English: Error Spotting for Upcoming Exams – Set 220

Directions(1-5): A sentence divided into three parts I, II and III is given. There may be an error in one or more parts. Determine the part(s) which requires correction and mark it as your answer.

1. When asked about the ailments plaguing the elderly, (I)/ doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said that (II)/ 75% of problems in old age can be attributed to osteoporosis. (III)
   Only I
   Only II
   Only III
   Both I and II
   Both II and III
   Option C
   When the reporting verb ‘asked’ is in the past tense as in the first part of the given sentence, the verb in the reported speech ‘can’ as in the third part of the sentence also has to be in the past tense. Thus, C is the correct answer.

    

2. For inter-house unity was an objective this year there were several matches arranged, (I)/ usually on a Sunday afternoon as this one was, that did not count towards the cup (II)/ in an attempt to promote friendly rivalry rather then the cutthroat attitudes of many previous years. (III)
   Only I
   Both II and III
   Only I
   Both I and II
   Both I and III
   Option E
   The error in part I of the sentence is the wrong use of the preposition ‘for’. It is used to represent duration. The correct preposition to be used here is ‘since’ which means ‘for the reason that’ and is more relevant to the sentence. Again, in the third part of the sentence the adverb ‘then’ has been incorrectly used. ‘Then’ means ‘afterwards. It would be more appropriate to use the conjunction ‘than’ as it would allow the introduction of the second element in consideration (cutthroat attitudes of many previous years.). Thus, E is the correct answer.

    

3. When Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley taped Deb Henretta (I)/ to run P&G’s North American baby care division in 1999, he says he did so (II)/ precisely because she lacked of experience in that division. (III)
   Only I
   Both I and II
   Only II
   Both I and III
   Both II and III
   Option D
   The error in part I of the sentence is that ‘taped’ which is a past tense form of ‘tape’ means to record (sound or pictures) on audio or video tape, and has no relevance in the given sentence. ‘Tapped’ on the other hand means designate or select (someone) for a task or honour, especially membership of an organization or committee though it is used in an informal way. Again, in part III of the sentence there has been a wrong use of the preposition ‘of’. The verb ‘lacked’ does not need to be followed by the preposition ‘of’, instead the object ‘experience’ may be directly used. Thus, D is the correct answer.

    

4. The Transgender House was created with the aim of providing a safe space (I)/ when transgender people can be empowered and can acquire knowledge (II)/ and skills without the fear of being discriminated against, rejected or attacked. (III)
   Only I
   Only II
   Both I and II
   Both I and III
   Both II and III
   Option B
   The use of the adverb ‘when’ in part (II) of the given sentence is incorrect. Instead of the adverb ‘when’, which denotes time, an adverb for place needs to be used like ‘where’.

    

5. There had been nothing greatly lacking at the 60 million-pound ($78.5 million) man’s (I)/ performances for City in his previous seven appearance (II)/ this season except a confidence-boosting goal. (III)
   Only I
   Both I and II
   Only II
   Both I and III
   Both II and III
   Option B
   In part A there must be ‘in’ in place of ‘at’ since the subject is a person.
   In part II, there must be ‘appearances’ in place of ‘appearance’ since there are more than one(seven) number of appearances that the player has had in this season. Thus, the correct answer is option B.

    

Directions(6-10): Read the sentence to find out whether there is an error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number corresponding to that part will be your answer. If the given sentence is correct as given, mark option E, i.e. “No error” as the answer. Ignore the errors of punctuation.

6. Several new business (1)/ have come up recently due to (2)/ the various schemes (3)/ introduced by the government. (4)
   1
   2
   3
   4
   No error
   Option A
   The error is in the first part of the sentence.
   We need to replace ‘business’ with ‘businesses’. The determiner ‘several’ implies the context of ‘more than two’, so we need to use plural noun ‘businesses’.

    

7. The local banks in the villages which do not (1)/ meet its priority sector (2)/ targets are required to (3)/ pay high penalties to the Reserve Bank. (4)
   1
   2
   3
   4
   No error
   Option B
   The error is in the second part of the statement. The subject is ‘banks’ which is plural and thus instead of singular possessive pronoun, ‘its’, the sentence requires plural third person possessive pronoun ‘their’ to make the sentence grammatically correct.

    

8. Having supportive parents (1)/ help massive in (2)/ the positive development and (3)/ growth of a child. (4)
   1
   2
   3
   4
   No error
   Option B
   The error lies in the second part of the sentence. The use of “help massive” is turning the sentence structure grammatically incorrect.
   We need to replace ‘help massive’ with ‘massively helps’ using the adverb ‘massively’ to modify the verb ‘help’ to convey the correct meaning of the sentence.

    

9. Any failure (1)/ to compliance (2)/ with the fundamental regulation of import and export of jute (3)/ will result a fine. (4)
   1
   2
   3
   4
   No error
   Option B
   The error is in the second part of the sentence.
   We need to replace ‘compliance ‘ with ‘comply’. We need a verb in the base form (comply) to complete the ‘to-infinitive’ structure.
   ‘Compliance’ is noun and hence is incorrect.

    

10. The British museum in London has been (1)/ trumpeting loudly its reputation (2)/ as one of the (3)/ finest museums in the world. (4)
    1
    2
    3
    4
    No Error
    Option B
    The error is in the second part of the sentence. The adverb ‘loudly’ should be placed before the verb ‘trumpeting’. Note that, the adverbs of manner are always used after the main verb.

     

Click here for topic wise English Language Questions