Grammar Drill

---
name: grammar-drill
description: English grammar accounts for 5-8 easy marks. Tenses, reported speech, modals, subject-verb agreement — all rule-based, no creativity needed. Pure drill = pure marks.
---

# Grammar Drill — 5-8 Free Marks

## Tense Conversion (Reported Speech) — 2-3M

### Rules
```
STEP 1: Change reporting verb
  "says" → stays same tense | "said" → shift back one tense

STEP 2: Shift tense back
  Simple Present → Simple Past: "I go" → he said he went
  Present Continuous → Past Continuous: "I am going" → he said he was going
  Present Perfect → Past Perfect: "I have gone" → he said he had gone
  Simple Past → Past Perfect: "I went" → he said he had gone
  Will → Would: "I will go" → he said he would go
  Can → Could | May → Might | Shall → Should

STEP 3: Change pronouns
  I → he/she | we → they | my → his/her | our → their

STEP 4: Change time/place references
  today → that day | tomorrow → the next day | yesterday → the previous day
  here → there | this → that | these → those | now → then | ago → before

STEP 5: Change sentence type
  Questions: "Do you like...?" → asked if/whether he liked...
  Commands: "Sit down" → ordered him to sit down
  Exclamations: "What a day!" → exclaimed that it was a wonderful day
```

### Practice Patterns
```
Statement: He said, "I am tired."
→ He said that he was tired.

Question: She asked, "Where do you live?"
→ She asked where I lived.

Command: Teacher said, "Open your books."
→ The teacher ordered them to open their books.
```

## Modals — 1-2M

```
Fill in blanks:
  Ability → can/could: "She ___ swim well." (can)
  Permission → may/might: "___ I come in?" (May)
  Obligation → must: "You ___ wear a helmet." (must)
  Advice → should: "You ___ see a doctor." (should)
  Polite request → could/would: "___ you help me?" (Could)
  Possibility → may/might: "It ___ rain today." (might)
```

## Subject-Verb Agreement — 1M

```
RULES:
  Singular subject → singular verb: "He goes" (not "He go")
  Plural subject → plural verb: "They go" (not "They goes")
  Either/or, Neither/nor → verb matches NEAREST subject
  Each, every, everyone → singular verb
  "The news" → singular | "The scissors" → plural
  "A lot of" → depends on noun (lot of water = is, lot of books = are)
```

## Determiners — 1M
```
  Countable: many, few, a few, several, each, every
  Uncountable: much, little, a little, some, any
  Both: some, any, all, enough, more, most
```

## Error Correction Patterns — 1M
```
Common errors to spot:
  ❌ "He don't like" → ✅ "He doesn't like"
  ❌ "I am agree" → ✅ "I agree" (agree is NOT adjective)
  ❌ "She told that" → ✅ "She said that" (told needs object: told me)
  ❌ "I suggest to go" → ✅ "I suggest going" (suggest + gerund)
  ❌ "One of the boy" → ✅ "One of the boys" (one of + plural)
```