Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one.
1............... only after the data had been released that the minister admitted the forecasts were provisional.
Wrong!
"It was" is correct because the sentence uses an it-cleft to focus the timing, with the relative clause beginning after the focused phrase.
2At no point ............... that the preliminary figures should be treated as final.
Wrong!
"did she suggest" is correct because a fronted negative phrase such as 'At no point' requires subject-auxiliary inversion.
3Towards the end of the inquiry, ............... a pattern of informal payments that no one had previously connected.
Wrong!
"there emerged" is correct because existential 'there' introduces new information before the heavy postverbal subject.
4............... the assumption that savings will automatically translate into lower prices.
Wrong!
"What the report questions is" is correct because a wh-cleft uses 'what' to create a clause that is then identified with the focused complement.
5The new citation rule applies ............... to papers already in the database, not to unpublished manuscripts.
Wrong!
"only" is correct because the following clause says the benefit is restricted to papers in the database, not surprising in addition to them.
6The internal panel had already criticised the sampling, and the external reviewers ............... questioned the methodology.
Wrong!
"also" is correct because it naturally occurs before the main verb to add the subject to a previously mentioned group.
7The committee had expected the developer to mention the issue, but in fact the issue ............... during the public hearing.
Wrong!
"was raised by the residents" is correct because the passive keeps the known topic 'the issue' in subject position and places the agent later as newer information.
8............... increasingly difficult to assess the policy once the criteria had been revised twice in a week.
Wrong!
"It became" is correct because anticipatory 'it' allows the heavy infinitive clause to be postponed until the end of the sentence.
9At the entrance to the archive ............... who checked every visitor's credentials.
Wrong!
"stood a single guard" is correct because a fronted locative can be followed by verb-subject order to present a new subject vividly.
10The recommendation ............... was uncontroversial; what divided the board was the reasoning behind it.
Wrong!
"itself" is correct because the contrast is between the recommendation and the reasoning behind it, so the noun phrase is intensified reflexively.
11Under the revised protocol, ............... may approve the release; no deputy or press officer has that authority.
Wrong!
"only the director" is correct because the intended meaning is that no one except the director may approve the release.
12............... the discrepancy earlier, the merger would probably have been delayed.
Wrong!
"Had the auditors noticed" is correct because the sentence uses formal inverted conditional order without 'if' to focus the counterfactual condition.
Exercise complete
0 out of 12
correct answers
Answers
- It was only after the data had been released that the minister admitted the forecasts were provisional.
- At no point did she suggest that the preliminary figures should be treated as final.
- Towards the end of the inquiry, there emerged a pattern of informal payments that no one had previously connected.
- What the report questions is the assumption that savings will automatically translate into lower prices.
- The new citation rule applies only to papers already in the database, not to unpublished manuscripts.
- The internal panel had already criticised the sampling, and the external reviewers also questioned the methodology.
- The committee had expected the developer to mention the issue, but in fact the issue was raised by the residents during the public hearing.
- It became increasingly difficult to assess the policy once the criteria had been revised twice in a week.
- At the entrance to the archive stood a single guard who checked every visitor’s credentials.
- The recommendation itself was uncontroversial; what divided the board was the reasoning behind it.
- Under the revised protocol, only the director may approve the release; no deputy or press officer has that authority.
- Had the auditors noticed the discrepancy earlier, the merger would probably have been delayed.