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: Four parts of the sentence given below have been underlined. Identify the part having an error. If no part has an error, mark (5).

(1) Could I (2) have (3) any cookies (4) with some coffee, please? (5) No error

  1. (1)

  2. (2)

  3. (3)

  4. (4)

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

 Replace 'any' by 'some'. Generally any is used in negative sentences. We use 'could' as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something. Can is less polite. 

Multiple choice

Directions: Four parts of the sentence given below have been underlined. Identify the part having an error. If no part has an error, mark (5).

I (1) don't have but (2) a dollar and that will (3) scarcely pay my (4) hotel bill. (5) No error

  1. (1)

  2. (2)

  3. (3)

  4. (4)

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

Delete don't. This is the error of using double negative in a sentence. Adverbs; scarcely and hardly are already negative and to add another negative with them will introduce redundancy in the sentence. 

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence below is underlined or has an underlined part. The underlined part may have an error of grammar or syntax. There are five options that seek to correct the error (including an option that simply repeats the sentence). Select the option that best replaces the underlined part.

Its consequences will continue to influence greatly the early decades of the coming century.

  1. to influence greatly the early decades of the coming century

  2. to influence greatly the early decades of coming century

  3. greatly to influence the early decades of coming century

  4. to greatly influence the early decades of the coming century

  5. influencing greatly the early decades of coming century
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

An adverb is usually placed before the word that it modifies. This option corrects the error.

Multiple choice

Directions: Four parts of the sentence given below have been underlined. Identify the part having an error. If no part has an error, mark (5).

The government (1) had better made the welfare scheme popular (2) so that she (3) will be sure of (4) getting a good electoral response. (5) No error

  1. (1)

  2. (2)

  3. (3)

  4. (4)

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

'Had better' is always followed by a verb in present form, without infinitive 'had better make'. This means that it would be better if the government makes.

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence below is underlined or has an underlined part. The underlined part may have an error of grammar or syntax. There are five options that seek to correct the error (including an option that simply repeats the sentence). Select the option that best replaces the underlined part.

I have not still read it, but would like to.

  1. I have not still read it, but would like to.

  2. I have not read it still, but would like to.

  3. Still I have not read it, would like to.

  4. I have not yet read it, but would like to.

  5. Yet I have not read it, will like to.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

‘Still’ is normally used in positive statements. It is inappropriate with ‘not’. Option (4) corrects the error of adverb by replacing ‘still’ with ‘yet’.

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence below is underlined or has an underlined part. The underlined part may have an error of grammar or syntax. There are five options that seek to correct the error (including an option that simply repeats the sentence). Select the option that best replaces the underlined part.

With the onset of summer, the hot air began to blow, we had been soon forced to remain indoors most of the time.

  1. the hot air began to blow, we had been soon forced to remain indoors

  2. the hot air began to blow, we had soon been forced to remain indoors

  3. the hot air had begun to blow, we had been soon forced to remain indoors

  4. the hot air began to blow; we were soon forced to remain indoors

  5. the hot air began to blow, we soon had felt forced to remain indoors
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

When there are two actions in the past and both are concurrent, we use simple past for both. This option corrects the error of tense.

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence below is underlined or has an underlined part. The underlined part may have an error of grammar or syntax. There are five options that seek to correct the error (including an option that simply repeats the sentence). Select the option that best replaces the underlined part.

The criminals fled while the police reached the spot of crime.

  1. The criminals fled while the police reached the spot of crime.

  2. The criminals had fled when the police reached the spot of crime.

  3. The criminals fled when the police had reached the spot of crime.

  4. The criminals had fled before the police reached the spot of crime.

  5. The criminals had fled before the police could have reached the spot of crime.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

 The original sentence bears the error of faulty use of tense and conjunction. When two past actions are in sequence, past perfect tense should be used to refer to the earlier action. Therefore, the correct usage is 'had fled'. The conjunction 'while' needs to be replaced by the conjunction 'before' to emphasize that the criminals had fled before the police arrived at the scene. This option rectifies both the errors of tense and of incorrect word usage.