With the SBI CBO exam just around the corner, this final month is the perfect time to sharpen your English skills, especially grammar. A solid grasp of the Grammar rules you must know for the SBI CBO is essential. Small grammar mistakes can lead to misunderstanding and lower scores. By mastering key concepts like subject-verb agreement, tenses, articles, pronouns, and prepositions, you can approach the exam with greater confidence and precision.
Grammar Rules You Must Know for SBI CBO
As the SBI CBO Exam 2025 draws near, mastering grammar is essential for securing a strong score in the English language section. These rules form the foundation of correct sentence formation, comprehension, and error detection skills critical for clearing the exam with confidence.
Subject-Verb Agreement
This rule emphasizes that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb. For instance, “She writes daily” is correct, while “She write daily” is incorrect. Understanding this rule helps avoid common sentence formation mistakes.
Tenses
Tenses indicate the time of action in a sentence. SBI CBO exams frequently test your ability to identify and correct tense errors. For example, consistency in tenses within a sentence or passage is essential. Mixing past and present tense without context leads to errors. A strong grasp of past, present, and future forms will help you construct grammatically correct sentences.
Prepositions
Prepositions show relationships between nouns or pronouns and other words in a sentence. Errors often occur with incorrect usage, such as “discuss about” instead of “discuss.” Knowing which preposition fits naturally with particular verbs and phrases is essential to avoid awkward or incorrect constructions.
Articles
Articles like ‘a,’ ‘an,’ and ‘the’ are small but important words that affect sentence meaning. Knowing when to use definite (the) and indefinite (a, an) articles is important for clarity. For example, “He is a doctor” vs. “He is the doctor who treated me yesterday” conveys different information.
Modifiers
Modifiers are words or phrases that describe other elements in a sentence. Misplaced modifiers can lead to confusing or humorous interpretations. For example, “She almost drove her kids to school every day” is incorrect because “almost” seems to modify “drove” rather than the frequency. The correct sentence is “She drove her kids to school almost every day.”
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and gender. For instance, “Every student must submit their form” is incorrect in strict grammar, as “student” is singular and “their” is plural. A grammatically correct version is “Every student must submit his or her form.”
Conjunctions
Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses. Understanding how to use coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions correctly ensures that your sentences are logically connected. Errors like using “although” and “but” together can make a sentence redundant.
Conditional Sentences
These sentences express situations and their outcomes. There are different types of conditionals (zero, first, second, third), and each has its structure and tense requirements. A clear understanding helps you construct hypothetical or real situation sentences properly, such as “If I had known, I would have helped.”
Syntax
Key rules include subject-verb agreement, consistent tense usage, and correct article placement (a, an, the). Candidates must ensure proper pronoun agreement, logical modifier placement, and accurate use of conjunctions and prepositions (e.g., interested in, good at). Understanding conditionals (if-clauses), avoiding double negatives, and knowing the difference between “too” and “very” are also important. Additionally, in structures like “either/or” and “neither/nor,” the verb should agree with the subject closest to it.