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GATE 2022 EC GA Q.1: solution and answer

GATE 2022 · ECGA Q.1 · 1 mark · MCQ

Mr. X speaks ______ Japanese ______ Chinese.

  1. (A)

    neither / or

  2. (B)

    either / nor

  3. (C)

    neither / nor

  4. (D)

    also / but

See the question in the paper
GATE 2022 EC GA question 1Tap to open full size

Answer and solution

ANSWER

(C) neither / nor: "Mr. X speaks neither Japanese nor Chinese."

Official answer: CSource: Official answer key, GATE 2022 EC (IIT Kharagpur)

  1. The two blanks call for a correlative conjunction: a pair of words that always go together, one word in each blank.

  2. The standard correlative pairs are fixed: either ... or and neither ... nor. You cannot swap one half of a pair for the other.

  3. (A) neither / or puts the negative neither with the positive or. That pairing is wrong, because neither always takes nor.

  4. (B) either / nor has the same fault the other way round: either always takes or, never nor.

  5. (D) also / but is not a correlative pair. The standard pair is not only ... but also, and "Mr. X speaks also Japanese but Chinese" is not grammatical.

  6. (C) neither / nor is a correct pair. "Mr. X speaks neither Japanese nor Chinese" means he speaks neither of the two languages. The sentence is grammatical and makes sense.

  7. Only option (C) uses a correct correlative pair, so the answer is (C).

KEY IDEA

Correlative conjunctions come in fixed pairs: either goes with or, and neither goes with nor. When the two blanks are split around two nouns joined in this way, check that both halves come from the same pair.

WATCH OUT FOR

Mixing the halves of two pairs, as in neither ... or (A) or either ... nor (B). Each one looks nearly right because one word in it is correct. Another mistake is picking (D) because also and but recall not only ... but also, a pair that needs not only in the first blank.

From the GATE 2022 EC paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 32 Grammar & vocabulary questions, with notes

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