CUET English Revision Notes

Reading Comprehension

• 3-4 passages typically; short (~150 words) and long (~500 words).
• Skim for structure, tone; then answer questions in the order asked.
• Look for keywords: 'not', 'except', 'inference'.

Vocabulary

• Synonyms & antonyms — top-500 CUET word list (verify, meticulous, ephemeral, etc.).
• One-word substitution ('bibliophile', 'somnambulist', 'philanthropist').
• Idioms & phrases (spill the beans, break the ice).

Grammar

• Subject-verb agreement: singular subject → singular verb ('Each of the students is').
• Tense consistency: keep the same tense in a paragraph.
• Reported speech: past tense shift, pronoun shift.
• Prepositions: comprise (of avoided), consist of, differ from.
• Conjunctions: either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also — parallel structure.

Common Errors

• Double negatives ('hardly nothing' — wrong).
• Redundancy ('return back', 'free gift', 'past history').
• Wrong articles ('a hour' → 'an hour').
• Confusing pairs: affect/effect, complement/compliment, principle/principal, stationary/stationery.

Sentence Improvement

• Look for missing articles, wrong prepositions, tense mistakes, pronoun agreement.
• Check parallelism in lists.

Cloze Test

• Read whole passage first to catch context.
• Use elimination of wrong options quickly.
• Check tense and article agreement before finalising.

Para Jumbles

• Identify the topic sentence — usually most general.
• Look for connectors: 'however', 'moreover', 'consequently'.
• Pronouns tell you the sentence must come AFTER its antecedent.

Rapid Tips

• 25 words a day for 30 days → 750-word CUET vocabulary.
• Read The Hindu 'Word of the Day' regularly.
• Solve 10 previous-year CUET English questions daily.

Practice MCQs

Q1. Synonym of 'ephemeral' is A) Long-lasting B) Short-lived C) Solid D) Silent

Q2. Antonym of 'meticulous' is A) Careful B) Careless C) Detailed D) Precise

Q3. Choose the correctly spelt word. A) Occurence B) Occurrence C) Occurance D) Occurrance

Q4. Fill: Each of the boys ___ present. A) are B) is C) were D) have

Q5. 'Bibliophile' means A) Lover of books B) Lover of movies C) Fear of books D) Fear of movies

Q6. Change to indirect speech: He said, 'I am tired.' → He said that he ___ tired. A) is B) was C) were D) be

Q7. 'The book I bought' shows which clause? A) Relative B) Noun C) Adverbial D) Independent

Q8. Correct usage: I ___ my keys. A) lost B) have lost C) losing D) losed

Q9. Passive: 'They ate the cake' → ___ A) The cake was eating by them B) The cake was eaten by them C) The cake ate by them D) The cake ate them

Q10. 'Stationery' refers to A) Not moving B) Writing materials C) A place D) A person

Answers: 1-B (Short-lived.), 2-B (Careless.), 3-B (Standard spelling.), 4-B (Singular verb with 'each'.), 5-A (Biblio = book.), 6-B (Backshift to past.), 7-A (Relative clause without 'that'.), 8-B (Present perfect for recent past.), 9-B (Past passive.), 10-B (Writing materials vs stationary=not moving.)

MCQ Metadata