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Question

Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence: 

The police is investigating the matter seriously.

This question was previously asked in
SSC CGL 2025 Tier 2 Paper 1 Question Paper (19-Jan-2026)
The correct answer is
are investigating the matter seriously

Grammar: Police Subject-Verb Agreement

The question tests subject-verb agreement with the collective noun 'police'. In English grammar, 'police' is generally treated as a plural noun when referring to the police force as a group of individuals.

  • Incorrect Usage: 'The police' (plural subject) + 'is' (singular verb). Example: The police is investigating.
  • Correct Usage: 'The police' (plural subject) + 'are' (plural verb). Example: The police are investigating.

Analyzing Sentence Options

The original sentence is: "The police is investigating the matter seriously." The error is the use of the singular verb 'is' with the plural noun 'police'. We need to replace 'is investigating' with a grammatically correct plural verb form.

  • Option 1: 'are investigating the matter seriously' - Correctly uses the plural verb 'are' with 'police', maintaining the present continuous tense.
  • Option 2: 'investigates the matter' - Uses the singular verb 'investigates', which is incorrect for 'police'.
  • Option 3: 'were investigating seriously the matter' - Uses the plural verb 'were', but the adverb placement ('seriously') is awkward, and it changes the tense to past continuous.
  • Option 4: 'is in investigation' - Incorrect phrasing and uses the singular verb 'is'.

Conclusion

Option 1 is the most suitable replacement as it corrects the subject-verb agreement error ('is' to 'are') while maintaining the correct tense and sentence structure.

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Important Questions from Phrase Replacement

  1. In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the underlined part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select “No improvement”

    My old teacher gave many poor students money in spite of he was poor.

  2. In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the underlined part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select “No improvement”.

    You should to read the newspaper regularly if you want to be well-informed.

  3. In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the underlined part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select “No improvement”.

    If he had listening to me he would not have got lost.

  4. In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the underlined part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select “No improvement”

    He asked for a bank loan also he didn't have sufficient resources.

  5. In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the underlined part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select “No improvement”.

    I went to the shop to buy some stationeries .

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