Choose the Correct - Incorrect Sentence Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: I despaired for finding my lost watch.

Despair takes of, and the verb after it is a gerund: I despaired of finding my lost watch.

The other three are sound:

• I ascribed his rudeness to his fatigue - ascribe to is correct.
• He derives pleasure from teasing girls - derive from is correct.
• Don't trifle with the girl's affections - trifle with is correct.

Answer: D

Correct answer: He has invited me for dinner.

One is invited to a meal, not for it. For would name the purpose of the invitation rather than the event: he invited me to dinner.

The other three are sound:

• He has no desire for fame - desire for is the standard collocation.
• I intend going to Calcutta - intend takes either a gerund or a to-infinitive.
• He is too miserly to part with his money - part with is correct for giving something up.

Answer: B

Correct answer: His trousers is very dirty.

Trousers is one of the garment nouns that exist only in the plural - like scissors and spectacles - so it takes a plural verb: his trousers are very dirty.

The other three are sound:

• There are not any books on the table - correct.
• The roads of Delhi are wider than those of Calcutta - those keeps the comparison between like things.
• I walk faster than you - correct.

Answer: A

Correct answer: He was hung for murder.

Hang has two past participles. Pictures and curtains are hung; a person executed on a gallows is hanged.

The other three are sound:

• I offered him a chair to sit on - the preposition is needed after the infinitive.
• Let's not intrude on his privacy - intrude on is correct.
• You should comply with the rules - comply with is correct.

Answer: C

Correct answer: She did nothing but sang.

After nothing but following a form of do, the verb takes the bare infinitive: she did nothing but sing.

The other three are sound:

• Politics is a dirty game - a subject name in -ics is singular.
• Twenty miles is a long distance - a measured quantity is treated as one thing.
• His father is an S.D.O. - an is right because the letter S is sounded ess.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The Dacoits robbed my belongings.

Rob takes the victim as its object and the thing taken after of: the dacoits robbed me of my belongings. It is steal that takes the goods as object.

The other three are sound:

• The first two pages of this book are torn - the ordinal precedes the cardinal.
• He came to us every third day - correct.
• He atoned for the sin by giving alms to the poor - atone for is correct.

Answer: C

Correct answer: He is the eldest man of this village.

A superlative is followed by in before a place: the eldest man in this village. Of is used before a group of people (the eldest of the brothers).

The other three are sound:

• Sumit is my elder brother - elder is correct attributively within a family.
• He is two years younger to me - junior/senior to takes to, and this follows that pattern.
• Ravi is five years older than me - correct.

Answer: B

Correct answer: I don't remember to have met you before.

Remember + infinitive means recalling a duty still to be done; remember + gerund means recalling something already done. Here the meeting is past, so it must be I don't remember meeting you before.

The other three are sound:

• On entering the room I found the light quite dim - correct.
• We got into the train at last - correct.
• They fought to the last man - correct.

Answer: A

Correct answer: It is the most ideal place.

Ideal is an absolute adjective: something either is ideal or it is not, so it admits no degrees. Most, more and very cannot be attached to it, any more than to unique or perfect.

The other three are sound:

• The news is too good to be true - news is singular.
• These flowers smell sweet - after a verb of sense an adjective is correct.
• Your watch is better than mine - correct.

Answer: A

Correct answer: I shall inform them this.

Inform takes a person as its object and the matter after of or about: I shall inform them of this. It cannot take two objects as tell can.

The other three are sound:

• He boarded the train - board is transitive and needs no preposition.
• A bunch of keys has been lost - the subject is bunch, so the verb is singular.
• Ask him why he wastes his time - correct indirect question order.