Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is the best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose any one of the others.

One might suspect that osteoarthritis is a disease in relation to elder population only but surprisingly statistics reveal that it can strike at any age.

  1. disease in relation to elder population only but surprisingly statistics reveal that it

  2. disease in relation to older population only but surprisingly statistics reveal that it

  3. disease related to older population only, but surprisingly statistics revealed that this arthritis

  4. disease related to elder population only, but surprisingly statistics reveal that this arthritis

  5. disease related to older population only, but rather surprisingly statistics reveal that this arthritis
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): The sentence bears the error of adjective. 'Elder' is used when kinship is exhibited and 'older' is used when time is referred. In this sentence kinship or relation is not mentioned. So, correct usage is 'older'.

Explanation for (2): The sentence bears the error of adjective. 'Elder' is used when kinship is exhibited and 'older' is used when time is referred. In this sentence kinship or relation is not mentioned. This option rectifies the error by replacing 'elder' by 'older'.

Explanation for (3): This option rectifies the error of adjective but introduces errors of shift of tense, punctuation and redundancy (comma before 'but' and 'this arthritis').
Explanation for (4): This option does not rectify the error of adjective and it also introduces other errors; 'this arthritis' is redundant. It should be replaced by an appropriate pronoun. Explanation for (5): This option rectifies the error of adjective but introduces other errors of punctuation, redundancy and interjection (use of 'rather' is incorrect).

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