IBPS Clerk · Bite-size lessons
Sentence Improvement / Phrase Replacement
About 6 min · English Language · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 397 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
You are given a sentence with an underlined portion and must choose the best replacement from the options—or select "No improvement required" if the original is correct.
Key ideas
- Subject-Verb Agreement: The verb must match the subject in number. Intervening phrases between subject and verb are common traps ("The list of items is ready" not "are ready").
- Tense Consistency: A sentence should maintain logical tense flow. Mixing past and present without reason is the most common error pattern.
- Correct Preposition Usage: Many verbs and adjectives take specific prepositions. "Comply *with*" not "comply to"; "different *from*" not "different than."
- Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: Pronouns must agree in number and gender with what they refer to. "Each student must bring his/her book" not "*their* book" (in formal usage).
- Parallelism: Items in a list or comparison must follow the same grammatical structure. "She likes reading, writing, and *swimming*" not "to read, writing, and swim."
Watch out for
- Ignoring "No improvement required": Students often force-select an option even when the original sentence is correct. Read carefully before changing anything.
- Choosing based on "sounds better" alone: While reading aloud helps, you must identify the specific grammar rule being tested. Two options might sound acceptable, but only one follows the rule.
- Confusing similar-sounding words: "Affect/effect," "principal/principle," "advice/advise," "lay/lie"—these are tested repeatedly. Memorize which is which.
Quick reference
- Subject-Verb: Ignore phrases between subject and verb; match verb to the true subject.
- Since/For: Use present perfect or present perfect continuous, never simple present.
- Rise (intransitive) vs Raise (transitive): Prices rise; we raise prices.
- Would have → Had: In "if" clauses, never use "would have"; use "had."
- Cope with: No "up".
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. The manager asked the employee to **submit the report by tomorrow**. Which of the following alternatives best replaces the underlined phrase to make the sentence grammatically correct?
2. The students were **very much excited** to hear about the educational trip to Delhi. Which of the following alternatives best replaces the underlined phrase to make the sentence grammatically correct?
3. The government has announced new schemes **for the benefits of** farmers across the country. Which of the following alternatives best replaces the underlined phrase to make the sentence grammatically correct?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 17 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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