Michigan ECPE English Usage Practice — All Questions
5 questions
___ had she sat down than the phone rang again. Which choice is correct?
- a.No sooner
- b.Hardly
- c.Scarcely✓
- d.No longer
'No sooner ... than' is the fixed correlative pair for two closely following events. 'Hardly' and 'scarcely' pair with 'when', not 'than', so only 'No sooner' completes this structure.
Were it not for her guidance, the project ___ long ago. Which choice is correct?
- a.would have collapsed✓
- b.would collapse
- c.will collapse
- d.collapsed
'Were it not for' is an inverted conditional referring to a past result ('long ago'), so the main clause uses 'would have + past participle': 'would have collapsed'.
The committee insisted that every proposal ___ reviewed before the vote. Which choice is correct?
- a.is
- b.was
- c.will be
- d.be✓
After 'insist that' the subjunctive is used, which takes the base form 'be' regardless of the subject. 'Every proposal be reviewed' is the correct subjunctive construction.
She is reported ___ the manuscript years before it was published. Which choice is correct?
- a.to complete
- b.to have completed✓
- c.completing
- d.having complete
The completion happened before the reporting, so a perfect infinitive is needed: 'to have completed'. The simple infinitive 'to complete' would place the action at the same time as the reporting.
Only after the results were published ___ the significance of the study. Which choice is correct?
- a.did we grasp✓
- b.we grasped
- c.we did grasp
- d.grasped we
When a sentence opens with a restrictive 'Only after' phrase, the subject and auxiliary invert: 'did we grasp'. The normal order 'we grasped' is incorrect after this fronted phrase.