10. Sentence Improvement in Context: Worked Passage Analysis

Individual practice questions are useful for drilling one category at a time, but real exam sentences do not arrive labelled by category — a single short passage or notification can plant a preposition error, an agreement error, and a redundancy error within three consecutive lines. This section works through five short, original passages in the register you will actually meet on exam day, and pulls five Sentence Improvement questions from each — exactly the way you should train yourself to read a passage during revision: notice every candidate error as you read, then check it against the fourteen categories from Section 3.

10.1 Passage One — An Admit Card and Exam-Day Notice

"All candidates must reach the exam centre well before the reporting time. Latecomers will not be admitted under any circumstances. Candidates should carry a printed copy of their admit card along with a valid photo identity proof. Mobile phones, smartwatches, and other electronic devices are strictly prohibited inside the examination hall. Any candidate found violating this rule will be disqualified immediately, and his or her candidature will be cancelled without further notice."

1. All candidates must reach the exam centre good before the reporting time. (A) well before (B) well ahead from (C) good ahead of (D) No improvement Answer: (A). "Well" is the standard degree adverb intensifying "before" in this fixed usage; "good" cannot function this way as an adverb in formal register. (B) garbles the preposition into "ahead from," which is not standard. (C) keeps the wrong "good" and substitutes an unnecessary "ahead of." (D) leaves the non-standard "good before."

2. Candidates should carry a printed copy of their admit card along with a valid photo identity proof. (A) along with a (B) along with an (C) alongside of a (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "along with a valid photo identity proof" is already correct — "a" is the right article before the consonant sound in "valid," and "along with" is the standard idiom; none of the alternatives improve on this.

3. Mobile phones, smartwatches, and other electronic devices are strictly prohibiting inside the examination hall. (A) are strictly prohibited (B) is strictly prohibited (C) has been strictly prohibited (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The passive requires the past participle "prohibited," not the present participle "prohibiting," after "are." (B) fixes the participle but wrongly shifts to a singular verb, disagreeing with the plural subject list. (C) shifts to present perfect and singular, both wrong. (D) leaves the ungrammatical "are strictly prohibiting."

4. Any candidate found violating this rule will disqualifying immediately. (A) will be disqualified (B) will disqualify (C) is disqualifying (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The candidate is the one disqualified, not the one doing the disqualifying, so passive voice is required, and "will be disqualified" is the correctly formed future passive. (B) wrongly keeps active voice, making the candidate the agent of disqualification rather than its recipient. (C) shifts to present continuous, mismatched with the clearly future "immediately upon detection" framing of the rest of the notice. (D) leaves the ungrammatical "will disqualifying."

5. His or her candidature will cancel without further notice. (A) will be cancelled (B) will cancelling (C) cancels (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The candidature is the thing being cancelled, not the agent of cancellation, so it requires the passive, "will be cancelled." (B) is not a valid verb form at all. (C) shifts illogically to present tense, mismatched with the future framing of the surrounding notice. (D) leaves an active-voice construction that wrongly makes "candidature" the doer of the cancelling.

10.2 Passage Two — A Bank Promotion and Transfer Circular

"This is to notify all eligible officers that the promotion interviews for the post of Senior Manager will be conducted next month. Officers who have completed a minimum of five years of continuous service are eligible to apply. Applications must reach the head office on or before the fifteenth of this month. Officers selected for promotion will be transferred to a different zone, and their transfer orders will be issued within a fortnight of the result declaration."

6. This is to notify all eligible officers that the promotion interviews will conduct next month. (A) will be conducted (B) will conducting (C) are conduct (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The interviews are the thing being conducted, not the agent, so passive voice is required. (B) is not a grammatically valid verb form. (C) drops the auxiliary needed for a correct passive and shifts tense inconsistently. (D) leaves the wrongly active "will conduct" with no stated agent, which reads as ungrammatical rather than a genuine agentless passive.

7. Officers who has completed a minimum of five years of continuous service are eligible to apply. (A) have completed (B) had completed (C) completing (D) No improvement Answer: (A). "Officers" (plural) is the antecedent of "who," so the relative clause needs the plural verb "have completed," not the singular "has." (B) shifts to past perfect without any past reference point requiring it. (C) drops the finite verb entirely, leaving no working verb in the relative clause. (D) leaves the singular verb disagreeing with the plural "officers."

8. Applications must reach the head office on or before the fifteenth of this month. (A) on or before (B) in or before (C) on and before (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "on or before" is the standard, correct idiom for a deadline that includes the stated date itself; none of the alternatives are standard replacements.

9. Officers selected for promotion will transfer to a different zone. (A) will be transferred (B) will transferring (C) are transfer (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The officers are the ones being transferred (by the bank), not the agents of transferring, so passive voice is required. (B) is not a valid verb form. (C) drops the auxiliary and shifts tense inconsistently. (D) leaves an active construction that wrongly implies the officers themselves are performing the transferring.

10. Their transfer orders will issue within a fortnight of the result declaration. (A) will be issued (B) will issuing (C) are issue (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The transfer orders are issued by the bank, not self-issuing, so passive voice, "will be issued," is required. (B) is not a valid verb form. (C) drops the needed auxiliary and shifts tense incorrectly. (D) leaves an ungrammatical active construction with no logical agent.

10.3 Passage Three — A Student's Preparation Narrative

"Ever since she failed her first attempt at the exam, she has been determined to succeed the second time. She joined a coaching centre, revised her weak topics twice, and solving previous years' papers became a daily habit. Her mentor advised her that consistency matters more than intensity, and she took this advice to heart. By the time the results of her second attempt were declared, she had already begun preparing for the interview round."

11. She has been determined to succeed the second time. (A) to succeed in the second time (B) to succeed at the second time (C) succeeding the second time (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "succeed the second time" uses "the second time" as an adverbial phrase of occasion (comparable to "succeed this time"), which is already correct and idiomatic; none of the prepositions in (A) or (B) are needed here, and (C) breaks the infinitive construction "determined to succeed."

12. She joined a coaching centre, revised her weak topics twice, and solving previous years' papers became a daily habit. (A) made solving previous years' papers a daily habit (B) previous years' papers solving became a habit daily (C) solved previous years' papers as a daily habit (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The list "joined... revised..." uses simple-past active verbs with "she" as the subject throughout; the third item breaks this pattern by switching to a different subject ("solving... papers") and a different verb, "became." (A) restores the parallel structure by keeping "she" as the implied subject of a matching simple-past verb, "made." (B) scrambles word order without fixing the underlying subject-and-verb mismatch. (C) is closer but still awkwardly tacks on "as a daily habit" rather than cleanly matching the verb pattern of the first two items.

13. Her mentor advised her that consistency matters more than intensity. (A) that consistency matters more than intensity (B) that consistency matter more than intensity (C) consistency matters more than intensity that (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, the reported statement is grammatically correct — "consistency," a singular abstract noun, correctly takes "matters," and the comparison "more than" is properly formed; no fix is needed.

14. She took this advice to heart, and continued her preparation with renewed focus. (A) took this advice into heart (B) took this advice by heart (C) took this advice at heart (D) No improvement Answer: (D). "Take something to heart" is the fixed idiom, and it is already used correctly here; none of the alternative prepositions form a standard idiom.

15. By the time the results of her second attempt were declared, she had already begun preparing for the interview round. (A) has already begun (B) already began (C) will already begin (D) No improvement Answer: (D). A past "by the time" reference point ("were declared") correctly pairs with the past perfect "had already begun" to show the preparation began before the results came out; this is already the correct sequencing.

10.4 Passage Four — An SSC Recruitment Circular

"The Commission has decided to revise the pattern of the examination from this cycle onwards. The number of questions in each section have been reduced to accommodate a longer descriptive paper. Candidates who are already registered need not apply again, as their existing registration remains valid. However, candidates are advised to regularly check the official website for updates, since no individual communication will be sent to each applicant separately."

16. The Commission has decided to revise the pattern of the examination from this cycle onwards. (A) for revising the pattern (B) revising the pattern (C) for revision of the pattern (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "decided to revise" is the correct, standard construction — "decide" idiomatically takes a "to" infinitive, not a "for" + gerund or "for" + noun construction.

17. The number of questions in each section have been reduced to accommodate a longer descriptive paper. (A) has been reduced (B) having been reduced (C) are reduced (D) No improvement Answer: (A). "The number of" is treated as singular, requiring "has," not "have." (B) turns the finite verb into a non-finite participle, leaving the clause without a main verb. (C) shifts to present simple passive and stays plural, still disagreeing in number. (D) leaves the plural verb disagreeing with the singular subject "the number."

18. Candidates who are already registered need not to apply again. (A) need not apply (B) need not applying (C) do not need apply (D) No improvement Answer: (A). "Need not" (as a modal-like construction here) takes a bare infinitive, "apply," without "to." (B) wrongly attaches a gerund instead of the bare infinitive. (C) restructures into a different, also ungrammatical pattern, dropping "to" where the alternative "do not need to apply" construction would actually require it. (D) leaves the incorrect "to" after "need not."

19. Candidates are advised to regularly check the official website for updates. (A) to check the official website regularly (B) for regularly checking the official website (C) regularly to check the official website (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "to regularly check" is a split infinitive, but modern formal usage accepts split infinitives when the alternative reads awkwardly or shifts emphasis; here, "to regularly check" reads naturally and is not treated as an error in this register — see the Split-Infinitive Panic distractor pattern in Section 4, Pattern 25, which warns against "fixing" a construction that was never actually broken.

20. No individual communication will send to each applicant separately. (A) will be sent (B) will sending (C) is send (D) No improvement Answer: (A). "Communication" is the thing being sent, not the sender, so passive voice, "will be sent," is required. (B) is not a valid verb form. (C) drops the auxiliary and shifts tense incorrectly. (D) leaves an ungrammatical active-voice construction with no stated agent.

10.5 Passage Five — An Interview-Panel Feedback Note

"The panel found the candidate confident, articulate, and possessing sound subject knowledge. However, his answers to the situational questions were less convincing than his technical answers. He is one of the few candidates this year who have combined strong domain knowledge with genuine field experience. Had he prepared a little more thoroughly for the behavioural round, his overall score would have been considerably higher. The panel has recommended him for the reserve list, pending the final merit computation."

21. The panel found the candidate confident, articulate, and possessing sound subject knowledge. (A) knowledgeable about the subject (B) subject knowledge possessing (C) possessed of sound subject knowledge (D) No improvement Answer: (A). The list "confident, articulate" uses two plain adjectives, so the third item must also be a plain adjective, "knowledgeable," not a participial phrase. (B) scrambles the word order without fixing the mismatched form. (C) keeps a clumsy, archaic-sounding construction that still does not match the plain-adjective pattern. (D) leaves the participial phrase breaking parallelism with the two adjectives before it.

22. His answers to the situational questions were less convincing than his technical answers. (A) less convincing (B) lesser convincing (C) more less convincing (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "less convincing" is the correct comparative form for a multi-syllable adjective like "convincing," which takes "less/more" rather than an "-er" ending; no fix is needed.

23. He is one of the few candidates this year who have combined strong domain knowledge with genuine field experience. (A) has combined (B) having combined (C) is combining (D) No improvement Answer: (D). As printed, "who have combined" correctly agrees with the plural "candidates" inside "one of the few candidates...who," matching the pattern already established in Section 3.4; the singular "he" of the main clause does not govern the verb inside this relative clause.

24. Had he prepared a little more thoroughly for the behavioural round, his overall score would have been considerably higher. (A) Has he prepared (B) If he had prepared (C) Had he prepare (D) No improvement Answer: (D). This is a correctly formed inverted third conditional, matching "would have been considerably higher"; (B) is a valid alternative phrasing but not an improvement over an already-correct sentence.

25. The panel has recommended him for the reserve list, pending the final merit computation. (A) have recommended (B) having recommended (C) recommend (D) No improvement Answer: (D). "Panel" is a collective noun acting as a single unit here, correctly taking the singular "has," matching the pattern from Section 3.4.

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