English: Error Spotting for Upcoming Exams – Set 206

Directions: In the given question, a sentence is divided into four parts. There are errors in three parts. Choose the part which doesn’t have an error. If all the four parts are correct, mark E, i.e. ‘All are correct’ as the answer.

1. The Supreme Court have given (A)/ three weeks to the state government to (B)/ be respondent to its directive and (C)/ file an affidavit citing all the detail. (D)
   A
   B
   C
   D
   All are correct
   Option B
   Out of the given parts, part B is error free.
   In part A, the subject is ‘the supreme court’ which is singular, therefore, singular verb i.e. ‘has’ must be used to maintain the subject- verb agreement.
   In part C, a respondent is a person who answers a question, letter, email message, survey, or anything else that requires a response. But the given statement mentions about ‘state government’ which is not a person. Hence, ‘response’ must replace ‘be respondent’.
   In part D, ‘details’ must replace ‘detail’. A Detail (used as a noun) is an individual feature or characteristic and therefore, the plural “details” is used when you are talking about multiple individual features/characteristics. However, when using “detail” to describe the level of specificity/completeness you use the phrase “in detail”.

    

2. When they babbling, (A)/ infants repeats the same (B)/ vowel sound over and over, (C)/ changing the pitch along high to low. (D)
   A
   B
   C
   D
   All are correct
   Option C
   Out of the given parts, part C is error-free.
   In part A, the present continuous tense of the verb ‘babble’ i.e. babbling, is used instead of the simple present tense ‘babble’. The structure of the sentence is in the simple present tense.
   In part B, singular form ‘repeats’ is used instead of ‘repeat’, after the plural subject ‘infants’, which is against the Subject-Verb Agreement rule.
   In part D, the preposition ‘along’ is used instead of the appropriate preposition ‘from’.

    

3. Surely, she must feel bitter on (A)/ that fact, and yet neither her voice or (B)/ her expression gave any indication (C)/ that she felt antipathetic. (D)
   A
   B
   C
   D
   All are correct
   Option C
   Out of the given parts, part C is error free.
   In part A, there is an incorrect preposition after bitter. ‘On’ should be replaced with ‘about’ to make this part correct.
   In part B, the erroneous part is the usage of ‘neither or’. Note that we always use ‘neither nor’ as a phrase. We can use neither as a conjunction with nor. It connects two or more negative alternatives.
   In part C, the noun ‘antipathy’ should replace the adjective ‘antipathetic’ to make the part correct.

    

4. While low-intensity rainfall on summer monsoon (A)/ had been responsible for groundwater recharge (B)/ for the case of India, high-intensity rainfall is a major driver (C)/ for recharging groundwater in south India. (D)
   A
   B
   C
   D
   All are correct
   Option D
   Out of the given parts, part D is error free.
   Part A, describes a duration. Hence, the preposition ‘during’ in the place of ‘on’ will be more suitable in this regard.
   In part B, the rainfall phenomenon is a present phenomenon. Hence, the tense ‘had been’ is not suitable for this sentence. The correct tense should have been ‘is’.
   In part C, the preposition ‘for’ is not suitable in this sentence. According to the standard grammar rules, we say ‘in the case’ and not ‘for the case’.

    

5. In Hitler’s view, the Jews (A)/ were responsible for a international conspiracy (B)/ to capitalists and communists, (C)/ who’s prime objective was to weaken and overthrow the German nation. (D)
   A
   B
   C
   D
   All are correct
   Option A
   Out of the given parts, part A is error free.
   In part B, the determiner ‘a’ is used instead of ‘an’. It can only be used in front of words starting with vowels.
   In part C, the preposition ‘to’ is used instead of the appropriate preposition ‘of’.
   In part D, use of ‘who’s’ (who is) instead of the determiner ‘whose’ is wrong. Who’s is a contraction linking the words who is or who has, and whose is the possessive form of who.

    

6. (a) My father does / (b) not mind to be / (c) disturbed while he / (d) is reading the newspaper / (e) No error
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   Option B
   ‘Gerund’ will come after ‘mind’. Change ‘be’ into ‘being’.

    

7. (a) A really good constitution / (b) holds up the mirror to government / (c) and enables the public as well as / (d) leadership to identify shortfalls / (e) No error
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   Option E
   No error

    

8. (a) If I would have realized / (b) what a bad driver you were / (c) I would not have / (d) come with you / (e) No error
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   Option A
   Change ‘would have’ to ‘had’.
   Formula: If+ Past Perfect, Sub+ would+ have + V3

    

9. (a) He confidently asked the crowd / (b) if they thought that / (c) he was right / (d) and the crowd shouted that they do / (e) No error
   A
   B
   C
   D
   E
   Option D
   Change ‘do’ to ‘did’ as sentence starting in the past should stay in the past.

    

10. (a) The father told his son / (b) that he was a lazy boy / (c) and that he has done / (d) his work very badly / (e) No error
    A
    B
    C
    D
    E
    Option C
    Change ‘has’ to ‘had’ as sentence starting in past should stay in past.