Free Grammar MCQs with Answers

51. Choose the correct preposition: She is married ____ a doctor.

• A. with
• B. to
• C. of
• D. by

Explanation: Married takes to when naming the spouse, so she is married to a doctor. Married with is a common error carried over from other languages. The related phrase engaged to follows the same pattern.

52. Choose the correct preposition: The results are consistent ____ our earlier findings.

• A. to
• B. with
• C. for
• D. at

Explanation: Consistent takes with when comparing one thing to another, and the same applies to compatible with and comply with. Similar and identical take to instead. Building a mental list of these pairings is more reliable than reasoning about them.

53. Choose the correct article: He was appointed ____ captain of the team.

• A. a
• B. an
• C. the
• D. no article

Explanation: No article is used before a unique office or title that follows verbs such as appoint, elect or make, so he was appointed captain and she was elected president. Adding the would be needed only if the noun were being identified rather than conferred. This zero article rule surprises many candidates.

54. Choose the correct article: ____ Sun rises in the east.

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

Explanation: Unique objects such as the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and the sky take the definite article. Directions such as the east and the north follow the same rule in this construction. An indefinite article would imply there is more than one Sun.

55. Choose the correct form: Hardly ____ the bell rung when the students rushed out.

• A. has
• B. had
• C. have
• D. did

Explanation: Hardly at the start of a sentence forces inversion, and the pattern hardly had plus past participle describes the earlier of two past events, paired with when. The past perfect is required because the ringing preceded the rush. No sooner uses the same structure but is followed by than.

56. Choose the correct form: Only after the operation ____ the true cause.

• A. they discovered
• B. did they discover
• C. they did discover
• D. discovered they

Explanation: When a restrictive expression such as only after, only then or not until opens the sentence, the subject and auxiliary invert as in a question. Without the inversion the sentence sounds ungrammatical in formal writing. The same applies to little did he know.

57. Choose the correct verb: The committee ____ divided in its opinion.

• A. is
• B. are
• C. have
• D. were

Explanation: A collective noun takes a singular verb when the group acts as one body, and the singular possessive its later in the sentence confirms that reading here. When the members are considered individually a plural verb is possible, as in the committee have gone home to their families. Consistency within the sentence is what matters most.

58. Choose the correct verb: Mathematics ____ my favourite subject.

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

Explanation: Subjects ending in ics such as mathematics, physics, economics and statistics are singular despite their plural appearance. The same is true of news and measles. When statistics means individual figures rather than the discipline, it does take a plural verb.

59. Choose the correct pronoun: Between you and ____, the plan will not work.

• A. I
• B. me
• C. myself
• D. mine

Explanation: Between is a preposition, so the pronoun following it must be in the object form, giving between you and me. Saying between you and I is a hypercorrection made by speakers avoiding the you and me error in subject position. Myself is reflexive and needs an earlier I in the same clause.

60. Choose the correct pronoun: The award was given to Ali and ____.

• A. I
• B. me
• C. myself
• D. mine

Explanation: The pronoun is the object of the preposition to, so the object form me is required. Testing it by removing the other name usually settles the choice: given to me sounds right, given to I does not. Myself would only be correct if I were also the subject of the sentence.