Free Grammar MCQs with Answers

31. Identify the sentence with correct inversion.

• A. Never I have seen such a crowd.
• B. Never have I seen such a crowd.
• C. Never seen I have such a crowd.
• D. Never I saw such a crowd.

Explanation: When a negative adverb such as never, seldom, rarely or hardly begins a sentence, the subject and auxiliary invert as they would in a question. The same applies to not only, no sooner and little did he know. Without the inversion the sentence is ungrammatical in formal English.

32. Choose the word that is a preposition in the sentence: The cat jumped over the wall.

• A. cat
• B. jumped
• C. over
• D. wall

Explanation: Over shows the relationship between the verb and the noun that follows it, which is what a preposition does, and over the wall is the prepositional phrase. Cat and wall are nouns and jumped is the verb. A preposition is always followed by its object, here the wall.

33. Identify the part of speech of the underlined word: The results were surprisingly good.

• A. adjective
• B. adverb
• C. noun
• D. verb

Explanation: Surprisingly modifies the adjective good, and a word that modifies an adjective, a verb or another adverb is an adverb. Good itself is the adjective describing results. The ly ending is a useful clue, though not an infallible one, since friendly and lonely are adjectives.

34. Choose the correct comparative form: This question is ____ than the last one.

• A. more easier
• B. easier
• C. most easy
• D. easiest

Explanation: Short adjectives form the comparative with er alone, so combining it with more is a double comparative and is always wrong. Longer adjectives take more instead, as in more difficult. The superlative easiest would need three or more items being compared.

35. Choose the correct verb: Ten kilometres ____ a long way to walk.

• A. are
• B. is
• C. were
• D. have been

Explanation: A measurement of distance, time, money or weight is treated as a single unit and takes a singular verb, even though the noun is plural in form. The same rule gives twenty rupees is enough and three hours is too long. The plural verb would suggest the kilometres are being counted separately.

36. Choose the correct verb: Either the teacher or the students ____ mistaken.

• A. is
• B. are
• C. was
• D. has been

Explanation: With either or and neither nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it, and here that is students, which is plural. Reversing the order to either the students or the teacher would require is instead. This proximity rule is a favourite examination point.

37. Change to indirect speech: He said, "I am reading a book."

• A. He said that he is reading a book.
• B. He said that he was reading a book.
• C. He said that I was reading a book.
• D. He said that he has been reading a book.

Explanation: The reporting verb is in the past, so the present continuous shifts back to the past continuous, and the first person pronoun changes to the third person to match the speaker being reported. Keeping is would only be correct if the reporting verb were says. Pronoun and tense must both be adjusted.

38. Change to indirect speech: She asked, "Where do you live?"

• A. She asked where do I live.
• B. She asked where I lived.
• C. She asked where did I live.
• D. She asked where I live?

Explanation: A reported question takes normal statement word order, so the auxiliary do disappears and the verb shifts back to lived. No question mark is used, since the sentence as a whole is a statement about a question. Retaining the interrogative order is the most common error here.

39. Choose the correct article: ____ Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world.

• A. A
• B. An
• C. The
• D. No article

Explanation: Names of individual mountains take no article, so we say Mount Everest and K2 but the Himalayas for the range. The same pattern applies to lakes, which take no article, and rivers and seas, which take the. These conventions are learnt by exposure rather than deduced.

40. Choose the correct preposition: He has been suffering ____ malaria for a week.

• A. with
• B. from
• C. of
• D. by

Explanation: Suffer from is the fixed combination used with an illness. Die of is used for the cause of death, and cure of for recovery, so the prepositions in this medical family all differ and must be memorised individually. Suffer with is heard in speech but is not the safe choice in a test.