GMAT Practice Questions: Sentence Completion

The Sentence Completion section on the GMAT consists of about 12 questions in the Verbal section. You are presented with a sentence that may contain a grammatical error in the underlined portion.

The first answer choice presents the underlined portion as written, while the following answer choices make corrections in some way.

Practice questions

1. Alexander Graham Bell was a gifted inventor, but they did not know how his invention of the telephone would change the world.A. but they did not know how his invention of the telephone would change the world.

   B. but they did not know how his invention of the telephone would change the world back then.

   C. but he did not know how his invention of the telephone would change the world at that time.

   D. but neither he nor anyone else knew how his invention of the telephone would change the world.

   E. but not gifted enough to see his invention was going to change the world with the invention he made that was the telephone.

2. Liu felt that the exhaust fan in the first examination room was more effective than the second.

   A. more effective than the second.

   B. more effective than the exhaust fan in the second examination room.C. more effective that she expected.

   D. the most effective exhaust fan.

   E. more effective than what she had noticed in the second examination room.

Answers and explanations

1. The correct answer is D.Alexander Graham Bell was a gifted inventor, but neither he nor anyone else knew how his invention of the telephone would change the world.

   This is a question about pronoun choices, so ignore those answers which do not address this, including Choice (B) and Choice (E). The sentence as is contains a pronoun error: they does not refer back to Alexander Graham Bell correctly. Choice (C) matches the pronouns correctly, but changes the meaning of the sentence, which refers to how Bell's invention would go on to change the world in the future. Choice (D) does the best job of matching the pronoun and making it clear (by the addition of the phrase nor anyone else) that the sentence is meant to show that no one, including Bell, foresaw how his invention would change the world.

2. The correct answer is B.Liu felt that the exhaust fan in the first examination room was more effective than the exhaust fan in the second examination room.

   Of the choices provided, Choice (B) is the best. It clarifies that the comparison is between the exhaust fans in two examining rooms, whereas the original leaves it unclear as to what the second is referring to.