Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: Present continuous passive question 'Is/Are + object + being + V3 + by + agent?' → active 'Is/Are + agent + V-ing + object?'

1. Agent 'the authorities' becomes the subject (plural → are).
2. 'Being relaxed' → relaxing (present continuous).
3. 'Are the authorities relaxing the attendance rules?'
4. (A) present perfect continuous, (B) present perfect, (C) future intention — tense changed.

Trick: 'Is/Are + being + V3' always maps back to 'is/are + V-ing'.

Answer: (D) Are the authorities relaxing the attendance rules?

Concept: 'Ask' takes a direct object without 'from' (ask someone), and a yes/no question in reported speech is introduced by whether/if, not 'that'.

1. 'Asked from me' is wrong → asked me.
2. '…or not' signals a yes/no question → whether.
3. Past reporting verb → 'had seen'. Correct: 'She asked me whether I had seen the movie or not.'
4. (B) 'to me that' and (D) 'from me… have' are ungrammatical.

Trick: Ask + person (no 'from'); yes/no question → if/whether, never 'that'.

Answer: (C) me whether I had seen

Concept: In simple past active (S + V2 + O), the passive is O + was/were + V3 + by + S. With a two-object verb, the person object usually becomes the subject.

1. Object 'her' → subject She.
2. 'Advised' (simple past) → was advised.
3. 'She was advised a week's rest by the doctor.'
4. (B) present continuous, (C) present perfect — tense changed; (D) reverses the roles.

Trick: V2 in active → was/were + V3 in passive; tense must stay the same.

Answer: (A) She was advised a week’s rest by the doctor.

Concept: Present continuous active 'is/are + V-ing' becomes passive is/are + being + V3.

1. Object 'the homeless' (plural) → subject; helper are.
2. 'Are providing' → are being provided.
3. Agent 'by them' is dropped: 'The homeless are being provided shelter.'
4. (A) 'are been' is wrong; (B) future and (D) present perfect change the tense.

Trick: Continuous → add 'being'; perfect → add 'been'. 'Are been' never exists.

Answer: (C) The homeless are being provided shelter.

Concept: Exclamatory sentences take the reporting verb exclaimed (with sorrow/joy), the exclamation 'What a pity!' becomes 'that it was a pity', and the tense moves back.

1. Said → exclaimed; 'What a pity!' → that it was a pity.
2. You (listener = me) → I.
3. Missed (simple past) → had missed.
4. 'He exclaimed that it was a pity I had missed the party.' (A) keeps the exclamation form and 'you'; (B) 'told to me' is wrong; (D) keeps 'you missed'.

Trick: Exclamation → exclaimed + that + statement; second-person pronoun follows the object of 'said to'.

Answer: (C) He exclaimed that it was a pity I had missed the party.

Concept: As an antecedent of 'who', we use the demonstrative those (not 'they'), and the verb agrees with the plural antecedent.

1. 'They who' is archaic/incorrect → Those who.
2. 'Those' is plural, so 'who' takes the plural verb want.
3. 'Those who want to play should leave the class.'
4. (A) 'wants' disagrees; (C) 'whom' is an object form.

Trick: Those who + plural verb; he who + singular verb.

Answer: (B) Those who want

Concept: A question tag is opposite in polarity to the statement: positive statement → negative tag, using the same auxiliary and the subject pronoun.

1. 'He promised…' is positive, simple past → auxiliary did.
2. Negative tag: didn't he?
3. 'Did he' keeps both positive; 'would he' uses a wrong auxiliary; 'isn't it' has wrong verb and pronoun.

Trick: Positive + negative tag; V2 in statement → 'didn't + pronoun?'

Answer: (A) didn’t he

Concept: Universal truths, proverbs and habitual facts keep their original tense in indirect speech even after a past reporting verb.

1. 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' is a proverb (universal truth).
2. So the tense does not change: 'spoil' stays 'spoil'.
3. 'The teacher said that too many cooks spoil the broth.'
4. (B) 'told' without object and past perfect; (C) changes to 'spoiled'; (D) 'cooks spoils' is a concord error.

Yaad rakhein: Proverb / universal truth → no change of tense.

Answer: (A) The teacher said that too many cooks spoil the broth.

Concept: Start with the sentence that introduces the event, then its purpose, then the response, and end with the conclusion.

1. D introduces the event: a musical night was organised.
2. A 'The event was held to raise funds…' explains its purpose.
3. C describes the contributions; B 'The Principal thanked everyone for the contributions' concludes.
4. Order: D-A-C-B.

Trick: 'The event' in A needs an earlier mention of the event (D); 'thanked for the contributions' comes after the contributions are mentioned.

Answer: (C) DACB

Concept: A paragraph opens with the general idea and then narrows to details, linked by pronouns.

1. C introduces the topic: evil effects of food adulteration are slow and may go unnoticed.
2. B 'They are often imperceptible…' — 'They' refers to the effects in C.
3. D says the danger depends on the substances added; A 'Some of these substances…' follows D.
4. Order: C-B-D-A.

Trick: Pronoun links: 'They' (B) → effects (C); 'these substances' (A) → substances (D).

Answer: (C) CBDA

Concept: An amateur does an activity for pleasure, not as a paid job, or lacks expertise. Its opposite is a professional.

1. Amateur = non-expert / unpaid enthusiast.
2. Professional = one who does it as a paid career with expertise — the opposite.
3. Apprentice, novice and learner are all similar in meaning to amateur (beginners).

Yaad rakhein: Amateur vs professional is a classic pair (amateur athlete vs professional athlete).

Answer: (C) professional

Concept: A narrative follows time order, often signalled by words like first, then, finally.

1. D 'The wild elephant first reached the outskirts…' — introduces the elephant.
2. A 'It then came to the main road and smashed the stalls.'
3. C People on the main road ran in panic (result of A).
4. B 'Finally, the elephant entered a school ground.' Order: D-A-C-B.

Trick: Sequence markers first → then → finally fix the order at once.

Answer: (B) DACB

Concept: Narrative sentences are arranged in the order the events happened, linking each sentence to the previous one.

1. After A (cub discovered), C tells how: Grandfather spotted a little tiger in the jungle.
2. E 'The frightened animal was hiding…' describes where it was found.
3. B Grandfather picked him and brought him home.
4. D named Timothy and fed on milk, leading to F 'Later, … raw mutton'. Order: A-C-E-B-D-F.

Trick: Spot → found hiding → picked up → named and fed on milk → 'later' new diet.

Answer: (D) ACEBDF

Concept: Follow the characters: introduce the family, then the child, his habit, and then the new scene that leads to the closing sentence.

1. After A (Mukandan Misra and wife), D introduces 'Tansen, their only child'.
2. E 'Often he would run away to the woods… imitate calls of animals' describes Tansen.
3. C Swami Haridas travelling through the forest; B 'Tired, the group settled down to rest'.
4. F: Tansen frightens 'the resting men' with a tiger's roar. Order: A-D-E-C-B-F.

Trick: 'Their only child' links to A; 'the resting men' in F links to B.

Answer: (D) ADECBF

Concept: With a past reporting verb, simple past changes to past perfect and 'yesterday' changes to the previous day.

1. 'Came' (simple past) → had come.
2. 'Yesterday' → the previous day.
3. 'He said that Manan had come to college the previous day.'
4. (A) 'was coming' wrong tense; (C) 'had came' wrong verb form and keeps yesterday; (D) tense not changed.

Trick: V2 → had + V3; yesterday → the previous day / the day before.

Answer: (B) He said that Manan had come to college the previous day.

Concept: Either, neither, each and every used before a singular noun take a singular verb.

1. 'Either side' = each of the two sides, taken one at a time → singular.
2. Passive 'be + lined' needs a form of 'be', so 'has' does not fit ('has been lined' would be needed).
3. Singular 'be' → is: 'Either side of the road is lined by toy shops.'

Trick: Either/Neither + singular noun → singular verb (is/was/has).

Answer: (A) is

Concept: A jockey is a professional rider of horses in races.

1. 'One who rides horses in races' = jockey.
2. Porter = one who carries luggage; sprinter = a runner over short distances; athlete = a sports person in general.
3. So the answer is jockey.

Yaad rakhein: Jockey → horse racing; similarly 'equestrian' = a skilled horse rider in general.

Answer: (A) jockey

Concept: The material or instrument used for writing takes the preposition in (in ink, in pencil), while 'with' is used for the tool (with a pen).

1. 'By ink' is wrong.
2. Correct: 'You need to sign these important documents in ink.'
3. Other parts are correct: 'need to sign', 'these important documents'.

Yaad rakhein: Write in ink / in pencil, but write with a pen.

Answer: (D) by ink

Concept: The adjective afraid is always followed by the preposition of.

1. 'Afraid from' is incorrect.
2. Correct: 'He is afraid of all insects that crawl.'
3. The other segments are grammatically fine.

Yaad rakhein: Fixed pairs: afraid of, fond of, scared of, frightened of.

Answer: (C) afraid from

Concept: Simple present passive 'is/are + V3' becomes active V1/V1+s. With no agent, a suitable subject ('We') is supplied.

1. 'Are held' (simple present) → hold.
2. Subject 'We', object 'all meetings': 'We hold all meetings in the conference room.'
3. (A) present continuous, (B) future, (D) past — tense changed.

Trick: is/are + V3 → V1 (present simple); was/were + V3 → V2.

Answer: (C) We hold all meetings in the conference room.