Parts of Speech Quiz | Advanced Level | 30 Questions & Answers with Explanations

"News" is an uncountable noun and always takes a singular verb, so "have shocked" should be "has shocked."

This is one of the most repeated errors in SSC and banking exams because "news" ends in "-s" and looks plural.

Memory hook: news, like advice and information, is always singular — the news has shocked everyone.

The correlative conjunction "not only...but also" requires parallel structure, and since "not only" is followed by an adjective ("brilliant"), "but also" must also be followed by an adjective or matching structure, not a full clause with a new subject.

The corrected version would read "but also hardworking."

Memory hook: cover everything before "not only" and check the shape after "but also" matches — brilliant, hardworking, not a whole new clause.

"Behaved" is a verb requiring an adverb modifier, and "cowardly" functions as the correct adverb/adjective form here, unlike "coward" and "cowardice," which are nouns.

This word-form trap is a favourite in advanced error-spotting questions.

Memory hook: coward is a person, cowardly is the behaviour — he behaved very cowardly.

"Married" always takes the preposition "to," never "with," as a fixed collocation that must be memorised rather than reasoned out logically.

The corrected phrase reads "married to a doctor."

Memory hook: married always pairs with "to" — Rahul is married to a doctor.

With "neither...nor," the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it, and here that subject is "teacher" (singular), so "was" is correct even though "students" (plural) comes first.

This proximity agreement rule is a high-frequency advanced trap.

Memory hook: the verb always agrees with the nearest subject — neither the students nor the teacher was satisfied.

 "Jury" is a collective noun acting as a single unit here, so it should take the singular verb "has reached" along with the possessive "its," not "their."

SSC and banking exams consistently follow this singular treatment for collective nouns acting together.

Memory hook: jury, team, committee act as one — the jury has reached its verdict.

In standard exam English, "different" is followed by "from," not "than" or "to," even though "different than" is common in informal or American usage.

This prepositional collocation is strictly tested in Indian competitive exams.

Memory hook: different always pairs with "from" in exams — he is different from his brother.

"Both...and" and "as well as" are separate correlative structures and should never be combined, since this creates a redundant and grammatically incorrect construction.

The corrected phrase should read "Both Ananya and her sister."

Memory hook: choose one joiner only — both...and, or as well as, never both together.

"Astonishing" is a non-gradable (extreme) adjective, so it should be intensified with words like "absolutely" or "completely" rather than "very," which is reserved for gradable adjectives like "surprising."

This distinction is a subtle but frequently tested advanced-level trap.

Memory hook: gradable adjectives take "very," extreme ones take "absolutely" — absolutely astonishing, not very astonishing.

This sentence is correct because the degree adverb "almost" is correctly placed between the auxiliary "has" and the main verb "completed," following standard English adverb placement rules.

Many test-takers incorrectly assume an error exists here due to unfamiliarity with this word order.

Memory hook: auxiliary, then adverb, then main verb — has almost completed is the correct pattern.

"Either...or" must join two grammatically parallel structures, and here both parts correctly use a subject-plus-verb clause ("you apologise" / "you leave").

Options A, C, and D break this parallel structure by mixing gerunds, infinitives, and clauses.

Memory hook: whatever grammatical shape follows "either," "or" must match it exactly — you apologise, you leave.

"Information" is an uncountable noun and always requires a singular verb, so "were released" should be corrected to "was released."

This error is common because the phrase "regarding the new scheme" creates distance between the subject and verb, making the mismatch harder to spot.

Memory hook: information is always singular, no matter how far the verb sits from it — the information was released.

"Taller" is already a comparative adjective formed with "-er," so adding "more" before it creates a redundant double comparative, which is grammatically incorrect.

Short adjectives like "tall," "short," and "fast" form comparatives with "-er," not "more."

Memory hook: never double up a comparative — she is taller, not more taller.

"Each" is a singular indefinite pronoun/adjective, so even though it is followed by "of the candidates" (plural), the verb must remain singular — "was asked," not "were asked."

This is a classic subject-verb agreement trap disguised as a parts-of-speech question.

Memory hook: "each," "every," and "either" always take singular verbs — each of the candidates was asked

The structure "one of the + superlative + plural noun" requires a plural noun after the superlative adjective, so "employees" (plural) is correct, not "employee" (singular).

"Efficientest" is also incorrect since "efficient" takes "most," not an "-est" ending, being a multi-syllable adjective.

Memory hook: "one of the most + adjective + plural noun" — one of the most efficient employees.

"Superior" is a fixed collocation that always takes "to," never "than," even though it functions like a comparative adjective.

The corrected phrase should read "superior to all his colleagues."

Memory hook: superior, inferior, junior, senior all pair with "to" — he is superior to his colleagues.

Since "not only" inverts the auxiliary before the subject ("did he apologise"), the second half must mirror this structure for parallelism, so "but also did he promise" or simply "but also promise" (matching the base verb form) is needed instead of "promised."

This inversion-based parallelism is a high-difficulty correlative trap.

Memory hook: when "not only" triggers inversion, the "but also" half must mirror that same grammatical shape.

"Advice" is uncountable and never takes a plural "-s" form, so "his advices" should be corrected to "his advice," paired with a singular verb "is."

This is one of the most frequently repeated uncountable-noun errors in exam papers.

Memory hook: advice has no plural — his advice is always taken seriously.

English adjective order generally follows opinion before age before material — "beautiful" (opinion), "old" (age), "wooden" (material) — making option B the natural, grammatically standard sequence.

This ordering rule, while rarely explicitly named, is tested through "choose the correct sentence" formats.

Memory hook: opinion, age, material — beautiful old wooden table follows the natural English rhythm.

"Neither" is a singular indefinite pronoun, so even when followed by "of the answers" (plural), the verb must agree with "neither" and remain singular — "is correct," not "are correct."

This is a frequent extension of the each/every/either/neither singular-agreement family of traps.

Memory hook: neither, like each and either, always takes a singular verb — neither of the answers is correct.

"Look forward to" is a fixed prepositional phrase where "to" functions as a preposition, not part of an infinitive, so it must be followed by a gerund ("meeting"), not a base verb ("meet").

This preposition-versus-infinitive confusion is a common advanced-level trap.

Memory hook: after "look forward to," always add "-ing" — I look forward to meeting you.

"Team" is the true subject here (not "researchers," which sits inside the prepositional phrase "of researchers"), and as a collective noun acting as one unit, it requires the singular verb "has published."

Memory hook: identify the real subject before the prepositional phrase — the team has published, not the researchers have.

After "it is," the subject pronoun "I" (not the object form "me") is grammatically correct in formal English, and the relative pronoun "who" then takes the verb form matching "I," which is "am."

This subject-pronoun and relative-clause agreement combination is a genuinely advanced trap.

Memory hook: "it is I" pairs with "who am," matching first-person singular throughout.

The phrase "each and every" is emphatically singular, so it requires a singular verb — "has submitted," not "have submitted" — regardless of how many students are being described collectively.

Memory hook: "each and every" is a double-singular emphasis — each and every student has submitted.

 "Scissors," like "trousers," "spectacles," and "glasses," is a pluralia tantum noun — a noun that is grammatically plural even when referring to one item — and therefore always takes a plural verb.

Memory hook: scissors, trousers, spectacles are always plural in grammar — the scissors are on the table.

With "not only...but also" joining two subjects, the verb agrees with the nearer subject — "employees" (plural) — so "were informed" is correct, not "was informed."

This mirrors the proximity rule used with "neither...nor" and "either...or."

Memory hook: the verb always listens to the closest subject — but also the employees were informed.

In the structure "one of those [plural noun] who," the relative pronoun "who" refers back to the plural noun "students," so the verb must be plural — "complete," not "completes."

This is a genuinely tricky advanced structure because "one" misleadingly suggests a singular verb is needed.

Memory hook: "one of those [plural] who" always takes a plural verb — students who always complete their homework.

"Hardly" pairs with the correlative "when," not "than" — the correct fixed structure is "hardly...when," while "no sooner...than" is the other correct pairing that is often confused with it.

The corrected phrase should read "than the audience began" → "when the audience began."

Memory hook: hardly pairs with when; no sooner pairs with than — never mix the two correlative sets.

"Furniture" is an uncountable noun, so it never takes a plural "-s" form and always pairs with a singular verb.

This mirrors the treatment of "news," "information," and "advice" as uncountable nouns in English.

Memory hook: no such word as "furnitures" — the furniture is quite old, always singular.

"Scenery" is an uncountable noun in English, so it takes a singular verb and never a plural "-s" ending, similar to "furniture" and "information."

Many learners mistakenly pluralise it because it describes multiple hills or views.

Memory hook: scenery, like furniture, has no plural form — the scenery is breathtaking.