In Bangladesh, the legal age (a)_____ marriage (b)_______ girls is 18. However, 33% of our girls get married before they are 15 and 60% (c)________ them become mothers (d)_______ the time they reach 19. When an adolescent girl gets married, she usually drops (e)______ of school and thus loses her mobility. She gets confined (f)________ full time work (g)______ her in-law's household. She loses social status and all the opportunities (h)_______ economic independence. (i)________ her in-law's house, she gets marginalized. She becomes vulnerable (j)________ all sorts of abuse, including dowry related violence.
a. of; b. for; c. of; d. by; e. out; f. to; g. in; h. of; i. in; j. to;
In Bangladesh, the legal age (a) of marriage (b) for girls is 18. However, 33% of our girls get married before they are 15 and 60% (c) of them become mothers (d) by the time they reach 19. When an adolescent girl gets married, she usually drops (e) out of school and thus loses her mobility. She gets confined (f) to full time work (g) in her in-law's household. She loses social status and all the opportunities (h) of economic independence. (i) in her in-law's house, she gets marginalized. She becomes vulnerable (j) to all sorts of abuse, including dowry related violence.
In formal English, the conjunction "as" is used to introduce a clause or a phrase that indicates a comparison or the manner in which something is done. In this sentence, "as in the old days" describes how the evening was spent, implying "in the way it was done in the old days."
Conversely, "like" is primarily used as a preposition to mean "similar to" or "in the manner of," and is typically followed by a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase. While "like" is often used informally in place of "as" or "as if," it is generally considered incorrect in standard written English when introducing a clause or an adverbial phrase of comparison.
For example:
Incorrect: She sings like she is a professional.
Correct: She sings as if she is a professional.
Correct: She sings like a professional. (Here, 'like' is a preposition followed by a noun phrase 'a professional'.)
Therefore, "as in the old days" is the grammatically correct and more formal choice for this context.
In English grammar, the verb 'call' can be used in several ways, and its usage dictates whether a preposition is required. When 'call' means 'to telephone someone', it functions as a transitive verb and directly takes an object without any preposition. For example, one would say "Please call Mr. Khan" to mean telephoning him.
Conversely, if 'call' is used to mean 'to pay a brief visit to someone', it typically forms a phrasal verb with the preposition 'on', as in "to call on someone". For instance, "We will call on our neighbours tomorrow."
Given the structure "Please call – Mr. Khan tomorrow morning", the most common and grammatically appropriate interpretation is that Mr. Khan should be telephoned. Therefore, no preposition is needed in the blank, and the sentence correctly reads "Please call Mr. Khan tomorrow morning."