Sentence Improvement
🔒 Log in to trackOne highlighted segment per sentence must be corrected — or left alone ('No substitution required'). The same fault families recur as error-spotting (agreement, tense, comparison, prepositions, inversion), so the elimination ladder — verb form, agreement, structure, word choice, economy — resolves most items in under thirty seconds.
One page per subtopic: detailed notes, every question type, formulas, tricks and practice sets.
Every formula on one printable page, grouped by subtopic.
3 exam-level questions worked step by step.
72 questions — untimed practice or a timed test with analysis.
Track record in the exam
Questions per shift in recent SSC CGL papers.
Test difficulty mix (72 questions)
Question patterns exams keep repeating
Taken from previous-year papers. If a pattern is marked "very common", expect to see it in your exam.
Tense fix (anchor-based)
very commonThe bold part is a verb and the sentence carries a visible time anchor — already, yesterday, by the time, every morning, since 2015.
How to solve: Circle the anchor and read off the required form: ago and yesterday demand simple past; the earlier of two past events takes had + participle; habits take the simple present; a since/for phrase with a continuing action takes has been -ing. Then reject options that shift tense again without a second event.
Example: When I reached the station, the train (already left). Options: had already left / has already left / No substitution required / already leaves.
The leaving happened before the reaching, so the earlier event takes the past perfect: had already left.
Agreement fix
very commonThe bold part holds a helper verb (was/were, has/have) sitting after an 'of…' phrase, an as-well-as phrase, or a one-of / each-of / neither-of opener.
How to solve: Cross out the interrupting phrase and find the true subject; match the helper to it and leave the participle untouched. For either…or and not only…but also, agree with the nearer subject; a number of takes a plural verb, the number of a singular one.
Example: The captain, as well as the openers, (were) blamed for the collapse. Options: was / No substitution required / have been / are.
'As well as' only adds information — the subject stays the captain: was blamed.
Reported-speech repair
commonA past reporting verb (asked, told, enquired, wanted to know) is followed by a bold part in question order, an unshifted tense, or 'that why / that whether'.
How to solve: Push the direct sentence through two machines: backshift the tense one step, and restore statement order (subject before helper). Keep exactly one connective — asked why, asked whether; 'that' never joins a wh-word.
Example: The teacher asked the boy (why was he) late again. Options: why he was / No substitution required / why is he / that why he was.
Indirect questions take statement order plus backshift: why he was late again.
Comparison repair
commonThe bold part shows a doubled marker (more better), a bare place after 'than' (than Delhi), a Latin comparative with than (senior than), or the wrong degree for the announced count (the most useful of the two).
How to solve: Cut the doubled marker; compare like with like using that of / those of; give Latin comparatives and prefer their partner to; count the items — of the two takes the comparative, of all takes the superlative.
Example: The streets of Mysuru are cleaner than (Bangalore). Options: those of Bangalore / that of Bangalore / No substitution required / Bangalore's streets.
Streets must be compared with streets, plural: those of Bangalore.
Preposition / word-pair fix
very commonThe bold part is a small word after a verb or adjective (approve for, insisted for) and the options swap prepositions, or the sentence contains an echo like revert back / repeat again.
How to solve: Treat verb + preposition as one memorised chunk — approve of, insist on, fond of, comply with — and pick the partner. For echoes, the repair is a subtraction: return, repeat and revert already contain the idea of back or again, so the correct option is the shorter one.
Example: Please (revert back) to my mail by Friday. Options: revert to / No substitution required / revert back to / reversing to.
Revert already means come back — cut the echo: revert to my mail.
Article / small-word fix
commonThe bold part is an article + noun (a honest, an useful) or a single twin word in the wrong job (advise for advice, effect for affect).
How to solve: Say the next word aloud: vowel sound → an (an hour, an MLA), consonant sound → a (a university). For twins, decide the slot's part of speech: advice is the noun and advise the verb, affect the verb and effect the noun — then keep the change to one word.
Example: The temple was built near (a ancient) trading route. Options: No substitution required / an ancient / a ancients / the ancients.
Ancient begins with a vowel sound: an ancient trading route.
Inversion repair (no sooner / hardly / negative adverbs)
commonThe sentence opens with No sooner, Hardly/Scarcely, Never or Seldom, and the bold part keeps statement order, uses the wrong partner (than vs when), or mismatches helper and verb.
How to solve: Recall the fixed frames: no sooner…THAN and hardly/scarcely…WHEN both force helper-first order (no sooner had he left / no sooner did he leave); fronted never and seldom invert with the helper or do-support (never have I seen, seldom do we see). Test order, partner word and helper-verb match as three separate checks.
Example: No sooner (the train had left) the platform than the TTE began checking tickets. Options: had the train left / No substitution required / the train left / the train had leave.
No sooner demands inversion: no sooner had the train left than…
Dangling modifier / structure repair
occasionalThe sentence begins with an -ing or being phrase whose doer is missing or impossible (Being a rainy day, the mela…; Having eaten our lunch, the train…), or a list and a not only…but also pair mix shapes.
How to solve: Ask who performs the opener's action; that doer must be the main subject, or the opener needs its own subject (It being a rainy day). For lists, make every item copy the first item's shape — uniform -ing items or paired adjectives.
Example: (Being a rainy day), the mela was cancelled by the committee. Options: It being a rainy day / No substitution required / Being rainy day / Been a rainy day.
The mela cannot be a rainy day: give the opener its own subject — It being a rainy day.
No-substitution discipline
commonThe bold part already passes every rule — a correct tense, a correct pair, a correct article — while every option quietly breaks one.
How to solve: Run the full check on the bold part before touching the options; if it survives its own rules, choose No substitution required without inventing work. Papers plant two or three correct originals per set to punish both the over-fixers and the blind pickers.
Example: She (has been teaching) in this school since 2015. Options: teaches / is teaching / No substitution required / has taught.
Perfect continuous with since 2015 and still continuing is exactly right: No substitution required.