English Language

English Grammar and Usage

2,780 Questions

English grammar and usage questions test fundamental sentence structure, correct verb forms, and accurate syntax. Topics include identifying grammatical errors, filling blanks with appropriate verbs, and changing narration. These are essential for the English language sections of competitive exams.

Verb FormsSentence CorrectionTense IdentificationNarration ChangeRelative PronounsSyntactic Productivity

English Grammar and Usage Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences is syntactically ambiguous?

  1. The man saw the woman with the binoculars.

  2. The man saw the woman with the glasses.

  3. The man saw the woman with the sunglasses.

  4. The man saw the woman with the telescope.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence "The man saw the woman with the binoculars." is syntactically ambiguous because the prepositional phrase "with the binoculars" can modify either the verb "saw" or the noun "woman". This ambiguity can be disambiguated by adding a comma after the word "woman", which makes it clear that the prepositional phrase modifies the verb "saw".

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences is not syntactically ambiguous?

  1. The man saw the woman with the glasses.

  2. The man saw the woman with the sunglasses.

  3. The man saw the woman with the telescope.

  4. The man saw the woman with the binoculars.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence "The man saw the woman with the sunglasses." is not syntactically ambiguous because the prepositional phrase "with the sunglasses" can only modify the noun "woman". This is because the verb "saw" does not take a prepositional phrase as a complement.

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences is syntactically ambiguous?

  1. The man saw the woman with the telescope.

  2. The man saw the woman with the binoculars.

  3. The man saw the woman with the glasses.

  4. The man saw the woman with the sunglasses.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence "The man saw the woman with the telescope." is syntactically ambiguous because the prepositional phrase "with the telescope" can modify either the verb "saw" or the noun "woman". This ambiguity can be disambiguated by adding a comma after the word "woman", which makes it clear that the prepositional phrase modifies the verb "saw".

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences is not syntactically ambiguous?

  1. The man saw the woman with the binoculars.

  2. The man saw the woman with the glasses.

  3. The man saw the woman with the sunglasses.

  4. The man saw the woman with the telescope.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence "The man saw the woman with the glasses." is not syntactically ambiguous because the prepositional phrase "with the glasses" can only modify the noun "woman". This is because the verb "saw" does not take a prepositional phrase as a complement.

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences is syntactically ambiguous?

  1. The man saw the woman with the binoculars.

  2. The man saw the woman with the glasses.

  3. The man saw the woman with the sunglasses.

  4. The man saw the woman with the telescope.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence "The man saw the woman with the binoculars." is syntactically ambiguous because the prepositional phrase "with the binoculars" can modify either the verb "saw" or the noun "woman". This ambiguity can be disambiguated by adding a comma after the word "woman", which makes it clear that the prepositional phrase modifies the verb "saw".

Multiple choice

Where there's a will, there's a way.

  1. Where there's a will, there's a way.

  2. Where there's a way, there's a will.

  3. Where there's a will, there's no way.

  4. Where there's a way, there's no will.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

This proverb means that if you are determined to do something, you will find a way to do it.

Multiple choice

In the sentence 'The cat chased the mouse', what is the semantic role of the noun phrase 'the cat'?

  1. Subject

  2. Object

  3. Indirect Object

  4. Complement
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In this sentence, 'the cat' is the agent performing the action of chasing, making it the subject.

Multiple choice

What is the semantic relationship between the verb 'give' and the noun phrase 'a present' in the sentence 'John gave Mary a present'?

  1. Agent-Patient

  2. Agent-Recipient

  3. Agent-Instrument

  4. Agent-Location
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

In this sentence, 'John' is the agent performing the action of giving, 'Mary' is the recipient of the action, and 'a present' is the object being transferred.

Multiple choice

What is the semantic role of the noun phrase 'the ball' in the sentence 'The boy kicked the ball'?

  1. Subject

  2. Object

  3. Indirect Object

  4. Complement
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

In this sentence, 'the ball' is the entity that is being acted upon by the verb 'kicked', making it the object.

Multiple choice

What is the semantic relationship between the verb 'give' and the noun phrase 'a present' in the sentence 'John gave Mary a present'?

  1. Agent-Patient

  2. Agent-Recipient

  3. Agent-Instrument

  4. Agent-Location
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

In this sentence, 'John' is the agent performing the action of giving, 'Mary' is the recipient of the action, and 'a present' is the object being transferred.

Multiple choice

What is the semantic role of the noun phrase 'the ball' in the sentence 'The boy kicked the ball'?

  1. Subject

  2. Object

  3. Indirect Object

  4. Complement
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

In this sentence, 'the ball' is the entity that is being acted upon by the verb 'kicked', making it the object.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of using repetition to achieve coherence?

  1. The dog ran and ran and ran.

  2. The dog ran, ran, and ran.

  3. The dog ran ran and ran.

  4. The dog ran, and ran and ran.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The dog ran, ran, and ran is an example of using repetition to achieve coherence, as the word 'ran' is repeated three times.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of using transitions to achieve coherence?

  1. The dog ran. He jumped. He played.

  2. The dog ran, jumped, and played.

  3. The dog ran; he jumped; he played.

  4. The dog ran and jumped and played.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The dog ran, jumped, and played is an example of using transitions to achieve coherence, as the transitions 'and' and 'played' connect the three sentences.

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences uses a preposition correctly?

  1. I live in a house.

  2. I live at a house.

  3. I live on a house.

  4. I live under a house.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The preposition "in" shows the relationship between the noun "house" and the verb "live". The other options are incorrect because they do not show a correct relationship between the noun and the verb.

Multiple choice

Which of the following sentences uses a conjunction correctly?

  1. I like apples and oranges.

  2. I like apples but oranges.

  3. I like apples so oranges.

  4. I like apples under oranges.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The conjunction "and" connects the two nouns "apples" and "oranges". The other options are incorrect because they do not connect the two nouns correctly.