বিসিএস ও ব্যাংক ইংরেজি গ্রামার: প্রিলিতে ২০+ তোলার ১২টি গোল্ডেন রুলস ও শর্টকাট কৌশল

Mastering English Grammar for Competitive Exams

In competitive examinations like BCS, Bangladesh Bank AD, and Combined 9-Bank Officer tests, English Grammar carries massive weightage. Most students fear English because they try to memorize hundreds of detached rules rather than mastering the foundational syntactic patterns.

Here are the 12 Golden Rules of English Grammar that appear consistently across statutory recruitment examinations in Bangladesh.

Rule 1: Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Prepositional Phrases

The verb must agree with its true subject, NOT with the noun inside the prepositional phrase or descriptive clause.

• Incorrect: The quality of these apples are good.
• Correct: The quality of these apples is good. (Subject: 'The quality', singular)
• BCS Example: "The colors of the rainbow are beautiful."

Rule 2: Compound Subjects with 'Along with', 'As well as', 'Together with'

When two subjects are connected by as well as, along with, together with, in addition to, accompanied by, the verb agrees with the FIRST subject.

• Example: The teacher, along with his students, was present at the seminar. (Agrees with 'The teacher')

Rule 3: Correlative Conjunctions ('Either...or', 'Neither...nor', 'Not only...but also')

With correlative pairs, the verb agrees with the NEAREST subject.

• Example: Neither the manager nor the employees were satisfied with the decision.
• Example: Neither the employees nor the manager was satisfied.

Rule 4: The Four Conditional Sentence Patterns

Conditionals are tested in almost every single BCS edition:

1. ১Zero Conditional: If + Present Simple, Present Simple (Universal Truth)

• If you heat water to 100°C, it boils.

1. ১First Conditional (Real Present/Future): If + Present, Future (will + V1)

• If it rains, we will cancel the match.

1. ১Second Conditional (Hypothetical Present): If + Past Simple (were/V2), would/could/might + V1

• If I were you, I would accept the scholarship.

1. ১Third Conditional (Unfulfilled Past): If + Past Perfect (had + V3), would have + V3

• If they had invited me, I would have attended the event.

Rule 5: Subjunctive Mood with Demands and Recommendations

After verbs like suggest, insist, recommend, demand, order, advise followed by 'that', the following clause takes the base form of the verb (bare infinitive) without 's/es' or past tense.

• Example: The doctor recommended that he stop smoking. (NOT 'stops' or 'stopped')
• Example: I insist that she be present at the meeting.

Rule 6: Inversion after Negative Adverbials

When a sentence begins with a negative or restrictive adverb (Never, Seldom, Rarely, Hardly, Scarcely, Barely, No sooner), the auxiliary verb comes before the subject.

• Pattern: Hardly + had + Subject + V3... when...
• Pattern: No sooner + had + Subject + V3... than...
• Example: Hardly had he entered the room when the phone rang.
• Example: Seldom have I seen such courage.

Rule 7: Parallelism in Lists and Comparisons

Items in a series connected by conjunctions must share the same grammatical form.

• Incorrect: She enjoys swimming, dancing, and to read books.
• Correct: She enjoys swimming, dancing, and reading books.

Rule 8: Dangling / Misplaced Modifiers

An introductory participial phrase must modify the subject immediately following the comma.

• Incorrect: Walking down the street, a car almost hit him. (Did the car walk down the street?)
• Correct: Walking down the street, he was almost hit by a car.

Rule 9: Causative Verbs (Have, Make, Let, Get, Help)

1. ১Make / Let: Subject + make/let + Person + Base Verb (V1)

• She made him clean the room.

1. ১Have (Active): Subject + have + Person + Base Verb (V1)

• I had the electrician repair the wiring.

1. ১Get (Active): Subject + get + Person + to + V1

• I got the mechanic to fix my car.

1. ১Passive Causative (Have/Get + Object + V3):

• I had my hair cut yesterday.

Rule 10: 'No sooner had... than' vs 'Scarcely had... when'

• Notice the pairing: No sooner pairs with than; Hardly / Scarcely pairs with when or before.
• BCS Trap: Often 'then' or 'when' is deceptively given with 'No sooner'. Always remember: No sooner... than.

Rule 11: Gerund vs Infinitive after Prepositions

Any verb placed immediately after a preposition must take the -ing form (Gerund), including idioms ending in 'to' (look forward to, with a view to, be used to, accustomed to).

• He went to the library with a view to reading books.
• I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Rule 12: Expressions of Quantity (A number of vs The number of)

• A number of + Plural Noun + Plural Verb:
• A number of students were absent. (Meaning: Many students)
• The number of + Plural Noun + Singular Verb:
• The number of applicants is increasing every year. (Meaning: The specific statistic)