Choose the Correct - Incorrect Sentence Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: If you had told me that you were in Bombay I would have certainly contacted you instead of getting bored there.

A third conditional: past perfect in the if clause, would have + past participle in the result. Instead of then names what actually happened.

Why the others fail:

• I had certainly contacted by you - a past perfect where would have is needed, and a stray passive by.
• despite getting bored there - despite reverses the relation; being bored was the alternative, not an obstacle.
• If you would have told me - would in the if clause.

Answer: C

Correct answer: With a frown on his face, the teacher asked the student to leave the room.

With a frown on his face describes the teacher, and fronting it puts it immediately before the noun it modifies.

Why the others fail:

• The teacher asked the student with a frown on his face - the frown now belongs to the student.
• The teacher asked with a frown on his face the student… - the phrase splits the verb from its object.
• …to leave the room with a frown on his face - this makes the frown the manner of leaving.

Answer: C

Correct answer: As soon as the holidays begin this beach will become very crowded.

In a clause of time the present tense carries future meaning, so begin is right, and the main clause takes will.

Why the others fail:

• As soon as… than - as soon as takes no correlative.
• Since the holidays being started - no finite verb.
• No sooner did the holidays begin than this beach will become… - a past auxiliary with a future result.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Our school would have won the match if only we had concentrated.

This is a third conditional - a past possibility that did not happen. Its fixed shape is if + past perfect in the condition and would have + past participle in the result.

Why the others fail:

• Our school had won the match if only we have concentrated - both halves are in the wrong tense.
• if we would have concentrated - would never appears in the if clause of a conditional.
• Our school would win the match only if we had concentrated - mixing a present result with a past condition, so the sentence no longer refers to the match that was lost.

Answer: B

No correction is required.

His yesterday's performance is acceptable - the possessive attaches to yesterday, and performance is singular, so was is right. Each alternative either drops the possessive or puts a plural verb with a singular noun.

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: The managers can motivate people by getting them involved in the tasks that need to be done.

Each modifier sits beside what it belongs to: by getting them involved explains how the managers motivate, and in the tasks that need to be done completes involved.

Why the others fail:

• Since managers can motivate… - since makes it a subordinate clause with no main clause to attach to, so it is a fragment.
• …by getting them involved that needs to be done - the relative clause is severed from tasks, and needs does not agree with it.
• not only do the tasks… but also can motivate - the two halves of not only… but also are not parallel.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Anita, with her lap full of newspapers, was sitting with her husband on the steps of the temple when Bunty and Bitto came up.

With her lap full of newspapers describes Anita, and the pair of commas ties it to her unmistakably.

Why the others fail:

• Placing it after the steps of the temple leaves it hovering between Anita, her husband and the steps.
• The fronted version attaches the phrase to whatever noun follows it, which here is the steps.
• Placing it at the very end makes it describe Bunty and Bitto coming up.

Answer: C

It should read to make both ends meet.

Make both ends meet is a fixed idiom, and make here takes the bare infinitive: make the ends meet, not make them to meet. The image is of the two ends of a household account being brought together.

Answer: B

Correct answer: If you pay heed to the small details, the general plans will surely succeed.

This is a first conditional: a present-tense if clause with a will result. The condition is open, and the result follows if it is met.

Why the others fail:

• If you will pay heed - will does not belong in the if clause.
• would have succeed - the participle is missing its -ed, and the tenses are mixed.
• If you heeded to the small details - heed is transitive and takes no to, and the past tense shifts the sentence to a remote condition.