Select the most appropriate option to replace the underlined part of the sentence. If no improvement is needed, choose ‘No improvement’.
Meera’s dance group practised hard every evening for a month, and its performance won the first prize at the youth festival.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → No improvement
“Hard” and “hardly”:
- “Hard” can describe how we do something. Then it means “with a lot of effort”, and it takes no -ly.
- The group put in a lot of effort every evening, and it won the first prize. So “practised hard” is already correct.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: practised hardly — Incorrect. “Hardly” means “almost not”. It does not mean “with effort”, so it does not fit a group that worked for a prize. Example: I could hardly hear the teacher in the noisy hall.
Option 2: was practised hard — Incorrect. “Was practised” is the passive form. The group did the practising itself, so the verb must be active. Example: The new song was practised many times before the show.
Option 3: practises hard — Incorrect. “Practises” is in the present tense. The sentence is about the past (“won”), so the verb must be in the simple past. Example: My brother practises the flute every morning.