Exercise on Completing Sentence with Explanation

1. Complete the sentence: John did not do well in the class because ____________

he studied bad	he was not good study wise
he was a badly student	he failed to study properly
Correct Answer: he failed to study properly
Explanation: Choice (A) is incorrect because the Verb ‘studied’ should be modified by an adverb, ‘badly’. Choice (B) is in error because it is never correct to say ‘wise’ with a noun or verb to mean ‘in relation to’. Choice (C) uses ‘badly’, which is an adverb and cannot modify the noun ‘student’; it should have been ‘bad’. Choice (D) is correct in all sense.

2. Fill in the blank to complete the sentence: This University’s programs ________those of Harvard.

come second after	are second only to
are first except for	are in second place from
Correct Answer: are second only to
Explanation: The expression ‘second only to’ here means that Harvard’s programs are the best, and this university’s programs are second best.

3. Complete the sentence: The more she worked____________

the less she achieved.	she achieved not enough.
she did not achieve enough.	she was achieving less.
Correct Answer: the less she achieved.
Explanation: This is a double comparative. The correct form is ‘the + comparative ………the + comparative’.

4. Fill in the blank to complete the sentence: __________the best car to buy is a Mercedes Benz.

Because of its durability and economy,	Because it lasts a long time, and it is very economical,
Because of its durability and it is economical,	Because of its durability and economy wise it is better than all the others
Correct Answer: Because of its durability and economy,
Explanation: Choice (A) contains correct parallel structure: durability (noun)… economy (noun). Choice (B) is verbose: ‘lasts a long time’ means it is durable. It is not necessary to us so many words. When there is a shorter answer that means the same and is grammatically correct, choose the shorter answer. Choice (C) would be correct if it said: “its durability and economy” (noun & noun). Choice (D) uses ‘economy- wise’. It is always incorrect to use ‘wise’ with a noun in this way.

5. Complete the sentence: When Harry arrived home after a hard day at work, ___________

his wife was sleeping.	his wife was sleeping.
his wife was sleeping.	his wife has been sleeping.
Correct Answer: his wife was sleeping.
Explanation: Choice (A) and (B) both are correct according to the structure but choice (B) does not make sense. Choice (D) would be correct if it said ‘had been sleeping’.

6. Choose the correct sentence:

He gave to the class a tough assignment.	He gave the class a tough assignment.
He gave a tough assignment for the class.	He gave an assignment very tough to the class.
Correct Answer: He gave the class a tough assignment.
Explanation: The structure should be ‘subject + verb + indirect object + direct object’. There should be no preposition.

7. Complete the sentence: People all over the world are starving___________

greater in numbers.	in more numbers.
more numerously.	in greater numbers.
Correct Answer: in greater numbers.
Explanation: The correct expression is ‘in greater numbers’. This is an expression that you should memorize.

8. It was not until she arrived in class ………………..realized she had forgotten her book.

and she	when she
she	that she
Correct Answer: that she
Explanation: Always after the expression ‘it was not until’, the conjunction ‘that’ is a must. To use ‘when’ here would be redundant.

9. John has not been able to recall where ___________.

does she live	she lives
did she live	lived the girl
Correct Answer: she lives
Explanation: For an embedded question, use question word + subject + verb.

10. Ben would have studied medicine if he ________ to a medical school.

could be able to enter	had been admitted
was admitted	were admitted
Correct Answer: had been admitted
Explanation: Past condition. When the conditional perfect is used in the ‘result clause’, the past perfect must be used in the ‘if clause’. See Conditionals for more.

11. He entered a university __________.

when he had sixteen years	when sixteen years were his age
at the age of sixteen	at age sixteen years’ old
Correct Answer: at the age of sixteen
Explanation: There are only a few possibilities for expressing age in English. (1) When he is sixteen (years old). (2) at (age) sixteen, and (3) at the age of sixteen. Choice (C) follows the rule (3) and is the only correct answer.

12. The Starks were told to ……………..

talk all they wanted	make lots of expressions
speak freely	talk with their minds open
Correct Answer: speak freely
Explanation: Choice (A) is verbose and too informal for written English. Choice (B) uses ‘make’ and it does not make any sense. In choice (D) with their minds open (having open minds) is an idiom meaning to be willing to have no biases. When used in this context with ‘talk’, it is not logical.

13. Those students do not like to read novels _______ their textbooks.

in any case	forgetting about
leaving out of the question	much less
Correct Answer: much less
Explanation: ‘Much less’ is used in this context in a negative sentence to indicate that the second item mentioned is disliked even more than the first. The students dislike reading novels and dislike reading textbooks even more.

14. Fill in the Blank: He ………………… looked forward to the new venture.

eagerly	with great eagerness
eagernessly	in a state of increasing eagerness
Correct Answer: eagerly
Explanation: Choices (B) and (D) are verbose. ‘Eagerly’ (A) is much more concise than either of these choices. Choice (C) uses ‘eagernessly’, which is not a word. It is not possible to add an adverb affix (-ly) to a noun affix (-ness).

15. The people were told to vacate their houses immediately ___________.

in the time when the water raised	when the water began to rise
at the time when the water began to go up	when up was going the water
Correct Answer: when the water began to rise
Explanation: Choices (A), (C), and (D) are all verbose. In addition, choice (A) includes the wrong verb (raised); (A) and (D) incorrectly use ‘the time’ as well as ‘when’. So, choice (B) is the logical answer.

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