4. Catalogue of Examiner Favourite Traps

The patterns below repeat across SSC, RRB, and Bank papers with striking consistency — several have appeared, in near-identical form, in multiple different exam cycles. Each entry gives a short description of the trap and one illustrative example (not always in full segmented format, to keep this catalogue scannable — full segmented versions of most of these patterns appear across Sections 3, 5, and 7).

1. "Less" with a countable noun. "Less marks were awarded" should be "fewer marks." Example: "There were less candidates in the hall this year than expected." — should be "fewer candidates."
2. "Since" with simple past instead of a perfect tense. "He is working here since 2019" should be "has been working here since 2019." Example: "She taught grammar since 2018 at the same institute." — should be "has been teaching."
3. "Discuss about." "Discuss" is already transitive and needs no "about": "discuss the issue," not "discuss about the issue." Example: "The panel wants to discuss about the candidate's project report." — should be "discuss the candidate's project report."
4. "One of the + plural noun" taking a singular verb, which paper-setters present as an "error" when the verb is wrongly made plural. Example: "One of the reasons for the low turnout are the sudden rainfall." — should be "is."
5. "Each/every" triggering a plural verb. Example: "Each of the rooms were checked before the exam began." — should be "was checked."
6. "Return back" and "revert back." Both are redundant; drop "back." Example: "Kindly return back the library books before the semester ends." — should be "return the library books."
7. "Comprised of." "Comprise" already means "to consist of" or "to be made up of"; the correct forms are "comprises" (no "of") or "is composed of," never "comprised of" in the strictest formal register. Example: "The panel is comprised of five senior officers." — should be "comprises five senior officers" or "is composed of five senior officers."
8. "Married with" instead of "married to." Example: "She got married with a fellow candidate she met at the coaching centre." — should be "married to."
9. Dangling "having" participial openers with no logical subject in the main clause, as covered in Section 3.10. Example: "Having submitted the form late, the application was rejected by the portal." — should be restructured so the candidate, not the application, is the subject: "...he found his application rejected."
10. "Data" and "criteria" treated as singular. Both are technically plural (singular: "datum," "criterion"), so "the data is" and "the criteria is" are flagged in strict formal usage, though this rule is applied more loosely by some modern answer keys — treat it as high-risk but check the specific exam's convention where possible. Example: "The criteria for shortlisting is yet to be finalised." — the stricter formal fix is "are yet to be finalised."
11. "Fewer" wrongly applied to uncountable nouns, the mirror-image trap of pattern 1. Example: "The revised syllabus has fewer content compared to the earlier one." — should be "less content."
12. Double comparatives/superlatives. "More better," "most best," "more easier" all stack two degree markers where only one is needed. Example: "This paper felt more easier than the previous attempt." — should be simply "easier."
13. "Farther" (physical distance) confused with "further" (abstract extent). Example: "We need to discuss this farther before finalising the roster." — should be "further," since the discussion is abstract, not physical distance.
14. "Between" used for more than two, "among" for two — reversed from the correct rule. Example: "The prize money was divided between the three finalists." — should be "among the three finalists."
15. Missing "the" before a superlative. Example: "She scored highest marks in the entire district." — should be "the highest marks."
16. "Inspite of" written as one word, or confused with "despite," which never takes "of" after it. Example: "Despite of repeated reminders, he missed the registration deadline." — should be "Despite repeated reminders" or "In spite of repeated reminders."
17. "Suggest to + infinitive" instead of the correct "suggest + gerund/that-clause." Example: "The mentor suggested him to apply for the scholarship early." — should be "suggested that he apply" or "suggested applying."
18. Misuse of "myself/himself/herself" as a plain subject or object pronoun. Example: "Myself and my colleague attended the orientation session together." — should be "My colleague and I attended."
19. "Inform" without an indirect object where one is grammatically expected in formal register. Example: "The board informed about the postponement through a press release." — should be "informed candidates about the postponement."
20. Redundant "as well as" doubling with "and," or wrongly replacing "both...and." Example: "Both the syllabus as well as the exam pattern were revised this year." — should be "both the syllabus and the exam pattern."
21. "Its" vs. "it's." The possessive "its" has no apostrophe; "it's" is only the contraction of "it is." Example: "The institute revised it's admission policy this year." — should be "its admission policy."
22. "Who" vs. "whom" in object position. Example: "Who did the panel shortlist for the final round?" — strict formal usage expects "Whom did the panel shortlist," since "whom" is the object of "shortlist."
23. "Advise" (verb) vs. "advice" (noun) confusion. Example: "The mentor gave him useful advise before the interview." — should be "advice," the noun form.
24. "Ago" paired incorrectly with "since." Example: "It is two years ago since he joined the coaching institute." — should be either "It is two years since he joined" or "He joined two years ago," never both together.
25. Wrong preposition after "wait," or confusion with "await," which never takes "for." Example: "Please await for further instructions from the exam controller." — should be simply "await further instructions" (no "for").
26. Reduplicated negatives with "hardly," "scarcely," "barely." Example: "He hasn't hardly revised the current affairs section this month." — should be "has hardly revised," dropping the double negative.
27. "Alike" wrongly modified by "both...to each other." Example: "The twins both look alike to each other even in their handwriting." — should drop "to each other," since "alike" already implies mutual resemblance.
28. Verb-first inversion errors after fronted negative adverbs ("Never," "Rarely," "Seldom," "No sooner," "Hardly"). Example: "Never he attended a single revision class organised by the centre." — should be "Never did he attend."
29. "Later" (time) confused with "latter" (the second of two items). Example: "He submitted his form later than the latter candidate on the waiting list," used where no earlier pair of candidates has actually been established — should simply read "the other candidate."
30. "Stationary" (not moving) confused with "stationery" (writing materials). Example: "The invigilator kept an extra box of stationary in the drawer." — should be "stationery."
31. Uncountable nouns wrongly pluralised: "informations," "furnitures," "homeworks," "equipments," "luggages" are never standard English plurals. Example: "The board shared several informations about the revised pattern." — should be "pieces of information" or simply "information."
32. "Except" (excluding) confused with "accept" (to agree to receive). Example: "The committee refused to except his late application." — should be "accept his late application."
33. Redundant "the reason is because." "Because" already means "for the reason that"; correct is "the reason is that" or simply "because." Example: "The reason for the delay is because the server crashed." — should be "The reason for the delay is that the server crashed."
34. Misplaced "only," "even," "also" shifting the sentence's intended emphasis. Example: "Only she scored a hundred in the mock test" (nobody else did) versus "She only scored a hundred" (she did nothing beyond scoring a hundred) — the position of "only" changes meaning, and exam-setters exploit exactly this shift.
35. "Prone to" wrongly followed by a bare infinitive. "Prone" is fixed to a gerund, not an infinitive. Example: "Weak students are often prone to make careless mistakes under time pressure." — should be "prone to making careless mistakes."
36. "Compare to" vs. "compare with" confused. "Compare to" highlights similarity between essentially unlike things (a metaphorical comparison); "compare with" examines two like things for similarities and differences — most exam sentences call for "compare with." Example: "This year's paper cannot be compared to last year's in terms of difficulty level." — the more precise formal choice is "compared with."
37. "Try and" used instead of "try to." Informal spoken usage; formal written English expects the infinitive. Example: "Candidates should try and finish the reasoning section within twenty minutes." — should be "try to finish."
38. Redundant "repeat again" / "repeat the same." "Repeat" already implies doing something again. Example: "Please do not repeat the same mistake in the next attempt." — should be simply "repeat the mistake" or "make the same mistake again," not both stacked.
39. "Convince" wrongly followed by a bare infinitive instead of "that" or "to" with a different sense. Example: "He tried to convince the officer to reconsidering the rejected form." — mixing "to" with a gerund is wrong; it should be "convince the officer to reconsider," a plain infinitive.
40. Wrong tense after "if only" / "wish" expressing an unreal present regret. Example: "I wish I have more time to revise before the exam." — should be "I wish I had more time," using the past subjunctive form even though the wish is about the present.
41. "Beside" (next to) confused with "besides" (in addition to). Example: "Beside revising grammar, she also practised comprehension passages daily." — should be "Besides revising grammar."
42. Redundant "return" with a direction already implied by "back." Similar to trap 6 but tested with "return" alone plus a redundant direction word: "He wanted to return back home." — should be simply "return home."
43. "Consist of" wrongly followed by "in." Example: "The test consists in four sections." — should be "consists of four sections."
44. "Equally as" used instead of plain "equally" or "as...as." Example: "The two candidates performed equally as well." — should be simply "equally well."
45. Verb "lay" (to place something) confused with "lie" (to recline). Example: "He decided to lay down for a few minutes before the exam." — should be "lie down," since no object is being placed.
46. "Alternate" (every other one) confused with "alternative" (a different option). Example: "The board provided an alternate date for candidates affected by the strike." — should be "alternative date."
47. Redundant "still yet" or "yet still." Example: "She had still yet to receive her admit card three days before the exam." — should be simply "still" or "yet," not both.
48. "Enormity" (the extreme seriousness of something bad) misused to mean simply "enormous size." Example: "He was struck by the enormity of the new campus." — should be "enormous size" or "vastness," reserving "enormity" for something gravely wrong.
49. "Practically" misused to mean "in a practical manner" when "virtually/almost" is intended. Example: "The syllabus was practically identical to last year's." — this use, meaning "almost," is broadly accepted in modern usage but flagged in the strictest formal keys, which prefer "virtually identical."
50. Redundant "true fact." Example: "It is a true fact that the cutoff dropped this year." — should be simply "a fact."