English language & reading comprehension

English language & reading comprehension is an important section from the SSC CGL 2020 point of view. So, it is essential that the aspirants master the basics of grammar and develop a rich vocabulary. In this article, we have discussed an important topic of English grammar (with examples) that is utilized in many questions of the exam.

SSC CGL Notification

Prepositions

Prepositions are short words used to link people, places, time and objects in a sentence.

• "In" is used with names of countries and large towns whereas "at" is used when speaking of small towns and villages. "In" and "at" are also used when speaking about things at rest. For example,

I live in India.

I live at Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

He is in class.

He is at the top of the ladder.

• "To" and "into" are used to speak about things in motion. For example,

He ran to the playground.

He jumped into the river.

• "On" is used to depict things at rest. "Upon" is used for things in motion. For example,

He is sitting on a chair.

The snake sprang upon the egg.

• "Till" is used to depict time and "to" is used to depict a place. For example,

I worked till 2 AM yesterday.

He ran to end of the street.

• "With" often denotes the instrument and also means accompanied by. "By" is used to identify the means of conveyance. For example,

I will go with you.

He was saved by the bell.

• "Since" denotes some point of time and is used before a noun or a phrase. For example,

I have been working since morning.

• "From" is used with non-perfect tense and is also used before a noun depicting some point of time. For example,

I will join the office from tomorrow.

• "For" is used for a specific period of time. For example,

I have been working with this company for 2 years.

• "Beside" means at the side of and "besides" means in addition to. For example,

The cat lay beside the dog.

Besides being fined Rs. 1000, he was imprisoned for 6 months.

• "Above" and "below" denote position. "Over" and "under" carry a sense of movement too. For example, "The bird is flying above the trees" is wrong whereas "The bird is flying over the trees" is correct.
• "During" is used to refer time within which something happens. For example,

Tempers run high during election time.

• "Compare" is followed by "to" when it shows that two entities are alike. It is followed by "with" when we look at how entities are like and unlike each other. For example,

If we compare SSC CGL 2020 with CSE 2020, we will find that the former is much easier than the latter.

• "Scarcely" means barely or hardly and should be followed by "when" and not by "but". For example,

Scarcely had he stepped out of the house when it started raining.

The English language section is one of the most dreaded sections of competitive exams, be it Bank PO, SSC CGL 2020 or Railway recruitment. But if we master grammar and vocabulary, this section can become the most scoring. Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss “Tenses” of grammar to clear your basics.

As we all know, verbs depict action. Verbs take the form of tenses to depict time and continuation of an action. There are mainly 4 subcategories used to denote continuance or completeness of action.

1. Simple tense

Simple tense is used to express habitual or routine actions that are over in the past tense and about to happen in the future tense.

2. Continuous tense

This means that the action is incomplete or going on.

3. Perfect tense

This means that the action is complete or perfect with respect to a certain point of time.

4. Perfect Continuous tense

This means that the action is going on continuously over a long period of time and is yet to be finished.

Practicing mock papers of SSC CGL 2020 will give you a fair idea of the types of questions asked in the exam and how these concepts are put to use. So, make sure you attempt a lot of them.