NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 8 of 150

Correct — B, 'because students are on strike for the last fifteen days as a protest against'. 'For the last fifteen days' measures a stretch of time running from the past up to the present, and English marks that with the present perfect continuous. The segment has to read 'because students have been on strike for the last fifteen days as a protest against…'.

• (a)The Principal looks very worried — Error-free — 'looks' is a linking verb here and 'very worried' is the complement that belongs after it.
• (c)his disciplinary action against some miscreants. — Error-free — a well-formed noun phrase, and 'action against' is the ordinary pairing.
• (d)No error. — The verb form in the second segment does not agree with the time expression beside it, so the sentence carries a mistake.

A period introduced by 'for the last…' or by 'since…' reaches the present, and the verb has to be in a perfect form to reach with it.

Two other things in this sentence tempt a second look and neither is the fault. 'As a protest against' is acceptable, even though 'in protest against' is the commoner wording, and 'against' appearing twice is a matter of style rather than grammar. The tested point is the tense, and it is the same point as Q4 of this paper — 'am advising him for a long time' there, 'are on strike for the last fifteen days' here.

• Have or has been plus an -ing form covers an action that began earlier and is still going on.
• The present continuous covers only what is going on at the moment of speaking.
• 'On strike' is a fixed phrase — workers are on strike, and they go on strike.

• Marking the third segment because 'against' appears twice in the sentence.
• Reading 'are on strike' as correct because the strike is still going on.

Asked as an error-spotting item — name the segment that carries the mistake, or mark 'No error.'

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which segment carries the error — (a) The workers are / (b) on strike / (c) since Monday morning. / (d) No error

  • (a)The workers are
  • (b)on strike
  • (c)since Monday morning.
  • (d)No error

  Answer(a) The workers are — with 'since Monday morning' it must read 'The workers have been on strike since Monday morning.'

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Fill the blank — They ________ in this house for twenty years.

  • (a)live
  • (b)are living
  • (c)have been living
  • (d)were living

  Answer(c) have been living — the period runs from the past up to the present.