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Sentence Improvement and Construction Questions
Sentence Improvement and Construction Questions
Sentence improvement and construction are one of the highest scoring sections in the competitive examinations or in the verbal reasoning section. The concept of this topic is not merely based on the rules or basics of English Grammar, but also on the appropriate usage of the same. On this page we will learn Sentence Improvement and Construction Question –
- In the sentence improvement and construction section, a sentence is given with some difficult and confusing mistakes which needed to be found and replaced. There are some basic Grammar rules to consider before starting to solve these sentences.
One of the most important rule is to check the agreement of subject and verb with each other. The verb and subject must be accordance with each other. There should be less confusion I and Me. At the time of comparison, the pronoun shall be in objective form.
What you will find:
- A sentence with a phrase or word or a clause which will be in bold or underlined.
- Four to five options will be presented following the question.
What you need to do:
- Replace the underlined or bold word with an option so that the sentence becomes free of any grammatical mistakes.
Score Points:
- Rules for sentence improvement and construction help you to mainly check correctness and effectiveness of sentences.
- While choosing the answers you should have enough knowledge of standard written English.
- You have to select that answer which is clear, without any ambiguity or redundancy.
Rules For Sentence Improvement and Construction –
Type 1. Subject-Verb Agreement:
Under this, if the subject in the sentence is in the singular form then the verb will also be in the singular form and if the subject is in the plural form then the verb will also be in a plural form.
For example –
- The boy is playing in the playing ground – here, “boy” is singular, hence it takes a singular verb “is”.
- The parents know how to handle their naughty kids – here, “parents” is plural hence takes a plural verb “know”
- Anybody is more fun than you – here, “anybody” is singular hence it takes a singular verb ‘is’.
- The rats gnaw at the cheese – here, “rats” is plural hence it will take a plural verb “gnaw”
- Both Mita and Rita love to have chocolates – here, with the use of ‘and’ we see that the two singular subjects ‘Mita and ‘Rita; become plural hence it will take a plural verb “love”
- Rohan with his guitar and drums plays good music – here, though we use ‘and’ between two objects -guitar and drums, the subject here is Rohan, which is singular, hence it will take a singular verb “plays”.
Type 2. Modifier Words or Clauses
Modifier: A modifier is a word that modifies the meaning of a sentence (gives more information) about a particular subject.
There are two main types of modifiers:
- Adjectives – it modifies a noun.
- Adverb – it modifies verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.
Examples:
- She is very excited for her new day at work – here, the verb excited is modified by ‘very’ which shows the extent of her excitement.
- The room was beautifully decorated for the festival – here the verb decorated is modified with ‘beautifully’.
- Sarah was a sure fit for the dance group – here the verb fit i modified by the word ‘sure’.
- She practiced her session in the auditorium – here the noun sessions is modified by the collective adverb ‘in the auditorium’ thus modifying about the place of session.
Misplaced Modifiers:
Sometimes modifiers can be used in wrong places that change the subject which has to be modified.
- Her father bought a pet dog for his daughter named Junnie. – here, it implies that the daughter’s name was Junnie.
- Here father bout a pet dog named Junnie for his daughter. – Here, it implies that the pet’s name was Junnie.
The second sentence is the correct one.