English Grammar - Sentence Completion: 11 MCQs with Answers

The sentence describes infrastructure that only just managed to match the startup's rapid growth. The blank therefore needs an adverb meaning 'only with great difficulty'. 'Barely' fits naturally and idiomatically in the structure 'could barely keep pace', conveying that it was managed, but only just. 'Merely' means 'only' in the sense of nothing more, which does not suit this context. 'Scarcely' is close in meaning but is normally paired with negative or inversion structures and reads awkwardly here. 'All but' means 'almost', which would reverse the intended sense. Hence the correct answer is barely.

The blank introduces a non-defining relative clause that refers back to a point in time, namely 'next Friday'. The relative adverb used for time is 'when', which produces the natural sentence 'The board will convene next Friday, when final approval is expected'. Option one, 'at which', would need a noun such as 'meeting' rather than a day to attach to. Option two, 'on which', is grammatically possible with a date but reads stiffly and was not the key. Option four, 'whereupon', implies that one event happens immediately as a result of another, which distorts the meaning. Hence 'when' is correct.

The sentence speaks of inertia that is 'entrenched', that is, firmly fixed in position. The verb in the blank must therefore mean to force something out of a firmly held position. 'Dislodge' carries precisely that meaning and collocates naturally with entrenched attitudes or habits, so it is correct. 'Persuade' takes a person as its object, not an abstract noun like inertia, so it does not fit. 'Dissuasion' is a noun and cannot serve as the verb the sentence requires. 'Disillusion' means to free someone from a mistaken belief, which is not the sense needed. Hence the answer is dislodge.

The clause after the semicolon says that her interpretation 'bordered on the revelatory', which is a stronger quality than mere insight. The blank must therefore intensify rather than diminish, and with 'than' present a comparative form is required. 'More' supplies both, giving 'more than insightful'. 'Less' would reverse the meaning and contradict the second clause entirely. 'Other' produces 'other than insightful', which would deny that the interpretation was insightful at all. 'Rather' cannot combine with 'than' in this position to form the required comparative. Hence the correct answer is more.

The sentence describes reforms that were secretly designed to act against dissent while appearing to serve economic necessity. The verb in the blank must therefore mean to suppress or put down. 'Quell' carries exactly that sense and collocates naturally with dissent, protest and rebellion, so it is correct. 'Swell' would mean to increase dissent, which reverses the intended meaning. 'Rebut' means to argue against a claim with evidence, an open intellectual act rather than a veiled suppression. 'Impugn' means to call someone's honesty or motives into question. Hence the correct answer is quell.

When a sentence begins with 'so' followed by an adjective, the subject and the verb are inverted, giving the pattern 'So delicate were the negotiations that...'. The subject here is 'the negotiations', which is plural, so the verb must also be plural, and this rules out 'is' and 'was'. The second half of the sentence uses 'could derail', a past form, so the verb in the first clause must also be in the past tense for correct sequence of tenses. This makes 'were' the only option that agrees in both number and tense. Hence 'were' is correct.

The clause that follows the blank says that her interpretation 'bordered on the revelatory', which means it was even stronger than a merely insightful reading. The sentence therefore needs a comparative expression that raises the level of praise rather than lowering it. The structure 'more ... than' does exactly this, giving the meaning that the interpretation was more than insightful. 'Less' would reverse the intended sense, while 'other' and 'rather' cannot be used with 'than' in this comparative pattern and would make the sentence ungrammatical. Hence the correct option is 'more'.

The sentence describes reforms that were secretly designed to suppress opposition while pretending to be economic measures. The blank therefore needs a verb that means to put down or silence dissent. 'Quell' means to suppress or subdue, and it collocates naturally with words like dissent, rebellion and unrest. 'Swell' means to increase in size, which contradicts the idea of a veiled attempt to control opposition. 'Rebut' means to disprove an argument with evidence, and 'impugn' means to question someone's honesty or motives, and neither conveys forceful suppression. Hence the correct answer is 'quell'.

This sentence begins with the restrictive adverbial phrase 'Only after a decade of fieldwork'. When such a negative or restrictive expression is fronted, English requires subject-auxiliary inversion in the main clause. The blank is followed by the bare infinitive 'grasp', so the auxiliary must be 'did', giving 'did she fully grasp'. Option one, 'she had', keeps normal word order and ignores the inversion rule. Option three, 'had she', is inverted but would need the past participle 'grasped' rather than 'grasp'. Option four, 'she did', is again uninverted. Hence option two is correct.

The blank follows the preposition 'on' in the phrase 'bordered on', which must be completed by a noun. 'Opacity' is the noun form, meaning the quality of being difficult to understand or see through, and it fits the idea of remarks so dense with jargon that they become impenetrable. 'Opaque' is an adjective and cannot follow a preposition in this structure. 'Opacus' is Latin rather than standard English usage. 'Opalescent' is an adjective describing a milky, shimmering play of colour, which concerns appearance rather than incomprehensibility. Hence option one is correct.