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GATE 2026 EE GA Q.1: solution and answer

GATE 2026 · EEGA Q.1 · 1 mark · MCQ

‘The shopkeeper sells lemons.’

In this sentence, the word ‘lemons’ is the ______.

  1. (A)

    object

  2. (B)

    subject

  3. (C)

    predicate

  4. (D)

    verb

See the question in the paper
GATE 2026 EE GA question 1Tap to open full size

Answer and solution

ANSWER

‘Lemons’ is the object, the direct object of the verb ‘sells’. The answer is option (A).

Official answer: ASource: Official answer key, GATE 2026 EE (IIT Guwahati)

  1. Split the sentence into its two basic parts. The subject is the doer of the action: The shopkeeper. The predicate is everything the sentence says about the subject: sells lemons.

  2. Inside the predicate, sells is the verb. It names the action. Here it is transitive, so it needs an object to complete its meaning.

  3. Find the direct object with the test subject + verb + what?: "The shopkeeper sells what?" The answer is lemons. So lemons is the direct object, the noun that receives the action of the verb.

  4. Rule out the other options. It is not the subject, because lemons does not do the selling. It is not the verb, because it names a thing, not an action. It is not the predicate, because the predicate is the whole phrase sells lemons, and lemons is only one part of it.

  5. So lemons is the object, which is option (A).

KEY IDEA

A simple sentence divides into a subject (who does the action) and a predicate (what is said about the subject). A transitive verb inside the predicate takes a direct object, which answers the question "subject + verb + what?". The shopkeeper sells what? Lemons, so ‘lemons’ is the object.

WATCH OUT FOR

Picking (C) 'predicate' because ‘lemons’ sits in the predicate half of the sentence. The predicate is the whole verb phrase ‘sells lemons’. A single noun inside it that receives the action is the object, not the predicate.

From the GATE 2026 EE paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 32 Grammar & vocabulary questions, with notes

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