Choose the grammatically CORRECT sentence. A. Two and two add four. B. Two and two become four. C. Two and two are four. D. Two and two make four.

GATE 2013 · General Aptitude · Grammatical Error · medium

Answer: Option D is correct: 'Two and two make four' — the idiomatic English construction for arithmetic facts uses the verb 'make'.

1. Test option A: 'add': 'Add' is a transitive verb. 'Two and two add four' implies 'four' is a direct object of adding, which is non-idiomatic and grammatically awkward.
2. Test option B: 'become': 'Become' implies transformation or a change of state. A mathematical truth like 2 + 2 = 4 is a fixed fact, not a transformation.
3. Test option C: 'are': While 'are' can form a grammatical sentence, it suggests identity rather than the result of addition. 'Two and two are four' blurs the arithmetic action.
4. Confirm option D: 'make': 'Two and two make four' is the well-established English idiom for expressing that the sum of two numbers equals a result. It is both grammatically correct and contextually precise.