English Language

English Grammar and Usage

1,563 Questions

English grammar and usage form a critical component of language sections in competitive exams. This hub provides practice with fill in the blanks, prepositions, and appropriate word selection. Strong grammar skills are necessary to score well in verbal ability tests.

Fill in the blanksPrepositions usageConjunctions selectionSentence correction

English Grammar and Usage Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

The River of Doubt is a black unchartered tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows, piranhas glide through its waters, boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a rolling cauldron. After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sight on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.

The antonym of the word ‘descent’ is

  1. go downwards

  2. slope downwards

  3. climb

  4. falling

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

'Descent' is to 'go down' and 'climb' is to 'go up'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

After Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians and surrendered to the English, ______ as a heretic in Rouen.

  1. they were burned at the stake

  2. he was burned at the stake

  3. it was burned at the stake

  4. she was burned at the stake
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Joan of Arc is referred to with the feminine pronoun 'she' because she was a woman. The sentence structure requires a subject pronoun to complete the passive voice construction 'was burned at the stake'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

When we dislocate a bone, _________ out of connection.

  1. pressure forces the ends of opposing bones

  2. pressure the ends of opposing bones

  3. pressured the ends of opposing bones

  4. pressured force the ends of opposing bones
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

When a bone is dislocated, pressure forces the ends of opposing bones out of their normal connection. This is a straightforward passive construction where 'pressure' is the subject and 'forces' is the active verb.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

Philadelphia —— the City of Brotherly Love since its founding in 1681.

  1. is called

  2. has been called

  3. is calling

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

The present perfect passive "has been called" correctly indicates that Philadelphia received this nickname when it was founded in 1681 and continues to be known by it today. "Is called" only describes the current moment without connecting to the past starting point.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

� to materials, such as asbestos and coal may cause the lung disease pneumoconiosis.

  1. Dust inhaled during years of exposure

  2. Dust inhales during years of exposure

  3. Dust is being inhaled during years of exposure

  4. Dust was inhaled during years of exposure
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

"Dust inhaled during years of exposure" is a noun phrase where "inhaled" is a past participle modifying "dust" in a reduced relative clause. The other options are wrong: "inhales" would mean the dust performs the action, while the passive forms are unnecessarily wordy.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

The Ganges, —, flows through a highly populated agricultural region before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

  1. a major source of water

  2. the most major source of water

  3. a more major source of water

  4. a major sources of water
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The phrase "a major source of water" is an appositive that correctly describes the Ganges using the singular form "source" to match the singular subject. "The most major" and "a more major" are incorrect because "major" doesn't form comparatives with more/most.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

An arthropod is an invertebrate with a segmented body and ____.

  1. hard outer shells

  2. the hard outer shell

  3. a hard outer shell

  4. the hard outer shells
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence has "an arthropod" (singular), so the description must be singular: "a hard outer shell." Options with "shell(s)" are wrong because they don't maintain subject-verb consistency and "the" would incorrectly specify a particular shell.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

Vintners produce wine by crushing grapes, fermenting the juice, and then— it for several months.

  1. to store

  2. store

  3. be stored

  4. storing
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The verb forms must be parallel: "crushing," "fermenting," and then "storing" are all gerunds. "To store" (infinitive) doesn't match the pattern. "Store" and "be stored" would break the grammatical structure of the list.

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose a suitable option to fill in the blank:

New Delhi, the capital of India, is—.

  1. forty times the smallest Bombay City

  2. forty times smaller than Bombay

  3. forty times small as Bombay

  4. forty times more small than Bombay
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

The correct comparison is "forty times smaller than Bombay" (now Mumbai). Options A, C, and D are incorrect: "small" should be "smaller," and "smaller than" is the correct comparative form, not "small as" or "more small."

Multiple choice

Directions: Choose the option that is most similar in meaning to the following word/expression.

Buckle

(1) dislodge (2) become tense (3) crumple (4) fasten

  1. 1 and 3

  2. 1 and 2

  3. 2 and 4

  4. 3 and 4
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Buckle is a polysemous word with multiple valid meanings: (1) to fasten with a buckle, and (2) to collapse or bend under pressure/strain. Crumple (3) means to collapse or crush, which matches the second meaning. Fasten (4) matches the first meaning. Dislodge and become tense are unrelated.