The keys is lying on the kitchen table near the fruit bowl.

In the following sentence, a part of the sentence has been bold. Below are given alternatives to the bold part which may improve the sentence.

Choose the correct alternative. Wherever no improvement is needed, choose ‘No replacement required’ as the answer.

The correct option is are lying on the.

Step-by-step Explanation:

1. Subject-Verb Agreement:
In the given sentence, the subject is "The keys", which is a plural noun.
Therefore, it requires a plural verb. The singular verb "is" in the phrase "is lying" is grammatically incorrect.
Replacing "is" with the plural verb "are" corrects the subject-verb agreement: "are lying".

2. Prepositional Usage:
The preposition "on" is used to indicate position on a surface (e.g., "on the kitchen table").
The preposition "at" is inappropriate here because the keys are resting directly on top of the table's surface.

Combining these corrections gives the proper phrase: "are lying on the".

Corrected Sentence:
"The keys are lying on the kitchen table near the fruit bowl."