Q&A: practice questions with answers

Concept: 'Requested' in indirect speech becomes a polite imperative with 'Please' in direct speech; pronouns and tense return to the speaker's actual words.

1. Reporting verb: 'requested' → 'said to'; add Please.
2. 'not to make noise' → 'Please do not make noise.'
3. 'it disturbed her sleep' → 'It disturbs my sleep.' (past → present; her → my, since Avika speaks).
4. (A) lacks 'Please'; (B) is a question; (D) keeps 'her' and uses 'told' wrongly.

Trick: requested → Please; ordered → plain imperative; advised → You should.

Answer: (C) Avika said to Kavya, “Please do not make noise. It disturbs my sleep.”

Concept: With an adjective, the result structure is 'so + adjective + that'; with a noun phrase it is 'such + (a) adjective + noun + that'.

1. The adjective meaning 'tending to forget' is forgetful, not 'forgetting'.
2. There is no noun after it, so we need 'so' (not 'such').
3. A result clause follows, so 'that', not 'as' → 'so forgetful that they are not able to carry out a conversation for long.'
4. 'such forgetful as' and 'so forgetting that' are both wrong.

Yaad rakhein: so + adj + that; such + (a) adj + noun + that.

Answer: (A) so forgetful that

Concept: A story opens with the event (time + journey), then details of the train, the class chosen, and finally the writer's general observation.

1. A opens the story: 'One day, I was travelling by train from Bangalore to Belgaum.'
2. C describes that train: 'It is an overnight train… the only rail link…'.
3. B tells which class he chose and why: 'second class… people who are eager to talk'.
4. D explains the reason further with an observation about expensive tickets, completing the idea of B.

Trick: 'One day…' is a classic opening; the pronoun 'It' in C refers to the train in A.

Answer: (D) ACBD

Concept: Introduce a person first, then describe him, then his routine (by day → at night).

1. C introduces the grandfather, Konstantin Makaritch, a night watchman — the only sentence that names him.
2. D describes him: 'He was a thin but… nimble… little old man of sixty-five'.
3. A gives his daytime routine: 'By day, he slept in the servants' kitchen…'.
4. B follows with his night duty: 'At night… he walked round the grounds…', which suits a night watchman.

Trick: Name first (C), then 'He' sentences; 'By day' comes before 'At night'.

Answer: (D) CDAB

Concept: 'Turn a blind eye (to something)' means to pretend not to notice something, usually something wrong.

1. A 'blind eye' sees nothing — so you deliberately ignore what is happening.
2. Example: The guard turned a blind eye to the late-comers.
3. Irritate, Insult and Abuse describe annoying or hurting someone, not ignoring.

Yaad rakhein: Blind eye = choose not to see = ignore.

Answer: (B) Ignore

Concept: Introduce the new boy by name, describe his English, then show its effect on most classmates and finally the exception.

1. C introduces Rajam and the rumour that he came from an English boys' school — the only sentence naming him.
2. A follows naturally: 'He spoke very good English…', so few could understand him.
3. B gives the effect: many classmates could not trust themselves to speak to him.
4. D gives the exception: 'Only Sankar… had the courage to face him'.

Trick: 'Many could not…' (B) comes before 'Only Sankar…' (D) — the general group before the exception.

Answer: (B) CABD

Concept: Follow the time sequence of actions: coming home → calling the doctor → resting → an interruption.

1. A starts: 'Back home, Bipin Babu rang up Dr. Chanda…'.
2. C continues with 'Then, after a shower, he got into bed with an ice bag…'.
3. B: 'Just then, the servant brought him a letter…' — interrupts him while in bed.
4. D describes that letter: 'It was a greenish envelope…'.

Trick: Time words guide the order: Back home → Then → Just then; 'It' in D = the letter in B.

Answer: (A) ACBD

Concept: Move from the place to the people in it, then add details about them that lead to their names in F.

1. A: he drove everywhere himself → C introduces the petrol pump with a service station.
2. B: he would take his car to 'that service station' and stay there — 'that' points back to C.
3. D introduces the two boys who worked there.
4. E: 'They were identical twins', followed by F giving their names, Ram and Gopal.

Trick: Demonstrative link: 'that service station' (B) needs C before it; 'They' (E) needs 'two boys' (D).

Answer: (D) CBDE

Concept: Passive of a simple-past question: (Wh-word) + was/were + (not) + subject + V3 + by + agent? 'Why didn't…' becomes 'Why wasn't/weren't…'.

1. Object 'you' becomes the subject → takes 'were' → 'Why weren't you…'.
2. Verb 'pick up' → past participle 'picked up'.
3. Agent: 'by your mother'; time 'today' stays at the end.
4. (A) changes the tense; (B) 'didn't you be' is ungrammatical; (C) reverses the meaning.

Trick: did/didn't (active) → was/were (+ not) + V3 (passive).

Answer: (D) Why weren’t you picked up by your mother today?

Concept: Words with the prefix 're-' have different meanings; choose the one meaning 'to make less'.

1. Reduce = to make smaller or less in amount, degree or size (reduce the price, reduce speed).
2. Reclaim = to get back something lost or taken.
3. Refine = to remove impurities or improve.
4. Recoup = to regain money or losses.

Trick: Reduce ↔ increase: the pair of opposites for 'less / more'.

Answer: (C) Reduce

Concept: 'By + a past time' (by the end of last year) shows an action completed before that past point → past perfect (had + V3).

1. 'last year' is already in the past.
2. The design was finished before the end of that year → had completed.
3. 'would have completed' is used for unreal/conditional ideas; 'has completed' (present perfect) cannot go with a past time; 'would complete' shows future-in-past.
4. Correct: 'By the end of the last year, he had completed the design…'.

Trick: By + past time → had + V3; By + future time → will have + V3.

Answer: (B) had completed

Concept: Introduce the visitor, then his questions, the writer's impression, and finally his request.

1. B introduces the visitor — 'a tall, handsome, bearded man' — so it must come first.
2. D: 'He asked me several questions about the machine.'
3. A: the writer's impression of those questions — 'the objectivity and clarity of his thinking'.
4. C: 'he finally enquired' about a ride — the last step.

Trick: 'finally' marks the closing sentence; 'He' in D needs the man introduced in B.

Answer: (A) BDAC

Concept: Reporting a yes/no question: said to → asked; join with 'if/whether'; question becomes a statement; tenses go back; time words change.

1. 'said to' → 'asked'; 'Do you know' → 'if she knew' (present → past).
2. 'we got' → 'they had got' (past → past perfect); 'we/our' → 'they/their'.
3. 'today' → 'that day'.
4. (A) keeps the question form; (B) adds 'would be knowing'; (C) keeps 'today'.

Trick: Do you know → if she knew; got → had got; today → that day.

Answer: (D) Kavya asked her mother if she knew that they had got their school magazine that day.

Concept: 'be going to + V1' in the active becomes 'be going to be + V3' in the passive; the tense of 'be' stays the same.

1. Object 'some tulips' (plural) → subject → 'Some tulips are going to be planted'.
2. 'in the garden this year' stays; the agent 'by the gardener' may be dropped as it is obvious.
3. (A) is present continuous, (B) present perfect, (C) simple future — they change the tense form.

Trick: is/are going to + V1 → is/are going to be + V3.

Answer: (D) Some tulips are going to be planted in the garden this year.

Concept: Converting indirect to direct: use inverted commas, restore the speaker's pronouns (I/my, you/your), and change past forms back to present (could → can, would → will).

1. Isha speaks to Nitya: 'her suit' (Nitya's) → your suit; 'her shop' (Isha's) → my shop.
2. 'could get' → 'can get'; 'would be convenient' → 'will be convenient'.
3. 'for her' (Nitya) → 'for you'; the two clauses become two sentences.
4. (A) keeps indirect pronouns; (B) keeps 'her suit'; (D) keeps 'her shop' and 'for her'.

Trick: Listener's things → your; speaker's things → my.

Answer: (C) Isha said to Nitya, “You can get your suit stitched at my shop. It will be convenient for you.”

Concept: Preposition of time: 'at' for clock times, 'on' for days and dates, 'in' for months, years and parts of the day.

1. 6:30 p.m. is a clock time → at 6:30 p.m.
2. 'on 6:30 p.m.' is wrong; 'on' is for days/dates (on Monday, on 6 May).
3. Correct: 'My flight is scheduled to take off at 6:30 p.m.'

Trick: AT time, ON day, IN month/year.

Answer: (C) on 6:30 p.m.

Concept: 'exclaimed that' in indirect speech signals an exclamation (O God!/Alas!) in direct speech; the past perfect goes back to present perfect and pronouns return to the first person.

1. Add an exclamation like 'O God,' and end with '!'.
2. 'he had lost' → 'I have lost' (past perfect → present perfect); 'his coat' → 'my coat'.
3. (A) keeps 'had lost'; (B) changes the meaning into a question-like 'How can I have…'; (D) keeps 'he… his'.

Trick: had + V3 (indirect) → have/has + V3 (direct) when the original was present perfect.

Answer: (C) Anshuman said, “O God, I have lost my coat again!”

Concept: Two simple-past verbs joined by 'and': each object becomes a subject with was/were + V3; the agent comes once at the end.

1. 'watered the plants' → 'The plants were watered' (plural).
2. 'made my bed' → 'my bed was made' (singular).
3. Agent: 'by Sunita' at the end.
4. (B) changes the second verb to future; (C) uses 'has been' (wrong tense and number); (D) uses past perfect.

Trick: Simple past active → was/were + V3; match was/were with each new subject.

Answer: (A) The plants were watered and my bed was made by Sunita.

Concept: Simple past active (subject + V2 + object) → passive (object + was/were + V3 + by + subject).

1. Object 'this photo' becomes the subject → 'This photo was taken'.
2. Agent with its appositive: 'by Paul Goldstein, a wildlife photographer'.
3. Place phrase stays: 'in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park'.
4. (B) and (C) make the park or the photographer the thing 'taken' — absurd; (D) 'has taken' is active and wrong tense.

Trick: took → was taken; the doer moves after 'by'.

Answer: (A) This photo was taken by Paul Goldstein, a wildlife photographer, in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park.

Concept: An adverb is modified by 'so', not 'such'. 'Such' goes before a noun (such a quick response); 'so' goes before an adjective or adverb (so quickly).

1. 'quickly' is an adverb modifying 'happened'.
2. Hence 'such quickly' is wrong → so quickly that.
3. Correct: 'Everything happened so quickly that I felt dazed.'

Trick: so + adj/adverb + that; such + (a) + noun + that.

Answer: (A) such quickly that