NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 50 of 150

Correct — B, standing. In 'be used to', the 'to' is a preposition, not part of an infinitive, so whatever follows it must be a noun or an -ing form. 'I am used to standing in queues' means the writer is accustomed to it, has done it often, and no longer finds it strange. That is the sense the sentence wants, and 'standing' is the form the structure demands.

• (a)stand — A bare infinitive cannot follow the preposition 'to' in this structure. 'Used to stand' is a different pattern altogether — it describes a past habit that has now stopped, and it cannot follow 'am'.
• (c)stand up — This is the same wrong form with a particle added, so it fails for the same reason. 'Stand up' also means to rise from a seat, which is a single movement rather than the settled habit the sentence describes.
• (d)standing still — The form is right but the meaning is not. 'To stand still' means to stay motionless, and a queue is a line that keeps shuffling forward, so the phrase misdescribes what people actually do in one.

A grammar item on the pattern 'be used to' followed by an -ing form, and on how it differs from the unrelated 'used to' of past habit.

Two structures share the same three letters and are easy to confuse. In 'I used to stand in queues', 'used to' is a verb of past habit and takes the plain infinitive — it means the writer once did this and no longer does. In 'I am used to standing in queues', 'used' is an adjective meaning accustomed, and 'to' is a preposition — it means the writer is comfortable with the practice now. The presence of 'am' before 'used' is the signal, and once you see it you know an -ing form must follow. The same rule governs 'look forward to', 'object to', 'get used to' and 'be accustomed to'.

• 'Be used to' and 'get used to' are followed by a noun or an -ing form, because 'to' here is a preposition.
• 'Used to' on its own, without a form of 'be', takes the plain infinitive and describes a discontinued past habit.
• 'Look forward to' and 'object to' follow the same prepositional pattern, as in 'looking forward to meeting you'.
• 'Stand still' is a fixed phrase meaning to remain motionless.

• Seeing the word 'to' and reflexively supplying an infinitive.
• Choosing an option that has the right form but shifts the meaning, as 'standing still' does.

Asked as a one-blank sentence that turns on whether the candidate can tell the preposition 'to' from the 'to' of an infinitive.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the correct form — She is looking forward to ________ her grandparents next month.

  • (a)meet
  • (b)meeting
  • (c)met
  • (d)have met

  Answer(b) meeting — in 'look forward to' the word 'to' is a preposition, so an -ing form follows.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the correct form — When he was a boy, he ________ swim in the river every summer.

  • (a)is used to
  • (b)used to
  • (c)was used to
  • (d)is using to

  Answer(b) used to — a discontinued past habit takes 'used to' with the plain infinitive 'swim'.