iTEP - International Test of English Proficiency iTEP Grammar Section Structures Questions and Answers

Question 1

The university's board of trustees, after a lengthy debate, __________ to approve the new budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Accepted Answer

has finally agreed

Answer

The correct answer is 'has finally agreed'. The subject of the sentence is 'board of trustees', which is a collective noun. In American English, collective nouns are typically treated as singular, requiring a singular verb. 'Has agreed' is the present perfect singular form that correctly fits the sentence context.

Question 2

Which of the following sentences contains a grammatical error?

Accepted Answer

Neither the students nor the teacher were prepared for the fire drill.

Answer

The sentence 'Neither the students nor the teacher were prepared for the fire drill' is incorrect. When using 'neither/nor' or 'either/or', the verb should agree with the noun that is closer to it. In this case, 'teacher' is a singular noun, so the verb should be 'was', not 'were'.

Question 3

If the marketing team __________ more time to analyze the data, they would have identified the trend earlier.

Accepted Answer

had had

Answer

This sentence is a third conditional, which describes a hypothetical situation in the past. The structure for the 'if' clause in a third conditional is 'if + past perfect'. The past perfect form of 'to have' is 'had had'.

Question 4

The consultant advised the company __________ its internal communication policies to improve employee morale.

Accepted Answer

to revise

Answer

The verb 'advise' is followed by an object ('the company') and then an infinitive with 'to'. The correct structure is 'advise someone to do something'. Therefore, 'to revise' is the correct form.

Question 5

__________ the project was challenging, the team felt a great sense of accomplishment upon its completion.

Accepted Answer

Although

Answer

'Although' is a subordinating conjunction used to introduce a clause that contrasts with the main clause. It correctly connects the two ideas in the sentence. 'Despite' and 'In spite of' are prepositions and would need to be followed by a noun or gerund. 'However' is a conjunctive adverb and would typically be set off by a comma.

iTEP - International Test of English Proficiency Practice Test

iTEP - International Test of English Proficiency Practice Test

iTEP - International Test of English Proficiency iTEP Grammar Section Structures Questions and Answers