Select the most appropriate option to substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. If there is no need to substitute
it, select No improvement.
Scarcely had the passengers boarded the plane when the captain welcomed them.
This questions was previously asked in
SSC CGL 7th March 2020 Shift-2
No improvement
Correct Answerthan the captain welcomes them
Incorrect Answerwhen the captain had welcomed them
Incorrect Answerthat the captain welcomed them
Incorrect AnswerExplanation:
- Option 1: No improvement
- The original sentence is correctly structured.
- "Scarcely" is followed by an inversion of the subject and auxiliary verb, which is correct.
- Correct Answer
- Option 2: than the captain welcomes them
- This is incorrect because "than" is used for comparisons, not time conjunctions.
- Option 3: when the captain had welcomed them
- This uses past perfect tense for both actions unnecessarily.
- It suggests that welcoming happened before boarding, which is illogical.
- Option 4: that the captain welcomed them
- Replacing "when" with "that" disrupts the sequential relationship.
- "That" is not a time conjunction.
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By: santosh