Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Pick the single word that covers BOTH parts of the definition: no marriage + no sexual relations.

Solution:

1. Celibate = one who stays unmarried and avoids sexual relations (often for religious reasons).
2. Bachelor = simply an unmarried man; says nothing about relations.
3. Misogamist = one who hates marriage; Divorced = marriage legally ended.

Yaad rakhein: Celibate → 'celibacy' (brahmacharya). Hater of marriage = misogamist; hater of women = misogynist.

Answer: (B) Celibate

Concept: Idioms carry a fixed figurative meaning; read the tone of the sentence.

Solution:

1. 'A pain in the neck' = a person or thing that keeps irritating or troubling you.
2. The sentence complains that cheque payment is a hassle for people without a cheque book → negative tone.
3. Options A, B, C are all positive, so they are ruled out.

Trick: Negative context → pick the only negative option. Similar idiom: 'a thorn in one's side'.

Answer: (D) someone/something that is very annoying

Concept: Adjectives ending in -ed describe how a person feels; -ful/-ing describe what causes the feeling.

Solution:

1. 'It' = the traffic; traffic cannot feel stress, it creates stress.
2. So 'very stressed' must be 'very stressful'.
3. So the last part should read: '… it is very stressful'.

Trick: Person → -ed (bored, tired, stressed); thing/situation → -ing/-ful (boring, tiring, stressful).

Answer: (C) it is very stressed

Concept: Use 'at' for a point of time or an event; 'on' for days and dates.

Solution:

1. 'The time of the inauguration ceremony' is a point of time, not a day/date.
2. So 'On the time' → 'At the time'.
3. Fixed phrase: 'at the time of' + event.

Trick: At = clock time/event (at noon, at the party); On = day/date (on Monday); In = month/year (in 2025).

Answer: (D) On the time

Concept: Choose the preposition that shows a higher level.

Solution:

1. Water level rose → it went higher than the bridge.
2. Above = at a higher level than; fits perfectly.
3. Beneath = below (opposite), through = from one side to the other, among = in the middle of many.

Trick: Verb 'rise' signals upward position → 'above'.

Answer: (B) above

Concept: Confusing pair: salon (hair/beauty shop) vs saloon (bar or large public hall).

Solution:

1. Shaving a beard is done at a barber's shop = salon.
2. Saloon means a bar/public room; 'salonn' and 'sallon' are wrong spellings.

Trick: Salon has one 'o' – one chair, one barber; saloon has 'oo' – bar.

Answer: (B) salon

Concept: Find the misspelt word.

Solution:

1. Correct spelling: cigarette (double 't' + final 'e').
2. 'Cigarete' drops one 't'.
3. Tobacco, Cigar, Cannabis are correct.

Trick: Cigar + ette (French 'small') = cigarette → the -ette ending always has 'tt'.

Answer: (A) Cigarete

Concept: With road/street (surface along which people are spread), use 'on'.

Solution:

1. Protestors were spread along the streets → 'on the streets'.
2. 'At' is for a precise spot (at the gate); 'into' shows entering; 'about' = around/roughly.

Trick: On the road / on the street / on the highway – fixed usage.

Answer: (A) on the streets

Concept: 'Prefer' takes 'to' (not 'than'), and both items must be in the same form.

Solution:

1. 'prefer reading … than watching' is wrong because of 'than'.
2. Replace 'than' with to; keep both actions as -ing forms (reading … watching).
3. Option C breaks the gerund form; B uses 'over', which the exam rule does not accept here.

Trick: Prefer, superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior → always 'to', never 'than'.

Answer: (A) prefer reading books to watching movies

Concept: Keep the tense; in active voice 'make' is followed by a bare infinitive (no 'to').

Solution:

1. 'were made' = simple past → active verb 'made'.
2. Doer not given, so a suitable subject (the manager) is supplied.
3. Make + object + V1: 'The manager made the employees attend the training session.'

Trick: Passive 'made to attend' → active 'made … attend' ('to' drops). B, C, D change the tense.

Answer: (A) The manager made the employees attend the training session.

Concept: Second-person pronouns change according to the object of the reporting verb; if there is no object, they stay.

Solution:

1. 'Neha said' has no object → 'you/your' remain 'you/your'.
2. Past reporting verb: will → would, must → had to, tomorrow → the day after.
3. Result: Neha said that you would finish the exercises the day after to improve your stamina as you had to perform well in the trial.

Trick: SON rule: 1st person → subject, 2nd → object, 3rd → No change. No object → 'you' unchanged; this removes A, B, C at once.

Answer: (D) Neha said that you would finish the exercises the day after to improve your stamina as you had to perform well in the trial.

Concept: Going back to direct speech: undo the back-shift and restore question word order.

Solution:

1. 'was' → 'is' (present tense returns).
2. Interrogative order: What + is + subject → 'What is the timeline for the project?'
3. Quotation marks must be correct (C mixes ' and "), A changes 'what' to 'when', B keeps statement order.

Trick: Indirect → direct: past → present, statement order → question order, add '?'.

Answer: (D) The intern inquired, "What is the timeline for the project ?"

Concept: Some verbs take fixed prepositions.

Solution:

1. Pride + reflexive pronoun → on: The company prides itself on …
2. Conform → to: conforms strictly to industry regulations.
3. Only option C gives 'on, to'.

Trick: Pride oneself ON, take pride IN, be proud OF. Conform TO / comply WITH.

Answer: (C) at, on

Concept: Reverse all indirect-speech changes: tense, pronoun and time words.

Solution:

1. intended → intend.
2. she/her → I/my (speaker's own words).
3. that evening → this evening.
4. Result: She said, "I intend to meet my relatives this evening."

Trick: Check the time word first: only A has 'this evening' with 'my' – done in 5 seconds.

Answer: (A) She said, "I intend to meet my relatives this evening."

Concept: Every passive verb in the sentence must become active.

Solution:

1. First clause: 'should have been completed' → active with subject 'They' + 'should have completed'.
2. 'was rejected due to missing details' → 'missing details led to its rejection' (active form).
3. Option B keeps 'it was rejected' (still passive); A and C keep both passives.

Trick: Scan options for leftover 'was/been + V3' – any option still containing it is out.

Answer: (D) They should have completed the application by the due date, but missing details led to its rejection.

Concept: Spot the misspelt word.

Solution:

1. Part B has 'conscientous'; correct is conscientious (careful and dutiful).
2. acquiesce, benevolent, hierarchy are spelt correctly.

Trick: Conscientious = conscience + -tious → keep the 'i': consc-i-ent-i-ous.

Answer: (B) B

Concept: Present continuous passive = is/am/are + being + V3.

Solution:

1. Object 'an exciting match' (singular) becomes subject.
2. are playing → is being played.
3. 'An exciting match is being played by them today.'

Trick: Look for 'being' + present helping verb: only D has 'is being'. C has 'was being' (past).

Answer: (D) An exciting match is being played by them today.

Concept: Past perfect passive = had + been + V3; in a question 'Had' comes first.

Solution:

1. Object 'all the financial records' → subject.
2. had reviewed → had … been reviewed.
3. The 'before they finalized' clause stays unchanged.

Trick: Tense must stay past perfect: 'were' (A) and 'has' (C) change tense; D misses 'been'.

Answer: (B) Had all the financial records been reviewed by the experienced auditors before they finalized the report?

Concept: The verb agrees with the head noun of the subject.

Solution:

1. Subject = 'Gold-plated accessories'; head noun 'accessories' is plural.
2. Plural subject → have been.
3. 'Gold-plated' is just an adjective; 'alternative' is the complement, not the subject.

Trick: Find the noun right before the verb's group, ignore describing words → plural noun = 'have'.

Answer: (A) Because "accessories" is a plural subject

Concept: 'The' points to a specific, already-known thing.

Solution:

1. Paragraph 1 mentions the base metals 'underneath' the plating.
2. So 'the base metal' = that particular metal under the gold layer.
3. It is not a general statement, not about price, and an article never works as a conjunction.

Trick: 'The' = something already mentioned or clearly identifiable.

Answer: (A) It refers to the specific metal underneath the plating