Parts of Speech Quiz | Intermediate Level | 20 Questions & Answers with Explanations

"Performed" is a verb, and verbs must be modified by adverbs, not adjectives.

"Good" is an adjective, while "well" is its adverb form used correctly here.

Memory hook: "do well," not "do good" — she performed well in the exam is the pattern to remember for every action verb.

A collective noun names a group treated as a single unit, and "jury" refers to a group of people acting together.

This is why it takes the singular possessive "its" rather than "their."

Memory hook: jury, team, committee — one group, one singular reference, just like "The jury delivered its verdict."

"Interested" is always followed by the preposition "in" as a fixed collocation, not "at" or "on."

Prepositional collocations must be memorised individually since logic alone won't always predict the right one.

Memory hook: you're always "interested in" something, never "interested at" it — he is interested in learning new languages.

Auxiliary (helping) verbs combine with a main verb to build tense, and "will have completed" forms the future perfect tense here, matching the time clue "by next year."

"Is," "was," and "did" don't fit this future-tense structure.

Memory hook: "by [future time] + will have + past participle" signals future perfect — by next year, she will have completed her degree.

Correlative conjunctions like "not only...but also" must join grammatically parallel structures — here, both parts must be adjectives.

"Talented" and "hardworking" are both adjectives, keeping the sentence balanced, unlike option A which shifts to a full clause.

Memory hook: cover everything before "not only," then check that what follows "but also" matches the same grammatical shape — talented, hardworking.

"Information" is an uncountable noun in English and always takes a singular verb, regardless of how much detail it contains.

It also never takes a plural "-s" ending, ruling out option C immediately.

Memory hook: like "news" and "advice," information is always singular — the information is still unclear.

"Exhausted" is a non-gradable adjective (it already expresses an extreme state), so it should be paired with intensifiers like "completely" or "absolutely" rather than "very."

Gradable adjectives like "tired" can take "very," but non-gradable ones cannot.

Memory hook: tired takes "very," but exhausted takes "completely" — I am completely exhausted, not very exhausted.

Degree and frequency adverbs like "almost" are placed between the auxiliary verb and the main verb in standard English, not before the auxiliary.

This differs from how such words often get placed in translation from Indian languages.

Memory hook: auxiliary first, then the adverb, then the main verb — "has almost finished," not "almost has finished."

"This" is a demonstrative adjective pointing to a specific book, while "my" is a possessive adjective showing ownership.

Both modify the noun "book" but in different ways — one identifies which one, the other shows whose it is.

Memory hook: "this" points, "my" owns — this is my favourite book combines both functions.

"Superior" is followed by the fixed preposition "to," never "than," even though comparative adjectives usually pair with "than."

This is a classic prepositional collocation exception that must be memorised.

Memory hook: superior, junior, senior — all take "to," not "than" — he is superior to his colleague.

 "Both...and" and "as well as" are two separate joining structures, and mixing them together creates a redundant, incorrect sentence — a favourite SSC trap.

The correct correlative pair is simply "both...and."

Memory hook: pick one joiner, not both — "Both Rohan and Simran are attending," never "both...as well as" together.

A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the object of emphasis are the same person, and "himself" correctly emphasises that "he" acted alone or without help.

The other options use non-standard or incorrect pronoun forms.

Memory hook: reflexive pronouns end in "-self/-selves" and reflect back onto the subject — he himself completed the project.

"Married" is always followed by the preposition "to" as a fixed collocation, regardless of what feels natural in translation from other languages.

This is one of the most common preposition traps in competitive exams.

Memory hook: you get "married to" someone, never "married with" them — he is married to a teacher.

"Child" is a noun and cannot directly modify another noun as an adjective in this context; the correct adjective form is "childish," meaning immature.

This mirrors the coward/cowardly and fool/foolish traps commonly tested in exams.

Memory hook: noun forms don't double as adjectives — use childish, foolish, cowardly, not the plain noun.

"Committee" is a collective noun acting as a single unit here, so it requires the singular verb "has," following standard exam-English rules.

This holds true even though a committee is composed of multiple individuals.

Memory hook: committee, jury, team — treat them as one, so "the committee has decided," not "have decided."

"Tastes" here is a linking verb connecting the subject "soup" to a description, so it must be followed by an adjective, not an adverb.

"Delicious" correctly describes the soup, while "deliciously" would incorrectly modify the verb as if it were an action.

Memory hook: linking verbs like taste, seem, look, and feel take adjectives — the soup tastes delicious, not deliciously.

A subordinating conjunction joins a main clause to a dependent clause, and "because" introduces the reason clause explaining why she left.

Unlike coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS), subordinating conjunctions like "because," "although," and "since" create an unequal relationship between clauses.

Memory hook: subordinating conjunctions answer "why/when/although what?" — she left early because she felt unwell.

"Few" (without "a") has a negative meaning implying "almost none," which matches the feeling of loneliness in this sentence, while "a few" means "some" and would suggest the opposite feeling.

This quantitative adjective distinction is a common exam trap.

Memory hook: "few" feels empty, "a few" feels enough — she has few friends, so she feels lonely.

With "neither...nor" joining two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it, and "staff" (treated as singular here) takes "was."

This proximity rule is frequently tested alongside correlative conjunctions.

Memory hook: the verb listens to the nearer subject — neither the manager nor the staff was informed.

"Drives" is an action verb and must be modified by an adverb, not an adjective, so "carefully" is correct.

A useful check is to substitute a known adverb like "quickly" — since "he drives quickly" works, an adverb is needed here too.

Memory hook: action verbs need "-ly" modifiers — he drives carefully, not careful.