Choose the Correct - Incorrect Sentence Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: This is one of the best films that has been produced this year.

In one of the + plural noun + that, the relative clause describes the whole group, not the single item. The antecedent of that is films, so the verb must be plural: one of the best films that have been produced.

The other three are sound:

• She is one of the best mothers that have ever lived - the same construction, correctly plural.
• None of these words are now current - none takes a plural verb when it refers to a plural noun.
• Sam, as well as Alex and Jack, likes milk - as well as does not make a subject plural.

Answer: A

Correct answer: He is employed with a factory.

One is employed in a factory, or at or by a firm. Employed with is not idiomatic.

The other three are sound:

• Kashmir is celebrated for its scenery - celebrated for is correct.
• I am convinced of my error - convinced of a fact.
• His betrayal was fatal to our plans - fatal to is the right pairing.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Let me put my sign here.

A sign is a mark or a notice; what one writes at the foot of a document is a signature. Let me put my signature here, or simply let me sign here.

The other three are sound:

• These cattle are mine - cattle is plural.
• He examined the book closely - correct.
• He has no knowledge of and no interest in music - each noun keeps its own preposition.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Why did you give false witness ?

The fixed expression is bear false witness. Give collocates with evidence, not with witness.

The other three are sound:

• If it had not been for your folly, you could have been a partner - a correct third conditional.
• The storm having ceased, the sun came out - a correct absolute construction.
• He stipulated for immediate supply of the articles - stipulate for is correct.

Answer: B

Correct answer: We enjoyed during holidays.

Enjoy is a transitive verb and must have an object. Where no thing is named, the object is reflexive: we enjoyed ourselves during the holidays.

The other three are sound:

• He does not know the English alphabet - alphabet means the whole set of letters, so the singular is right.
• Have you ever been there? - correct.
• Ashish gave me this news - news is an uncountable singular.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Many a glorious deeds were done.

Many a is always followed by a singular noun and a singular verb, however plural the sense feels. The sentence should read many a glorious deed was done.

The other three are sound:

• Our followers are but a handful - but here means only.
• Neither he nor I was there - with neither… nor the verb agrees with the nearer subject, I.
• Everyone of the boys loves to ride - everyone is singular.

Answer: D

Correct answer: The thief divested the child from all her jewels.

Divest takes of: one divests a person of something. The same pattern governs rob, deprive and relieve.

The other three are sound:

• Nothing but funny stories delights him - the subject is nothing, so the verb is singular.
• I cannot raise this lid - raise is transitive and correctly used.
• This is the book that I want - correct.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Eggs are sold by a dozen.

In this idiom the definite article is fixed: things are sold by the dozen, by the kilo, by the yard.

The other three are sound:

• The captain with his soldiers was killed - with does not add to the subject, so the verb stays singular.
• Why did you absent yourself from your classes? - absent as a verb is reflexive.
• He acquiesced in my proposal - acquiesce in is correct.

Answer: D

Correct answer: He challenged me for a duel.

One is challenged to a contest, not for it: he challenged me to a duel.

The other three are sound:

• She had finished her work when I met her - the past perfect for the earlier of two past events.
• Do you believe in God? - believe in for faith in something's existence.
• He cut his hand with a knife - correct.

Answer: B

Correct answer: All the boy scouts wear half-pants.

Half-pants is not standard English; the garment is shorts. It is a common regional coinage rather than a grammatical slip, but it is the odd one out here.

The other three are sound:

• He feels bad about the defeat - after feel an adjective is correct, not badly.
• He hopes to secure good marks - hope takes a to-infinitive.
• Sachin is the Bradman of India - a correct use of the definite article before a proper noun used as a type.