Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in italics type to make the grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is.
Please make it a point to send your letter at my address.
Answer: B
It should read to my address.
Letters are sent to an address, not at one. At marks a location where something is; to marks the destination of a movement.
Please log in or register to report this question.
If you live near a market place you should be ready to bear the disturbances caused by traffic.
Answer: B
It should read to bear with.
Bear with means to tolerate patiently. Bear alone means to carry or endure a weight, bear upon means to be relevant to, and bear away means to carry off - four different verbs sharing one word.
Please log in or register to report this question.
I hope you won't object to me watching while you work.
Answer: C
It should read to my watching.
Object to takes a gerund, and the person doing the gerund's action is shown by a possessive - my watching, not me watching. The same rule gives I appreciate your coming.
Please log in or register to report this question.
You cannot forbid him leaving.
Answer: C
It should read him to leave.
Forbid takes an object and an infinitive - forbid him to leave. Unlike prevent and prohibit, which take from and a gerund, forbid does not use a gerund at all.
Please log in or register to report this question.
You have come here with a view to insult me.
Answer: A
It should read to insulting me.
With a view to is a prepositional phrase, so the to is a preposition and takes a gerund. The same trap catches look forward to and be accustomed to.
Please log in or register to report this question.
Twenty kilometres are not a great distance in these days of fast-moving vehicles.
Answer: A
It should read is not a great distance.
A measurement treated as a single quantity takes a singular verb - twenty kilometres is a long way, ten years is a long time. The plural form of the noun does not change that.
Please log in or register to report this question.
In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that improves it. If the sentence needs no change, choose ‘No improvement’.
The train had left before we reached the station.
Answer: A
Correct answer: No improvement
The sentence needs no improvement. When two past actions are described, the earlier takes the past perfect and the later takes the simple past. The train left first, so had left is correctly paired with reached. Putting both verbs in the past perfect - had left and had reached - would destroy the sequence, since the whole purpose of the past perfect is to mark one action as prior to another. If both are equally prior, neither is. Have reached is the present perfect and cannot be used alongside a past perfect describing the same episode. The same sequence governs hardly had he arrived when, no sooner had she spoken than, by the time we arrived, and reported speech, where a simple past becomes past perfect after a past reporting verb. The conjunctions before and after sometimes make the past perfect optional, since they establish the order themselves, but it is never wrong to keep it.
Please log in or register to report this question.
It became clear that the strangers were heading into a serious disaster.
Answer: B
It should read towards.
Head towards means to move in the direction of, which is what the sentence describes. Head into means to enter something already present, and the disaster had not yet arrived.
Please log in or register to report this question.
The dissidents hold a great problem in every political party.
Answer: A
It should read cause.
Problems are caused, posed or created; they are not held. Hold takes a physical or an abstract possession, which a problem is not.
Please log in or register to report this question.
I would have waited for you at the station if I knew that you would come.
Answer: A
It should read had known.
The main clause is would have waited, a third conditional, so the if-clause takes the past perfect. Knew belongs with would wait, not would have waited.
Please log in or register to report this question.
