Exercise -- Sentence Completion ---Misused Words- based on questions set in MBA etc.various examinations.

Following sentences are based on  questions set in question papers of various examinations.

Exercise No. CS 1.

Choose word / set of words out of  the given options 

and fill in the blanks in following sentences.

1. The minister made a ………….statement in the parliament that astounded all the members.

A. Sensual          B. Sensuous            C. Sensational            D. Sensitive

2. The witness produced before the judge in the court ……..having made any statement.

A. Declined              B. Denied             C. Refused               D. Rejected

3. India’s  maiden dedicated defence satellite was ……….today by an European rocket.

A. Propel led        B.  Impelled       C. Thrusted              D. Launched

4. Even more than her physical beauty,  her playful nature attracted me with …………. appeal.

A. An irresistible     B. Despicable         C.Delectable         D. Abominate

5. Following an invitation from the Election Commission Of Maldives, India sent a team of observers to…………. the crucial polls there.

A. Participate              B. Check             C. Partake               D. Oversee

6. Your finger is marked with indelible ink and this mark will not be………….

A. obliterated         B. dissipated        C. debauched           D.  Obviated

7. A great literary or artistic work is known as a ……………

A. Bete Noire  B. Par Excellence    C. Magnum Opus    D. Potpourri.

8. I  advised   him to………. otherwise his expenses would…………..his monthly income.

A. Control, lose B. Spend, exceed C. manage, drop D. Economize, exceed.  

9. John is the only staff member in the office...........the boss trusts the most.

A. Who                      B. Which             C. Whom                   4. On which

10. Susan was disappointed with her result because she expected …………….in the examination.

A. to have topped        B. to top         C. to be topped        D. Topping

11. John is so ……………that he cannot be cheated by anyone easily.

A. Versatile          B. Adaptable           C. Intelligent             D. Smart

12. His behavior is so good that every young man should ………him.

A. Usurp                       B. Imitate                C. replicate      D. follow

13. John introduced me……………..  his father as his fast friend.

A. with                      B. to               C. among                  D. before     

14. His name is likely to be considered ……….the post ……Deputy Governor  of  Reserve Bank Of India.

A. Against, of          B. to, as              C. for, of             D. for, as.

15. The police force was instructed to……………restraint while controlling the unruly mob.

A. Exert                  B. Conserve           C. Wield              D. Shield

16. All the employees of the office made…………efforts to make their function successful.

A. Together            B. Mutual            C. Concerted        D. scrupulous

17. The issue of state bifurcation could not be decided for years together as one party participating in the talks …………to …….by  the decision of the joint committee.

A. objected, agree B. Denied, concur C. refused, abide D. repudiated, consent

18 .  The chairman ……….the meeting for more than two hours and all the members listened to him………..

A. Advised, silently    B. addressed, patiently     C.  Tackled, attentively D.handled, tolerantly

19. Jacob attempted to …………the condition of poor people living in the slums but he could not…………..his job without the help of his wealthy friends.

A. ameliorate, accomplish B. relegate, complete C. upgrade, comprehend  D. delineate, terminate

20. A majority of the members of the committee attending the meeting registered their ……………..to the proposal…………..by the chairman.

A. Divergence, extended              B Variance ,forwarded                  C. Dissent,  put forth

D. Digression, submitted.

ANSWERS:

1.C  2.B  3.D  4.A  5.D  6.A  7.D. 8.D  9.D  10.B 11.C  12.D  13.B  14.C  15.C  16.C  17.C  18.B  19A.  20.C

Some Quick Tips For – Use of Words & Misused words & Corrections.

SET FOUR

Through & Throughout

'Through' generally means ‘by means of’.

I got my passport issued  through an agent.

I sold my house through a dealer.

Sometimes it  means to go into or to pass.

Our train passed through a tunnel.

Water flowed through a plastic pipe.

He is passing through a very difficult period these days.

Through also  means ‘completed’.

I shall be through by then. Meaning that I  shall complete it by then.

Through is used as a preposition in idiom  also.

He got through his examination. Meaning He passed his examination.

I saw him through his trick.  Meaning I came to know about his clever act.

I have gone through this book. Meaning I have read this book.

Throughout means ‘complete’, ‘whole’ or ‘entire’.

The patient did not sleep throughout the night.   Meaning

The patient  did not sleep during the  whole night.

The labourer worked throughout the day. =

The labourer worked during the whole day.

A  common mistake that occurs in the use of the word ‘throughout’ is that with ‘throughout’ , the word ‘whole’ is also used.

The patient cried throughout the whole night.

Here ‘whole’ is repetition. The word throughout itself includes the meaning of ‘whole’. Here it should be throughout the night.

Already & All Ready

Already is a combined word. It means  that ‘at a time prior to  present  time’

They had already reached there. Meaning that they were present there at a time prior to this time.

He had already made all the arrangements.

All Ready are two separate words. These together mean that all the  persons are ready. It should not be confused with ‘already’.

We were all ready by the time he reached our house.

Avenge & Revenge

Avenge and Revenge appear to be same words but these are two different words and have different meanings. Avenge is a general term. A person does an action to get justice to the harm done to him. But revenge is an action done out of personal enmity with another person.  Revenge is taken with a view of personal feelings in mind whereas action in avenge is based on feelings to get justice for any harm to a person.

Discover & Invent

Discover means to come to know about something which already existed there. In other words Discover means to uncover a covered thing to make it known to the people.

Invent  to find out a thing which is new and which is not known earlier.

Accept & Except

The word ‘Accept’ is used as verb and it means to get to obtain or to receive as :

Please accept my heartiest congratulations.

He accepted our invitation.

‘Accept’ is  also used  as ‘to agree to’ or in other words ‘not to disagree to’.

They accepted our proposal.  Means that they agreed to our proposal.

‘Except’ is generally used as a preposition or a conjuction. It means leaving or barring. E.g.

All except John went to the market.

All the students were present in the class except John.

Except  is also used as verb meaning ‘to exclude’ or ‘not to include’. i.e.

Some areas of the town have been excepted from inclusion in the capital area.

Here excepted means excluded.

Affect  &  Effect

Generally,  ‘affect’ is used as a verb and ‘effect’as a noun.e.g.

His adverse remarks had no effect on her.

His arrogant attitude will affect  his  reputation in the public.

Affect is used as a verb only but effect is used as a noun  as well as a verb.

Affect means to show off. It also means to pretend to be or to feign.

She affects what she does not know.

Affect also means to cause an effect or to bring  a change.

His bad habits  will affect his health.

His bad habits will have effect on his health

All the members of team affected their victory through their united efforts.

It means that all the members of team brought about their victory by dint of their collective team work.

Than & Then

The word ‘Than’ is used for comparison of two things or actions i.e. comparative degree of adjective or adverb.

He is  more intelligent than his brother.

He moves faster than her.

Then is used to denote time which is different from now.

By then,  we all  reached there. Meaning By that time we all reached there.

There is tendency of using the with then which does not seem appropriate.

When the boss reached the office, then all the employees  started their work.

Then in the second part is appropriate if emphasis is to be laid on the  action  presented  in second part of the sentence. However in normal case it can be: All the  employees started their work when the boss reached the office.  Here ‘then’ is superfluous.  

Who,  Which, Who’s & Whose.

Who is used for a living being whereas which is used for living & non living things. 

Who teaches you English?                        Which is your book?

Which sometimes is used with reference to a particular class and it implies a selection  out of that class.

Which of you is going to Delhi?

Here it implies that  ‘you’ is  a group of known persons and selection is out of those known persons.

If the sentence is-------  

Who is he?   It means that it is enquiring  about  name and parentage etc.of he. Its answer is  He is John.

Which is he? It means that it is enquiring about ‘he’ out of a group of persons. Its  answer is He is one standing third in the second row.

What is he? It means that  it is enquiring about profession of ‘he’.Its answer is He is a doctor.

Who’s is the shortened form of ‘who is’.  Here ‘I’ of ‘is’ is omitted.

Who’s he? Or Who is he?

Whose is a pronoun in possessive case and it refers to a person or persons.

This is the boy whose book was stolen.

In an interrogative case it is:

Whose book is this?

Beside & Besides

Beside means by the side of.

 The child was sitting beside its mother. His house is beside his office.

Besides means ‘in addition to’.

Besides Howard  and Smith, John also went there.

Besides a trophy, the winning team got money also as prize.

Besides is  also used an  adverb in an  idiom

He was beside himself with joy.

Fear, Frighten, Scare & Afraid

Fear and afraid show the habit of a person of being dread of someone or something.

I am afraid of a lion.

There is a feeling of fear among all the residents of the colony.

Frighten and Scare show sudden feeling of  fear of a person.

His appearance in dark frightened me.

All were scared to hear a loud noise at night.

Some Quick Tips For – Use of Words --- Misused words & Corrections.--- Set Three-- with Examples & Explanations

Set Three

Look

The word ‘Look’ means ‘to see’. There are certain other words which too mean ‘to see’ but in different  sense. All the words appear similar in their meaning but are not the same. Following sentences will explain their meanings.

Students were looking at the blackboard.

I requested him to see that picture.

She is watching television.

Boys have gone to witness cricket match.

Mother glanced at her child.

The judge stared at the accused.

The child was gazing at the toys.

The farmer peeped into the well.

The participants set their eyes at the trophy.

I asked him to go through those papers.

The shopkeeper glared at the purse of the customer.

He ogled at all the articles lying on the ground.

The merchant eyed at the money offered to him.

Soon the deer was not in sight of the hunter.

All the words in italics have similar meaning ‘to see’ but their meanings in different sentences are different. These words are required to be used in  sentences carefully.

Hard and Hardly

Hard means not soft or short of.

This table is made  of hard wood.

He is a bit hard of hearing.

Hardly means not. He hardly works.

Hardly also means scarcely or with difficulty.

He could hardly walk a  few meters.

Hung & Hanged

In general use the word ‘Hung’ is used.

She hung a picture on the wall.

Hanged means ‘executed’

The culprit was hanged to death.

Imply & Infer

‘Imply’ and ‘Infer’ are two different words and have their different meanings.

‘Imply’ is used as a verb and its noun is ‘implication’.

‘Infer’ is also used as a verb and its noun is ‘inference’.

Imply means to say something which is by implication of an action or thing.

Imply means that there is already something and by its implication or on the basis of this, it is being said like this, which implies.

Infer means to draw a conclusion or to guess something which has not been explained or understood. Infer tries to explain what has not been explained earlier. One draws a conclusion from something which has not been said earlier.

From his actions it is implied that he is consented to our proposal.

I infer that he  has cheated you in this bargain.

Its & It’s

Its is possessive pronoun like his or her. It means ‘of it’.

I purchased a table today. Its price is Rs one thousand only.

Aporstophe(‘) is used where some word is omitted in writing.

The word ‘It’s’ in its complete form is ‘It is’. Here ‘I’ of ‘is’ is omitted and is written like ‘It’s’.  

Where is my book? It’s on the table.

Again

It is a  very common mistake that the word ‘again’ is used with words having prefix of ‘re’.

The doctor reexamined the patient again.

The boys reentered the hall again  raising slogans.

The word ‘re’ itself means again so there is no need to add the word again with it. It should be:

The doctor reexamined the patient.  OR  The doctor examined the patient again.

The boys reentered the hall raising slogans. OR The boys entered the hall again raising slogans.

Back

The word ‘back’ is used wrongly with the verb ‘return’. The word ‘return’ itself means come back or go back. ‘Return’ already includes back.  So there is no need to add the word ‘back’ with it.

Incorrect

He  returned back from his office very tired.

He did not return back my money to me.

Correct

He returned from his office very tired. OR He came back from his office very tired.

He did not return my money to me. OR He did not pay back my money to me.

Above

The word ‘above’ means something referred in the previous paragraph, lines or statement written prior to this. i.e.

As stated above……………

As written in the above paragraph…………

From the above it is clear………..

Going by the above…………….

In these sentences, the word ‘above’  has been used

1. As an adverb  2. As an adjective (3) As a noun.

The word ‘above’ is mostly preferred to be used as an adverb and its use as a noun and adjective is avoided. In its place words like ‘preceding’, ‘previous’ or ‘foregoing’ are used. For example ;

As written in the preceding lines or paragraph…….

Altogether & All together 

Altogether is a combined word and it means completely or wholly. i.e.

This book is altogether different from my book.

His personality is altogether changed now.

All together are two words and mean that  ‘all the persons or things

 together’

Our relatives were all together with us at the marriage party.

Can & May

Can means one is able to and May means one is allowed to.

I can do this work. Means that I am able to do(or capable of doing) this work.

I cannot go there. = I am not in a position or not able to go there.

I may not see you there. = I am not allowed to see you there.

Formally & Formerly

Formally is derived from formal and it means in a formal way.

Formerly is derivative of former and it means Previously or earlier.

We invited him formally to dinner.

The project was inaugurated formally by the minister.

Formerly he was a teacher in this college.

Former & Latter

Former means one named first or earlier & 

Latter means one named afterwards.

John and Smith are two brothers. The former is more intelligent than the latter.

Respectfully & Respectively

Respectfully means with respect.  Respectively means relating to each one in order.

He respectfully stated the matter to the principal.

Green, yellow and red cards were given to John, Smith and Peter respectively.

Some Quick Tips For Sentence Corrections---- Set Two ----- Use of different words in sentences.

·       Use of ‘Since’ & ‘For’

In Perfect Continuous tense of Present, Past and Future tenses, ‘since’ and ‘for’ are used to depict time.

Since is used for a ‘point of time’ i.e. morning, January & 2003 etc.

For is used where there is duration of time. i.e. two hours, one year & one month etc.

Example : 

• Boys have been playing since morning.
• Girls have been singing for two hours.

·       Conditional sentences

In case of sentences, where two actions are taking place in the past, one taking place first and the second thereafter, Past Perfect tense is used in first and past indefinite in the second sentence. i.e.

• The train had left before I reached the station.
• It had started raining before I reached home.

·    Sentences with Principal & Subordinate clauses in past tense.

·        

If in Principal clause Past tense is used subordinate clause too will have Past tense.

Example

• The teacher noticed that the boy was making a noise.
• There is exception to this, In case of Universal Truth.

Past tense in Principal clause & Present tense in subordinate clause: 

Example:

• My mother said that God helps them who helps themselves.

·     Sentences with two actions in the past, one dependent on the  other.

In such cases, in one sentence past perfect tense is used and in the second future perfect is used.

• Past Perfect =  Had + third form of verb.
• Future Perfect = would have+ third form of verb.

In such cases actual action does not take place but if first action would have taken place second too would have happened. i.e.

Example: 

• If I had worked hard I would have passed.

In this case I have not worked hard nor have I passed. Here action required was to take place in both the clauses in past but has not taken place.

Example:

• ‘If I had worked……’ is also written in this way also
• ‘Had I worked hard…..’

·       Sentences with both Principal as well as subordinate clause having actions taking place in future tense.

In such cases, two actions are to take place in future, one depending on the  other. In these sentences in principal clause, present indefinite tense is used and in subordinate clause, future indefinite tense is used.

Present Indefinite Tense= 1st form of Verb +s or es.

Future Indefinite Tense= will or shall + 1^st form of verb.

Example :

• If I go to Delhi, I shall  bring a watch for you.

Here both the actions are to take place in future.

·       Use of ‘As if’

In sentences having ‘As if’, action shown is not actual but   it is pretended about the action.

• He walks as  if he were lame.

Note :

Here he is not lame but he pretends to be lame.
Here Principal clause is as per requirement and in subordinate clause, word ‘were’ is used.

He talks as  if  he were a king.

·       Use of Unless & Until

Words Until & Unless are themselves negative in their meaning and donot require word ‘not’ with them.

Example:

• Unless you work  hard,  you cannot pass.
• Until he realises his fault, I shall not forgive him.

·       Use of ‘Either…or’ & ‘Neither…nor’

Words ‘Either…or’ & ‘Neither…nor’ show relation between two subjects or objects. Here verb is used according to which is nearer to it. i.e.

• Either he or you are to attend the  meeting.
• Neither I nor she will come tomorrow.

·       Use of ‘As well as’, ‘along with’ ‘In addition to’ & ‘together with’ etc.

With the help of these words two subjects are joined together. Here verb is used according to the subject preceding these words.

• I as well as you shall go there.
• The boss along with all the employees is going there.
• Food in addition to clothes was provided to the poor. 

·       Sentences making comparison between two.

In such sentences comparison should  be between the equal things i.e. words making comparison should be  used  with words which are  to be  compared.

My salary is more than John. ……incorrect.

My salary is to be compared with the salary of John and not with John.

This sentence gives impression that my salary is being compared with John. It should be….

My salary is more than the salary of John.

If salary word is not to be repeated it will be….

My salary is more than that of John.

Here  ‘that of’  means ‘salary of’.

·       Sentences making comparison with any other

In such sentences, comparison is made with any other thing.

He is more intelligent boy than any other boy in the class.  And not ……….

He is more intelligent than any boy in the class…..incorrect.

Generally in comparison between two things word ‘than’ is used but there are some exceptions  to it.

With words like  senior,junior,anterior,posterior,prior & prefer etc. word ‘to’ is used.

• He is junior to me.
• I prefer milk to tea.
• This box is inferior to that.

·       Use of Scarcely, Hardly, No sooner etc.

Scarcely and Hardly are followed by when…

No sooner is followed by  than

• Hardly had I reached the office when it started raining.
• Scarcely had I reached home when lights went off.
• No sooner did I reach the station than the train left.

·       Use of Although & Though

• Although and though are followed by yet.
• Although he worked hard yet he did not succeed.
• Though he walked fast yet he could not catch the train.