EPT English Complete Review Guide 2026–2027

4. Conditionals: zero for facts (if + present, present), first for the possible (if + present, will), second for the unreal present (if + past, would), third for the finished past (if + past perfect, would have). Example: "If I had studied more, I would have passed." wish is for regrets: "I wish I had more time."
5. Passive: be + past participle, with be in the tense of the sentence, and only from a transitive verb. Example: "The results will be sent by email." The common mistake is "The accident was happened".
6. Verb patterns: enjoy, avoid, finish and keep take -ing; want, decide, hope and plan take to + verb. Example: "He avoids eating late, and he decided to start running."
7. used to is a past habit; be used to means accustomed to and takes -ing. Causative: have + object + past participle. Example: "I used to play football." "I'm used to waking up early." "I had my car repaired."
8. Countable and uncountable: many and few go with countable nouns, much and little with uncountable. Example: "There isn't much information, but there are a few good books." Use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound: "a university", "an hour".
9. Subject-verb agreement: each, every and everyone are singular, the number of is singular, a number of is plural. Example: "Each of the students has a book." "A number of students are absent." Pronouns: "My brother and I went." "She hurt herself."
10. Comparison: -er and than for short adjectives, more and than for long ones, the + -est or the most for the superlative, the more... the more for parallel change. Example: "This exam is easier than the last one." "The more you practise, the better you get."
11. An adjective goes before the noun and an adverb after the verb; a frequency adverb goes before the main verb. Example: "She always speaks English fluently." Note hard (with effort) and hardly (almost not): "He works hard." "He hardly works."
12. Prepositions are learned with the word: in for months and years, on for days and dates, at for clock times; also interested in, depend on, good at. Example: "The test is on Monday at 9 a.m." and "It starts in May."
13. Connectors: although and despite never come with but; because gives a reason and so a result; however is followed by a comma. Example: "Although it was raining, we went out." "Despite the rain, we went out."
14. Relative clauses: who for people, which for things, whose for possession. Reported speech moves the tense back one step and does not use question order. Example: "The student who won the prize said she had studied daily." "She asked me where I lived."
15. Vocabulary and collocation: learn verbs with their nouns: make a decision, do homework, take a risk, have a break. Example: "We need to make a decision before Friday." We do not say "do a decision".
16. Word forms: decide what is needed (noun, adjective, adverb or verb) then add the suffix: decide, decision; success, successful, successfully; possible, impossible. Example: "Her success surprised everyone."
17. Error spotting: check the verb and subject first, then tense, preposition, word form. Example: in "Each of the students have a book" the error is have; it should be has. For word order: subject, verb, object: "Maha reads novels every night."
18. Punctuation, spelling and sentence order: a comma after an introductory clause, it's means it is while its shows possession, and capitals for days and languages. In sentence order, look for the opening sentence that does not start with a pronoun. Example: "On Monday, we study English; it's my favourite lesson."

Common mistakes in this chapter

• ✕ Putting will after when, if, before or as soon as. Use the present simple: "I will call you when I arrive", not "when I will arrive".
• ✕ Using the present simple with since or for instead of the present perfect. Correct: "I have lived here for two years".
• ✕ Pluralising uncountable nouns or putting a before them: information, advice, furniture and news have no plural. Correct: "some advice", not "an advice".
• ✕ Matching the verb to a nearby word instead of the subject: in "The box of pens is on the desk", the subject is box.
• ✕ Mixing -ed and -ing: "I am boring" says you are the dull one. For the feeling, use "I am bored".
• ✕ Double comparison such as "more taller" or "most easiest". A short adjective takes -er or -est only.
• ✕ Using question word order in an embedded question: correct is "Do you know where the library is?", not "where is the library".
• ✕ A preposition carried over from Arabic: "married with" is wrong, use "married to"; "discuss about" is wrong, use "discuss" with no preposition.
• ✕ Choosing a word by meaning and ignoring its position: after the and an adjective comes a noun (decision); after a verb comes an adverb (carefully).