What are the types of reading skills?

1. Skimming: reading quickly for main idea/gist. 2. Scanning: reading to find specific information (date, name, number). 3. Intensive reading: careful reading for detailed understanding. 4. Extensive reading: reading for pleasure/general understanding (novels, newspapers). Most exam comprehensions test scanning and intensive reading.

Samacheer Kalvi 12th Communicative English Exercise Solutions

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Communicative English — Complete Exercise Solutions

Key Grammar Topics

Topic	Key Points
Tenses	12 tenses: Simple/Continuous/Perfect/Perfect Continuous × 3 (past/present/future)
Voice	Active → Passive: Object becomes subject; verb form changes
Reported Speech	Direct → Indirect: tense shifts back; pronouns and time expressions change
Conditionals	Type 0 (fact), Type 1 (real future), Type 2 (unreal present), Type 3 (unreal past)
Articles	a (indefinite, consonant), an (indefinite, vowel sound), the (definite)
Prepositions	in/on/at (time and place); of, for, with, by, to, from

I. Choose the Best Answer (MCQs)

1. Choose the correct passive form: "They are building a new school." (a) A new school is being built. (b) A new school was built. (c) A new school has been built. (d) A new school will be built.

Answer(a) A new school is being built. Active present continuous → Passive: is/am/are + being + past participle.

2. Choose the correct reported speech: He said, "I am working now." (a) He said that he is working now. (b) He said that he was working then. (c) He told that he worked there. (d) He said he has worked.

Answer(b) He said that he was working then. Rules: "am working" → "was working" (tense shifts back); "now" → "then."

3. "If I had studied harder, I _______ passed the exam." (a) would have (b) will have (c) would (d) will

Answer(a) would have Type 3 conditional (unreal past): If + past perfect, would have + past participle.

4. Choose the correct article: "She is _____ honest woman." (a) a (b) an (c) the (d) no article

Answer(b) an "Honest" begins with a vowel SOUND (silent h → vowel sound /ɒ/) → use "an."

5. A "résumé" is: (a) A long report (b) A brief document summarising a person's education and experience (c) A formal complaint letter (d) A type of advertisement

Answer(b) A brief document summarising a person's education and experience Resume/CV: Name + contact → Objective → Education → Work experience → Skills → References.

6. Skimming a text means: (a) Reading every word carefully (b) Reading quickly to get the main idea (c) Reading to find a specific fact (d) Reading aloud

Answer(b) Reading quickly to get the main idea Skimming: read headings, first and last paragraphs, topic sentences → get overall idea. Used for newspapers, long documents.

7. A complaint letter should have: (a) No specific details (b) Specific details of the complaint, what went wrong, and what action is expected (c) Only an apology (d) Only the sender's name

Answer(b) Specific details of the complaint, what went wrong, and what action is expected Effective complaint letter: be specific, polite but firm; state the problem clearly; request specific action; include supporting documents (receipt, bill).

II. Writing Skills

Q1. Write a formal letter of complaint.

Answer

Format:

[Your address]
[Date]

The Manager,
[Company Name],
[Address]

Subject: Complaint regarding [issue]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Opening para: State the purpose — purchased product/used service on [date].
Middle para: Describe the problem clearly — defective product, poor service, etc.
Closing para: Request specific action — replacement, refund, apology — within reasonable time.

Yours faithfully,
[Your name]

Q2. Key tense rules for MCQs:

Answer

Situation	Tense	Example
Completed action, specific time	Simple past	I visited Delhi yesterday.
Action in progress now	Present continuous	She is studying.
Action completed before another past action	Past perfect	He had left before I arrived.
Future possibility	Future simple	It will rain tomorrow.
Unreal present condition	Type 2: would + V1	If I were rich, I would travel.
Unreal past condition	Type 3: would have + V3	If she had called, I would have come.

Common Mistakes

Using "a" before vowel sounds — should be "an" (a university = correct — 'u' in university has consonant sound /j/).
Tense shifting incorrectly in reported speech — always shift tense back one step.
Voice change: forgetting to keep the object of prepositions unchanged.
Conditional mixing: Type 2 uses past tense in if-clause but refers to PRESENT/FUTURE.

Exam Checklist

Tenses: 12 forms; most tested: past perfect, present perfect, conditionals.
Voice: is/am/are + being + V3 (present cont. passive).
Reported speech: say/says → (no change); said → said that + tense shift.
Article: a (consonant sound), an (vowel sound), the (specific/known).
Conditionals: Type 0 (truth), 1 (real future), 2 (unreal present), 3 (unreal past).
Formal letter: sender → date → receiver → subject → salutation → body → close.

Frequently Asked Questions

Formal (Official) letters: job application, complaint, enquiry, government correspondence. Format: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation (Dear Sir/Madam), subject, body (3 paragraphs), complimentary close (Yours faithfully/sincerely), signature. Informal letters: to friends/family; starts with Dear [Name]; ends with Yours affectionately.