Word Classes / Parts of Speech Questions for CDS

Nouns

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea. In CDS, the focus is on countable vs uncountable nouns, collective nouns, and noun-verb agreement. Common errors involve treating uncountable nouns as countable, for example writing furnitures or informations, which are always singular and never take a plural -s. Collective nouns like committee, team, jury take a singular verb when acting as one body.

• Uncountable nouns: information, furniture, luggage, advice, equipment, news — never pluralised
• Collective nouns take singular verb: The committee has decided, not have decided
• Abstract nouns name ideas or qualities: courage, honesty, freedom
• Compound nouns: mother-in-law (plural: mothers-in-law, not mother-in-laws)
• Noun used as adjective loses its plural: a three-year-old boy, not three-years-old

Pronouns

Pronouns replace nouns and must agree in number, gender, and person with their antecedent. CDS frequently tests subject vs object pronoun confusion and reflexive pronoun misuse. A key rule: between two options use I or me by dropping the other noun and reading the sentence alone — I went works, me went does not.

• Subject pronouns: I, he, she, they, we — used as the doer
• Object pronouns: me, him, her, them, us — used after verbs and prepositions
• Reflexive pronouns (myself, himself) only when subject and object are same person
• Myself is NOT a polite substitute for I or me — wrong: Please contact myself
• Each, everyone, anybody take singular pronoun: Everyone must carry his or her ID
• Who refers to persons, which to things, that to both in defining clauses

Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns and must be used correctly in degree — positive, comparative, and superlative. CDS tests double comparatives, wrong degree with unique words, and adjective-adverb confusion. Words like unique, perfect, infinite cannot be compared because they are absolute — never write more unique or very perfect.

• Double comparative is wrong: more better, more taller are errors
• Use comparative for two items, superlative for three or more: She is taller of the two (not tallest)
• Absolute adjectives: unique, perfect, ideal, infinite, dead — no degree forms
• Predicate adjective follows linking verb: The soup smells good (not well, unless talking about sense of smell)
• Few vs little: few for countable, little for uncountable
• Farther vs further: farther for physical distance, further for degree or extent

Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. The classic CDS trap is using an adjective where an adverb is needed. Adverbs usually end in -ly but not always — fast, hard, late, well are adverbs too. Well is the adverb form of good. The placement of adverbs like only, even, just changes sentence meaning — a very common error-spotting trigger.

• He runs quick is wrong — runs quick should be runs quickly
• He did good is wrong in formal English — should be He did well
• Only should sit next to the word it modifies: I only eat fish on Fridays vs I eat only fish on Fridays
• Hard is both adjective and adverb; hardly is a negative adverb meaning scarcely — He hardly works vs He works hard
• Late means not on time; lately means recently — He came late vs He has been tired lately

Verbs

Verbs express action or state. CDS tests subject-verb agreement, correct tense sequence, transitive vs intransitive verb errors, and auxiliary verb use. A linking verb (is, seems, appears, becomes) connects subject to a noun or adjective, not an adverb. Principal verbs like lie/lay and rise/raise are perpetual CDS favourites.

• Lie (recline) vs Lay (to place something): Lie down, lay the book — lie is intransitive, lay is transitive
• Rise (to go up) vs Raise (to lift something): The sun rises, raise your hand
• Subject-verb agreement: neither...nor, either...or — verb agrees with the nearer subject
• With as well as, along with, together with — verb agrees with first subject only
• Linking verbs (seem, appear, become, smell, taste) take adjective not adverb

Prepositions

Prepositions show relationship between words. CDS tests fixed preposition phrases, wrong preposition choice, and redundant prepositions. There is no rule-based shortcut — these must be memorised as collocations. The most tested area is verbs and adjectives that demand specific prepositions.

• Agree with a person, agree to a proposal, agree on a plan
• Differ from in quality, differ with in opinion
• Angry with a person, angry at a situation or thing
• Comply with, conform to, cope with, result in, responsible for
• Avoid putting redundant prepositions: Where are you going to? — drop to
• Between is used for two items, among for more than two

Conjunctions

Conjunctions join words, clauses, or sentences. CDS tests correlative conjunction pairs and incorrect pairing. The rule is that correlative conjunctions must be followed by grammatically parallel structures.

• Pairs to memorise: either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, both...and, whether...or, though...yet
• Not only...but also: not only must come before the first parallel element
• Although/though should NOT be paired with but — write Although it rained, we played (not but we played)
• Because should NOT be paired with so — not Because he was late, so he missed it
• Scarcely/hardly...when (not than): Scarcely had he left when it rained

• Using adjective instead of adverb after action verbs — He spoke very soft is wrong, should be softly
• Pluralising uncountable nouns — advices, informations, luggages are all wrong forms
• Using myself as a formal replacement for I or me — Please send the report to myself is incorrect
• Pairing although with but or because with so in the same sentence — both are double conjunctions and are errors
• Confusing hardly (scarcely) with hard (with effort) — I can hardly wait does not mean the same as I waited hard

• NAVPACIC — Noun, Adjective, Verb, Pronoun, Adverb, Conjunction, Interjection, preposition (C for Connective) — 8 parts of speech in order
• LIE needs no object, LAY always needs one — think L-A-Y = Lays A thing down
• FANBOYS for coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
• For absolute adjectives remember UPDIP — Unique, Perfect, Dead, Infinite, Perfect — these never take more or most

• Error spotting questions in CDS almost always contain one adjective-adverb confusion or one wrong preposition — scan for -ly endings and underlined prepositions first
• Sentence improvement questions frequently test correlative conjunction pairing — if you see either, look immediately for or, not nor
• Fill in the blanks with options that look similar (as good vs as well, between vs among) are testing parts of speech — ask yourself is this modifying a noun or a verb
• CDS does not ask you to name the part of speech directly — it tests usage in context through error spotting, so always read the full sentence not just the underlined part
• Spend no more than 40 to 50 seconds per grammar question in CDS English — if a sentence feels awkward read it aloud mentally, your ear often catches the error faster than analysis