<ol>
<li>According to last week's survey, most citizens were [dissappointed by] candidate's inability [working] together on pollution issues.</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, I picked up [working] because obviously, it should be "to work"; the idiom is "inability to" or "ability to". But what about [disappointed by]? I remember idiom "disappointed with" not "by". Any explanations?</p>
<ol>
<li>The tower X, Y, Z--each of these structures was the tallest in the world at the time they [were built]. </li>
</ol>
<p>Why [were built] is an error?</p>
<ol>
<li>What is the difference between "apply to" and "apply for"?</li>
</ol>
<p>Ex. Because his experience in the naval medical corps had been rewarding, John [applied to] medical school after he was fired from the navy. </p>
<p>I remember idiom "apply for" in Silverturtle's guide(above the forum); however, something is wrong here. </p>
<ol>
<li>Not very particular [in] nesting sites, houses blahblahblah...</li>
</ol>
<h2>why [in] is an error?</h2>
<p>I am working on my grammar right now. What should I do to bolster my score? I need 49/49 MC!</p>
<p>1-it’s the matter of context, actually. You can say disappointed with myself; disappointed in you; disappointed at the score result, disappointed to see that my friend was late. disappointed (at/by something), disappointed in/with sb and works for something too), disappointed to (see, hear, know, etc.) Disappointed (not to be).
2- I’m not sure, but probably if what is underlined is they were built then may be it needs to be singular for consistency.
3- Apply for a position. (i.e apply for a job)
Apply to some place or the like (i.e medical school, program, etc.)
4- Particular about. :)</p>
<p>For 2 the problem is the tense. The action of building of the towers begun and completed at the time the comparison is made – i.e. in the past. So you need the “past perfect tense”.</p>
<p>they “had been built” instead of “were built”.</p>
<p>For NaderMekadis: Your list of 20 categories of errors is very good. It is missing an example such as 2 – where there are two actions separated in time, and the verb tense differs – typically past for one, past perfect for the other. These are some of the more difficult problems. Perhaps you can add it to your list.</p>
It seems to me the two times coincide. “had been” means the buildings were constructed before they were the tallest…</p>
<p>The tower X, Y, Z–each of these structures was the tallest in the world at the time they [were built].</p>
<p>It’s analogous to The towers were the tallest when they were built. I don’t think anyone would say “I was the tallest when I had been young.” Actually on second thought either one would kind of make sense, but the regular past tense seems more appropriate.</p>
<p>Compare:
The Empire State Building was the tallest in the world at the time it was built, just as the Sears Tower was the tallest in the world at the time it was built and the Canadian National Tower was the tallest in the world at the time it was built.
Same meaning but redundant.</p>
<p>Question #4, the normal preposition is “particular about,” as noted by NaderMekadis.
If the sentence said that the birds were “not very particular in nesting sites,” it would mean that <em>while</em> they were occupying the nesting sites, they were not very particular. Perhaps they were not very particular about the food being brought to them, while they were nesting. That’s not the intention of the actual sentence.</p>