Practice Exercise in Diction | English Grammar for Competitive Exams

Find nonstandard, colloquial, and redundant usages in the following sentences. Write the standard words or phrases in the spaces provided. Some sentences may be correct; some may contain more than one error.

1. A bale of hay dropped off the truck on the way to Dover.
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2. Bruno flunked his driving test three times before he secured a licence.
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3. Mrs. Grant felt plenty scared to go into that cave because of the snake.
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4. This plate is an exactly identical replica of those that Willie stored in the attic.
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5. At the reunion, a dozen people sat in a circle and told stories about each other.
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6. Susan left Washington at about noon and expects to arrive home around six.
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7. After Lee fell off the diving board, he goes, “I’m not hurt. Believe me, I’m all right.
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8. That’s just the sort of belt I’m looking for.
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9. The scratching on the door clearly indicated that the cat wanted in.
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10. As the recipient of the award, Jack graduated high school with strong emotional feelings about his teachers.
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11. No mail will be delivered on Friday on account of the holiday.
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12. After George stood up in the rowboat, Harry pushed him in the lake.
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13. Seeking revenge, George later pushed Harry off of the dock.
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14. That empty lot is where my grandmother’s house use to be.
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15. A transliteration is when the text is translated word for word, irregardless of how it sounds.
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16. When the true facts come out, the case will be settled in an instant.
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17. Given the choice of Monday, Wednesday and Friday for her talk, Gwen chose the latter.
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18. All the mistakes in Brian’s essay make it seem as though he never learned the art of proof-reading.
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19. Because John plans to bring the newspaper home, you needn’t bother.
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20. At the end of the evening there was no one else but me in the room.
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ANSWERS

1	Correct	2	Bruno failed
3	very scared or terrified	4	is identical to or is a replica of
5	about one another	6	at about six
7	he said	8	Correct
9	wanted to come in	10	from high school with strong feelings
11	because of the holiday	12	into the lake
13	off the dock	14	Used to
15	is a translation …. regardless of	16	the facts or the truth
17	chose Friday	18	Correct
19	Correct	20	no one but