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: Read the sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it.The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (5) i.e. 'No error'. (Ignore the errors of punctuation, if any.)

  1. He did not grant

  2. their request for a loan

  3. although it would

  4. displease his boss

  5. No error

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The clause 'although it would displease his boss' is a subordinate clause that follows the main clause structure. The sentence structure is: 'He did not grant their request for a loan although it would displease his boss.' This is grammatically correct. The pronoun 'it' refers back to the request, and 'would' indicates hypothetical consequence. Option C is correctly marked as the answer.

Multiple choice

Directions: Read the sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it.The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (5) i.e. 'No error'. (Ignore the errors of punctuation, if any.)

  1. The revised government's

  2. guidelines have reduced

  3. the number of mergers

  4. taking place among banks

  5. No error

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The error is in part A. The phrase 'The revised government's' has a grammatical issue with the possessive. The determiner 'The' before 'revised government's' creates redundancy. It should be 'The government's revised' (possessive before modifier) or 'The revised government guidelines' (no possessive). Having both 'The' and possessive 'government's' with 'revised' is awkward and incorrect.

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence has three underlined words or phrases. The three underlined parts of the sentence are marked (1), (2) and (3). Identify the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct. If there is no error mark (4) as your answer.

(1) Sarita was popular (2) with her classmates that she always had (3) someone or the other coming to her house.(4) No error

  1. (1)

  2. (2)

  3. (3)

  4. (4)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

'was' should be replaced by ' was so'.

Multiple choice

Directions: The sentence has three underlined words or phrases. The three underlined parts of the sentence are marked (1), (2) and (3). Identify the one underlined word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct. If there is no error select option (4) as your answer.

(1) Elections to the American (2) President take place (3) every fourth year in November. (4) No error

  1. (1)

  2. (2)

  3. (3)

  4. (4)
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

President should be replaced by presidency. The sentence talks about elections to a post or office. President is the prson and presidency is the office or function.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following sentence is divided into four parts and is numbered (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5). Select the part which has the error. If there is no error, choose no. 5.

When I phoned her last week, (1)/ she said that (2)/ she will be arriving this morning(3)/ but she hasn't turned up (4)./ No error (5).

  1. 1

  2. 2

  3. 3

  4. 4

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

Correct; here the mistake is of tense. The reporting verb 'said' is in past tense, so all the following verbs should be in past tense. Hence, the correction will read 'would'.

Multiple choice

Directions: The following sentence is divided into four parts and is numbered (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5). Select the part which has the error. If there is no error, choose no. 5.

He lived (1)/ at the top of an old house (2)/ which attic had been (3)/ converted into a flat (4)./ No error (5).

  1. 1

  2. 2

  3. 3

  4. 4

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

Correct; the use of 'which' pronoun is incorrect here. The 'attic' is a part of the house, so the pronoun 'whose' should be used.