GATE CS Mastery
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GATE CS 2014 Set 3 · General Aptitude

Question 1

MCQPrinted as GA Q.11 markWrong answer: −1/3Easy (estimate)

Question

While trying to collect an envelope from under the table, Mr. X fell down and was losing consciousness.

Which one of the underlined parts of the sentence is NOT appropriate?

I: While trying to collect
II: from under the table
III: Mr. X fell down and
IV: was losing consciousness

Choose one option
Official answer and solution
Official answer
D
From
Official GATE 2014 answer key

Solution

Identify the incorrect verb tense in the parallel coordinate clause.

  1. Analyze the grammatical structure of the sentence:
    "While trying to collect an envelope from under the table, Mr. X fell down and was losing consciousness."

  2. The main clause contains two completed past actions joined by the conjunction "and":

    • First action: "Mr. X fell down" (simple past tense).
    • Second action: joined by "and", this should also be in the simple past tense to describe a completed consequence of falling down: "lost consciousness", rather than the past continuous "was losing consciousness".

  3. Therefore, part IV ("was losing consciousness") is inappropriate and should be replaced by "lost consciousness".

This corresponds to option D.

Final answer

D

Common trap

Thinking that 'from under the table' is ungrammatical; prepositions can stack idiomatically in English.

The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.

Source

Paper
GATE 2014 Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) Session 3
Question
1 of 65, printed as GA Q.1
Section
General Aptitude

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