Explanation

• Correct sentence: The marginal signs are believed to have been added after the volume was rebound.
• “Are believed to have been added” is a passive infinitive construction used for an action believed to have occurred in the past.
• To have been + past participle is the correct structure for the perfect passive infinitive.

Last verified on 19-10-2026

Explanation

• Correct sentence: What little correspondence survives from the expedition suggests that the route was abandoned abruptly.
• The subject is “What little correspondence survives from the expedition”, which is treated as singular.
• Therefore, the singular verb suggests is required.

Last verified on 19-10-2026

Explanation

• Correct sentence: The labels were photographed before removal lest their original sequence become impossible to reconstruct.
• Lest means “for fear that” or “to prevent something undesirable from happening.”
• In formal English, lest is commonly followed by a subjunctive verb in its base form, such as become.

Last verified on 19-10-2026

Explanation

• Correct sentence: By the time the discrepancy was noticed, the relevant figures had been copied into three subsequent tables.
• Past Perfect Passive (had been + past participle) is used for an action completed before another past event.
• The figures had already been copied before the discrepancy was noticed.

Last verified on 19-10-2026

Explanation

• Complete sentence: Were the distinction merely terminological, it would not affect how the clause is read today.
• “Were the distinction…” is an inverted conditional structure equivalent to “If the distinction were merely terminological…”
• The second conditional uses would + base form of the verb to describe a hypothetical situation.

Last verified on 19-10-2026

Explanation

Passage: Measurements do not become neutral merely because they are numerical. Before a quantity can be counted, someone must decide what belongs in the category and where its boundaries lie. Such decisions may be reasonable, but they are not invisible. A stable index can illuminate change only when the meaning of its components remains sufficiently constant. If definitions shift while the figures are compared, apparent improvement may reflect reclassification rather than reality. Conversely, refusing all comparison because categories are imperfect would sacrifice useful knowledge. The prudent analyst therefore examines both the numbers and the conventions that made them possible.

1. Which statement best expresses the passage's central claim? Quantitative comparisons require scrutiny of underlying categories.
2. The statement that classificatory decisions "are not invisible" chiefly means that such decisions? Shape the meaning of resulting measurements.
3. According to the passage, an apparent improvement may be misleading when? Definitions used across successive measurements have shifted.
4. Which pair of positions does the author reject? Uncritical trust and wholesale scepticism.
5. Which procedure would most closely follow the author's recommendation? Verify category stability before interpreting numerical change.

Last verified on 19-10-2026