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GK English Language Skills Section
The English Language Skills Section of the GK Exam tests the use of language structure within context and apply their knowledge in written passages. Skills in determining the meanings of unknown words are also tested, along with the ability to choose correctly among commonly confused words. Determination of the correct forms of words in specific situations is another competency addressed, along with appropriate spelling, punctuation and capitalization conventions.
Click on each compency below to watch a video or read an article that teaches you the concept.
1. Knowledge of language structure (Approximately 25% of the questions for the GK Reading Section will be based on the concepts that follow)
1. Evaluate correct placement of modifiers.
2. Apply knowledge of parallelism, including parallel expressions for parallel ideas.
3. Apply knowledge of effective structures (e.g., fragments, comma splices, run-on sentences, syntax errors).
4. Determine patterns of organization in a written passage (i.e., modes of rhetoric).
2. Knowledge of vocabulary application (Approximately 25% of the questions for the GK Reading Section will be based on the concepts that follow)
1. Determine the meaning of unknown words, multiple-meaning words, and phrases in context.
2. Determine and select the correct use of commonly confused words, misused words, and phrases.
3. Determine diction and tone appropriate to a given audience.
3. Knowledge of standard English conventions (Approximately 50% of the questions for the GK Reading Section will be based on the concepts that follow)
1. Determine and select standard verb forms.
2. Determine and select inappropriate shifts in verb tense.
3. Determine and select agreement between subject and verb.
4. Determine and select agreement between pronoun and antecedent.
5. Determine and select inappropriate pronoun shifts.
6. Determine and select clear pronoun references.
7. Determine and select pronoun case forms (e.g., subjective, objective, possessive).
8. Evaluate the correct use of adjectives and adverbs.
9. Determine and select appropriate comparative and superlative degree forms.
10. Demonstrate command of standard spelling conventions.
11. Demonstrate command of standard punctuation.
12. Demonstrate command of standard capitalization.
Click here to be taken to a practice. The answers and explanations are located towards the end of the document.