Chapter 11 — Error spotting and sentence improvement

Track: Constable objective + SI usage | Study time: 75–100 minutes | Recall task: write the rule before checking the key.

Pareeksha English foundation notes

Error Spotting and Sentence Improvement

What to remember

• In error spotting, read the whole sentence once, then test each part for subject-verb agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, pronouns and word choice.
• In sentence improvement, the underlined part is the only part you can change; the best option fixes the error without adding a new one.
• If the sentence is already correct, choose "No improvement" or "No error".

1. Question formats

Error spotting: the sentence is divided into parts marked (A), (B), (C) and (D). Choose the part with the error. If no part has an error, choose "No error" (E).

Example: "The team (A) are playing (B) well (C) today. (D)" The collective noun "team" is a single unit here, so "is playing" is correct; the error is in (B).

Sentence improvement: one part of the sentence is underlined. You choose the best replacement from the options, and the first option usually repeats the original. Choose it only if the sentence is already correct.

Sentence correction in a full sentence: you may be asked to find the correct version of a whole sentence.

2. A step-by-step strategy

1. Read the whole sentence to get its meaning.
2. Find the subject and the verb. Check that the verb agrees with the true subject.
3. Check the tense against time words such as "yesterday", "since", "ago" and "by next week".
4. Check each small word: articles, prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns.
5. Check the parts of speech: adjective used for adverb (or the reverse), wrong form of the word.
6. Check the sentence pattern: parallel structure, comparison, if-clauses, reported speech.
7. Compare the options and pick the one that fixes the error and keeps the meaning.
8. If nothing is wrong, mark "No error".

In the exam, most errors are in only a few areas. Learn these patterns thoroughly.

3. Common error patterns

3.1 Subject-verb agreement

Error | Correct

The list of items are long. | The list of items is long.

Each of the boys have a pen. | Each of the boys has a pen.

Neither of the answers are right. | Neither of the answers is right.

One of my friends are ill. | One of my friends is ill.

The news were shocking. | The news was shocking.

A number of books is missing. | A number of books are missing.

3.2 Tense and sequence

• Wrong: "I have met him yesterday." Right: "I met him yesterday."
• Wrong: "He is working here since 2010." Right: "He has been working here since 2010."
• Wrong: "If I will go, I will call you." Right: "If I go, I will call you."
• Wrong: "He said that he will come." Right: "He said that he would come."
• Wrong: "When I reached, the train already left." Right: "When I reached the station, the train had already left."

3.3 Pronouns

• Case: "Between you and me" (not "between you and I"). "It is I" or "It is me" in informal speech; exams prefer "It is I" in formal grammar.
• Reflexive: "He hurt himself" (not "hisself", not "himself" for another person).
• Agreement: "Each student must bring his or her book" (singular).
• Who and whom: "Whom did you meet?" (object); "Who is at the door?" (subject).
• Unclear reference: "Ravi told Raju that he was wrong" is ambiguous.
• "Me and my friend went" is wrong; "My friend and I went" is right.

3.4 Adjectives and adverbs

• "She sings sweet" is wrong; "She sings sweetly" is right (an adverb modifies a verb).
• "He is a very fast runner" and "He runs fast": "fast" is both adjective and adverb.
• "Hard" and "hardly" differ: "He works hard" (with effort); "He hardly works" (almost never).
• Comparative and superlative: "better than", "the best of all". Wrong: "more better", "most best".
• Wrong: "He is more clever than all the boys." Right: "He is cleverer than all the other boys."
• Double comparatives and superlatives are errors: "more taller", "most cleverest".
• "Elder" and "eldest" are for family; "older" and "oldest" are for general age.
• "Little", "a little", "the little" and "few", "a few", "the few": "little" and "few" mean almost none; "a little" and "a few" mean some. "Little" is for uncountable nouns, "few" for countable.
• "Much" is for uncountable nouns; "many" for countable. "Fewer" for countable; "less" for uncountable.

3.5 Articles and prepositions (see the previous chapter)

• Wrong: "He is an European." Right: "He is a European."
• Wrong: "She is the honest girl" when no specific girl is meant. Check the context.
• Wrong: "He is good in English." Right: "He is good at English."
• Wrong: "She is angry on me." Right: "She is angry with me."
• Wrong: "I am looking forward to meet you." Right: "I am looking forward to meeting you."

3.6 Word order and parallel structure

• Wrong: "She likes singing, to dance and painting." Right: "She likes singing, dancing and painting."
• Wrong: "He is not only a poet but also paints." Right: "He is not only a poet but also a painter."
• "Hardly" and "scarcely" take "when"; "no sooner" takes "than".
• In indirect questions the word order is normal: "I wonder where he lives."

3.7 Redundancy and wrong words

• Do not repeat the same idea: "return back", "repeat again", "reverse back", "free gift", "future plans" are wasteful.
• Wrong: "The reason is because he was ill." Right: "The reason is that he was ill."
• Confusing pairs: affect/effect, accept/except, principal/principle, stationary/stationery, advice/advise, lose/loose, later/latter, its/it's.

3.8 Conditionals, comparisons and modals

• Type 1: If + present, will + V1. "If it rains, we will stay."
• Type 2: If + past, would + V1. "If I had money, I would buy a car."
• Type 3: If + past perfect, would have + V3. "If he had studied, he would have passed."
• "Were" is used for all persons in unreal conditions: "If I were you, I would go."
• Comparison with "than": "His house is bigger than mine" (not "than my").
• "Prefer ... to": "I prefer walking to running."
• Wrong: "He dare not to go." Right: "He dare not go."

4. Sentence improvement: worked examples

Format: choose the best replacement for the underlined part.

1. "He do not like coffee." The subject "he" is third person singular. Replace with "does not like".
2. "The committee have decided to meet on Monday." If the committee is taken as one body, replace with "has decided".
3. "She is senior than me." Replace with "senior to".
4. "I am knowing him for ten years." Replace with "have known".
5. "Hardly he had left when the phone rang." Replace with "had he left".
6. "He suggested me to take rest." Replace with "suggested that I take rest" or "advised me to".
7. "One of the boy are absent." Replace with "boys is".
8. "The sun rises in the east." No improvement is needed.

Tips for sentence improvement:

• If three options keep the same error, the correct choice is probably the fourth.
• Prefer the simplest, shortest correct option.
• Reject options that change the meaning.
• Reject options that keep the original error even if they look polished.

5. Error-spotting practice sentences

• "Neither of the two girls (A) have (B) finished (C) the work. (D)" Error in (B): "has".
• "He is (A) senior than (B) me (C) in service. (D)" Error in (B): "senior to".
• "The furniture (A) in the room (B) are (C) old. (D)" Error in (C): "is".
• "She asked me (A) that where (B) I was going. (C)" Error in (B): "where".
• "I have (A) been living (B) here since (C) five years. (D)" Error in (C): "for".

6. Time management and habits

• Spend about 30 to 40 seconds per question. If stuck, mark it and move on.
• Do not change a correct answer without a clear reason.
• Learn rules, not individual sentences. Examiners reuse the same rules in new sentences.
• Read newspapers and short essays aloud; the ear often catches errors.
• Keep an "error notebook": write each mistake with the rule next to it, and revise it weekly.

Exam traps

1. Collective nouns: "The team is" (as one body) vs "The team are" (members acting separately); read the sentence for the sense.
2. Since/for: "since 2020" but "for five years".
3. Little / a little: "little" means almost none; "a little" means some.
4. More + comparative: "more better" is wrong.
5. Same preposition mistakes: "senior than", "angry on", "good in".
6. Redundant words: "return back" and "repeat again".
7. "No error": do not pick it if you did not check every part.
8. Parallelism: the items in a list must have the same form.

One-liners

1. "Each", "every" and "one of" take singular verbs.
2. "I have seen him yesterday" is wrong.
3. After "if" in Type 1, the present tense is used.
4. "More better" is a double comparative and is wrong.
5. "Senior to", "junior to" and "prefer to" use "to".
6. "Hardly" is followed by "when", and "no sooner" by "than".
7. "Between you and me" is the correct form.
8. "Little" and "few" are negative in sense; "a little" and "a few" are positive.
9. "Return back" is redundant.
10. "Fewer" is for countable nouns and "less" for uncountable nouns.
11. "Elder" is used only for family relations.
12. If the sentence is correct, choose "No error".

Teaching note

Error spotting rewards diagnosis, not panic. Read the whole sentence once for meaning. On the second pass, test one unit at a time: subject–verb agreement, tense marker, determiner, preposition, pronoun reference, parallel structure and idiom. The item usually has one best correction; avoid rewriting a correct phrase just because another version also sounds possible.

For a divided-underlined sentence, reconnect the parts after selecting a correction. Some options fix a local error but leave agreement broken elsewhere. Others change the meaning or create a second error. A useful test is to read the full corrected sentence aloud at natural speed, then name the rule that supports it.

In sentence improvement, prefer standard, economical English. Remove redundant pairs such as “return back” and “repeat again”; choose established patterns such as “discuss the issue”, “prefer A to B”, “senior to”, and “responsible for doing”. Do not treat every long sentence as incorrect. Complexity is acceptable when the clause relationships remain clear.

Proofreading order for descriptive work: first check whether the response answers the prompt; next check paragraph order and transitions; then check finite verbs and agreement; finally inspect articles, prepositions, spelling and punctuation. Correcting commas before repairing a missing verb is poor use of limited time.

Worked reasoning and learner clinic

For an objective question, label the defect before looking at the options: agreement, tense, article, preposition, pronoun, parallelism, redundancy or clause link. This reduces the pull of a distractor that is grammatical in isolation but does not repair the sentence.

Meaning check. A correction should preserve the intended meaning unless the question explicitly asks for a change. “Few people attended” and “a few people attended” differ in emphasis. “No sooner…than” and “hardly…when” are paired patterns. Editing one word may require changing another word elsewhere in the sentence.

Common Indian-English transfer points. “Discuss the plan” does not take “about” in the usual transitive construction. “Return” already includes the idea of going back. “Furniture”, “information”, “advice” and “scenery” are uncountable. These are common in formal tests because the error is small and the meaning remains guessable.

Self-editing. Read your answer once for purpose and paragraph logic, once for verbs and sentence boundaries, and once for small forms. Keep a personal error list; recurring errors reveal the next rule to revise.

Telugu-medium transfer check

Proofread in a fixed order: task response, clause completeness, verb and agreement, determiner/preposition, reference, then punctuation. Sentence improvement should repair the error without changing the intended meaning.

Retrieval practice

Take one sentence and test only one rule at a time. Read the repaired sentence in full and explain why the nearest competing option introduces a new defect.

Error-log prompt

Classify the error before correcting it. A label such as ‘base verb after did’ or ‘uncountable noun’ is more useful than writing only the answer letter.

Study plate 11. Recall the sequence before you begin the question set.

Chapter 11 practice questions

001. The reason is because the road was closed.

A. The reason is that the road was closed.

B. The reason because the road was closed.

C. The reason is due the road closed.

D. Reason was because road closed.

Key: A | Explanation: “The reason is that” avoids the redundant “reason is because” construction.

002. She is senior than her colleague.

A. She is senior from her colleague.

B. She is more senior than to her colleague.

C. She is senior with her colleague.

D. She is senior to her colleague.

Key: D | Explanation: “Senior” takes “to”, not “than”, in the standard comparison pattern.

003. The officer discussed about the plan.

A. The officer discussed for the plan.

B. The officer discussed at the plan.

C. The officer discussed the plan.

D. The officer discussed on the plan.

Key: C | Explanation: “Discuss” takes a direct object; “about” is unnecessary in this construction.

004. Each candidate must bring their hall ticket.

A. Each candidate must brought a hall ticket.

B. Each candidate must bring a hall ticket.

C. Each candidates must bring hall ticket.

D. Each candidate must brings a hall ticket.

Key: B | Explanation: The revision gives a clear singular construction; a singular they is also widely accepted, but the MCQ selects the unambiguous neutral article form.

005. The information are useful.

A. The information is useful.

B. The informations are useful.

C. An information is useful.

D. The information were usefully.

Key: A | Explanation: “Information” is an uncountable singular noun and takes a singular verb.

006. He returned back to the station.

A. He returned back again to the station.

B. He return to station.

C. He has return back station.

D. He returned to the station.

Key: D | Explanation: “Return” already means come/go back; “back” repeats the same meaning.

007. No sooner the bell rang than the class began.

A. No sooner the bell had ring then class began.

B. No sooner had the bell rang when class began.

C. No sooner had the bell rung than the class began.

D. No sooner did the bell rang when the class began.

Key: C | Explanation: In formal inversion, use “no sooner had + subject + V3 + than”.

008. He asked me where was the office.

A. He asked where was the office is.

B. He asked me where the office was.

C. He asked me where is the office?

D. He asked me that where the office was.

Key: B | Explanation: Reported wh-questions use statement word order after the question word.

009. The committee have submitted its report.

A. The committee has submitted its report.

B. The committee have submit its report.

C. The committee are submitted report.

D. The committee has submit their reports.

Key: A | Explanation: A collective group treated as one unit takes a singular verb and pronoun.

010. She prefers tea than coffee.

A. She prefers tea from coffee.

B. She prefers tea over than coffee.

C. She prefer tea to coffee.

D. She prefers tea to coffee.

Key: D | Explanation: The standard exam pattern is “prefer A to B”.

011. He is good in mathematics.

A. He is good for mathematics.

B. He is good with mathematicses.

C. He is good at mathematics.

D. He is good on mathematics.

Key: C | Explanation: The ability collocation is “good at”.

012. The patient is suffering with fever.

A. The patient is suffer fever.

B. The patient is suffering from fever.

C. The patient is suffering of fever.

D. The patient suffers by fever.

Key: B | Explanation: The standard pattern is “suffer from” an illness.

013. The police has reached the scene.

A. The police have reached the scene.

B. The police is reach the scene.

C. The police was reach the scene.

D. The police has reaching the scene.

Key: A | Explanation: “Police” takes a plural verb in standard English.

014. He did not knew the answer.

A. He did not knows the answer.

B. He does not knew the answer.

C. He not knew the answer.

D. He did not know the answer.

Key: D | Explanation: After “did not”, use the base verb “know”.

015. The form was filled by the applicant yesterday.

A. The form was fill by applicant yesterday.

B. The form had fill in yesterday.

C. The form was filled in by the applicant yesterday.

D. The form filled by applicant yesterday.

Key: C | Explanation: The phrasal verb is “fill in”; in passive form the particle remains.