Directions: In each of the following questions, four different ways of presenting an idea are given. Choose the one that is grammatically correct and confirms most closely to Standard English usage.
Question 1
a) They had fewer complaints in the new house which had an area with fewer that 1000 square feet.b)They had less complaints in the new house which had an area with less than 1000 square feet.
c)They had less complaints in the new house which had an area with fewer than 1000 square feet.
d)They had fewer complaints in the new house which had an area of less than 1000 square feet
Question 2
a)If we win the match , there was a large bonus in store for us .b) If we win the match , there will be a large bonus in store for us .
c) If we won the match ,there will be a large bonus in store for us .
d) ) If we win the match ,there would be a large bonus in store for us .
Question 3
a)If the door were left open , burglars would have no trouble getting in.b) If the door was left open , burglars would have no trouble getting in.
c) If the door were left open , burglars would had no trouble getting in.
d) If the door were left open , burglars would have no trouble getting in.
Question 4
a)If we have known the area well , we will have never gotten into this mess.b) If we had known the area well , we will have never gotten into this mess.
c) If we had known the area well , we will would had never gotten into this mess.
d) If we had known the area well , we would have never gotten into this mess.
Question 5
a)The accused pleaded with the judge to have him believes his statement.b) The accused pleaded with the judge to have him believe his statement.
c) The accused pleaded with the judge to have him believed his statement.
d) The accused pleaded with the judge to have him to believe his statement.
Answers:
1) D
Fewer is used in the case of countable nouns and less in the case of uncountable ones. Of the options, only (d) makes correct use of fewer and less, where less refers to area and the preposition of correctly replaces with. Hence (D)
2) B
Options (a) and (d) are wrong as they do not confirm to the rule of real conditional. If the IF CLAUSE is in the simple present tense, the subordinate clause has to be either in the present tense or future tense .The subordinate clauses of (a) and (d) are in the past tense. (C ) is wrong because sub ordinate clause ,like the main clause , should also be in the past tense, (B) is the only correct option. Hence (B)
3) A
Options (b) and (d) can be negated right away as they use the indicative mood instead of the subjunctive. Conditionals , denotes unreal or improbable situations are always conjugated with the word ‘were’ . (c) can also be negated because the subordinate clause is incorrectly expressed in the past tense. The only correct option is (A).
4) D
Options (A) is wrong because its first clause is in the present perfect tense while the second is in the future continuous, which makes it meaningless.(B) is wrong as the second clause is in the future tense while the first one is in the past perfect tense. According to the past conditional rule , both clauses have to be in the past tense, (C) is wrong because would should be followed by have , not had. Only option (D) is correct. Hence (D)
5) B
The latter half of the sentence is in the present subjunctive mood and so its verb has to be in the base form without any to before it. The only answer that satisfies this condition is (B). Hence (B)
