE subject of the sentence, not just the nearest noun to the verb — resolves a large share of subject-verb agreement questions correctly, since the "trick" is structural and repeats across many different specific sentences.

Phrase replacement: distinguishing genuinely wrong from merely awkward

Original: "The company took the decision to expand overseas."
Underlined phrase: "took the decision"

Option A: "made the decision" (CORRECT replacement — "make a
  decision" is the standard collocation in English; "took the
  decision" is a common but non-standard construction, more
  frequent in Indian English usage than in formally "correct"
  exam-standard English)
Option B: "decided the decision" (WRONG — redundant, "decided"
  already implies "the decision")
Option C: "no improvement needed" (would be correct only if
  the original phrase were already standard)

The genuine skill being tested in phrase replacement isn't spotting an obviously broken sentence — it's recognizing standard English collocations (which words conventionally pair together, like "make a decision" rather than "take a decision") that may sound completely natural to someone whose regional English usage differs from formal exam-standard English. This is worth explicit attention specifically because these questions test collocation correctness that isn't really "grammar" in the traditional sense — it's convention, and building familiarity with exam-standard collocations through dedicated practice (not just general reading) is what closes this specific gap.

Sentence rearrangement with a "single sentence removed" variant

Variant: 6 sentences given, but only sentence order for
  positions 2-5 needs determining (positions 1 and 6 are
  fixed/given directly in the question)

This is actually a genuinely EASIER variant than a full
  unordered jumble, since two anchor points (start and end)
  are already fixed — apply the same linking-word technique
  from the Fundamentals tab, but now working to connect FROM
  the given first sentence and TOWARD the given last sentence,
  rather than finding the anchor from scratch

Recognizing this as a genuinely easier variant (not a harder one, despite initially looking more complex with 6 sentences involved) is a useful piece of exam-pattern awareness — a candidate who doesn't recognize the fixed first/last sentences as a significant simplification may spend as much time on this variant as a full jumble, when the fixed anchors actually reduce the genuine difficulty compared to the standard format.

Fill in the blanks: single vs. double blank strategy differences

Single blank: one word/phrase needed — check grammatical fit
  AND contextual/tonal fit (same discipline as cloze test)

Double blank: TWO separate blanks in one sentence, often
  requiring the two chosen words to work together logically
  (a specific relationship between them, not just each
  independently fitting its own local grammar)

Example: "Despite the ___1___ evidence, the committee remained
  ___2___ in its original position."
  Option requiring a logical PAIR: "overwhelming" / "unwavering"
    — these work together (strong evidence, yet still firm
    position — a coherent "despite" relationship)
  A mismatched pair that each independently "fits" grammatically
    but doesn't form a coherent whole is the specific trap here

Double-blank questions specifically test whether a candidate checks the RELATIONSHIP between the two chosen words, not just whether each individually fits its own local grammar — this is a distinct skill from single-blank questions, and treating a double-blank question as "two independent single blanks" rather than one connected decision is a common, specific source of errors on this question type.

Building genuine reading speed without sacrificing comprehension

The Overview tab's "one editorial-style passage daily,
  summarized in 3 sentences" habit builds two things
  simultaneously, worth understanding as distinct skills:

  Reading speed — genuine familiarity with formal/editorial
    register (longer sentences, more abstract vocabulary)
    reduces the cognitive effort needed to process it, which
    is what actually produces faster reading — not skimming
    faster through unfamiliar-register text, which just
    reduces comprehension rather than genuinely speeding
    up processing

  Summarization skill — forcing a 3-sentence summary trains
    identifying the passage's core argument distinct from
    supporting detail, which is exactly the skill inference/
    tone questions require

The specific reason daily editorial reading (rather than general reading of any content) is recommended: formal/editorial register specifically mirrors real exam RC passages' vocabulary and sentence complexity, so building genuine fluency with that specific register through repeated exposure produces faster, more accurate reading of exam passages specifically — general reading of unrelated content (casual articles, fiction) doesn't build the same register-specific fluency, even at similar reading volume.