Question Library

"Mother could not prepare the dish because there was little oil available." In this context, "little" means that there was not enough oil to prepare the dish. You use "little" instead of "a little" when you want to emphasise the smallness in the quantity of something.

The sentence would read: "Because it had been raining heavily all morning, few people turned out to welcome the August visitor." The word "few" is used to emphasise that only a small number of people attended due to the heavy rain. We use "a few" when we are not necessarily emphasising the smallness of the number but emphasising something else in the sentence.

The phrasal verb "fell through" means that the plans did not succeed or were not completed as intended. So, the sentence would read: "Unfortunately, his plans to go abroad fell through."

When reporting an indirect question, the tense shifts back and no question mark is used. So, the correct form for an indirect question would be: "The man asked me who I was."

The phrase "It is high time" is followed by a verb in the past tense to show that an action should have already happened or is overdue. So the sentence would read: "It is high time you stopped crying," the woman told her daughter gently."

The structure "rather + [base form of verb] + than + [base form of the verb]" is a common expression in English to show preference between two actions. Therefore, the correct construction is: "He would rather resign than take part in such a dishonest deal"

To “Pay out” means to settle or discharge a debt. “Make good” typically means to fulfil a promise or repair something. It would only be accurate with the addition of the preposition "on" as in "make good on". “Run in” means to encounter someone. “Pay for” usually means to bear the cost of something. So, “pay out” is the most appropriate choice for this context.

"When he got home, his dead uncle's burial had already taken place." The burial had already taken place by the time he arrived. It doesn't imply that the burial happened as he arrived, but rather that the burial was completed before his arrival. So, "when he got home" is the most suitable choice.

The phrase "ran out on" is an idiomatic expression meaning that luck abandoned or failed the robbers on that fateful day. The sentence should read: "Luck ran out on the robbers on that fateful day."

The phrase "however hard he tried" is an adverbial phrase that means putting in effort but not achieving the desired outcome. The structure "however hard" is idiomatic and commonly used in English to express that regardless of the degree of effort, the result was still not satisfactory. Therefore, the complete sentence would be: "He never seemed to get it right, however hard he tried."

"Saddest" is the superlative form of the adjective "sad". The use of "most" before "saddest" is redundant. When using the superlative form, you don't need to add "most" because it already expresses the highest degree. Therefore, the correct and grammatically sound choice is option C, "saddest."

The phrase "much more clearly" is the grammatically correct order (Much more + [adverb]), as "much" modifies "more" and "more" modifies "clearly." The sentence should read: "With his reading glasses on, he could see the words much more clearly."

When two subjects are joined by "neither...nor," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. In this case, "Jumoke" is singular, so the verb should be "was." The sentence should read: "Neither Obi nor Jumoke was present at the meeting."

"Hardly...when" is a coordinating conjunction and both words are traditionally used side by side. So, the sentence would read: "Hardly had the journey started when the car engine developed a fault."

The future perfect tense "will have lived" would be appropriate for this sentence. The end of the year is still something in the future, so you have to relate this piece of information (the fact that grandmother will have lived with us for seven years) to the future event (the end of the year), using the future perfect tense. At the end of the year, Grandmother will have lived with us for seven years.