Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is, mark 'E' as the answer.
The world has seen small real attempt at population and resource planning
Answer: B
It should read little.
Attempt here is uncountable - real attempt at planning - so it takes little, not few. Little means hardly any; a little would mean some, which reverses the sense.
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My hair stood off ends when I saw the horrible sight
Answer: B
It should read stood on ends.
Hair stands on end is the idiom, from the hair rising at fright. The preposition is on; off, at and to are not used with it.
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The long or short of it is that I do not want to deal with that new firm
Answer: A
It should read the long and short of it.
The long and short of it means the sum of the matter, and both words are held together by and. With or the phrase asks the reader to choose, which is not the sense.
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In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that best replaces it. If no improvement is needed, choose ‘No correction required’.
The information which he gave was found to be accurate.
Answer: C
Correct answer: No correction required
The sentence is already correct. Which is a legitimate relative pronoun for a thing, and the clause which he gave properly modifies the information. The distinction sometimes urged between that and which - that for defining clauses and which for non-defining ones set off by commas - is a matter of style rather than of grammar, and both are accepted in a defining clause with no comma, as here. So that he gave is an alternative, not a correction. What he gave is wrong because what cannot follow an expressed antecedent; it means the thing which and would duplicate the information. He gave it creates two main clauses joined by nothing, a run-on sentence. Note also that information is uncountable, so informations and an information are both wrong - a separate point often tested with the same noun.
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In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that best replaces it. If no improvement is needed, choose ‘No correction required’.
The police has arrested three suspects in connection with the case.
Answer: E
Correct answer: have arrested
Police is a plural noun in English and always takes a plural verb: the police have arrested. It has no singular form - one refers to a policeman, a police officer or a member of the police. A small group of nouns is plural in form or sense despite looking singular, and each is a standard examination point: police, cattle, people, vermin, poultry and gentry all take plural verbs. The mirror-image group looks plural but is singular: news, mathematics, physics, economics, politics, innings and measles. So the news is good and mathematics is difficult. A third group is always plural and needs a pair of to be counted: scissors, trousers, spectacles, tongs and pliers.
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I have got some tea, but I do not have a sugar
Answer: D
It should read any.
Sugar is uncountable, so it takes no article. In a negative sentence some becomes any, giving I do not have any sugar.
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Had I realised how close I was to the edge of the valley, I would not have carried the bags there
Answer: E
No correction is required.
Had I realised is the inverted form of if I had realised, and the main clause correctly takes would not have carried. Every alternative either doubles the auxiliary or puts would into the if-clause.
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Most of the Indian workers are as healthy as, if not healthier than, British workers
Answer: E
No correction is required.
As healthy as, if not healthier than, is the complete double comparison - the first as ... as is closed before the parenthesis, and than follows healthier. Dropping either half leaves the sentence unbalanced.
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The intruder stood quietly for few moments
Answer: D
It should read for a few moments.
Few without an article means hardly any; a few means a small number. The sentence means the intruder stood there briefly, so a few is required.
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Maria unnecessarily picked up a quarrel with Rani and left the party hurriedly.
Answer: D
Correct answer: picked
The idiom is to pick a quarrel with someone - to start one deliberately. Pick up is a different phrasal verb altogether, meaning to lift, to collect, or to acquire by chance (he picked up the language in a year), and a quarrel that is deliberately provoked is not acquired by chance.
So the particle up simply has to go: Maria unnecessarily picked a quarrel with Rani.
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