Reconstruction of Sentence Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct order is PRSQ: He talks as if he were my boss.

He talks (P) is the main clause. As if (R) introduces a comparison with something that is not true, and such a clause takes the subjunctive were for every person: he were (S). The complement my boss (Q) completes it.

PSQR gives He talks he were my boss as if, and QRSP and SRQP begin with fragments, my boss and he were, that cannot open the sentence. Only PRSQ produces a grammatical sentence with the expected subjunctive.

Answer: B

The correct sequence is PQSR.

The subject is the noun phrase 'the rapid advancement (P) of artificial intelligence (Q)', where Q completes P. The verb 'has transformed' (S) follows, and its object 'many industries' (R) ends the sentence:

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has transformed many industries.

PQRS puts the object before the verb. QSPR and QPSR begin with 'of artificial intelligence', a phrase that cannot open a sentence because it depends on the noun before it.

Answer: B

Correct answer: QPSR

The sentence reads:

The food poisoning occurred when a chemical substance was mistaken for salt and used in the food preparations.

Q is the only part with a main verb, so it must open the sentence; P begins the subordinate clause with when, and S supplies that clause's verbs. R can only attach to used, so it goes last.

Answer: B

Correct answer: QSRP

The sentence reads:

Those who cannot treat others well should not expect others to treat them well.

Those who needs a verb immediately, and Q supplies it; S completes that clause with the object of treat. R then begins the main clause, and P completes it. Note that S carries two jobs - it ends the relative clause and begins the infinitive that P governs.

Answer: C

Correct answer: PRSQ

The sentence reads:

If a foreigner wishes to learn English he will, of course, learn standard English.

The if clause must be completed before the main clause begins, so P and R go together - wishes to learn English. S then opens the main clause with its subject and auxiliary, and Q supplies the verb phrase it needs.

Answer: B

Correct answer: RPSQ

The sentence reads:

There is a fashion nowadays to bewail poverty as an evil and to pity the young man who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

The sentence needs two parallel infinitives after a fashion: to bewail in R and to pity in S. P completes the first with as an evil, and Q supplies the relative clause describing the young man.

Answer: D

Correct answer: SQRP

The sentence reads:

By this time, while police dispatches reported mass looting, reports of violence were flooding in at the railway station.

S opens a subordinate clause with while and Q gives its verb. R is the only part with a main clause, so it must follow, and P attaches to flooding in as the place.

Answer: C

“The decomposers help in decomposing the dead bodies of plants and animals and hence help to clean the environment and put back various useful elements into soil, air and water.”

Answer: D

Correct answer: QSPR

The sentence reads:

Paintings which were submitted for the exhibition last night have been totally ruined by rain.

Q begins a relative clause describing paintings and S completes it, so the two must stay together. Only then can the main verb arrive: P supplies the auxiliary and R the participle.

Answer: B

Correct answer: QRPS

The sentence reads:

Work is the one thing that is necessary to keep the world going and without it we all should die.

Q begins the relative clause after the one thing, and R gives the purpose that completes it. P then joins a second clause with and, and S supplies its subject and verb.