English Language

Spotting Errors

4,734 Questions
All Noun, Article, and Determiner Usage 629 Subject-Verb Agreement 529 Preposition and Phrasal Verb Choice 510 Tense and Time Sequence 429 Pronoun Agreement and Case 415 Adjective and Adverb Form 372 Idiom and Confusable Word Choice 367 Verb Complement and Mood 347 Sentence Structure and Modifier Placement 296 Conjunction and Connector Choice 228 Parallel Structure 220 Redundancy and Negation 148

Spotting Errors Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

Many believed that girls who received western education would make slaves of their husbands.

  1. could receive

  2. had received

  3. have received

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Error of verb form usage. This is an example of past perfect tense. Modal 'would' gives the clue to arrive at the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

Your results depend not only on how much you have studied but how long you have read.

  1. but also how long

  2. but also on how long

  3. but also on how much long

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Error of sentence formation. Coordinative conjunction 'not only' is always followed by 'but also'. Moerover, for the sake of parallelism, preposition  'on' needs to be inserted.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

Not till he got home he did realise that he had lost keys in the theatre.

  1. did he realise

  2. he did not realise

  3. he realised

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Error of sentence formation. Whenever we begin a sentence with negative words like 'never', 'hardly', 'no', etc the auxilary verb precedes the subject.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

She cooks, washes dishes, does her home-work and then relaxing.

  1. relaxing then

  2. then is relaxing

  3. then relaxes

  4. No improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Error of parallelism. 'Cooks', 'washes', 'does'  are all the first form of the verb, whereas 'relaxing' is a gerund form of the verb. So, it should be changed to 'relaxes'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

The cheetah can run faster than the gazelle; it is the speediest of the two.

  1. the most speedier

  2. more speedy

  3. the speedier

  4. no improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Error of verb usage. Superlative degree of the verb is used only while comparing more than two nouns. In case of comparison of two nouns, comparative degree of the verb is used. So, 'speediest' should be changed to 'speedier'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error then choose option 4.

The easiest of the thing to do is to ask the address from the postman.

  1. of the things to do

  2. among the things to do

  3. of the things to be done

  4. no improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Error of subject-verb agreement. Words like 'one of', 'which of', etc are followed by pural nouns. Here, it means 'one of the easiest', so it should be followed by a plural noun. Thus, 'thing' should be replaced with 'things'.

Multiple choice

Directions: Correct the error (if any) for the underlined part of the following sentence. If there is no error, choose option 4.

Ramesh is as tall if not taller than Mahesh.

  1. not as tall but

  2. not so tall but as

  3. as tall as, if not

  4. no improvement needed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

This is an error of sentence formation. The sentence implies that Ramesh is at least 'as tall as' Mahesh, 'if not' taller than him. So, option 3 is the right answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: Find out which part of the sentence has an error. If there is no mistake, the answer is No error As soon as I will reach Bombay (a) / I will send (b) / you the books (c) / you have asked for (d) / No error (e)

  1. (a)

  2. (b)

  3. (c)

  4. (d)

  5. (e)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In time clauses with as soon as, we use the present simple tense (reach) not future tense (will reach). The main clause already contains the future (will send), so the subordinate clause uses present tense.