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.
If I stood alone in defence of truth, and the whole world is banded against me and against truth, I would fight them all.
Answer: B
It should read were banded.
The sentence is a second conditional - if I stood, I would fight - so both if-clauses must take the past subjunctive. Were banded matches stood; is banded belongs to a different tense altogether.
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He has not and can never be in the good books of his employer, because he lacks honesty.
Answer: C
It should read has not been and can never be.
Each auxiliary must be given the verb form it requires. Has needs been; can needs be. The original supplies only one of them and leaves has not with nothing to complete it.
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When the examinations were over, Anil and me went to our native town.
Answer: B
It should read Anil and I.
The phrase is the subject of went, so the subject pronoun I is required, not me. Convention also puts the other person first.
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Our office clock is not so correct as it should be; it is usually five minutes fast.
Answer: C
It should read accurate.
A clock that runs five minutes fast is inaccurate rather than incorrect - correct describes an answer, accurate describes a measurement. Right is too vague, and regular describes consistency rather than truth.
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The cloud of misfortunes appears to have blown out.
Answer: A
It should read over.
Blow over is the idiom for a trouble passing off harmlessly. Blow out is what a candle or a tyre does, and blow up is to explode.
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While we would like that all Indian children to go to school, we need to ponder why they do not.
Answer: D
No improvement is needed.
Would like that ... to go is awkward but the options offered are no better: dropping that leaves would like all Indian children to go, which is correct, but the question treats the original as acceptable and each alternative introduces a further fault.
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In India today many of our intellectuals still talk in terms of the French Revolution and the Rights of Man, not appreciating that much has happened since then.
Answer: D
No improvement is needed.
Much has happened since then is right: since with a starting point requires the present perfect. Had happened would need a past reference point, which the sentence does not supply.
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I shall be grateful to you if you are of help to me now.
Answer: B
It should read would help.
I shall be grateful if you would help is the standard polite formula. Are of help is stiff, and the conditional would is what makes the request courteous rather than presumptuous.
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The logic of the Berlin Wall already had been undermined, but when the news came through that the wall itself had been opened I jumped into a car.
Answer: B
It should read had already been undermined.
Already goes between the auxiliary and the main verb in a perfect construction - had already been. Placing it before the whole verb phrase, as the original does, is not standard.
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Other countries have eradicated this disease ten years ago.
Answer: A
It should read eradicated.
A finished action with a stated past time takes the simple past. The present perfect cannot be used with ten years ago, because it connects the action to now rather than fixing it in the past.
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