Each of the questions below carries a set of two sentences. Identify which of the two sentences is correct
1. a. Your the one I was looking for.
b. You're the one I was looking for.
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ANSWER: b. You're the one I was looking for.
Explanation: 'You're' is the contraction for'you are'. The apostrophe is used for the dropped 'a'.
2. a. It's not a good day.
b. Its not a good day.
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ANSWER: a. It's not a good day.
Explanation: 'It's' is a contraction for 'it is' or 'it has'. The apostrophe is put in place of the dropped letters.
3. a. The dog ate its biscuits.
b. The dog ate it's biscuits.
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ANSWER: a. The dog ate its biscuits.
Explanation: 'Its' means 'of it'. The usual apostrophe used to show the possessive form of a noun is dropped here to avoid confusion with 'it's'.
4. a. These distractions will effect your concentration.
b. These distractions will affect your concentration.
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ANSWER: b. These distractions will affect your concentration.
Explanation: 'Affect' means 'impact' on something whereas 'effect' means 'result', 'consequence'.
5. a. The man with the dogs have a stick.
b. The man with the dogs has a stick.
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ANSWER: b. The man with the dogs has a stick.
Explanation: 'Has' is the verb for the 'man' here, which is a singular form, and not the 'puppies'.
6. a. This is an unique situation.
b. This is a unique situation.
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ANSWER: b. This is a unique situation.
Explanation: Although 'unique' starts with a vowel, it takes 'a' before it and not 'an' because the pronunciation is like 'yu'.
7. a. I felt bad when he missed the chance.
b. I felt badly when he missed the chance.
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ANSWER: a. I felt bad when he missed the chance.
Explanation: 'Badly' means 'seriously' or 'desperately'.
8. a. If you are feeling unwell, lay down for a while.
b. If you are feeling unwell, lie down for a while.
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ANSWER: b. If you are feeling unwell, lie down for a while.
Explanation: It is a very common confusion that we make between 'lie' and 'lay'. 'Lay' means 'to put down'.
9. a. I am not taking up nothing more.
b. I am not taking up anything more.
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ANSWER: b. I am not taking up anything more.
Explanation: 'Not' and 'nothing' are both negatives. Two negatives cannot be used in one sentence.
10. a. I should have went to the party.
b. I should have gone to the party.
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ANSWER: a. I should have gone to the party.
Explanation: 'Gone' is the past participle form of 'go'. So the past form i.e. 'went' cannot be used here.
