DLAB Grammar MCQ 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In English grammar, which sentence uses the subjunctive mood correctly?
- If I were a bird, I would fly south. (Correct answer)
- If I was a bird, I would fly south.
- If I am a bird, I would fly south.
- If I be a bird, I fly south.
Correct answer: If I were a bird, I would fly south.
The subjunctive 'were' is correct in contrary-to-fact conditional clauses.
The subjunctive mood is used in hypothetical, contrary-to-fact conditions. For all subjects (I, he, she, we), the subjunctive uses 'were' — not 'was'. 'If I were a bird' signals that the speaker is not actually a bird. The indicative 'was' is informal but grammatically non-standard in formal subjunctive usage. The DLAB tests general language aptitude including awareness of formal grammatical structures.
Question 2: Which sentence correctly uses the past perfect tense?
- By the time she arrived, he had already left. (Correct answer)
- By the time she arrived, he already left.
- By the time she arrived, he has already left.
- By the time she arrives, he had already left.
Correct answer: By the time she arrived, he had already left.
Past perfect 'had left' correctly indicates an action completed before another past action.
The past perfect tense (had + past participle) expresses an action completed before another action in the past. In 'By the time she arrived, he had already left': 'arrived' is simple past, and 'had left' is past perfect — correctly showing that his leaving preceded her arrival. The simple past 'left' in option B would imply simultaneous or sequential events without the proper temporal sequencing.
Question 3: Identify the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement.
- Neither the students nor the teacher was prepared. (Correct answer)
- Neither the students nor the teacher were prepared.
- Neither the students nor the teacher are prepared.
- Neither the students nor the teacher have prepared.
Correct answer: Neither the students nor the teacher was prepared.
With 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the closest subject — 'teacher' is singular, so 'was.'
The 'neither...nor' construction follows the rule of proximity: the verb agrees with the noun closest to it. In 'Neither the students nor the teacher', the closest noun to the verb is 'teacher' (singular). Therefore, the correct verb is 'was' (singular). This is a standard subject-verb agreement rule tested on language aptitude assessments.
Question 4: Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
- Running to catch the bus, her bag fell off her shoulder. (Correct answer)
- Running to catch the bus, she dropped her bag.
- She ran to catch the bus and dropped her bag.
- Her bag fell as she ran to catch the bus.
Correct answer: Running to catch the bus, her bag fell off her shoulder.
The participial phrase 'Running to catch the bus' has no logical subject — the bag cannot run.
A dangling modifier occurs when a participial phrase does not logically modify the subject of the main clause. In option A, 'Running to catch the bus' implies the runner is the subject — but the main clause subject is 'her bag', which cannot run. Option B is correct because 'she' is both the one running and the subject of the main clause. Dangling modifiers are a common grammar error tested on aptitude exams.
Question 5: Which sentence uses parallel structure correctly?
- She likes hiking, swimming, and to run. (Correct answer)
- She likes hiking, swimming, and running.
- She likes to hike, swimming, and running.
- She likes to hike, to swim, and running.
Correct answer: She likes hiking, swimming, and to run.
All three activities use the gerund (-ing) form, creating parallel structure.
Parallel structure requires that all elements in a list use the same grammatical form. Option B uses three gerunds: 'hiking, swimming, and running' — perfectly parallel. Options A, C, and D mix gerunds with infinitives, violating parallelism. Parallel structure is a fundamental writing skill tested in language aptitude assessments.
Question 6: Which sentence correctly uses a restrictive relative clause?
- The book that I borrowed was fascinating. (Correct answer)
- The book, that I borrowed, was fascinating.
- The book which I borrowed, was fascinating.
- The book, which I borrowed was fascinating.
Correct answer: The book that I borrowed was fascinating.
'That' introduces a restrictive clause with no commas — correctly identifying which book.
A restrictive relative clause specifies which book is being referred to and is essential to the sentence's meaning. It uses 'that' (in American English) with no commas. 'The book that I borrowed was fascinating' correctly restricts the meaning to a specific book. Using commas around the clause would make it non-restrictive (optional information), changing the intended meaning.
DLAB Grammar MCQ 2
In English grammar, which sentence uses the subjunctive mood correctly?