Error Spotting MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Error Spotting - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is '1' i.e. p .

Key Points   

• The given sentence is: "A "swarm of locust (P)has seriously(Q) damaged our crops.(R) No error.(S)"       
• Let's examine each part to identify any errors:       
• (P) A "swarm of locust: This section contains an error. The collective noun "swarm" indicates a group. When referring to a group of insects like locusts, the noun following "of" should be in its plural form. Therefore, it should be "locusts," not "locust."       
• (Q) has seriously: This part is grammatically correct. "Has" agrees with the singular collective noun "swarm," and "seriously" is an adverb correctly modifying the verb "damaged."      
• (R) damaged our crops.: This part is grammatically correct. "Damaged" is the past participle used correctly, and "our crops" is the direct object.       
• Since an error is found in part (P), option (S) "No error" is incorrect.

Correct sentence: A swarm of **locusts** has seriously damaged our crops.

Additional Information       

• Collective Nouns: Collective nouns (like 'swarm', 'flock', 'herd', 'team', 'committee') refer to a group of individuals. When these nouns are followed by "of" and then another noun, the second noun is typically in its plural form to denote multiple members of the group. For example, "a flock of birds," "a herd of cows," "a team of players."       
• The singular form "locust" refers to one insect, whereas "locusts" refers to multiple. A "swarm" inherently implies multiple insects.

The correct answer is '2' i.e. They was going to school.

Key Points

• Option 2, "They was going to school," is grammatically incorrect because the subject "They" is plural, and it should be paired with the plural verb "were" instead of the singular "was."
• The correct form should be: "They were going to school."
• The other options are grammatically correct:
• Option 1: "We are listening to music." - Correct present continuous tense.
• Option 3: "She has completed her work." - Correct present perfect tense.
• Option 4: "He is learning French." - Correct present continuous tense.

Correct sentence: They were going to school.

Additional Information

• Subject-Verb Agreement:
  • The verb must agree with the subject in number and person.
  • For singular subjects, use singular verbs (e.g., "She is"). For plural subjects, use plural verbs (e.g., "They are").
• Examples of Common Errors:
  • Incorrect: She do the work. Correct: She does the work.
  • Incorrect: They was happy. Correct: They were happy.

The correct answer is '3' i.e. They are go to the market now .

Key Points

• The given sentence "They are go to the market now" is incorrect because it does not follow proper grammatical structure.
• In present continuous tense, the structure should be Subject + is/am/are + verb(-ing).
• The verb "go" in this case should be written as "going" to maintain the correct form.

Correct sentence: They are going to the market now.

Additional Information

• Present Continuous Tense:
  • Structure: Subject + is/am/are + verb(-ing).
  • Example: She is reading a book.
  • Usage: Describes actions happening at the moment of speaking or ongoing actions.
• Common Errors:
  • Using the base form of the verb directly after "is/am/are", as in the incorrect example above.

The correct answer is '2' i.e. each and all dwelling .

Key Points

• The phrase "each and all dwelling" is grammatically incorrect. The correct usage should be either "each dwelling" or "all dwellings" depending on the intended meaning.
• "Each" refers to individual items, while "all" refers to the collective group. Combining them in this manner is redundant and incorrect.
• The remaining parts of the sentence are grammatically correct:
• "hit the coastal towns" correctly describes the action of the tsunami.
• "was destroyed" correctly matches the subject-verb agreement for singular nouns.
• "lives were lost" appropriately describes the tragic outcome.

Correct sentence: The tsunami hit the coastal towns with such ferocity that each dwelling was destroyed. Many precious lives were lost too.

Additional Information

• Common Errors with Determiners:
  • Each: Used for individual items in a group (e.g., Each student has a book).
  • All: Used for the entire group collectively (e.g., All students have books).
  • Do not combine "each" and "all" in this way, as it creates redundancy and confusion.
• How to Avoid This Error: Always ensure that determiners like "each" and "all" are used correctly and not redundantly combined.

The correct answer is '4' i.e. are now be maintained .

Key Points

• The sentence "We do hope the parks are now be maintained well" contains a grammatical error.
• The phrase "are now be maintained" is incorrect because the auxiliary verb "are" does not align with the base verb "be."
• To correct the sentence, the phrase should be replaced with "are now being maintained".
• The present continuous tense ("are being maintained") is appropriate here to indicate an ongoing action.

Correct sentence: We do hope the parks are now being maintained well.

Additional Information

• Present Continuous Tense:
  • Structure: Subject + is/am/are + verb (base form) + -ing.
  • Example: The gardens are being renovated.
  • Usage: Used to describe ongoing actions or events happening at the moment of speaking.
• Common Error:
  • Using "are + be" is incorrect and does not exist in standard English grammar.

The correct answer is due to rising affluence and advances to​​.

Key Points​

• There are some verbs/nouns/adjectives which are followed by fixed prepositions as given below:
  • ​Exonerate from, refrain from, lead to, advancement in, aptitude for, inured to, accused of, a predilection for, differ from, vexed at, etc.
• Example:
  • Nowadays, merger and acquisition transactions occur at a faster pace, due in part to advancements in communications.​​
• ​Hence, according to the phrases given above, 'advancement in' will be the correct choice in the part given in the 3rd option.
• Also, rule of parallelism should be followed here. 'affluence' is a noun, and 'and' is a conjunction. The words should be same in form and function. 'advance' is a verb while 'advancement' is a noun, so 'advancement' should be used here.
• The given phrase 'advancement in' means an improvement relating to a particular activity or area of knowledge.
   

Correct Sentence: Population growth is leveling off in most areas due to rising affluence and advancement in women’s education and family planning. 

The correct answer is 'we will have' i.e. this part of the sentence has an error.

Key Points

• In the given sentence, the use of the simple future tense ''will have'' is incorrect.
• The given sentence is the third conditional sentence explaining that present circumstances would be different if something different had happened in the past.
• The third conditional sentence format: past perfect, modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.)​ + have + past participle.
• When using the third conditional, we use the past perfect (i.e., had + past participle) in the if-clause and the modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.) + have + past participle in the main clause.
• Therefore, the past form of the verb 'would' should be used in place of the simple future form of the verb 'will'.
   

Hence, the correct answer is option 4.

Correct sentence: Had you not reached in time, we would have lost our lives.

Hinglish

• दिए गए वाक्य में simple future tense ''will have'' का प्रयोग गलत है।
• दिया गया वाक्य third conditional sentence है जो यह बताता है कि यदि अतीत में कुछ अलग हुआ होता तो वर्तमान परिस्थितियाँ भिन्न होतीं।
• Third conditional sentence प्रारूप: past perfect, modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.)​ + have + past participle.
• Third conditional का उपयोग करते समय, हम if-क्लॉज में past perfect (i.e., had + past participle) का उपयोग करते हैं और modal auxiliary (would, could, should, etc.) + have + past participle, main clause में।
• अतः verb 'will' के simple future form के स्थान पर past form of the verb 'would' का प्रयोग किया जाना चाहिए।
   

अतः सही उत्तर option 4 है।

सही वाक्य: Had you not reached in time, we would have lost our lives.

The correct answer is 'very sweet'

Key Points

• ​Here 'sweet' is an adjective which qualifies a subject (Noun/ Pronoun)
• However, an 'adverb' is required to modify a Verb
  • Example- Phillip sings loudly in the shower. 
• Thus, 'sweet' will be replaced by 'sweetly'.
   

Correct Sentence- Rahul sings very sweetly when he is in a good mood.

The correct answer is Each of the survivors of the Tsunami have been offered

Key Points

• we need to change 'have' into 'has' because 'each' is always followed by the singular verb.
  • Each of the + plural noun + singular verb.

​
Thus the correct sentence is: Each of the survivors of the Tsunami has been offered free psychological consultation to ease the trauma, by some of the top consultants

• Some indefinite pronouns are particularly troublesome
  • Everyone and everybody (listed above, also) certainly feel like more than one person and, therefore, students are sometimes tempted to use a plural verb with them. They are always singular, though.
  • Each is often followed by a prepositional phrase ending in a plural word (Each of the cars), thus confusing the verb choice. Each, too, is always singular and requires a singular verb.
  • e.g., Everyone has finished his or her homework.
    • You would always say, "Everybody is here." This means that the word is singular and nothing will change that. Each of the students is responsible for doing his or her work in the library.
    • Don't let the word "students" confuse you; the subject is each and each is always singular — Each is responsible.

The correct answer is option 4 i.e. D.

• The given sentence has no errors.
• The sentence is in the past tense so we use the past tense form of the verbs i.e. shocked and aged.
• 'Since' has been used to refer to a point of time in the past.

Confusion Points

• There might be confusion regarding why 'we' is used in the (C) part of the sentence and not 'I'.
• Both 'we' and 'I' are correct.
• The speaker is talking about his/her own feeling (was shocked) when the last time he/she visited her.
• It can be that the speaker went along with a group of family members, and hence 'we' is referred to correctly.
• Also, the usage of 'aged' is used correctly. We do not have to use 'many'. "I was shocked to see how many my grandmother had aged since the last time we visited her." is grammatically incorrect.

The correct answer is Q.

Key Points

• In the above-given sentence, 'between' will be replaced by 'among'.
• 'Between' can be used for any number of elements as long as the elements are separate or distinct.
  • For Example - Negotiations between the member states collapsed last night.
• 'Among' is used when talking about people or things that are not distinct and are viewed as a group.
  • For Example -There wasn’t much unity among the council members.
• Here the students are more than two in number (i.e. they represent a group) so the word 'between' will not be used not used and since 'the students' in the given sentence are a part of a class of people so the word 'among' should be used here.
• The distinction between the two words can be illustrated with the help of the following examples:
  • She divided her fortune equally among her four children.
  • The candies were shared equally between me and my brother.
     

Thus the correct sentence is: Encouraging healthy competition among the students of the school was one of the objectives of the annual sports day.

Hinglish

• ऊपर दिए गए वाक्य में 'between' 'among' से बदल दिया जाएगा।
• 'Between' का उपयोग किसी भी संख्या में तत्वों के लिए किया जा सकता है जब तक कि तत्व अलग या अलग होते हैं।
  • उदाहरण के लिए - Negotiations between the member states collapsed last night.
• 'Among' का उपयोग उन लोगों या चीजों के बारे में बात करने के लिए किया जाता है जो अलग नहीं होते हैं और एक समूह के रूप में देखे जाते हैं।
  • उदाहरण के लिए- There wasn’t much unity among the council members.
• यहां छात्र संख्या में दो से अधिक हैं (अर्थात वे एक समूह का प्रतिनिधित्व करते हैं) इसलिए 'between' शब्द का उपयोग नहीं किया जाएगा और चूंकि दिए गए वाक्य में 'the students' लोगों के वर्ग का एक हिस्सा है इसलिए शब्द 'among' का इस्तेमाल किया जाना चाहिए।
• दो शब्दों के बीच अंतर को निम्नलिखित उदाहरणों की मदद से चित्रित किया जा सकता है:
  • She divided her fortune equally among her four children.
  • The candies were shared equally between me and my brother.
     

इस प्रकार सही वाक्य है: Encouraging healthy competition among the students of the school was one of the objectives of the annual sports day.

The erroneous part is 'during he was'.

Key Points

• The given sentence is grammatically incorrect.
• Here, 'when he was' should be used instead of 'during he was'.
• Use “when + sentence”. So, we need a subject and a verb.
• We can use this at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence.
  • Example: She is quiet when she is angry.
• Whereas, we use “during + noun”.
• We can use this at the beginning or end of a sentence.
  • Example: She cried during the movie.
• Thus, the correct answer is Option 4.
   

Correct Sentence: We stayed in Jim's flat when he was on holiday. 

The answer is B

Key Points

• According to the rule, 'reach' is a transitive verb hence after a transitive verb we need to write a direct object. 
• So we will remove the preposition 'to' after the verb 'reach'.
  • Example: They didn't reach the motel until after dark.
• Hence, the correct sentence is: As soon as I reach my house I will send you the driver.
   

Additional Information

• Transitive verbs are those verbs that give the reply of 'what?', e.g., He couldn't reach (what?) the apple (reply of what?)

Hinglish

• नियम के अनुसार, 'reach' एक सकर्मक क्रिया(Transitive verbs) है इसलिए एक सकर्मक क्रिया के बाद हमें एक direct object लिखने की आवश्यकता होती है।
• इसलिए हम preposition 'to' को हटा देंगे।
  • उदाहरण: They didn't reach the motel until after dark.
     
• इसलिए, सही वाक्य है: As soon as I reach my house I will send you the driver.

Additional Information

• सकर्मक क्रिया(Transitive verbs) वे क्रियाएं हैं जो 'क्या?' का उत्तर देती हैं।
  •  For Example - He couldn't reach (what?) the apple (reply of what?)

The correct answer is B

Key Points

• If a preposition comes after a noun and the same noun gets repeated, the noun will always be in a singular form.
  For example:
  • ​Shirts after shirts were sold in quick succession.
  • ​Shirt after shirt was sold in quick succession.​

Hence the correct sentence is: The government employees went door to door in a village to fetch some data.

Additional Information

• Let's look at the meaning of the vocabulary given in the sentence:
  Fetch- to go for and then bring back (someone or something) for someone.

The correct answer is 'want to'.

Key Points

• The given sentence is grammatically incorrect.
• Here, 'wants to' should be used instead of 'want to'.
• We know that after 'each, every, everyone, someone, nobody, one' a singular verb, singular noun, singular adjective, and a singular pronoun is used.
  • Example: Each student has come.
• Thus, the correct answer is Option 2.
   

Correct Sentence: Every curious child wants to rip open a toy.