Select the option that can replace the underlined phrase and make the sentence grammatically correct. The programme on TV was now shown the blurring faces of the inmates of the rehabilitation centre .
- (a)was now showing the blurred faces of the inmates upon the rehabilitation centre
- (b)were now showing the blurred faces of the inmates of the rehabilitation centre.
- (c)were now showing the blurring faces of the inmates from the rehabilitation centre
- (d)was now showing the blurred faces of the inmates of the rehabilitation centre
Answer
Why
Correct — D. The underlined phrase carries two faults and only option (d) clears both.
The programme did the showing, so the verb must be active: was now showing. The passive was now shown cannot take the object that follows it, the faces.
The faces were blurred by the broadcaster, so the participle is the passive blurred. Blurring would mean the faces were blurring something else.
The subject The programme is singular, so was stays.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)was now showing the blurred faces of the inmates upon the rehabilitation centre — The preposition breaks it. Inmates are of an institution, never upon it. The verb and the participle are repaired here, so this option is discarded on its last three words alone.
- (b)were now showing the blurred faces of the inmates of the rehabilitation centre. — Were does not agree with the singular subject The programme. Everything after the verb is correct, which is what makes the agreement slip easy to skim past.
- (c)were now showing the blurring faces of the inmates from the rehabilitation centre — Two faults survive. Were disagrees with the singular The programme, and blurring describes faces that are doing the blurring rather than faces that have been blurred.
Concept
Sentence-improvement items usually hide more than one error, and the right option is the one that clears all of them.
Two rules do the work here. Voice: if the subject performs the action and an object follows, the verb must be active — a passive verb cannot take a direct object.
Participles used as adjectives: the -ing form describes what causes the effect, the -ed form what receives it. A boring lecture bores you, a bored student has been bored.
Test each option against the faults you have already found rather than reading for what sounds natural. Every option except the key here repairs one fault and leaves or introduces another.
Key facts
- A passive verb such as was shown cannot be followed by a direct object.
- The -ing participle marks what causes an effect (blurring) and the -ed participle what receives it (blurred).
- The programme is a singular subject and takes was, not were.
Study next
Common traps
- Fixing the participle and missing the subject-verb agreement inside the same option
- Assuming the underlined phrase contains only one error
English Q.14 of this shift tests voice on its own, turning a passive into The mechanic repaired the car, and Q.17 goes the other way, into the passive. Here voice is just one fault among several folded into a single underlined phrase.
The same whole-segment repair is set at 10 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.6, where since I am born is corrected to since I was born.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.