English Quiz for Upcoming IBPS Bank Exams – Set 35 | New Pattern – Sentence Alternative

Directions for questions 1 to 8: In each of the following sentences, a part of the sentence is underlined. Beneath each sentence, four different ways of phrasing the underlined part are indicated. Choose the best alternative among the four.

1. It was us who had left before he arrived.

a. we who had left before time he had arrived.

b. us who had went before he arrived.

c. us who had went before had arrived.

d. we who had left before he arrived.

2. The MP rose up to say that in her opinion, she thought the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed on unanimously.

a. rose to say that she thought the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed

b. rose up to say that, the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed on

c. rose to say that, in her opinion, she thought that the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed

d. rose to say that, in her opinion, the Women’s Reservation Bill should be passed on

3. Mr Pillai, the president of the union and who is also a member of the community group, will be in charge of the negotiations.

a. since he is a member of the community group

b. also being a member of the community group

c. a member of the community group

d. in addition, who is a member of the community group

4. Since the advent of cable television, at the beginning of this decade, the entertainment industry took

a giant stride forward in our country.

a. this decade saw the entertainment industry taking

b. this decade, the entertainment industry has taken

c. this decade, the entertainment industry had taken

d. this decade, the entertainment industry took

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5. His mother made great sacrifices to educate him, moving house on three occasions, and severing the thread on her loom’s shuttle whenever Mencius neglected his lessons to make him understand the need to persevere.

a. severing the thread on her loom’s shuttle whenever Mencius neglected his lessons to make him understand the need to persevere.

b. severed the thread on her loom’s shuttle whenever Mencius neglected his lessons to make him understand the need to persevere.

c. severed the thread on her loom’s shuttle whenever Mencius neglected his lessons to make him understand the need for persevering.

d. severing the thread on her loom’s shuttle whenever Mencius neglected his lessons to make them understand the need to persevere.

6. If you are in a three-month software design project and, in two weeks, you’ve put together a program that solves part of the problem, show it to your boss without delay.

a. and, you’ve put together a program that solves part of the problem in two weeks

b. and, in two weeks, you’ve put together a program that solves part of the problem

c. and, you’ve put together a program that has solved part of the problem in two weeks

d. and, in two weeks, you put together a program that solved only part of the problem

7. Many of these environmentalists proclaim to save nothing less than the planet itself.

a. to save nothing lesser than

b. that they are saving nothing lesser than

c. to save nothing less than

d. that they save nothing less than

8. Bacon believes that the medical profession should be permitted to ease and quicken death where the end would otherwise only delay for a few days and at the cost of great pain.

a. be delayed for a few days

b. be delayed for a few days and

c. be otherwise only delayed for a few da

1. d (d) is the correct answer
choice. The question relates to choosing the correct pronoun case: Subjective
(we) or objective (us). The answer to the question ‘who had left before he
arrived?’ is ‘we’, not ‘us’: ‘We’ is the subject of the verb ‘had left’ and the
referent of the relative pronoun ‘who,’ which is also in the subjective case.
(b) and (c) are incorrect because they use ‘Us’ the objective case. They also
have other obvious errors. (a) Uses the correct pronoun case (We), but
incorrectly places both verbs ‘had left’ and ‘had arrived’ in the past perfect
tenses. For indicating that one event has occurred in the past before another,
the former should be placed in past perfect tense, while the latter in simple
past tense.

2. a (a) is the correct answer,
as it corrects all the errors in the original sentence. Other options do not.
Redundancy: (i) ‘rose up’: ‘rise’ includes the idea of upward motion. (ii) ‘in
her opinion, she thought’: use either ‘in her opinion’ or ‘she thought’. Idiom
(iii) ‘passed on’: Bills are always ‘passed’ in Parliament. ‘Pass on’ is a
phrasal verb and has its own uses.

3. c (c) is the correct answer
choice. This question tests you for parallelism. There are two possible
parallel structures: (i) Mr Pillai, X and Y, will be … (phrase X and Y placed
in apposition). (ii) Mr Pillai, who is X and also Y, will be … (use of who-clause)
There are also other ways to express the same idea but with different shades of
meaning/emphasis: (iii) Since Mr Pillai is X and Y, he will be … (two main
clauses joined by ‘some’ as a conjunction). (iv) Being X and Y, Mr Pillai will
be … (use of participial clause). Answer choice (c) matches with (i) above.
Other choices do not match with any of the other possible grammatical
structures.

4. b (b) is the correct answer
choice. This question tests you for use of the correct verb tense. Possible
constructions could be: (i) At the beginning of this decade, X took a giant
stride … (ii) Use present perfect, when we talk of a period of time extending
from a point in the past and completion of an action ‘since’ then, as seen from
today’s perspective. (b) matches with (ii) above and correctly uses the present
perfect tense. The phrase ‘at the beginning of this decade’ is merely placed in
opposition to inform us about the ‘advent of cable television,’ and does not in
any way affect the structure of the sentence.

5. a (a) is the correct answer
choice. The main verb ‘made great sacrifices’ in the main clause is modified by
both participial clauses to explain the sacrifices she made: (i) ‘moving house
on three occasions’. (ii) ‘severing the thread … to make him understand the
need to persevere.’ In (b) and (c), ‘severed’ (simple past tense) is used
parallel with ‘made’, thereby producing two parallel main clauses. This is not
grammatically incorrect, but changes the intended meaning, which was to
highlight ‘severing of the thread …’ as a ‘sacrifice’ the mother made. (d)
uses ‘severing’ correctly, but incorrectly replaces ‘him’ referring to Mencius
by ‘them.’

6. b (b) is the correct answer
choice. The question tests you for the correct positioning of the adverbial
phrase ‘in two weeks.’ Since this phrase relates to ‘putting together a programme,’
it should be positioned closest to the verb phrase it modifies. The possible
positions are examined below: (i) ‘You’ve put together (in two weeks) a
programme …’ [Incorrect. Adverb cannot come between the verb and its object.] (ii) ‘You’ve put together a programme (in two weeks) that solves …’
[Incorrect. Here the adverb cannot separate the noun ‘program’ and the relative
pronoun. ‘that’, which modifies it.] (iii) ‘(in two weeks) you’ve put together
a programme …’ [Correct. The adverbial phrase is close to the verb it
modifies and is not intrusive in this position.] In (a) and (c), the intended
meaning changes. It appears that ‘the problem is solved in two weeks,’ rather
than ‘the programme being put together in two weeks’. (d) in incorrect as the
adverbial phrase ‘in two weeks’ should be cordoned off by two commas, and
introduction of “only” changes the meaning.

7. d (d) is the correct answer
choice. The question tests you for the correct idiomatic structure to be used
with the verb ‘proclaim.’ ‘Proclaim,’ unlike ‘claim,’ cannot be followed by a
to-infinitive. It should be followed by a that-clause in this case. Therefore,
(d) is correct, while (a) and (c) are incorrect. Though (b) correctly uses the
that-clause, the present continuous tense ‘are saving’ changes the meaning. The
simple present tense ‘save’ is appropriate here to indicate a general sense.
Furthermore, ‘less’ itself is a comparative (little → less → least) and need
not be replaced by the double comparative ‘lesser,’ which is used only in
certain standard idiomatic phrases, such as, ‘the lesser of the two evils.’

8. c (c) is the correct answer
choice. The question tests you for the correct use of passive voice and the
positioning of adverbs. First, ‘end’ cannot be the doer of the action: ‘would
delay,’ but it should correctly be at the receiving end: ‘would be delayed
(passive voice).’ Second, both the adverbs ‘otherwise’ and ‘only’ are required
for the intended meaning to emerge clearly. Third, these adverbs should be
positioned closest to the verb they modify. What better place than to be
sandwiched between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: ‘Would be otherwise
only delayed.’