Wh- Question Formation

Look at some examples
Look at these five wh- questions.  What information is being sought?  How are the questions formed--and how are they alike or different from each other in their formation?  Analyze each for subject and predicate. 
 

Example Wh- Questions 1. Who plans to take SLA this summer? 2. What causes students to select particular majors?  3. Who will John ask for information about summer courses? 4. When can we register for graduation? 5. Where do we go to register for graduation?

What do you see in example #1?  The subject is who, and the predicate is everything else.  The question is formed by putting the wh- word who into the subject position.  The question is about the subject of the sentence.  The speaker knows everything--someone plans to take SLA this summer, but doesn't know who. 
What do you see in example #2?  The subject is what, and the predicate is everything else.  The question is about the subject of the sentence:  something causes students to select particular majors.  The question is formed by putting the wh- word what into the subject position.  No other changes are needed to make a question--other than the question mark, of course.
What about example #3?  The subject of the sentence is John.  The predicate is will ask someone for information about summer courses.  The total sentence that lies behind the question: John will ask someone for information about summer courses.  The unknown information is the direct object of the verb will ask.  The formation gets more complicated in this situation: 

Step #1 Insert the wh- word into the sentence:  John will ask who for information about summer courses? 
Step #2 Move the wh- word to the beginning of the sentence: Who John will ask for information about summer courses? 
Step #3 Move the operator in front of the subject: Who will John ask for information about summer courses?  Why didn't I use whom?  That's super formal and unlikely to be used in asking a question like this one.  In fact, it's a bit hard to imagine any native speaker or truly fluent NNS using whom in this type of question.

What about example #4?  The subject of the sentence is we.  The predicate is can register for graduation some time.  The whole sentence that lies behind the question: We can register for graduation some time. The question is about the adverbial of time.  The speaker knows everything but the time/date.  Again, the formation is more complicated than in examples #1 and #2; the process is the same as for example #3. 

Step #1  Insert the wh- word into the sentence:  We can register for graduation when?
Step #2 Move the wh- word to the beginning of the sentence:   When we can register for graduation? 
Step #3 Move the operator in front of the subject: When can we register for graduation?

What about example #5?  The subject of the sentence is we.  The predicate is go somewhere to register for graduation.  The question is about the adverbial of location/place.  The whole sentence that lies behind the question: We go somewhere to register for graduation.  For this example, the process in examples #3 and #4 is followed but with another complication because of the missing operator. 

Step #1 Insert the wh- word into the sentence:  We go where to register for graduation?
Step #2 Move the wh- word to the beginning of the sentence:   Where we go to register for graduation? 
Step #3 Move the operator in front of the subject: But...there's no operator to move! 
Step #3a: Insert do to be the operator.  Where we do go to register for graduation? 
Step #3b: Move the operator in front of the subject: Where do we go to register for graduation?

What generalizations can we take away from these examples?

1. Wh- questions are formed by inserting a wh- word into a sentence in the place of missing information. 2. Wh- questions focus on particular parts of sentences--not generally on the whole sentence the way that yes-no questions do.
3. Wh- questions about the subject of a sentence have simplier grammar than wh- questions about anything in the predicate.
4. Wh- questions about the subject of a sentence just insert who or what and keep the same word order. 
5. Wh- questions about anything in the predicate insert a wh- word and then manipulate the word order by moving that wh- word to the beginning and moving the operator in front of the subject.
6. If there's no operator in the verb phrase, then one has to be added.  Like yes-no questions and negatives with not in the verb phrase, wh- questions that need to add an operator use do/does/did.
7. Wh- questions about subjects are simplier than wh- questions about the predicate.  The word order is simplier; only two word are needed--who or what. 
8. Wh- questions about anything in the predicate are more complicated than wh- questions about subjects.  The syntax requires not just insertion of the wh- word but also manipulation of the word order.  More words are needed, too: who, what, when, where, why, and others.

Other Complexities Analyze the following examples.  The general pattern of the syntax will be like other wh- questions.  But what part of the sentence is the focus on the question?  Why is whom used in the 4th example?
 

Examples #1. Whose car is blocking the entrance to the store? #2a. Which textbook was used in SLA last summer? #2b. Which textbook did the teacher use in SLA last summer? #3. How carefully have you considered your future career? #4. To whom did you send your job application? #5. What did you do last summer?

#1. Whose car is blocking the entrance to the store?  When we reformulate the question to see what sentence lies behind it, we get: someone's car is blocking the driveway.  We can talk about this as a question about the determiner or about the possessive.  Someone's car is the subject of the sentence. Thus, whose can be added and no change in word order is needed.
#2a. Which textbook was used in SLA last summer?  Like #1, this question focuses on the noun phrase and asks for more details about that noun phrase but not the possessive.  Try to explain how #2b differs from #2a. 
#3. How carefully have you considered your future career? This question is asking for an intensifier--very carefully, too carefully, not carefully enough.  Because it is not the subject of the sentence, insertion of the wh- word is followed by the word order changes required for non-subject wh- questions.
#4. To whom did you send your job application? Use of whom is rare--and very formal and a bit school-teacher-ish.  But, let's analyze this example to see how the grammar works.  What's the sentence that lies behind the question?  What function does to play in that sentence?  What steps are required to get from the sentence to the question?  After you've worked out your answer, click here to see mine.
#5. What did you do last summer?  What is this question about?  What's the meaning and function of the full verb do in this question?  After you've worked out your answer, click here to see mine.

Teaching/Learning Issues When we look at the steps that we go through to form wh- questions, especially the questions that are about things other than the subject of the sentence, we start to see some very familiar language.  Some of those intermediate steps sound a lot like the questions that are produced by our ESL/EFL students.  Look at the following:
 

You did something last summer. Step #1: You did what last summer? Step #2: What you did last summer? Step #3: What did you did last summer? Finally Step #4:  What did you do last summer?

 

XXXX means something. Where XXXX is a word that the learner is seeking a definition for. Step #1: XXXX means what? Step #2: What means XXXX? Step #3: What does XXXX means? Finally Step #4:: What does XXXX mean?

Learning to ask wh- questions requires two things of students: they must learn the correct words to use, and they must learn the word order for two different types of wh- questions.  As students learn to apply these features of wh- questions, they get parts right and parts not-quite-right and parts wrong as natural stages along the way to fluent and accurate question asking.  Steps #1 and #4 are ones that native speakers and advanced NNS use.  Steps #2 and #3 show a student who is trying out new grammar. 
Students can have another step along the way in questions like What you did do last summer?   Here the speaker has all the right words but not the right word order.
A student can fully understand the rules but not yet be able to produce accurately formed questions under the time, energy, emotional stress of speech--but can get the formation right on a written test with time for monitoring her/his production.  Or, the student could not have the rules right yet for a variety of reasons: a student might have heard the form but not had instruction about it, or a student might have had instruction and not understood it, or a student might have had bad instruction, or a student might had had good instruction but mis-understood it to form a new rule that's not quite English.  That is, learners will produce language like Steps #2 and #3 for a variety of reasons as they learn to ask questions.  These errors are well motiviated--they are not random but are attempts to apply the rules of English as then understood by the learner. 
Later in this lecture, we'll think about ways to teach students to be effective users of questions, including both yes-no and wh- questions.  I look forward to learning more about your ideas on this important topic. 
Please email me your questions and comments. Thanks.

Wh Questions

http://www.whitesmoke.com/negative-sentences-question-formation.html
Table

A Wh question is an open question, meaning that it can have any number of answers. It asks about some missing information the speaker needs. This corresponds to the different sentence elements, such as the verb, objects, manner, place, time, purpose, etc. Questions about the subject have a special form (see the next section). A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule.

The Wh Question Rule: To form a Wh question in English, add a Wh question word before the corresponding yes/no question.

Pay attention:

• • When an auxiliary verb (including modals) is used, the main verb is not inflected (no s or ed ending), meaning that either the base form or past participle is used.
• • The verb to be uses a different Wh question pattern. Click here for more information.

Review the following table for examples of Wh questions in English.

Tense     Question about:     Example
Present Simple     Place     Where does she play?
Past Simple     Time     When did they play?
Present Progressive     Manner     How is he playing?
Past Progressive     Direct object     What was he playing?
Present Perfect     Indirect object     With who have you played?
Present Perfect
Progressive     Choice     Which game have you been playing?
Past Perfect     Reason     Why had they played?
Past Perfect
Progressive     Frequency     How often had she been playing?
Future Simple     Number     How much will I play?
Modals     Possession     Whose role can he play?
Conditional     Duration     How long would it take?
Conditional perfect     Age     How old would he have been?

wh subject questions

A Wh Subject question is an open question, meaning that it can have any number of answers. It asks about missing information the speaker needs about the subject of the sentence (performer of the action). A question element needs to precede the subject in order to form this question. The “question element” is formed according to the following rule.

The Subject Wh Question Rule: To form a subject Wh-question in English, replace the subject with a question word, using who (for people) or what (for non-people)? The word order is that of a positive sentence.

Pay attention:

• • There is no auxiliary verb in Wh Subject questions in the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses. The question word simply replaces the subject.
• • In the present tenses, the verb is always in the third person singular, using the appropriate verb form.

Review the following table for examples of Wh Subject questions in English.

Tense     Question about:    Example
Present Simple     People     Who plays there every week?
Past Simple     Non-people     What made all that noise?
Present Progressive     People     Who is playing today?
Past Progressive     Non-people     What was making all that noise?
Present Perfect     People     Who’s written this essay?
Modals     People     Who can help me?

Sentence Correction

I. Eight Types of Errors in the Sentence Correction Section
A. Subject-Verb Agreement
B. Modifiers
C. Parallelism
D. Pronoun Agreement
E. Verb Time Sequences
F. Comparisons
G. Idioms

A. Subject-Verb Agreement

     The verb and subject must agree. If the subject is singular, then the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, then the verb must be plural. Test writers will try to fool you by using unusual phrases that make it difficult to tell if the subject is singular or plural.
1. If a singular subject is separated by a comma from an accompanying phrase, it remains singular:
The child, together with his grandmother and his parents, is going to the beach.

wrong: Frank, accompanied by his student, were at the studio.
right: Frank, accompanied by his student, was at the studio.
2. Collective nouns, such as family, majority, audience, and committee are singular when they act in a collective fashion or represent one group. They are plural when they act as individuals.

Collective nouns will usually be singular in Sentence Correction sentences.
A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.

Here the "majority" acts as a singular and therefore has a singular verb, "wants."

The jury were in disagreement.

Collective noun, plural verb (because they are acting as individuals). Note: this is very rare and highly unlikely to come up on test day.

3. Phrases separated by and are plural; phrases separated by or are singular.

Ted, John, and I are going.

Because they are joined by and, the plural form is used
4. Neither/nor and either/or are a special case. If two subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the subject that is closer to it.

Neither the supervisor nor the staff members were able to calm the distressed client.

5. Be careful to choose the right subject in sentences in which the verb precedes the subject.

wrong: There is many reasons why I can't help you.

right: There are many reasons why I can't help you.
Here reasons is the subject.



 Beware of confusing singular/plural words:

Singular	Plural
Medium	Media
Datum	Data

B. Modifiers

 1. Errors in the Use of Adjectives and Adverbs.

Check if a word modifier is an ADJECTIVE or an ADVERB. Make sure the correct form has been used.

• An ADJECTIVE describes a noun and answers the questions how many, which one, what kind?

She is a good tennis player. (What kind of tennis player?)

• An ADVERB describes either a verb or an adjective and answers the questions when, where, why, in what manner, and to what extent?
  
  She plays tennis well. (She plays tennis how?) This exercise is relatively easy. (How easy?)

Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjective, such as, "He worked quickly."
EXCEPTIONS:

Adjective	Adverb
early fast good hard late	early fast well hard (hardly means almost not) late (lately means recently)

wrong: She is a real good swimmer.

right: She is a really good swimmer.

"really" is acting as an adverb to modify the adjective "good"

wrong: The new student speaks bad.

right: The new student speaks badly.

"Badly" modifies how the student speaks.

2. Errors of Adjectives with Verbs of Sense.
The following verbs of sense are described by ADJECTIVES:

be

look

smell

taste

feel

seem

wrong: After the three week vacation, she looked very well.

right: After the three week vacation, she looked very good.
NOTE: "She is well" means "She is healthy" or describes a person's well-being.

wrong: The strawberry shortcake tastes deliciously.

right: The strawberry shortcake tastes delicious.
3. Location of Modification.

• A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes another part of the sentence.
• You should place a modifier as close as possible to what it is modifying.
• Modifiers sometimes appear to modify words that they don't modify.
  
  Test writers often use tricks to confuse students with modification:
  • that/which clauses, especially ones that come at the end of sentences
  • sentences beginning or ending with descriptive phrases
    

Examples
Faulty modifications often inadvertently change the meaning of sentences.
1. On arriving at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement in Springfield.

This sounds as if the friends arrived at the train station. It should say, "When Jay arrived at the train station, his friends met him and took him to his speaking engagement in Springfield."
Where did "Jay" come from? Sometimes one of the answer choices might inject new names into a sentence. This is appropriate here since the pronouns had no specific antecedents.

C. Parallelism

     Similar elements in a list should be in similar form. Writers often use a parallel structure for dissimilar items. Parallel constructions must be expressed in parallel grammatical form: all nouns, all infinitives, all gerunds, all prepositional phrases, or all clauses must agree.
wrong: All business students should learn word processing, accounting, and how to program computers.
right: All business students should learn word processing, accounting, and computer programming.
     This principle applies to any words that might begin each item in a series: prepositions (in, on, by, with), articles (the, a, an), helping verbs (had, has, would) and possessives (his, her, our). Either repeat the word before every element in a series or include it only before the first item. Anything else violates the rules of parallelism.

     In effect, your treatment of the second element of the series determines the form of all subsequent elements:
wrong: He invested his money in stocks, in real estate, and a home for retired performers.
right: He invested his money in stocks, in real estate, and in a home for retired performers.
      When proofreading, check that each item in the series agrees with the word or phrase that begins the series. In the above example, "invested his money" is the common phrase that each item shares. You would read, "He invested his money in real estate, (invested his money) in stocks, and (invested his money) in a home for retired performers."

D. Pronoun Agreement

          It is often difficult to tell what noun a pronoun replaces and what case (subjective or objective) should be used. Which pronoun you use depends on if the pronoun is being used as the subject or the object of a sentence.

Subject	Objective
he	him
she	her
who	whom
I	me
they	them
we	us

1. Pronoun Subject/Object.
Check if a pronoun is the SUBJECT or the OBJECT of a verb or preposition.

wrong: How could she blame you and he for the accident?

right: How could she blame you and him for the accident?

Example
(She/her) was better suited.


Here the pronoun is the subject of the verb suited, meaning "she" acts as the subject and is the correct answer.

WHO/ WHOM
If the pronoun is acting as a subject, it should be who. If it is acting as an object, it should be whom.


Example
I don't know (who/whom) Steven meant.
Whom is in the object form because it is the object of meant (with Steve as the subject).

2. Check if the pronoun and its verb agree in number.
Remember that the following are singular:

anyone	anything	each
either	everyone	everything
neither	no one	nothing
what	whatever	whoever

These are plural:

both

many

several

others

few

wrong: Everyone on the project have to come to the meeting.

right: Everyone on the project has to come to the meeting.

The forms "either... or" and "neither...nor" are singular and take a singular verb. However, if the noun closest to the verb in the "neither..nor" or "either...or" is plural, then the verb is plural.

wrong: Neither his bodyguards nor he were there.

right: Neither his bodyguards nor he was there.
3. Check if possessive pronouns agree in person and number.

wrong: Some of you will have to bring their own beer.

right: Some of you will have to bring your own beer.

Some is singular.

wrong: If anyone comes over, take their name.

right: If anyone comes over, take his name.

The subject is anyone, which is singular, which requires a singular pronoun, his.

4. "Objects" of to be verbs are in the subject form.

wrong: It must have been her who called.

right: It must have been she who called.

5. A relative pronoun (which, that or who) refers to the word preceding it. If the meaning is unclear, the pronoun is in the wrong position. The word "which" introduces non-essential clauses and "that" introduces essential clauses. "Who" refers to individuals; "that" refers to a group of persons, class, type, or species.

wrong: The line at the bank was very slow, which made me late.

right: I was late because of the line at the bank.
OR The line at the bank made me late.

6. In forms using impersonal pronouns, use either "one.. one's/his or her" or "you.. your."

wrong: One should have their teeth checked every six months.

right: One should have one's/his or her teeth checked six months.
OR You should have your teeth checked every six months.
wrong: One should take your responsibilities seriously.

right: One should take one's/his or her responsibilities seriously.
OR You should take your responsibilities seriously.



Exception: note that its is a possessive of it, and it's is the contraction of "it is."

E. Verb Time Sequences

    A common error in the GMAT is to misuse verb tense. Different verb tenses indicate the order in which separate actions or events occur. Many GMAT sentences are complicated and involve several different actions occurring at different times. The correct tenses make the sequence of actions clear. To determine whether the verbs in a sentence are in the proper tenses, pick one event as a "base" action and then determine when other events occurred relative to it. Determine whether the events occurred PRIOR TO the base action, AFTER the base action, or AT THE SAME TIME AS the base event took place. Actions that start before the base may continue after the base.

VERB TENSE TIPS

1. You should look out for -ing forms.
Typically -ing forms are commonly used as junk answers on the GMAT.

• I am walking
• I was walking
• I had been walking
  
  

As far as the GMAT is concerned, there are only two basic reasons to use an -ing form:

• to emphasize the continuing nature of an action or
• to emphasize that two actions are occurring simultaneously.
  
  In other words, the GMAT usually wants you to pick a simpler tense, one that doesn't use the -ing form, unless an action is continuing or happening during another action. A good way to remember this rule is to think of the word during and its -ing ending.

2. Be alert for the appearance of several verbs, indicating events that seem to have happened in sequence or at different times. In which case, pick one verb as the "base" in time sequence.

Example
If the cyclist wins the race, it will be representing an extraordinary comeback from his earlier cancer.


Solution
The win will not be "representing an extraordinary comeback;" it will "represent a comeback."

F. Comparisons

     You should compare only things that can be logically compared. Faulty comparisons account for a significant number of errors in GMAT Sentence Correction questions. Most relate to the very simple idea that YOU CAN'T COMPARE APPLES TO ORANGES. You want to compare things that are grammatically similar; you also want to compare things that are logically similar. For instance, you can't logically compare a person to a quality or an item to a group. You have to compare one individual to another, one quality to another, or one group to another.
You should look out for key comparison words, such as:

like	as	compared to
less than	more than	other
that of	those of

A number of constructions call for you to always express ideas in parallel form. These constructions include

Either X or Y...
Neither X nor Y...
Not only X but also Y...
X or Y can stand for as little as one word or as much as a whole clause, but in any case, the grammatical structure of X or Y must be identical.
wrong: The view from this apartment is not nearly as spectacular as from that mountain lodge.
right: The view from this apartment is not nearly as spectacular as the one from that mountain lodge.

Check to see whether the comparison is both logical (according to the standards of GMAT English) and grammatical.

1. Jerry gives less to charity than any other church member.

You want to compare what Jerry gives to what any other church member contributes. The simplest way to fix this and make it suitable GMAT English is to add a "does" after "church member". Thus, the statement now directly compares what Jerry gives to what other church members give. (Note: if Jerry were to give something quantifiable, like dollars then it would be, "Jerry gives fewer dollars..." instead of less.)

2. The newer model weighed 20 pounds less than that of the older model.

It has to be either: "The newer model weighed 20 pounds less than the older model did." or "The newer model's weight was 20 pounds less than that of the older model."

3. The sports writer questioned the skill of basketball players compared to tennis players.

It has to be "the skill of basketball players" compared to that of "tennis players." It must be phrased the "skill of basketball players compared to the skill of tennis players."

G. Idioms

Look for these common idiom tricks on GMAT questions:

• Consider, regard...as, think of...as: there is no as after consider, while both regard and think of need the as.
  
• To be/being: In general, avoid the construction to be/being because they are usually passive. To be/being are commonly used in junk answer choices. 
• II. Three-Step Method to the Sentence Correction Questions
  A. Read the sentence.
  B. Figure out what the question is testing.
  C. Eliminate answer choices.
• A. Read the sentence.
  
       Do not simply read the underlined part of the sentence. Read the complete sentence. Choice (A) will always be a copy of the original underlined part of the sentence. If you cannot find any errors in the original sentence, choose A. Don't worry about spelling, capitalization, or punctuation; they are not covered in Sentence Correction questions.
  
  B. Figure out what the question is testing.
  
       This is a multiple choice exam, so you know that one of the answer choices must be right. Therefore, you may look at the different answer choices and see what the changes are to figure out the problem in the sentence.
  
  Example
  "On arriving at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement."
  Give these answers a quick glance:
  a) On arriving at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement.
  b) Arriving at the train station, his friends who met him immediately took him to his speaking engagement.
  c) When he arrived at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement.
  d) When he arrived at the train station, he was taken immediately to his speaking engagement.
  e) After arriving at the train station, he was immediately taken to his speaking engagement.
  Notice that certain parts of the sentences change from choice A to choice E. These are the "controversial" parts of the sentence that contain variable elements.
  a) On arriving at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement.
  b) Arriving at the train station, his friends who met him immediately took him to his speaking engagement.
  c) When he arrived at the train station, his friends met him and took him immediately to his speaking engagement.
  d) When he arrived at the train station, he was taken immediately to his speaking engagement.
  e) After arriving at the train station, he was immediately taken to his speaking engagement.
  The bolded parts of the sentence represent areas that change; the non-bolded are the areas that are fixed throughout the answer choices and therefore must not have problems. Thus, we may narrow the problem areas of the sentence. Choice C is correct because it clarifies the subject of the modifying phrase.
  C. Eliminate answer choices.
        The process of elimination is very important here. Eliminate a choice once you find one error in it. Gradually, you should be down to one or two choices, and you may make a reasonable guess. Use the process of elimination scrap paper charts to narrow your choices.
  

  
  

  D. Sample Questions
  
  1. The threat of discrimination lawsuits helps ensure <that pay be the same for jobs historically held by minorities as for jobs requiring comparable skill that are> usually held by whites.
  
  (A) that pay be the same for jobs historically held by minorities as for jobs requiring comparable skill that are
  (B) that pay for jobs historically held by minorities should be the same as for a job requiring comparable skills
  (C) to pay the same in jobs historically held by minorities as in jobs of comparable skill that are
  (D) to pay the same regardless of whether a job was historically held by minorities or is one demanding comparable skills
  (E) to pay as much for jobs historically held by minorities as for a job demanding comparable skills
  
  
  
  
  
  In choice B, 'should' is illogical after 'requires', or at least unnecessary, and so is better omitted; in choices B and E, 'job' does not agree in number with jobs; and in choices B, D, and E, the wording illogically describes the 'comparable skills' rather than the 'jobs' as being "usually held, by whites." Choices C, D, and E produce the ungrammatical construction 'requires of... employers to pay', in which of makes the phrase incorrect. In C, .the use of in rather than 'for' is unidiomatic, and 'jobs of comparable skill' confusedly suggests that the jobs rather than the workers possess the skills. In D, the phrase beginning 'regardless. . .' is awkward and wordy in addition to being illogical. Choice A is best
  

  
  
  

  2. Hand ale pumps may slightly improve the flavor of ale over gas-powered kegs, but modern pub managers contend that <hand ale pumps cost twice as much as gas-powered kegs>.
  (A) hand ale pumps cost twice as much as maintaining gas-powered kegs
  (B) hand ale pumps cost twice as much to maintain as gas-powered kegs do
  (C) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as gas-powered kegs do
  (D) maintaining hand ale pumps costs twice as much as it does for gas-powered kegs
  (E) to maintain hand ale pumps costs twice as much as for gas-powered kegs
  
  
  
  This sentence compares the costs required to maintain two kinds of roads. B, the best choice, is able to maintain parallelism in the comparison as well. Choice A incorrectly shifts the meaning by comparing the cost of hand ale pumps with the cost of maintaining gas-powered kegs. Choice C does the opposite: it compares the cost of maintaining hand ale pumps with the cost of gas-powered kegs themselves. Choice D further confuses the sentence by adding a nonparallel clause, it does for, in which it has no clear referent. Choice E introduces the infinitive phrase to maintain.., and wrongly attempts to complete the comparison with the nonparallel prepositional phrase for....
  
  
  
  3. This week's bingo session will have <an even greater amount of winners> than won last week.
  
  (A) an even greater amount of winners
  (B) an ever larger amount of winners
  (C) an amount of people even winners
  (D) a number of people even winners
  (E) an even greater number of winners
  
  
  
  
  Notice that three choices contain the word amount and two choices contain number. People, because they can be counted, come in numbers rather than amounts. (E) is best because of the remaining two because the phrase an even greater amount of people clearly refers to more people, while a number of people even larger could be referring to bigger people.
  
  
  
  4. <With> only one percent of the world's population, the English people have dramatically altered the course of the world.
  
  A) With
  B) Although accounting for
  C) Being
  D) Despite having
  E) As
  
  
  
  
  The trick with this sentence correction question is the contrast between the size of the English population and the activities of its citizens. Choices D and B are the only ones that establish the contrast, and only B, the best choice, expresses meaning accurately with the phrase 'Although accounting for.' 'With' in choice A and 'Despite having' in choice D confusingly suggest that English people somehow possess, rather than constitute, one percent of the world's population. Choices E and C lose the contrast between the opening phrase and the main clause, and As is unidiomatic in E.
  
  5. The public's widespread interest in the life of <ancient Egyptians and their general curiosity about extraterrestrial life has> generated considerable interest in science fiction.
  
  A) ancient Egyptians and their general curiosity about extraterrestrial life has
  B) ancient Egyptians and they are generally curious about extraterrestrial life which has
  C) ancient Egyptians, as well as their general curiosity about extraterrestrial life, have
  D) ancient Egyptians, as well as its general curiosity about extraterrestrial life, has
  E) ancient Egyptians, as well as general curiosity about extraterrestrial life, have
  
  
  
  
  The sample sentence has two errors. First, it is vague about what the word 'their' refers to (the public or the ancient Egyptians) and then there is a problem with subject/verb agreement (public is singular, meaning that it has to math 'has'. Logically, it would seem the reference is to the public, but public is singular; so we would have to use its, not their. Choice (B) is awkward. Choices (C), (D), and (E) change the sentence's structure so that the word belief becomes the only subject-now we need a singular verb. Only (D) contains the singular verb has.
  
  

  
  

Types of Computer

 On the basis of working principle:
a) Analog Computer:
An analog computer (spelt analogue in British English) is a form of computer that uses continuous physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved.

1. Thermometer
2. Speedometer
3. Petrol Pump Indicator
4. Multimeter

b) Digital Computer:
A computer that performs calculations and logical operations with quantities represented as digits, usually in the binary number system.
                                                                    c) Hybrid Computer (Analog + Digital)   :
A combination of computers those are capable of inputting and outputting in both digital and analog signals. A hybrid computer system setup offers a cost effective method of performing complex simulations.
Computer