Sentence Improvement — Practice

Question 1

Select the best improvement for the bracketed part: "No sooner did the bell ring (when) the students rushed out."
(a) than (b) but (c) that (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) than.

'No sooner' is a comparative and pairs only with 'than'. 'When' pairs with 'hardly/scarcely'.

Question 2

"He is senior (than) me by three years."
(a) to (b) from (c) over (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) to.

Senior, junior, superior, inferior, prior are Latin comparatives and take 'to', never 'than': 'senior to me'.

Question 3

"If I (would have known) about the strike, I would have left early."
(a) had known (b) would know (c) have known (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) had known.

Third conditional: the if-clause takes past perfect. 'Would have' appears only in the main clause — using it in both is the classic error.

Question 4

"The committee (have taken) its decision and will announce it soon."
(a) has taken (b) have took (c) are taking (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) has taken.

The sentence already treats the committee as a single unit ('its decision'), so the verb must be singular: 'has taken'. A collective noun takes a plural verb only when members act separately — and then the pronoun would be 'their'.

Question 5

"She prefers tea (than) coffee."
(a) to coffee (b) over coffee (c) from coffee (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) to coffee.

'Prefer' takes 'to': 'prefers tea to coffee'. 'Over' is heard informally but 'to' is the standard tested form; 'than' is outright wrong because 'prefer' is not a comparative adjective.

Question 6

"Hardly had he stepped out of the house (than) it began to rain."
(a) when (b) that (c) then (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) when.

'Hardly' and 'scarcely' pair with 'when'. 'Than' belongs to 'no sooner'. Note also the correct inversion 'Hardly had he…', which the sentence already has.

Question 7

"He denied (to have stolen) the money."
(a) having stolen (b) to steal (c) that he has stole (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) having stolen.

'Deny' takes a gerund, not an infinitive: 'denied having stolen'. Option (c) breaks tense sequence and verb form ('has stole').

Question 8

"One of my friends (are) a doctor at AIIMS."
(a) is (b) were (c) have been (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) is.

The subject is 'one', which is singular; 'of my friends' is only a modifier. 'One of the + plural noun' always takes a singular verb.

Question 9

"The teacher asked me (that why I was) late for class."
(a) why I was (b) that why I had been (c) why was I (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) why I was.

An indirect question takes no 'that' and no inversion: 'asked me why I was late'. Option (c) keeps question word order ('why was I'), which is only for direct questions.

Question 10

"She likes dancing, singing and (to paint) in her free time."
(a) painting (b) to painting (c) paint (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(a) painting.

Items in a list must share one grammatical form. The first two are gerunds (dancing, singing), so the third must be too: 'painting'.

Question 11

"I look forward (to hearing) from you soon."
(a) to hear (b) for hearing (c) to have heard (d) No improvement

Accepted Answer

(d) No improvement.

In 'look forward to', the 'to' is a preposition, so the -ing form is correct: 'to hearing'. Option (a) is the trap — it 'fixes' a sentence that was never broken. A full scan of the eight zones fires no rule, which is the positive evidence for choosing (d).

Practice — Sentence Improvement

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