Grammar Refreshers for XAT 2026 VA&LR: Key Concepts for Success
Preparing for XAT VA&LR? This article covers essential grammar refreshers, including tenses, subject-verb agreement, modifiers, connectors, and parallelism. Strengthen your basics, improve accuracy, and boost your XAT verbal performance with clear, exam-focused concepts.
XAT's Verbal Ability section doesn’t just test your vocabulary; it tests your grammar understanding pretty heavily, too. A lot of students skip grammar prep, thinking they know it already, but the questions can get tricky, especially under time pressure. For spotting errors, sentence correction, or understanding sentence structure, having your grammar basics strong is important for XAT. You don't need to memorize every rule, but refreshing the key concepts will definitely help you score better. Let's go through the most important grammar topics you should focus on for
XAT 2026
VA & LR.
Also Read:
Top Recommended Books for XAT 2026 RC
Key Grammar Concepts for XAT 2026 VA & LR
XAT doesn't test every grammar rule out there, but it does focus on certain concepts that show up year after year. If you know these well, you'll be able to handle most of the grammar-based questions.
1. Parts of Speech
Knowing how words function helps you crack error-based questions fast.
Part of Speech | What You Need to Remember for XAT |
Nouns | Countable vs uncountable matters in error spotting |
Pronouns | Reference clarity - avoid ambiguity |
Verbs | Tenses + subject - verb agreement questions |
Adjectives & Adverbs | Many XAT errors come from incorrect placement |
Prepositions | Fixed phrases like “depend on”, “capable of”, etc. |
Conjunctions | Important for para-jumbles and sentence flow |
2. Tenses & Timeline Clarity
XAT loves questions where the action timeline is slightly tricky. Practise Tenses thoroughly to ace this section.
Tense Problem in XAT | What You Should Do |
Mixed timelines | Check if events match logically |
Irrelevant tense shifts | Ensure tense doesn’t shift without reason |
Perfect tenses | Used to show completed actions or dependencies |
Example:
Incorrect: He completed the project when the manager arrives.
Correct: He completed the project when the manager arrived.
3. Subject-Verb Agreement
This is one of the most common XAT error spotting areas.
Rule | Quick Tip |
Singular subject - singular verb | The list of topics is long. |
‘Either/Neither’ - singular | Neither of them is coming. |
Collective nouns | Look at the meaning: team is / people are |
Indefinite pronouns | Everyone wants, each student is |
4. Modifiers
The XAT exam sometimes checks if the modifier is placed correctly.
Problem | Easy Explanation |
Dangling modifier | Modifier has no clear subject |
Misplaced modifier | Placed far from the word it modifies |
Example:
Incorrect: Running to the bus, the rain started.
Correct: Running to the bus, I felt the rain start.
5. Parallelism
In XAT, parallelism helps identify faulty sentence structure.
Parallelism Type | Example |
Noun-noun | He likes music and sports. |
Verb-verb | She writes and edits stories. |
Phrase-phrase | He is good at drawing and painting. |
6. Active-Passive Voice
You don’t have to “study” this too much. Just remember the following info.
Voice | When It’s Used |
Active | More direct, used in precise statements |
Passive | Used to highlight an object or when the doer is unknown |
7. Sentence Connectors & Logical Flow
This helps you in both grammar and LR-based para-jumbles. Common connectors in XAT include,
Connector | Purpose |
However | Contrast |
Therefore | Result |
Moreover | Addition |
Despite | Limitation |
Although | Unexpected contrast |
8. Common Confusable Words
These can appear in error spotting.
Word Pair | Meaning |
Affect vs Effect | Verb vs noun |
Its vs It’s | Possession vs contraction |
Then vs Than | Time vs comparison |
Further vs Farther | Abstract vs distance |
Advice vs Advise | Noun vs verb |
Also Read: Key Quant Topics for XAT 2026 Preparation
Tips to Improve Grammar for XAT 2026
Below are some tips on how you can improve your grammar for XAT VA & LR.
- Revise rules, don’t memorise: You don’t need 100 grammar chapters. Just revise the key areas above.
- Solve the previous 10 years of XAT papers: You’ll understand the pattern quickly.
- Maintain a small “mistake notebook”: Write the grammar rules you keep forgetting.
- Read 20-30 mins daily: Editorials from Indian Express, Mint, or The Hindu help with sentence structure.
- Practice under time pressure: XAT VA/LR section is tight on time; accuracy comes from comfort with patterns.
So, now you can understand and practice the core grammar concepts that show up repeatedly in XAT. You don't need to become a grammar expert overnight, but spending some time on these basics will make the VA section way more manageable. Practice identifying errors quickly, and try solving previous year questions to see how they are tested in the exam. The more comfortable you get with these concepts, the faster you'll be able to move through the section.