Correct the given sentences; punctuate the paragraph on "scientific language"; fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions; and use pairs of words (Dependant/Dependent, Funeral/Funereal, Fain/Feign, Gamble/Gambol, Hoard/Horde, Ingenious/Ingenuous, Luxuriant/Luxurious, Moat/Mote) in sentences.

Q. 4 — Corrected sentences

1. The fact that I almost drowned makes me very careful about water safety whenever I go swimming. (A noun clause needs "the fact that" as subject.)

2. The amount they receive in wages is greater than it was twenty years ago. (Complete the comparison.)

3. Playing a game regularly is better than reading books all the time. (Parallel structure: gerund with gerund.)

4. It is one of the best speeches that have ever been made in the General Assembly. (The verb is missing; "that" refers to the plural "speeches".)

5. Ever since they heard about the burglaries in the neighbourhood, they kept the lights on all the time and closed all the doors and windows very carefully. (Consistent past tense; word order of the phrasal verb.)

6. When Susan realised that all her bottles of nail polish had dried out, she decided to keep them for decoration. (Sequence of tenses; "mail" is a misprint for "nail".)

7. It was late at night and a boy was riding his bike along the path when suddenly he stopped in shock, as his headlamp was not working any more. (Idiom "late at night"; past continuous for the interrupted action.)

8. The girl told the conductor that she had lost her train ticket and did not know how she would get home. (Indirect speech: past perfect; "knew not" is archaic.)

Q. 5(a) — Punctuated paragraph

Scientists and philosophers of science tend to speak as if "scientific language" were intrinsically precise, as if those who use it must understand one another's meaning even if they disagree. But, in fact, scientific language is not as different from ordinary language as is commonly believed; it, too, is subject to imprecision and ambiguity, and hence to imperfect understanding. Moreover, new theories or arguments are rarely, if ever, constructed by way of clear-cut steps of induction, deduction, and verification or falsification; neither are they defended, rejected, or accepted in so straightforward a manner. In practice, scientists combine the rules of scientific methodology with a generous admixture of intuition, aesthetics, and philosophical commitment. The importance of what are sometimes called extra-rational or extra-logical components of thought in the discovery of a new principle or law is generally acknowledged.

Q. 5(b) — Prepositions

(i) Nobody is certain about the future, but some are convinced of the past.

(ii) He was familiar with the author but not knowledgeable in depth about him.

(iii) After weighing up all the options, we decided to plump for the first design.

(v) The party's withdrawal from the elections was widely seen as an obstacle to the success of the peace plan.

(vi) They agreed to cooperate with the police on these matters.

(viii) The landscape of the Pampas is in places similar to the Dutch landscape.

Also: (iv) a motive for revenge; "deny" takes a direct object — he denied the charges. (vii) I just listen to their complaints.

Q. 6 — Pairs of words

Dependant / Dependent: The officer claimed an allowance for each of his three dependants. — Pakistan's economy remains dependent on imported oil.

Funeral / Funereal: Thousands attended the funeral of the late scholar. — The minister spoke in a funereal tone about the flood losses.

Fain / Feign: I would fain help you, but my hands are tied. — The student tried to feign illness to avoid the test.

Gamble / Gambol: Investing all his savings in one stock was a reckless gamble. — Lambs gambol in the meadows in spring.

Hoard / Horde: Traders who hoard wheat create artificial shortages. — A horde of fans rushed onto the cricket ground.

Ingenious / Ingenuous: The engineer devised an ingenious method of storing rainwater. — Her ingenuous reply showed she had no idea of the plot.

Luxuriant / Luxurious: The valley is covered with luxuriant vegetation after the monsoon. — They stayed in a luxurious hotel overlooking the sea.

Moat / Mote: A wide moat surrounded the old fort. — A mote of dust floated in the sunbeam.