Read the given sentences carefully. Choose the grammatically correct options:
(A) The new company policy was met with tepidly enthusiasm by the employees, who is concerned about its impact on their workload.
(B) The humanities' professor was rather surprised to discover that undergraduate engineering students did not know how to use figurative language properly.
(C) Upon carefully examination by the defense, it was discovered that their were several inconsistencies in the testimony given by the accused.
(D) The new employee, who had recently graduated from university, naively assumed that she would be able to get a leave on her second day at work.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (B) and (D) only
(A) The new company policy was met with tepidly enthusiasm by the employees, who is concerned about its impact on their workload. — Incorrect. "Enthusiasm" is a noun and needs the adjective tepid (lukewarm), not the adverb "tepidly". The relative pronoun "who" refers to the plural "employees", so the verb must be were, not "is".
Corrected: The new company policy was met with tepid enthusiasm by the employees, who were concerned about its impact on their workload.
(B) The humanities' professor was rather surprised to discover that undergraduate engineering students did not know how to use figurative language properly. — Correct. The tenses agree ("was surprised", "did not know") and "rather surprised to discover" is a correct pattern. The possessive "humanities'" (professor of the humanities) is acceptable.
(C) Upon carefully examination by the defense, it was discovered that their were several inconsistencies in the testimony given by the accused. — Incorrect. "Examination" is a noun and needs the adjective careful, not "carefully". "Their" shows possession; the sentence needs there were.
Corrected: Upon careful examination by the defense, it was discovered that there were several inconsistencies in the testimony given by the accused.
(D) The new employee, who had recently graduated from university, naively assumed that she would be able to get a leave on her second day at work. — Correct. The past perfect "had graduated" shows the earlier action, and "would be able to" follows the past verb "assumed".
Contrast: the adjective (tepid, careful) describes a noun such as "enthusiasm" or "examination"; the adverb ("tepidly", "carefully") describes a verb.