Q1. The results of the company’s cost-cutting measures are evident in its profits, which increased 5 percent during the first 3 months of this year after it fell over the last two years.
(a) which increased 5 percent during the first 3 months of this year after it fell
(b) which had increased 5 percent during the first 3 months of this year after it had fallen
(c) which have increased 5 percent during the first 3 months of this year after falling
(d) with a 5 percent increase during the first 3 months of this year after falling
Q2. In an effort to reduce their inventories, Italian vintners have cut prices; their wines have been priced to sell, and they are.
(a) have been priced to sell, and they are
(b) are priced to sell, and they have
(c) are priced to sell, and they do
(d) are being priced to sell, and have
(e) had been priced to sell, and they have
Q3. Thelonious Monk, who was a jazz pianist and composer, produced a body of work both rooted in the stride-piano tradition of Willie (The Lion) Smith and Duke Ellington, yet in many ways he stood apart from the mainstream jazz repertory.
(a) Thelonious Monk, who was a jazz pianist and composer, produced a body of work both rooted
(b) Thelonious Monk, the jazz pianist and composer, produced a body of work that was rooted both
(c) Jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, who produced a body of work rooted
(d) Jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk produced a body of work that was rooted
(e) Jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk produced a body of work rooted both
Q4. Dirt roads may evoke the bucolic simplicity of another century, but financially strained townships point out that dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads.
(a) dirt roads cost twice as much as maintaining paved roads
(b) dirt roads cost twice as much to maintain as paved roads do
(c) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as paved roads do
(d) maintaining dirt roads costs twice as much as it does for paved roads
(e) to maintain dirt roads costs twice as much as for paved roads
Q5. Although early soap operas were first aired on evening radio in the 1920s, they had moved to the daytime hours of the 1930s when the evening schedule became crowded with comedians and variety shows.
(a) were first aired on evening radio in the 1920s, they had moved to the daytime hours of the 1930s
(b) were first aired on evening radio in the 1920s, they were moved to the daytime hours in the 1930s
(c) were aired first on evening radio in the 1920s, moving to the daytime hours in the 1930s
(d) were aired first in the evening on 1920s radio, they moved to the daytime hours of the 1930s
(e) aired on evening radio first in the 1920s, they were moved to the 1930s in the daytime hours
Q6. Nobody knows exactly how many languages there are in the world, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing between a language and the sub languages or dialects within it, but those who have tried to count typically have found about five thousand.
(a) and the sub languages or dialects within it, but those who have tried to count typically have found
(b) and the sub languages or dialects within them, with those who have tried counting typically finding
(c) and the sub languages or dialects within it, but those who have tried counting it typically find
(d) or the sub languages or dialects within them, but those who tried to count them typically found
(e) or the sub languages or dialects within them, with those who have tried to count typically finding
Q7. The energy source on Voyager 2 in not a nuclear reactor, in which atoms are actively broken apart; rather a kind of nuclear battery that uses natural radioactive decay to produce power.
(a) apart; rather
(b) apart, but rather
(c) apart, but rather that of
(d) apart, but that of
(e) apart; it is that of
Q8. Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were last year.
(a) Heating-oil prices are expected to be higher this year than last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil than they were
(b) Heating-oil prices are expected to rise higher this year over last because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(c) Expectations are for heating-oil prices to be higher this year than last year’s because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
(d) It is the expectation that heating-oil prices will be higher for this year over last because refiners are paying about $5 a barrel more for crude oil now than what they were
(e) It is expected that heating-oil prices will rise higher this year than last year’s because refiners pay about $5 a barrel for crude oil more than they did
Q9. The recent surge in the number of airplane flights has clogged the nation’s air-traffic control system, to lead to 55 percent more delays at airports, and prompts fears among some officials that safety is being compromised.
(a) to lead to 55 percent more delays at airports, and prompts
(b) leading to 55 percent more delay at airports and prompting
(c) to lead to a 55 percent increase in delay at airports and prompt
(d) to lead to an increase of 55 percent in delays at airports, and prompted
(e) leading to a 55 percent increase in delays at airports and prompting
Q10. The peaks of a mountain range, acting like rocks in a streambed, produce ripples in the air flowing over them; the resulting flow pattern, with crests and troughs that remain stationary although the air that forms them is moving rapidly, are known as “standing waves.”
(a) crests and troughs that remain stationary although the air that forms them is moving rapidly, are
(b) crests and troughs that remain stationary although they are formed by rapidly moving air, are
(c) crests and troughs that remain stationary although the air that forms them is moving rapidly, is
(d) stationary crests and troughs although the air that forms them is moving rapidly, are
(e) stationary crests and troughs although they are formed by rapidly moving air, is
Q11. One of the primary distinctions between our intelligence with that of other primates may lay not so much in any specific skill but in our ability to extend knowledge gained in one context to new and different ones.
(a) between our intelligence with that of other primates may lay not so much in any specific skill but
(b) between our intelligence with that of other primates may lie not so much in any specific skill but instead
(c) between our intelligence and that of other primates may lie not so much in any specific skill as
(d) our intelligence has from that of other primates may lie not in any specific skill as
(e) of our intelligence to that of other primates may lay not in any specific skill but
Q12. Unlike Schoenberg’s 12-tone system that dominated the music of the postwar period, Bartok founded no school and left behind only a handful of disciples.
(a) Schoenberg’s 12-tone system that dominated
(b) Schoenberg and his 12-tone system which dominated
(c) Schoenberg, whose 12-tone system dominated
(d) the 12-tone system of Schoenberg that has dominated
(e) Schoenberg and the 12-tone system, dominating
Q13. Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932.
(a) Even though Clovis points, spear points with longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces, have been found all over North America, they are named for the New Mexico site where they were first discovered in 1932.
(b) Although named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, Clovis points are spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto their faces and have been found all over North America.
(c) Named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932, Clovis points, spear points of longitudinal grooves chipped onto the faces, have been found all over North America.
(d) Spear point with longitudinal grooves that are chipped onto the faces, Clovis points, even though named for the New Mexico site where first discovered in 1932, but were found all over North America.
(e) While Clovis points are spear points whose faces have longitudinal grooves chipped into them, they have been found all over North America, and named for the New Mexico site where they have been first discovered in 1932.
Q14. Ranked as one of the most important of Europe’s young playwrights, Franz Xaver Kroetz has written 40 plays; his works – translated into more than 30 languages – are produced more often than any contemporary German dramatist.
(a) than any
(b) than any other
(c) than are any
(d) than those of any other
(e) as are those of any
Q15. The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being so far away from Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.
(a) The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being
(b) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(c) Although like the planets the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, yet
(d) As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(e) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but
(e) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but
Solutions
S1. Ans.(c)
Sol. Verb form; Agreement; Idiom
This sentence describes two sequentially ordered indicators by which the results of a company’s cost-cutting measures can be seen. The first indicator to be identified, a 5 percent increase in profits, occurred after the indicator mentioned next. The sentence therefore needs to clarify the sequence by presenting the first-identified indicator in a clause with a verb tense that indicates a later time period than the verb tense in the clause presenting the second-identified indicator. The subject of the relative clause, which, refers to the plural noun profits, so subsequent pronouns referring to these profits must also be plural.
(c) Correct. The verb tenses clearly indicate the sequence of events.
S2. Ans.(c)
Sol. Verb form
In the bold segment, the second verb does not need to repeat the word sell because it is understood from the previous verb phrase priced to sell. However, the second verb must be correctly conjugated with the understood sell. They are sell is not a correct verb from; they do sell is correct.
(c) Correct. This sentence properly uses they do in place of they do sell, a grammatically correct verb.
S3. Ans.(d)
Sol. Grammatical construction; Rhetorical construction
The subject of the sentence is Thelonious Monk, and the sentence tells about two things that he did: produced and stood apart. The work he produced was rooted in the mainstream (stride piano) jazz tradition, yet at the same time, he deviated from this tradition. The use of a relative clause (who was a jazz pianist …) or an appositive (the jazz pianist …) introduces unnecessary wordiness and grammatical complexity. Since only one point is being made about Monk’s body of work, the appearance of the word both in the clause presenting the claim about Monk’s work is deceptive as well as grammatically incorrect.
(d) Correct. The sentence concisely identifies Thelonious Monk and expresses the single point about his work without unnecessary or misleading words.
S4. Ans.(b)
Sol. Logical predication; Parallelism
This sentence intends to compare the costs necessary to maintain two kinds of roads, but it compares dirt roads generally with maintaining paved roads. For the correct focus, the comparison must be formulated x costs twice as much to maintain as y rather than x costs twice as much as maintaining y. X (dirt roads) and y (paved roads) must appear in grammatically parallel constructions.
(b) Correct. The costs to maintain the roads are emphasized in this sentence construction; dirt roads cost and paved roads do (cost understood) are parallel.
S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. Verb form; Parallelism
The two clauses about soap operas should be parallel. The first verb were … aired should be balanced by another passive-voice verb in the simple past tense, were moved. The past perfect had moved indicates action completed before the action in the simple past were aired, suggesting illogically that the 1930s were finished sometime during the 1920s. The prepositional phrase in the 1920s should be balanced by the parallel phrase in the 1930s.
(b) Correct. In this sentence, the two verbs are parallel, as are the two prepositional phrases.
S6. Ans.(a)
Sol. Agreement; Idiom
This sentence first introduces a condition that makes it difficult to count languages and then, with the conjunction but, introduces the topic of those who defy these difficulties and try to count the world’s languages anyway. Connecting these two parts of the sentence with but indicates that the second clause of the sentence is counter to expectation. The challenges of the task are explained using the example of a single language and its many sublanguages or dialects. When this example is referred to with a pronoun, the pronoun should be singular; when the languages being counted are referred to with a pronoun, this pronoun must be plural.
(a) Correct. The pronoun it agrees in number to its singular antecedent, and but indicates that the idea expressed in the final clause defies expectations.
S7. Ans.(b)
Sol. Grammatical construction
This sentence focuses on a contrast by using the construction not x, but rather y; x and y are parallel. In this sentence not x (a nuclear reactor), should be followed by but rather y (a kind of nuclear battery). A comma, not a semicolon, should separate the two parallel parts of the contrast; use of a semicolon would require a subject and verb in the construction.
(b) Correct. In this sentence, the contrast is clearly drawn in the correct construction not a nuclear reactor …, but rather a kind of nuclear battery.
S8. Ans.(a)
Sol. Rhetorical construction; Idiom
The sentence connects a comparison between this year’s and last year’s heating-oil prices with a comparison between this year’s and last year’s crude-oil prices. The most efficient, parallel expression of those comparisons is to use two comparative expressions, higher than and more than.
(a) Correct. This sentence expresses the comparison in succinct, parallel phrases.
S9. Ans.(e)
Sol. Parallelism; Diction
The intent of the sentence is to show two effects of the surge in flights. These effects should be stated in parallel ways, instead of the construction to lead … and prompts … used in the original sentence. Using participial phrases introduced by leading and prompting solves this problem. The phrase 55 percent more delays is not as clear as the phrase a 55 percent increase in delays.
(e) Correct. Leading and prompting are parallel in this sentence; the phrase a 55 percent increase in delays is clear and concise.
S10. Ans.(c)
Sol. Agreement
The subject of the second independent clause is the resulting flow pattern; this singular subject requires the singular verb is known, not the plural verb are known. While the long descriptive construction between the subject and verb may make it difficult to see this relationship, notice that the modifying phrase is set off with commas. The use of the active voice in the verbs of the subordinate clauses provides greater clarity of meaning.
(c) Correct. In this sentence, the singular verb is known agrees with the subject the resulting flow pattern.
S11. Ans.(c)
Sol. Diction; Idiom
When using the term distinction to indicate difference, the correct preposition to use is between. In this sentence, the distinction may lie in a certain ability that humans do not share with other primates. The verb may lay is transitive, requiring a direct object.
(c) Correct. The preposition between and the intransitive verb may lie are correct in this sentence.
S12. Ans.(c)
Sol. Logical predication
The original sentence makes the logical error of comparing Bartok to the twelve-tone system. The lack of clarity results in the implication that the system might have founded a school or left behind disciples. The sentence must clearly indicate that it is the individuals, Bartok and Schoenberg, who are being compared. It must also make it plain that it was the system that dominated the music of the postwar period.
(c) Correct. This sentence makes the logical comparison between the individuals, and the relative clause clarifies that it is the system that dominated the music of the postwar period.
S13. Ans.(a)
Sol. Verb from; Rhetorical construction; Logical predication
Even though, although, and while introduce clauses that appear to be logically incompatible but in fact are not. In this sentence, the apparent incompatibility that must be clearly expressed is that although the spear points are named for a particular place in New Mexico, they are in fact found throughout North America. Because their discovery took place in 1932 and is not ongoing, the correct verb tense is simple past, not present perfect.
(a) Correct. Then even though clause expresses clearly that the seeming incompatibility is between where the spear points have been found (all over North America) and the naming of the spear points for a single site in New Mexico.
S14. Ans.(d)
Sol. Logical predication
The original sentence says Kroetz’s works … are produced more often than any … dramatist. A dramatist cannot be produced and cannot be compared to works. Kroetz’s works must be compared to works of other dramatists: Kroetz’s works … are produced more often than those (works) of any other dramatist.
(d) Correct. In this sentence, Kroetz’s works are compared to those (the pronoun referring to works), of other dramatists.
S15. Ans.(b)
Sol. Grammatical construction; Rhetorical construction
The first part of the original sentence intends to compare stars and planets; the comparison would be more effective at the beginning of the sentence: Like the planets, the stars. This alternative construction would lead the reader to expect the verb are immediately following the subject, and then the completion of the clause, in motion. The Modifying phrase, some of them at tremendous speeds, is best placed after motion. This whole construction, Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, is a main clause and must be followed by a comma before a coordinating conjunction (such as yet or but) introduces a second main clause. The second clause must have a subject and a verb; being is neither and must be replaced with they are.
(b) Correct. The comparison is clear and effective in this sentence; the second clause includes a subject and a verb
