English Language

Sentence Improvement

821 Questions
All Tense and Time Sequence 181 Verb-Governed Prepositions 145 Lexical Confusables 75 Subject-Verb Agreement 59 Modifiers 48 Determiners and Quantifiers 47 Infinitive vs. Gerund 47 Correlative and Paired Conjunctions 35 Conditional Sentences 30 Pronoun Case and Agreement 24 Redundancy 24 Parallel Structure 20 Question Tags 10 Reported Speech 8

Sentence Improvement Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

She had a child holding on to each hand.

  1. every hand

  2. all hand

  3. both hand

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The sentence is perfectly correct. 

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

The monk burnt him.

  1. burnt himself

  2. burnt he

  3. burnt itself

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of pronoun usage. Reflexive pronouns use 'self/selves' . As the monk is singualr noun, so 'self' is to be used with it. Thus, 'himself'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

Could you tell me where can I find a good hotel?

  1. where I can

  2. where could I

  3. where should I

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of sentence formation. Double interrogative words are not allowed. Thus, option 1.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

It has been raining during the whole of last week.

  1. rained

  2. was raining

  3. is raining

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of past indefinite tense. There is no continuation involved here. In case of words like 'a few days ago', 'last week', 'this morning', etc we use past idefinite tense i.e. only second form of the verb.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

He would have agreed, if you were more courteous.

  1. had been

  2. have been

  3. are

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of sentence formation. If the antecedant is in the present perfect, the subsequent needs to be in the past perfect tense. Thus, option 1.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

We must remember where to turn of the main road.

  1. turn off

  2. turn out

  3. turn in

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of phrasal preposition. 'Turn off' means 'to switch something off so that it stops running or operating'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

If he drank less, he wouldn't have developed heart trouble.

  1. wouldn't develop

  2. couldn't have developed

  3. shouldn't have developed

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of sentence formation. If the antecedant is in the past indefinite, the subsequent needs to be in the present indefinite.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

We endured his tyranny for three years now.

  1. have been enduring

  2. had been enduring

  3. have been endured

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Case of past indefinite tense, where a fact has been highlighted. Thus, option 4.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

The thing that I don't understand is why they were waiting so long without lodging a complaint.

  1. waited

  2. were to wait

  3. are to wait

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of past indefinite. In cases where we refer to a specific time of the past, we use second form of the verb. Here, the time referred to was the time before lodging the FIR.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

Should it prove to be true, I should resign from the committee.

  1. shall

  2. were to

  3. had to

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of modal usage. The sentence implies that 'if phenomenon X happens, Y shall follow it'. 'Shall' is the future of 'should'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

Newton saw the apple to fall to the ground.

  1. fall

  2. fell

  3. fallen

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of redundancy. Here, infinitive 'to' is not required.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

He is enough rich to pay for his expenses.

  1. rich enough

  2. too rich

  3. very rich

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The word enough can be either before or after a noun. 'Rich enough' shows the 'capability to do something', like the capability to pay for one's expenses.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

If they were knowing about the riots, they would not have decided to picnic there.

  1. had known

  2. knew

  3. did know

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of sentence formation. If the subsequent is in the present perfect (would not have decided), the antecedent must be in past perfect tense. Thus, option 1.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

His behaviour was very impudent for me to tolerate.

  1. too impudent

  2. enough impudent

  3. so impudent

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Case of adjectival usage. Adjective 'too' is negative in connotation. It means something that is impossible. 'Very' means 'to a large extent'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Look at the underlined part of the sentence. Below the sentence three possible substitutions for the underlined part are given. If one of the possible substitutions is better than the underlined part, indicate it as your answer. If none of the substitutions improves the sentence, indicate (4) as your answer.

India has made rapid progress since the dawn of independence.

  1. for

  2. from

  3. before

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Case of prepositional usage. Reffering to a specific point of time in the past takes preposition 'since' for itself.