Question 1

Identify the sentence with correct preposition usage:

A) The students are waiting for the results since three weeks.
B) The students are waiting for the results for three weeks.
C) The students are waiting for the results during three weeks.
D) The students are waiting for the results in three weeks.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B. The preposition 'for' is used with durations of time (how long something lasts). 'Since' is used with a point in time (when something started). 'During' indicates a period within which something happens, not the duration itself. 'In' refers to a future time or the time needed to complete an action. Since the sentence describes how long the students have been waiting, 'for' is correct.

Question 2

Choose the best improvement for the sentence:

"The report contains several errors and it needs to be revised immediately."

A) The report contains several errors and needs to be revised immediately.
B) The report contains several errors, and it needs to be revised immediately.
C) The report contains several errors and it is needing to be revised immediately.
D) The report contains several errors, so it needs to be revised immediately.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is A. The original sentence is wordy and repetitive. By removing the redundant pronoun 'it' and using parallel structure ('contains...and needs'), the sentence becomes more concise and grammatically elegant. Option B adds a comma but retains the wordiness. Option C uses 'is needing', which is awkward and unnecessary. Option D changes the logical relationship with 'so', which is acceptable but less concise than A.

Question 3

Select the grammatically correct sentence:

A) Neither the teacher nor the students was present at the assembly.
B) Neither the teacher nor the students were present at the assembly.
C) Neither the teacher nor the students has been present at the assembly.
D) Neither the teacher nor the students have been present at the assembly.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B. When using 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the noun closest to it. Here, 'students' (plural) is closest to the verb, so the plural verb 'were' is correct. Option A incorrectly uses singular 'was'. Options C and D use present perfect tense, which changes the meaning and is inappropriate for a simple statement about past absence.

Question 4

Choose the option that best improves the sentence:

"The manager insisted that all employees should attend the training programme."

A) The manager insisted that all employees attend the training programme.
B) The manager insisted that all employees will attend the training programme.
C) The manager insisted that all employees are attending the training programme.
D) The manager insisted that all employees have attended the training programme.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is A. After the verb 'insisted', the subjunctive mood is required in formal English. The subjunctive form uses the base verb without 'should' or auxiliary verbs. 'Attend' (base form) is correct. Option B uses future tense 'will attend', which is incorrect after 'insisted'. Option C uses present continuous, which doesn't fit the context of a requirement. Option D uses present perfect, which implies the action is already completed.

Question 5

Identify the sentence that is grammatically correct and well-expressed.

A) The committee have decided to postpone the meeting until next week.
B) The committee has decided to postpone the meeting until next week.
C) The committee have decides to postpone the meeting until next week.
D) The committee has decide to postpone the meeting until next week.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B. 'Committee' is a collective noun that takes a singular verb in British English when treated as a single unit. Therefore, 'has decided' is correct. Option A uses the plural verb 'have', which is incorrect in standard British English. Options C and D contain verb form errors ('decides' and 'decide' respectively, which violate subject-verb agreement with the singular subject).

Question 6

Choose the option that best improves the sentence: 'He is working here since five years.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence uses an incorrect tense with a time duration. Present perfect continuous is required with 'since' or 'for' to indicate an action that started in the past and continues to the present.

Question 7

Choose the option that best improves the sentence: 'She is senior than her brother in the office.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence uses an incorrect comparative form. 'Senior' is a comparative adjective that requires 'to' as a preposition, not 'than'.

Question 8

Choose the option that best improves the sentence: 'The news are very shocking for everyone.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence contains a subject-verb agreement error. 'News' is a singular noun despite ending in 's', and requires a singular verb.

Question 9

Choose the sentence that is most appropriate and grammatically sound.

Accepted Answer

The sentence tests article usage with countable and uncountable nouns. 'Information' is uncountable and does not take the indefinite article 'a'.

Question 10

Select the option that improves the underlined part of the sentence. If no improvement is needed, select 'No improvement'.

She is knowing the answer to every question in the quiz.

Accepted Answer

The verb 'know' is a stative verb expressing a mental state. Stative verbs are not used in the continuous (progressive) form in standard English. Therefore, 'is knowing' must be replaced with the simple present tense 'knows'. Options using continuous forms with stative verbs are grammatically incorrect.

Question 11

Choose the option that best improves the sentence: 'He has went to the market yesterday.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence contains a tense error. Present perfect cannot be used with past time expressions like 'yesterday'.

Question 12

Select the grammatically correct sentence.

Accepted Answer

The sentence tests correct preposition usage. 'In accordance with' is the standard phrase; 'in accordance to' is non-standard.

Question 13

Identify the best improvement for the sentence: 'The manager asked the employees to work more harder.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence contains a comparative form error. 'More harder' is incorrect; 'harder' is already the comparative form of 'hard', and adding 'more' creates a double comparative.

Question 14

Improve the sentence: 'She is one of the few students who has scored above 90% in the examination.'

Accepted Answer

The relative pronoun 'who' refers to 'students' (plural), not 'one' (singular). Therefore, the verb should be plural 'have' instead of singular 'has'. The corrected sentence is: 'She is one of the few students who have scored above 90% in the examination.'

Question 15

Improve the sentence: 'The committee have decided to postpone the meeting until next week.'

Accepted Answer

The subject 'committee' is a collective noun that functions as a singular unit in British English when referring to the group as one entity. Therefore, it takes a singular verb 'has' instead of 'have'. The corrected sentence is: 'The committee has decided to postpone the meeting until next week.'

Question 16

Improve the sentence: 'The reason why he failed the examination is because he did not study properly.'

Accepted Answer

The construction 'the reason why... is because' is redundant and considered incorrect in formal English. The sentence should use either 'The reason why he failed is that...' or 'He failed because...'. The corrected sentence is: 'The reason he failed the examination is that he did not study properly.' or 'He failed the examination because he did not study properly.'

Question 17

Improve the sentence: 'The principal along with the teachers are planning to organise a cultural programme.'

Accepted Answer

The subject 'principal' is singular, and the phrase 'along with the teachers' is a parenthetical addition (not part of the core subject). Therefore, the verb should be singular 'is' instead of plural 'are'. The corrected sentence is: 'The principal along with the teachers is planning to organise a cultural programme.'

Question 18

Identify the sentence that is grammatically correct and requires no improvement.

Accepted Answer

The sentence tests subject-verb agreement with a compound subject joined by 'and'. When two subjects are joined by 'and', the verb must be plural. Option B correctly uses the plural verb 'are' to agree with the compound subject 'The manager and the supervisor'. Options A, C, and D all violate this rule by using singular verbs ('is', 'has') with plural subjects.

Question 19

Choose the option that best improves the sentence: 'She has went to the market yesterday.'

Accepted Answer

The sentence contains a tense error. 'Has went' is incorrect; the past participle of 'go' is 'gone', not 'went'. Additionally, 'yesterday' signals simple past, not present perfect.

Question 20

She is not only intelligent but also she is hardworking. Which of the following is the BEST improvement?

Accepted Answer

The sentence has faulty parallelism in a correlative conjunction structure. After 'not only...but also', the grammatical structure must be parallel. The phrase 'but also she is hardworking' breaks parallelism; it should be 'but also hardworking' to match the structure 'intelligent'.

BSF Constable Sentence Improvement

Sentence Improvement— Rules & Concept

Key Points to Remember

Exam-Specific Tips

Sentence Improvement — Practice Questions

60-Second Revision — Sentence Improvement