Passage Correction Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: but he also broke

The sentence is correctly constructed, and the printed phrase is the one to keep. Not only…but also is a correlative pair, and two things must be got right. First, when not only is fronted at the start of a clause, the subject and auxiliary are inverted in that clause - not only did he win, which the sentence already does. Second, the second clause returns to normal word order: but he also broke. Inverting both clauses, as but also broke he does, is the error the question guards against. The placement of also is flexible in the second clause - but he also broke the record and but also broke the record are both heard - provided the elements balanced by the pair are grammatically parallel. Replacing but also with and destroys the correlative and weakens the emphasis the construction exists to create.

Answer: B

Correct answer: has risen

The subject is the cost, singular, so the verb is has risen. Of vegetables is a prepositional phrase and cannot supply the subject. This is the classic agreement trap: a singular head noun followed by of and a plural noun, with the plural standing next to the verb and pulling the ear the wrong way. The same pattern appears in the quality of the products is, the list of items is and a bunch of keys was. The remedy is mechanical - strike out everything between the head noun and the verb and read what remains. The verb form is otherwise right. Rise is intransitive and takes no object, and its forms are rise – rose – risen. It is confused with raise, which is transitive and needs an object: the shopkeepers have raised the prices. That distinction - like lie against lay, and sit against set - turns entirely on whether an object follows.

Answer: E

Correct answer: when

Hardly and scarcely are followed by when; no sooner is followed by than. Mixing the pairs is one of the commonest errors in this construction, and it is what the question tests. So both of these are correct: Hardly had he reached the station when the train left, and No sooner had he reached the station than the train left. Two further points go with the pattern. When a sentence begins with hardly, scarcely, no sooner, seldom, never or rarely, the subject and auxiliary are inverted - hardly had he, not hardly he had. And the first clause takes the past perfect while the second takes the simple past, because the earlier of two past actions needs the earlier tense.

Answer: B

Correct answer: is

A phrase beginning with with, along with, as well as, together with, besides, in addition to or accompanied by does not change the number of the subject. The subject is the Prime Minister, singular, so the verb is is. These phrases are parenthetical, usually marked off by commas as here, and can be lifted out without harming the sentence: the Prime Minister is attending the summit. That deletion is the surest test. The contrast is with and, which genuinely joins two subjects into a plural: the Prime Minister and his ministers are attending is correct. Examiners rely on the plural noun sitting immediately before the verb, which pulls the ear the wrong way. The same trap works with the manager, as well as his staff, was present and the teacher, along with the students, has arrived.

Answer: E

Correct answer: is

When a plural expression of distance, time, money or weight is treated as a single quantity, it takes a singular verb. Ten kilometres here is one distance, so is is correct. The same applies to twenty years is a long time, five thousand rupees is too much, fifty kilos is heavy and three hours is enough. In each the plural noun names one measured amount rather than several separate items. The verb becomes plural only when the individual units are genuinely in view: ten kilometres of road were resurfaced, or the five thousand rupees were counted one by one. The underlying principle is that agreement follows meaning rather than form wherever the two diverge. That is the same principle behind collective nouns taking a singular or plural verb according to whether the group acts as one body or as individuals.

Answer: B

Correct answer: that have

The relative pronoun that refers to players, which is plural, so the verb is have. The pattern is one of the + plural noun + relative pronoun, and the relative always looks back to the plural noun rather than to one. Rearranging makes it plain: of the best players who have ever represented the country, he is one. The trap is that one stands closest to the verb and pulls the ear towards the singular. The rule reverses when the only is inserted: he is the only one of the players who has represented the country - there the relative refers to the only one, and the singular becomes correct. Watch for that phrase, since it flips the answer entirely. Which is wrong because the antecedent is people, and who has repeats the singular error.

Answer: E

Correct answer: a

The sentence is correct as printed: a unique ability. The choice between a and an depends on the sound a word begins with, not on the letter. Unique begins with the consonant sound yoo, so it takes a - as do a university, a European, a one-rupee note and a useful tool, all of which begin with a vowel letter but a consonant sound. The reverse case is just as common: words beginning with a silent h take an, because the first sound is a vowel - an hour, an honest man, an heir, an honourable member. The rule extends to abbreviations read letter by letter: an MP, an SDM, an FIR, because the letters are pronounced em, es and ef. A separate point about this sentence: unique is an absolute adjective and admits no very or most.

Answer: C

Correct answer: superior to

Superior takes the preposition to, never than: superior to the one prescribed earlier. The word is a Latin comparative - it already means higher - and words of that origin are completed by to rather than by the English comparative conjunction. The set is small enough to memorise: superior to, inferior to, senior to, junior to, prior to, anterior to, posterior to and preferable to. Because these words are already comparative, they cannot take more or most either. More superior is a double comparative of the same kind as more better, and it is wrong for the same reason - which is why that option fails even though it uses the right preposition. The pronoun or noun that follows takes the objective case: superior to me, not superior to I.

Answer: E

Correct answer: to

The verb prefer takes the preposition to, not than: he prefers coffee to tea. The reason is that prefer is not a comparative adjective. Than follows comparatives - better than, more than, taller than - and prefer already carries the comparison within its own meaning, so it needs a preposition rather than a comparative conjunction. A small family of Latin-derived words behaves the same way and is worth learning as a set: superior to, inferior to, senior to, junior to, prior to, anterior to and posterior to - never than with any of them. Rather than is correct English but not with prefer; it is used with verbs, as in I would rather walk than drive, where would rather replaces prefer altogether.

Answer: A

It should read to.

Fail takes the infinitive: failed to establish its case. Failed in would need a noun or gerund after it - failed in establishing - which is heavier and is not what the rest of the sentence offers.