Dear all, Here is PART 1 of “ENGLISH STRATEGY” for SSC exams. (Disclaimer: I am a beneficiary/agent of none of the publications mentioned underneath, Aspirants are free to adopt/dump a part of/complete strategy keeping in view their strengths/weaknesses) 1ST SECTION: VOCABULARY (I KNOW ITS LENGHTY BUT PLEASE BEAR WITH ME ) Vocabulary is the building block of English language. Without mastering this section, no candidate can expect to score even decent marks in English section. It’s like this: “if one can’t understand the meaning of what is written in the question paper, one simply can’t solve the question paper.” Mastering vocabulary shall yield twin benefits. It will be beneficial not only from the viewpoint of exam preparation, but also from the viewpoint of enhancing confidence in one’s day-to-day conversations within his/her social/official circle. Unfortunately or fortunately, today’s Indian society still regards English as one of the many ingredients of “Status” i.e. often a person’s societal status is gauged by how fluent English (s)he can speak. And the ones who can speak fluent English usually “seena taan ke chalte hain”. However, without digressing any further, let’s see how one can master vocabulary. From the examination point of view, this section consists of the following parts: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Meanings (synonyms as well as antonyms) One word substitution Idioms Prepositions & Phrasal verbs
The above order also reflects the sequence in which they should be prepared i.e. meanings come first, one word substitution comes next, idioms can be placed at third place, the fateful prepositions and phrasal verbs can be placed at the fourth and fifth place respectively. A. How to learn meanings? Well, to begin I would suggest that candidates should go for Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. It is advisable to prepare your own charts/notes/mind maps from each chapter of this book. The wordlist given in this book is not sufficient; however, it teaches the correct way to learn meanings i.e. through their roots-their origins. Learning words this way helps reduce the burden of words which students face while memorising the meanings. Words will no longer seem formidable enemies, rather they will appear as friends.
Example 1: if one knows that “ambulo” = “walk”, then the meanings of the words amble (= walk aimlessly), ambulatory (= a patient well enough to walk around), preamble [pre (= before) + ambulo = something that walks before] becomes self-evident.
Example 2: Similarly, if you know that “capitis” = “head”, then the meanings of the words decapitate (= chop off someone’s head), recapitulate [re (= again) + capitis = go through the headings again] becomes self-evident.
Thus, in nutshell what you gain by reading the above book is that your mind will develop a whole new pattern of remembering words. Once you master the method, you don’t need to remain restricted to the words mentioned in that book. Rather, you will develop and intuitive power to pick out or sense the hidden roots in order to arrive at meanings of the words in front of you. For instance when word equanimity will come in front of you, you will first dissect it into two parts “equa” (= meaning equal) and “animus” (= meaning mind). Then you will combine the two meanings to get “equal mind” which means calm/balanced/unperturbed mind. With time, you will learn its synonyms like poise, composure, etc. As another example, when the word Peer will come in front of you, this is what you will think “par = equal” peer must have something to do with equal; a little more effort and you will readily remember that peer = “people of same age/status”. From this, you will be able to link parity (= equality), disparity (= inequality), disparate (= completely different). B. How to “gather” words? Till now, we learnt “how to remember” words. Now the next step is to “gather” words. How do we do this? There are two steps of gathering words easily:
Step 1: read 1 English newspaper daily (either Hindu or Indian express is preferable). In the beginning, it is advisable to read only Editorial page as reading the whole newspaper might become very time consuming. Step 2: listen to AIR news @ 9 pm daily (especially the discussions that follow after the news).
There are two benefits of this particular step of “gathering” words. It will not only enrich your vocabulary, but will also help you to prepare current affairs section which is troublesome to prepare at the last moment. However, “gathering” words alone is not sufficient. Along with it, candidates do the following 3 steps on daily basis: 1) Note down the difficult words (which will be different for each candidate) in a separate notebook which may be arranged in alphabetical order. 2) Find the meanings of those words 3) Revise the meanings of those words before you go to sleep C. How to “find meanings”? Now, finding meanings might be troublesome. You would think which dictionary should I buy? Usually the two options suggested are Oxford or Cambridge. However, neither of them are helpful for starters in English. Again, for those who can afford android phones, accessing dictionary it’s not a difficult task. But others like me who can’t afford either costly dictionaries or even the cheapest android phones, can go for one of the following two sources:
1. Primary Source of words: ‘Rich Vocabulary Made Easy’ by Kuldip Jaidka (Mohindra Capital Publishers, Chandigarh) if you are short of time i.e. if you are aiming for SSC 2014 Mains. The advantage of this one is that it has all the usual words with their: English + Hindi meanings, English + Hindi sentences, English words spelled in Hindi (this teaches the pronunciation of the word to a non-English medium student). 2. Secondary Source of words: English-English-Hindi dictionary by Sahni Brother Publications (Agra) if you have time i.e. if you are preparing for SSC 2015 or beyond. You can go either for advanced (< Rs. 450) or compact (< Rs. 280) illustrated version. Note 1: Note that there are many other good dictionaries and English-Hindi vocabulary books in the market, but since I have used the above ones so I can vouch for their quality. Candidates are free to use any other sources they are familiar to. Note 2: Since I’m writing from the viewpoint of ordinary, middle-class aspirants (including me) who are not well versed with English, I am not suggesting hi-fi dictionaries like either Oxford or Cambridge. D. How to prepare “one word substitution”? Honestly, about 65%-70% of “one word substitutions” automatically get prepared together with the “meanings”. However, for reaching the 100% mark, one may buy any one of the following:
“one word substitutions” by Kiran Publications, “one word substitutions” by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh (Students’ Friends publishers, Patna) any other source available in the candidate’s regional language/candidate is familiar to
E. How to prepare “Idioms”? I have followed: “A Student’s Companion Idioms And Phrases” by Kiran publications for idioms + Previous year question papers (also from Kiran Publications). Together, they are more than sufficient. However, the candidates are free to choose any other source which they feel is trustworthy and accurate. Also, usually idioms are asked by using them in sentences. Hence, even by applying a little common sense, one can easily eliminate at least two of the four options. However, it is to be noted that candidates must prepare idioms on a daily basis i.e. they should spare at least 15-20 minutes and prepare about 10 idioms daily. In this way, SSC 2014 Mains aspirants will be able to memorise more than 600-700 idioms before their main’s exam. And SSC 2015 aspirants would have become masters of idioms even before their notification is published. Interestingly, idioms with identical words can be grouped and learned together. In fact this is how idioms are usually arranged in the books available in the market. A suggestion would be to make a simple line diagram consisting of all the idioms containing an identical word. For instance, a simple line diagram can be developed to club together the three idioms as shown underneath:
under a cloud = in disgrace on cloud nine = extremely happy every cloud has a silver lining = every difficult situation has a positive side
F. How to prepare “Prepositions”? The list of prepositions can be gathered from: Source 1: “Common Errors in English” by Kiran publications OR “A Mirror of Common Errors” by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh (Students’ Friends publishers, Patna). The list in both of these is exactly same. The only difference is that in Kiran publications, the list is given in a single colour format whereas in Dr Ashok Kumar Singh’s book, the list of prepositions is given in an attractive twocolour format. Source 2: “A Handbook of Spotting Errors” by Hari Mohan Prasad (Tata McGraw Hill publications). Unlike the above two sources, this book not only gives a list of prepositions but also uses them in appropriate sentences. Hence, the candidates can have a feel of the correct preposition usage in an actual sentence. However, the list of prepositions is quite frightening. Hence I would suggest “grouping the likemeaning words” together while memorising prepositions. This can be done as shown underneath:
Prepositions used with words meaning “power/authority” influence over/with somebody authority over somebody authority on a subject Power over somebody rule over somebody/something control over somebody/something (Stop exercising control over your brother. Police have full control over the situation) control of something (He lost control of his car)
Prepositions used with words meaning “close relationship/liking” affinity between two things affinity with something attraction to/towards something affection for somebody inclination for something liking for something longing for something lust for something preference for something delight in something delighted with something (delighted with success)
Prepositions used with words meaning “disliking” malice against somebody animosity against somebody
hostility to a person/cause distaste for something contempt for somebody/something hatred for somebody of something disgust at something aversion to somebody/something obnoxious to somebody offensive to somebody enmity with somebody rivalry with somebody Rival in something
G. How to prepare “Phrasal verbs”? The problem with SSC exams is that “phrasal verbs” are seldom repeated. Hence, relying on the previous SSC question papers is not at all sufficient. (This is in contrast with IBPS bank PO examinations, where the questions involving phrasal verbs are frequently repeated.) Hence, just like with idioms, those preparing for SSC exams must prepare phrasal verbs on a daily basis i.e. they should spare at least 15-20 minutes and prepare about 10 phrasal verbs daily. In this way, SSC 2014 Mains aspirants will be able to memorise more than 600-700 phrasal verbs before their main’s exam. And SSC 2015 aspirants would have become masters of phrasal verbs even before their notification is published. As far as the sources are concerned, one may again refer to: “A Student’s Companion Idioms And Phrases” by Kiran publications. In this particular section of phrasal verbs, I found some errors in the book “A Mirror of Idioms & Phrases” by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh. Hence, I would say that if students are following this book, they should do so at their own risk. H. General Guidelines for mastering vocabulary section: 1) One needs to spend at least 1.5-2 hours on daily basis. This includes: a) around 30 minutes for reading newspaper editorial and jotting down difficult words b) around 25-30 minutes for listening to AIR news @ 9. c) another 20 minutes for finding the meanings of those difficult words d) around 15-20 minutes dedicated to 10 idioms e) around 15-20 minutes dedicated to 10 phrasal verbs f) around 15 minutes dedicated to 10 prepositions twice/thrice a week depending upon the candidate. 2) Aspirants may record the word-meanings in their mobile phones in their own voice and then listen to them while travelling in the bus/ cooking/ sitting idly/ etc. Believe me, this one step will ensue a sea change in your preparation. 3) After a few days, don’t just read newspaper mechanically. Try to find the words/idioms/phrasal verbs/prepositions which you have already learnt in the section which you read.
4) Please note that I have not included the “Spell Check” questions as a separate category since these will automatically get covered if you follow the above approach. To be specific, “gathering” the words from newspapers and writing them down in your notebook will itself help you to remember the spellings. For those who still find it difficult, writing the spellings 10-20 times is suggested. 5) Please remember that Vocabulary section cannot be mastered in a short period. Yes, it is true that some candidates who mug up “rattafy” this section at the 11th hour may score well in the exam. However, they will not be able to retain that information because it has been pushed into their brains at a very fast rate. The underlying concept is to gradually feed the brain with words, idioms, phrasal verbs so that the brain absorbs them for a lifetime. After all, who amongst us wouldn’t want to be adept at English speaking/writing?
2ND SECTION: VOCABULARY (I KNOW ITS LENGHTY BUT PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AGAIN ) Disclaimer: I am a beneficiary/agent of none of the publications mentioned underneath, Aspirants are free to adopt/dump a part of/complete strategy keeping in view their strengths/weaknesses. Furthermore, any typographical ‘error’ while attempting to explain to you ‘how to learn not to commit errors’ must be considered as inadvertent and is deeply regretted. There are 3 broad phases of learning English: 1. Phase I is the ‘Vocabulary’ Phase. During this phase, the candidates learn words, idioms, prepositions, phrasal verbs which are the elemental building blocks of English language. 2. After having learnt the above mentioned elementary blocks, candidates must next learn “how to use them to construct grammatically correct and meaningful sentences”. Hence comes into picture Phase II - “Errors” Section (to be covered in this section). 3. Lastly, after having learnt “how to use the words to construct sentences”, we must learn how to “comprehend sentences as a whole” (so that we can answer RC questions). Here comes into picture Phase III- “Reading Comprehension” Section (to be covered in 3rd Section). A. Phase II: “Errors” Section (Note: Direct-Indirect Speech + Active-Passive voice are covered in this section) A.1 Introduction- 2 Types of “Error” Questions: It is an irony that ‘Errors is that section of English where candidates are prone to commit maximum errors’ . Simply put “Errors ke questions main error hone ke maximum chance hote hain”. ‘Error’ questions may be mainly of the following 2 types: 1. Type 1: Spotting the error: Target is to ascertain whether any part of sentence is erroneous or not Example: The short story (1)/should not exceed (2)/more than 200 words. (3)/No error (4) 2. Type 2: Improvement of Sentences: Target is to ascertain whether the highlighted section of the sentence is erroneous or not. If yes, then suggest an alternative from the already mentioned ones. Example: Too little is known by this time about possible side-effects of the drug. 1) presently 2) in the end 3) beforehand 4) no improvement Interestingly, solving both of the above Types of ‘Error’ question requires 2 steps: Step 1: ‘locating’ where the error is Step 2: ‘suggesting’ an alternative to the erroneous part
However, Type 1 ‘Error’ questions are tougher than Type 2 ‘Error’ questions. Type 1 ‘Error’ questions Type 2 ‘Error’ questions To answer them, we need to first ‘locate’ On the other hand, in Type 2 ‘Error’ questions, where the error is. ‘where’ to look for error has already been highlighted in the question itself. Next, in order to be sure that we have located What could be the possible ‘alternatives’ to the error correctly, we need to think of the the erroneous part have already been alternative correct usage (as a cross-check). mentioned as options. Though it is ‘relatively easy’ to locate where Since both “location of” and “alternative to” the error is, at times, it becomes difficult to the erroneous part are explicitly mentioned in ‘suggest’ an alternative correct usage during the question, the probability of answering the the examination. question correctly rises.
For example, consider the following sentence The short story (1)/should not exceed (2)/more than 200 words. (3)/No error (4) Now, in the beginning a candidate may ‘feel’ that part (3) is erroneous. Thereafter, (s)he tries to suggest an alternative (as a cross-check) to part (3). This is where (s)he may get stuck. Not being able to suggest an alternative, the candidate may ‘feel’ that: either (s)he has made a mistake in locating where the error is or that the sentence does not have any error. However, there is in fact an error in part (3) and the error is that of ‘superfluous’ usage. There is no need of “more than” after the word “exceed”. Conclusion: Since Type 1 ‘Error’ questions may become difficult to solve, in the exam hall, it is advisable to devote more careful attention to Type 2 ‘Error’ questions. After all, the questions where there is a greater probability of answering accurately must not be missed.
A.2 Resources to master ‘Error’ Questions: The suggested resources are as under: 1. Primary Source: Either 1 of the following 2 books: 1) “Common Errors in English” by Kiran publications OR 2) “A Mirror of Common Errors” by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh (Students’ Friends publishers, Patna). Both the books are essentially similar. Their chapter-end exercises have same questions, with only their order changed. In fact, at times, it becomes difficult to decipher who copied from whom. However, some differences between the two are tabulated underneath: “Common Errors in English” by Kiran “A Mirror of Common Errors” by Dr Ashok publications Kumar Singh It is in pure English and hence, it is equally It is in English-Hindi and hence, it is more useful for all candidates. useful for Hindi-speaking candidates. It is printed in single colour format hence It is printed in two- colour format hence may become monotonous to the eye. candidates may find it interesting to read (even while they are feeling sleepy and tired of reading the boring grammar rules) It has some typographical errors (especially It is almost free from (to the best of my
in chapters of Voice, Narration, etc.) But knowledge) typographical errors. errors are limited to QUESTION-ANSWER only and there is no error (to the best of my knowledge) in the RULES. Caution: Don’t buy both (like me) and waste your money and time. Follow only one of them. 2. Secondary Source: "A handbook of Spotting Errors” by Hari Mohan Prasad Tata McGraw Hill Education. Caution: Do not go for “Objective English for Competitive Examinations” by Hari Mohan Prasad and Uma Rani Sinha. I didn’t find it to be of much use. 3. Tertiary Sources: “English for general competitions” by Paramount Publications “Objective General English” by S.P. Bakshi (Arihant publications) “English Made Easy” by BSC publications BSC publications English class notes available in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi Annie Madam's English Class Notes available in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi.
Out of all these, the 1st 2 are good. In fact, from exam point of view, Paramount's book is the best. “Objective General English” by S.P. Bakshi has some good features but it is not comprehensive. “English Made Easy” by BSC publications is not a very useful book. Its chief demerit is that not all the rules are explained. Moreover, its approach is not SSC exam oriented. In nutshell, since the number of books needs to be kept at minimum, I suggest that Paramount's book should serve like the CHERRY on the top of ICE-CREAM, giving a touch of perfection to your preparation. For instance, in the end of chapter on ‘Verb’, there is a list of “Verb in Confusing Pairs” and “Verbs Confused with Noun/Objective”. Whether you would believe me or not, but I have scanned through all the previous year SSC questions related to “Errors” and have come to the conclusion that all the questions related to “Confusing Verbs” have been collected and brought together (by Paramount) in one place at the end of chapter on ‘Verb’. The same holds true for other chapters as well. Plus the hindi meanings given in this book are very precise. This makes “English for general competitions” by Paramount a sort of must buy for candidates.
Note: The choice of sources is a subjective one - it varies from individual to individual. What may be best for one may be useless for the other. My intention is to provide a range of choices. Final decision rests in hand of candidate alone. 4. There are several other books which I have read the most notable among them being Wren and Martin’s High School Grammar by S. Chand publishers. Candidates are advised to follow them only if they intend to do research in grammar rules i.e. follow them at your own risk. A.3 Strategy to master ‘Error’ Questions:
I have often used the word ‘feel’ in above paragraphs. Well what should be done so that a candidate ‘knows’ the answer rather than ‘feel’ the answer? Here is the strategy. But please remember that like Phase 1 (Vocabulary), even this Phase can be mastered only gradually i.e. there is no shortcut to solving ‘Error’ questions without any error. The suggested strategy is as follows: 1) Step 1: Candidates need to study rules on a topic-by-topic basis. They are advised to follow the following order of topics: Noun Pronoun Adjective Verb Subject-Verb Agreement Adverb Conjunction Direct-Indirect Speech Active-Passive Voice Do not skip any topic; go to the subsequent topic only after mastering preceding one completely. 2) Step 2: Read and understand the rules related to any one topic from primary, secondary (and if possible) tertiary sources. 3) Step 3: Now practice questions related to that topic. It is pertinent to note that chapter-end questions given in both- “Common Errors in English” by Kiran publications and “A Mirror of Common Errors” by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh are not much useful from SSC point of view; they are much more useful for the IBPS point of view. However, chapter-end questions given in “English for general competitions” by Paramount are those which have already been asked in the previous year SSC exams. Hence, it would be wise to practice questions from this Tertiary source. 4) Step 4: After you complete one cycle of the above-mentioned topics, don’t stop; again begin from the start and continue in a cyclic fashion. Go on and on until you begin to notice “rules of grammar” in the English sentences which you read in the newspaper or which you hear in the news on AIR @ 9 pm. When this begins to happen i.e. when you begin to notice “rules of grammar” in the English being spoken/written around you, that is the stage my friends, after reaching where, you can relax. In fact, you will begin to pick out errors in advertisement hoardings, English notices put up in your neighbourhood/by the roadside/etc. And, believe me, it will be fun. 5) Step 5: Don’t get disheartened in the process of learning rules. I admit, it is a dull and boring and monotonous process. But if u can decipher the ‘logic’ behind the rules (believe me, many of the rules have a logic which books have not mentioned), learning English will be fun. Examples of ‘Logic’ behind rules of grammar: Example 1: Many of us say ‘I didn’t do a mistake.’ (I’m no exception. Once upon a time, even I used to do a mistake .) However, speaking this sentence itself is a mistake. Because, the correct sentence is ‘I didn’t made a mistake.’ The logic behind this grammar rule is that ‘do’, when used as a main verb ( auxiliary verb), means
‘accomplish’. Since mistake ≠ achievement, it would be highly illogical to use the phrase ‘did a mistake’. Hence we use the phrase ‘made a mistake.’ Example 2: Many of us say ‘I gave an exam.’ (I’m no exception. Once upon a time, even I used to give exams .) However, the correct sentence is ‘I took (or appeared at/ appeared in) an exam.’ This can be simply remembered by picturing the exam hall in our mind. The invigilator gives a question paper to us, and we (the poor helpless candidates ) take the question paper in our hands. I hope you have understood my point. Hence the correct usage is: “teacher/invigilator gives an exam” while “student takes an exam”.
Conclusion: Learning English can be as much fun as watching a Tom cruise movie (for Hollywood fans) of any-one-of-the-Khans movie (for Bollywood fans). The only condition is that the process will take time, so just keep moving in the right direction and ultimately, victory shall definitely be yours. All the best.
3RD SECTION: COMPREHENSION (DON’T WORRY FRIENDS, I WON’T BORE YOU THIS TIME, THIS ONE IS A SHORT SECTION ) Here is the 3rd and final section dealing with English strategy for SSC Exams. Firstly, what does the term “comprehension” mean? Com- (=with) + prehendere (= to seize/grasp) = Comprehend (= to grasp with mind) [prehendere is also the root for the word ‘prehensile’ which means ‘adapted for grasping, or holding’ like a monkey’s prehensile tail] Hence, comprehension has something to do with grasping the overall meaning of the sentence as well as that of the passage as a whole. This is what is required to be done in the following 3 types of questions: 1. Reading Comprehension 2. Jumbled Sentences 3. Fill in the blanks or “Cloze Test“. Besides comprehension, these questions may also require application of 1st Section (Vocabulary) + 2nd Section (Errors). Thus, “Cloze Test” forms a hybrid category. Let us discuss them one by one. A. Reading Comprehension A.1 Golden Rules of Reading Comprehension (RC in short) 1. Rule 1: Do not assume anything beyond what the author of the passage has written. This means that the candidate is not required to apply his/her general knowledge/awareness while answering RC questions. Stay strictly within the domain of the passage. 2. Rule 2: First attempt those passages whose subject-matter is familiar to you. Thereafter attempt those passages whose subject-matter is unfamiliar to you. For example, a commerce student is advised to first attempt passages related to economy, a science student is advised to first attempt passages related to technology, and so on. The importance of this rule is that “a work well begun is a work half done”. Hence, if you put your best foot first, you are likely to score well in the remaining passages (whose subject matter is unknown to you). 3. Rule 3: While reading the passage, underline the “keywords”. What are “keywords”? These are words like “if, hence, but, thus, in spite of, yet, although, etc.” These keywords are signal words which point out the various twists and turns that the passage goes through. 4. Rule 4: If question asks you about a “Specific Detail”, locate where the “keywords given in the question” appear in the passage. Read that paragraph and only thereafter answer. At times, just reading a single sentence from passage may lead to the wrong answer.
5. Rule 5: If question asks you about “Synonyms/Antonyms”, be sure to read 1-2 lines before and after the sentence where the word occurs. This will give you the context and help you to arrive at the correct answer. 6. Rule 6: Some tricks for “Relatively Tougher Types” of RC question: a) If question asks you to find the “Main Idea”, then read the opening and ending lines of each passage. b) If question asks you to choose the “Title”, then choose a title which is neither ‘too specific’ nor ‘too general’ i.e. follow a middle path. Also, “Title” should express the central theme developed by the passage i.e. it should be comprehensive or it should include the ideas present in all the paragraphs in the passage. c) If question asks you to find the “Tone/Mood of the passage”, then look out for words of emotion. These may be words like “smoothly, sure, probable, magnanimous etc.” that convey ‘Positive emotions/connotations’ or words like “roughly, grumbling, improbable, miserly, etc.” that convey ‘Negative emotions/connotations’. A.2 Strategy for Reading Comprehension A question that haunts many candidates is that which of the following 2 approaches should be followed? Questions Passage Passage Questions Some students feel that the 1st way is better, while some feel the 2nd is better. Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages. “Questions Passage” Approach If one doesn’t read questions 1st, then (s)he doesn’t know at all about what to look for in the passage. Hence, one ends up re-reading the passage (partly or fully) many times while solving the questions.
“Passage Questions” Approach If one does read questions 1st, then (s)he has too many question words and phrases dancing in his/her memory. Hence, while reading the passage, (s)he may: a) become confused and lose focus of what was to be found in the passage b) become anxious Basically, one will be so absorbed in trying to locate where the answers occur that the underlying concept of “comprehension” (= understanding the passage as a whole) will be lost sight of.
Here, I am suggesting a hybrid way: 1) Step 1: Read the 1st line and last line of each paragraph as quickly as you can and with as much understanding as you can. 2) Step 2: Read all the Questions in one go. Now you know what exactly you need to find in the passage. 3) Step 3: Now read the passage completely. 4) Step 4: Proceed to the questions.
There are 2 merits of this approach. Before jumping to the passage, you will have an idea of 1. what to look for (as you have read the questions) 2. where to look for (as you have read the 1st line and last line of each paragraph) Conclusion: Ultimately, for mastering this section, one will have to “Read! Read! And Read!” with full speed and full understanding. For this, reading newspapers and listening to AIR @ 9 pm will help a lot. After understanding the above Golden rules and strategy, one may practice previous year SSC questions from any reliable source. Believe me, no other step is required. If you follow the above approach religiously, you will definitely score more than 8/10 in RC questions. B. Jumbled Sentences B.1 Three Types of “Jumbled Sentences” These may be of 3 types: 1. Type 1: A single sentence given in several parts. 2. Type 2: A group of sentences with the 1st and last sentence given. 3. Type 3: A group of sentences without any definite beginning or end. B.2 Strategy for Jumbled sentences: 1. Look out for “Keyword Clues” Scan for signal words like “if, hence, but, thus, in spite of, yet, although, etc.” and now try to fix the order of sentences 2. Look out for “Grammatical Clues” Example1: Find pronouns and then link those to their nouns. Now, since the use of a pronoun always succeeds (not precedes) the use of the noun for which it stands, we can now eliminate a few choices. Example 2: The use of article “The” before a noun indicates that that particular noun has already been mentioned previously. This grammatical fact too can help us eliminate a few choices. 3. Lookout for “Logical Clues” This means inter-relating the given sentences into a coherent whole by using the ‘idea’ expressed in each sentence. This may involve use of your common sense/general awareness. If the starting and ending sentences are already given, “Logical Clues” may help a lot in arriving at the correct sequence. Example: If sentence C mentions ----- state-level Committees sentence A mentions ----- national-level Committees sentence B mentions ----- state and national level Committees then, the sentence B will come after sentences A and C (i.e. order can be C-A-B or A-CB). Now eliminate the choices which don’t support this order. C. Fill in the blanks or “Cloze Test“
Basically, these questions do not require any specific strategy. If anyone has followed the rules and strategies explained in the previous sections (including this one), the only thing that (s)he needs to do is practice previous year SSC questions from any reliable source. Here I conclude the “English Strategy for SSC exams”. Please remember that: There is no shortcut to success and there is no substitute for hard work.
All the best friends. May all of you pass with flying colours and have bright and prosperous lives ahead. May the Lord give you the strength to 'find' the right thing, 'do' that right thing and 'be satisfied' with doing that right thing. My prayers for and best wishes to all of you.
