English Language And Verbal Reasoning 2026 Njfp Job

The verbs 'say' and 'tell' have different grammatical structures. 'Tell' is a transitive verb that requires a direct object (the person being spoken to) without a preposition. In the past tense, 'told' followed immediately by 'Elizabeth' is the correct way to report a directive. In contrast, 'said' would require the preposition 'to' (e.g., Tom said to Elizabeth), and the options 'saying to' or 'telling to' lack the necessary auxiliary verbs to form a complete predicate.

The phrase 'shouldn't have' followed by a past participle is used to express that an action was performed but was not necessary or was slightly inappropriate in a polite way. In the context of receiving a gift, it is a common social convention to say 'you shouldn't have' to indicate that while the gift is appreciated, the recipient did not expect the giver to go to the trouble or expense. The other modals like 'can' or 'mustn't' do not fit the perfective aspect required by the verb 'bought'.

This sentence describes a completed action that occurred in the past, leading to the current state of being late. Therefore, the past simple tense of the phrasal verb 'break down' is required. 'Broke' is the correct past simple form. 'Breaking' would require an auxiliary verb (was/is), 'broken' is a past participle that requires 'had' or 'has', and 'break' is the present tense form which does not match the context of a past event.

In English grammar, the verb 'mind' is specifically followed by a gerund (the -ing form of a verb) when used in a phrase like 'wouldn't mind'. 'Looking after' is the gerund form of the phrasal verb meaning to take care of. Using an infinitive (to look) or a base form (look) after 'mind' is grammatically incorrect in this construction.

This sentence expresses a purpose or intention for an action (going out). The most common way to express purpose in English is to use the 'to-infinitive'. Therefore, 'to buy' is the correct choice. Phrases like 'for buying' usually describe the function of an object rather than the intent of a person, and 'to buying' or 'for to buy' are non-standard grammatical structures.

The verb 'start' can be followed by either an infinitive (to complain) or a gerund (complaining). Looking at the options provided, 'complaining' is the correct gerund form. Option A is incorrect because it incorrectly combines 'to' with an -ing form, and option C is the base form which cannot follow 'start' directly in this context.

The phrase 'in particular' is used to single out a specific person or thing from a group. In this sentence, the speaker is clarifying that their suggestion to clean the house is not directed at any one specific individual, but is rather a general observation or proposal for the group. The reflexive pronouns like 'herself' or 'himself' would require a specific subject to refer back to, which is absent in this introductory clause.

This sentence requires a 'future in the past' construction because the main verb 'thought' is in the past tense. When reporting a past intention or expectation, we change 'are going to' to 'were going to'. Option A correctly follows this rule of backshifting. Option C is grammatically incorrect because 'will' cannot be followed by 'to', and options B and D do not follow standard English tense structures for expressing past intentions.

This sentence uses a literary device known as negative inversion. When a sentence begins with a negative or restrictive adverbial like 'Little', the auxiliary verb must come before the subject (inversion). Therefore, 'Little did he know' is the correct structure, where 'did' is the auxiliary and 'he' is the subject. This structure is used to emphasise the person's complete lack of awareness regarding the situation.

The verb 'say' is an irregular verb in English. Its past tense and past participle form is 'said'. While many regular verbs form the past tense by adding '-ed', 'say' changes its spelling and vowel sound significantly. 'Saying' is the present participle form.