English MCQs – Page 89 (Q881-890)

The correct answer is 'She has fewer books than I do' because 'fewer' is used with plural countable nouns like 'books', while 'less' is reserved for uncountable nouns, following the standard fewer-versus-less distinction. The distractor options either incorrectly use 'less' with the countable noun 'books', use the nonstandard word 'lesser' where 'fewer' is needed, or incorrectly singularize 'book' after 'fewer', which must remain plural, each violating a specific rule within this frequently tested countable-versus-uncountable comparison distinction.

The correct answer is 'I need to lie down; I am very tired' because 'lie', meaning to recline, is correctly used here in its base form after the infinitive marker 'to', paired appropriately with the adjective 'tired' describing the speaker's state. The distractor options either confuse 'tired' with the incorrect '-ing' form 'tiring', which describes something that causes tiredness in others rather than the speaker's own state, or mistakenly substitute the unrelated verb 'lay' or its incorrect form 'laid' in place of the correct 'lie'.

The correct answer is 'It's raining outside, so bring its umbrella from the shelf' because this sentence correctly distinguishes between 'it's', the contraction of 'it is', used to describe the weather, and 'its', the possessive form without an apostrophe, used to show that the umbrella belongs to a previously mentioned subject. The distractor options variously omit the necessary apostrophe in 'it's' or incorrectly add one to the possessive 'its', both extremely common and heavily tested confusions in English grammar.

The correct answer is 'Who is coming to the party?' because 'who' functions as a subject pronoun, correctly used here since it is the one performing the action of 'coming'. This contrasts with 'whom', an object pronoun used when the pronoun receives an action rather than performs it. The distractor options either incorrectly use the object form 'whom' as the subject of a sentence, or misuse 'who' where the object form 'whom' would actually be grammatically required, illustrating the persistent difficulty many speakers have with this formal case distinction.

The correct answer is 'The prize was divided among the five winners' because 'among' is used when referring to more than two entities, here five winners, while 'between' is reserved specifically for exactly two entities. The distractor options either incorrectly use 'among' for a two-person situation or incorrectly use 'between' for more than two entities, testing whether students can correctly count the number of parties involved before selecting the appropriate preposition in this frequently tested distinction.

The correct answer is 'He bought some stationery for the office' because 'stationery', ending in '-ery', refers to writing materials like paper, pens, and envelopes, while 'stationary', ending in '-ary', is an entirely different word meaning not moving. A helpful mnemonic distinguishes them: 'stationery' contains 'letter', both relating to writing. The distractor options confuse these two unrelated, similarly spelled words, incorrectly applying the not-moving 'stationary' where writing materials are actually meant.

The correct answer is 'She gave him a nice compliment on his speech' because 'compliment', with an 'i', means an expression of praise or admiration, correctly used here to describe positive feedback about the speech. This differs from 'complement', with an 'e', meaning something that completes or pairs well with something else. The distractor options either scramble the sentence structure awkwardly or incorrectly substitute the unrelated 'complement', confusing these two similarly spelled but semantically distinct words.

The correct answer is 'Honesty is an important principle in life' because 'principle', ending in '-le', means a fundamental truth, rule, or standard, correctly used here to describe honesty as a guiding value. This differs from 'principal', ending in '-al', which functions either as an adjective meaning 'main' or as a noun referring to the head of a school. The distractor options incorrectly use 'principle' to refer to a school administrator or misapply 'principal' where the fundamental-rule meaning of 'principle' is actually intended.

The correct answer is 'Everyone attended the meeting except John' because 'except', meaning excluding or other than, correctly indicates that John is the one exception to everyone's attendance. This differs entirely from 'accept', meaning to receive or agree to something. The distractor options confuse these two similarly sounding but semantically unrelated words, either misspelling 'except' as 'accept' or nonsensically applying 'accepted' and 'excepted' in place of the simple, correct exclusionary preposition needed here.

The correct answer is 'e.g.' because this abbreviation stands for the Latin phrase 'exempli gratia', literally meaning 'for the sake of example', used to introduce one or more illustrative examples of a broader point. This differs from 'i.e.', which introduces a clarification or restatement rather than an example, and 'etc.', which indicates a continuing, unlisted series. Distinguishing 'e.g.' from 'i.e.' is one of the most frequently tested and commonly confused Latin abbreviation pairs in formal English writing.