Question – 1
1. The forces of spontaneous generation should not be so erratic.?
- A. The forces of spontaneous generation
- B. The force of spontaneous generation
- C. The forces of spontaneous generations
- D. The forces affecting spontaneous generation
- E. The forces of spontaneous generation of life
- Answer:A
- Answer Explanation:There is no error in the grammar or logic of the sentence for it to need any improvement. Hence, option (A), which is the no-error option, is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 2
2. Deep wells whose waters had been rendered germ free due to slow filtration.?
- A. Deep wells whose waters had been rendered
- B. Deep wells whose water had been rendered
- C. A deep well whose waters had been rendered
- D. Deep wells waters had been rendered
- E. Deep well`s waters had been rendered
- Answer:E
- Answer Explanation:The word ‘whose’, when used midway in the sentence (like it is used here), usually refers to the subject (‘deep wells’), its associated facts (‘waters’ being ‘germ free’) and a respective conclusion or ending for the same (which is missing here). Since it is beyond the scope of this question to edit the predicate of the sentence, the only possible improvement is removing the word ‘whose’ to convert the questionable sentence into a conclusive statement. Hence, option (E), which is simply removing the word ‘whose’ and adding an apostrophe to ascribe the noun to the verb, is the correct answer choice here.
Question – 3
3. The public was soon caught up in the cross fire of a enthusiastic series of public lectures and demonstrations.?
- A. caught up in the cross fire of a enthusiastic series of public lectures
- B. caught up in a cross fire of an enthusiastic series of public lectures
- C. caught up in the cross fires of an enthusiastic series of public lectures
- D. caught up in the cross fire of an enthusiastic series of public lectures
- E. caught up in the cross fire of a fervent series of public lectures
- Answer:D
- Answer Explanation:Though a large part of the statement is underlined, it is done only to camouflage the basic error of article usage (of ‘a’ before the word ‘enthusiastic’). In questions like these or for that matter, in any sentence improvement question, it is always better to remove the frills from the sentence and check for basic errors like pronouns, verbs and articles since it is very uncommon to see noun, adjective or logic based errors in these question types. In other words, the latter types of errors should be explored after the former are ruled out. Keeping this in mind, in this particular question, option (D), which simply corrects the article form (from ‘a’ to ‘an’), is the correct answer choice.
Question – 4
4. They seemed simultaneously to support the Biblical account of creation while denying those others.?
- A. while denying those others.
- B. while denying the others.
- C. while denying those other’s.
- D. while denying those others made.
- E. while denying the other’s.
- Answer:E
- Answer Explanation:In questions like these, one should always check if the pronouns are demonstrating the noun correctly or not. In this case, the pronoun ‘others’ is being used for the noun ‘account of creation’ for which one variety has already been mentioned. Since the ‘Biblical’ version has been accepted and simultaneous ‘support’ is to be given to the other accounts of ‘creation’, the form of pronoun to convey that meaning should be ‘other’s’ (which implies other kinds of accounts of ‘creation’ available to ‘support’ along with the already supported ‘Biblical’ one). Hence, option (E), which is correcting this error, without making any other unnecessary changes, is the correct answer choice.
Question – 5
5. Although far from healthy, it is not yet dead.?
- A. it is not yet dead.
- B. it is not dead yet.
- C. it is not dead.
- D. it is not dead now.
- E. it is not yet deadly.
- Answer:A
- Answer Explanation:The expression underlined in this sentence is correct and does not require any alterations. Hence, option (A), which is the no-error option, is the correct answer choice here.
Question – 6
6. It needs no emphasis that herein lies one of the great danger of our times.?
- A. lies one of the great danger of our times.
- B. lies one of the great dangers of our times.
- C. lays one of the great danger of our times.
- D. lay one of the great danger of our times.
- E. lies the great danger of our times.
- Answer:B
- Answer Explanation:In this particular sentence, since ‘one of’ the many ‘dangers’ of ‘our times’ is the intended meaning, the word ‘danger’ needs to be changed to its plural form. This has been correctly done in option (B) and hence, it is the correct answer choice.
Question – 7
7. When people ask education, they normally mean something more than mere training.?
- A. When people ask education
- B. When people ask educating
- C. When people ask for education
- D. When people ask to educate
- E. When people ask for educating
- Answer:C
- Answer Explanation:This sentence in question is vague in its implication as well as incorrect grammatically. One cannot just ‘ask education’ since a preposition needs to be supplied after the word ‘ask’ to make grammatical sense. Many other forms of changes are also possible here (like in options B, D and E) but all of them are either unrequired or are repeating the error. Hence, option (C), which is correcting the error perfectly, is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 8
8. When a thing is intelligible, you have any certain sense of participation.?
- A. you have any
- B. you have many
- C. you have
- D. you have a
- E. you have an
- Answer:D
- Answer Explanation:The use of the word ‘any’ before the predicate of the sentence is grammatically incorrect. While options B, C and E are altering the word ‘any’ or simply removing it, only option (D) is correctly replacing it with the correct article. Hence, option (D) is the correct choice of an answer for this question.
Question – 9
9. Such a man is alike a person without any signs of civilization.?
- A. Such a man is alike a person
- B. Such a man is just alike a person
- C. Such a man is just like a person
- D. Such a man is a person
- E. Such a man is like a person
- Answer:E
- Answer Explanation:The word ‘alike’ means same or without difference and cannot be grammatically used in the way it has been used within the structure of this sentence. Altering the word ‘alike’ while retaining the implication of the sentence is required here, which is done correctly by option (E). Option (C) is also correct but it is adding the word ‘just’ to the sentence which is not required. Hence, option (E) is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 10
10. When people say “I don’t know”, it is an impotent protest against the unintelligibility of the world.?
- A. it is an impotent protest
- B. it is an important protest
- C. it is an impotency test
- D. it is a impotent protest
- E. it is like an impotent protest
- Answer:A
- Answer Explanation:There is nothing wrong with the grammar or logic of the underlined segment of the sentence for it to require any improvement. Hence, option (A), which is the no-error option, is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 11
11. I suppose what he, or I, through him were trying to say, was that the world has not changed; only people have.?
- A. through him were
- B. through him was
- C. through him we were
- D. through him have been
- E. through them were
- Answer:B
- Answer Explanation:The verb ‘were’ in the underlined segment of the sentence needs to be isolated to check the noun it is being used for. Since the noun it is denoting is ‘I’, which is singular, it has to be reused in its singular form (‘has’) to make an improvement in the grammar of the sentence. Hence, option (B), which is correcting this error without making any unnecessary changes, is the correct answer choice.
Question – 12
12. The mind cannot bring to the world a set-or, shall we say, a tool box – of powerful ideas for every chaos they encounter.?
- A. they encounter
- B. they will encounter
- C. it encounters
- D. they shall encounter
- E. it encounter
- Answer:C
- Answer Explanation:The noun used in this sentence is ‘the mind’. The pronoun for a ‘mind’ cannot be ‘they’ but ‘it’ and the associated verb has to be ‘encounters’ and not ‘encounter’ so that the grammar of the sentence is improved. Hence, option (C), which is correcting this error, is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 13
13. They cannot themselves formulate precisely what is that they are looking.?
- A. they are looking
- B. they are looking in.
- C. they are to look for.
- D. they are looking for.
- E. they should be looking for.
- Answer:D
- Answer Explanation:The verb ‘looking’, structured in the way it has been here, cannot be used in isolation and it needs a preposition to ascribe it to the noun or, in this case, the pronoun ‘they’. Option (D) is the only answer option which is correcting this error without making any unnecessary changes to the sentence and hence, option (D) is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 14
14. When we think about say the political situation we apply to that situation, our political ideas.?
- A. say the political situation
- B. say the political situations
- C. the political situation
- D. ,say the political situation
- E. ,say the political situation,
- Answer:E
- Answer Explanation:This sentence is portraying a simple error of punctuation marks (or the lack of them). Two commas, one before and one after the underlined portion of the sentence are all that is required to improve the grammar of the sentence. This rectification has been correctly done in option (E) and hence, it is the correct answer choice for this question.
Question – 15
15. With every passing day, I feel more younger than ever before.?
- A. more younger
- B. younger
- C. more and more younger
- D. more young
- E. most younger
- Answer:B
- Answer Explanation:Two comparatives cannot be used in conjunction with each other the way in which they have been used in this sentence. The two words ‘more’ and ‘younger’ are both comparatives being used without establishing respective comparisons within the sentence. Option (B) correctly retains the word ‘younger’ for which a basis of comparison (‘than ever before’) is provided and hence, it is the correct answer choice for this question.