Choose the Correct - Incorrect Sentence Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: It is a pleasure to see an alligator as long as 90 feet basking in the sunshine on a river bank.

As long as 90 feet describes the alligator, so it must sit next to alligator. Wherever else it goes it attaches to the nearest noun and says something absurd - a 90-foot sunshine, a 90-foot river bank.

Why the others fail:

• It is pleasure - the article is missing; the idiom is it is a pleasure. The measure is also stranded at the end, where it modifies river bank.
• Placing the phrase after sunshine makes the sunshine ninety feet long.
• Placing it after basking makes it modify the verb, which is meaningless.

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: 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: 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: D

Correct answer: In the long room at 4 o'clock there will be a meeting of all the boys who play cricket and football.

The two place-and-time phrases are moved to the front, which leaves a meeting of all the boys who play cricket and football unbroken. Nothing can then be misread as attaching to the wrong noun.

Why the others fail:

• Putting in the long room at 4 o'clock after meeting separates it from of all the boys.
• Putting it at the end makes it look as though the boys play cricket and football in the long room at four.
• There will be in the long room at 4 o'clock a meeting… - the phrases interrupt there will be and its subject.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The proceeds of the charity show are for riot victims.

Proceeds exists only in the plural and takes a plural verb, so are is right.

Why the others fail:

• He asked Robert and I to go - the pronoun is an object, so it must be me. Removing Robert and makes this audible.
• The weather of this place - weather is in a place, not of it.
• Either Albert or his friends has done it - with either… or the verb agrees with the nearer subject, friends, so it should be have.

Answer: D

Correct answer: No sooner had the dividend been declared than the notices were prepared for mailing.

No sooner is paired with than, and because it opens the sentence the auxiliary must come before the subject: no sooner had the dividend been declared.

Why the others fail:

• Since the dividend being declared than… - no finite verb, and than has no comparative to answer.
• Scarcely had… than - scarcely pairs with when, not than.
• They had no sooner declared the dividend when… - the same pairing error in reverse.

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: D

Correct answer: He wasn't rich by any means, but he never turned away anyone who needed help.

The two facts stand in contrast - little money, yet unfailing generosity - and but is the connective that marks a contrast between two independent clauses.

Why the others fail:

• Since he lacked needed money, he never turned down anyone - since makes poverty the cause of his generosity, which reverses the sense.
• although subordinates the wrong half, leaving the emphasis on his poverty.
• Being not rich by any means - the negative is misplaced; English says not being rich.

Answer: A

Correct answer: I found out that he was guilty.

The phrasal verb find out is correctly used, and the reported clause keeps the past tense in line with found.

Why the others fail:

• Much pains has been taken - pains in the sense of effort is plural and needs have.
• The jury was divided in their opinions - a collective noun takes a plural verb when its members act separately, and their already admits as much: the jury were divided.
• Neither of the men were tall - neither is singular, so it needs was.