ERROR FINDING — PRACTICE SET 2 — SOLVED

1. Everyday we hear about / senior citizens being robbed / and even kill in cold blood. / NE

2. Ravi Shankar’s performance was given / a standing ovation by the / people who has come to hear him. / NE

3. People are wanting / to see the home team / win the game. / NE

4. Candidates present in the examination hall / should make use / with such opportunities. / NE

5. He said that it was the first time / that such a trick / is discovered. / NE

6. The Management Committee / was divided / in their opinion. / NE

7. Millions of Jews lost / their kith and kin / in Hitler concentration camps. / NE

8. Mother­in­laws / are / a nuisance. / NE

9. Today people is ignorant / of the things that / are happening around them. / NE

10. I think so / you have taken / the right decision. / NE

11. When Albert stayed at the African jungle / he chose to put up with many inconveniences such as / wild animals and poisonous insects. / NE

12. His need for affection / stem from his / father’s long absence. / NE

13. Due to his negligence, / he failed / in the examination. / NE

14. Ramesh is smarter enough / to get selected for this post, / without any recommendations. / NE

15. Madhu lived in Mumbai / since 1970 to 1985, / but is now living in Chennai. / NE

16. It has been shown that / very high doses of vitamin C actually / causes cancer cells to grow. / NE

17. Excess energy intake from / food may fuel the / growth of several cancers. / NE

18. Mr Gaurav Sharma / is coming / to dinner. / NE

19. You have been working very hard / for the past two years, / isn’t it? / NE

20. I visited my / grandpa and grandma’s house / and found their missing. / NE

21. You should learn to adopt / yourself to / changing circumstances. / NE

22. I shall go / by the / 3 o’clock’s train. / NE

23. He told me the same / story which he told / you yesterday. / NE

24. I have signed over / the cheque, you can / collect it tomorrow. / NE

25. The factory complex houses a shop-floor / and 10 cubicles for the staff in an area / of about thousand squares meters. / NE

Answer Key

1. C	2. C	3. A	4. C	5. C	6. B	7. C	8. A	9. A	10. A
11. A	12. B	13. D	14. A	15. B	16. C	17. D	18. D	19. C	20. C
21. A	22. C	23. B	24. A	25. C

Solution with explanation

1. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘kill’ by ‘killed’. Two verbs when joined by AND, must be in the same form. The first of the verbs is ROBBED, you can’t use in the present as it’s in the passive voice, so 3rd form of it is needed.

2. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘has come’ by ‘had come’ as the context is in the past.

3. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘are wanting’ by ‘want’ as the verb WANT can’t be used in the continuous form.

4. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘with’ by ‘of’. Prepositional error. Make use of sth = to use something that is available; e.g. We might as well make use of the hotel’s facilities.

5. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘is’ by ‘was’ as the sentence is in the past.

6. Part ‘B’. Replace ‘was’ by ‘were’. Read the explanation here: A collective noun takes singular verb when the group is thought of a single unit. But when individual members of the group are thought of, the verb is plural. When the verb is plural, the pronouns are also in the plural. Here in this sentence THEIR must be correct as individual members of the committee are thought of because of the ‘divided opinion’.

7. Part ‘C’. Replace Hitler’ by Hitler’s. Kith and kin = relatives

8. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘mother-in-laws’ by ‘mothers-in-law’. With compounds forms of ‘Noun + Preposition + Noun’ we make the first noun plural; e.g.

a) Engineer-in-Chief — Engineers-in-Chief
b) lady-in-waiting — ladies-in-waiting (Lady-in waiting = a woman whose job is to help a queen or other woman of high social position)

9. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘is’ by ‘are’ as PEOPLE is a plural noun.

10. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘so’ by ‘that’ as if there is a clause after I THINK we use the conjunction THAT, not SO.

11. Part ‘A’. Replace THE by AN as it’s not a specific jungle we are talking about.

12. Part ‘B’. Replace ‘stem’ by ‘stems’ as the main word of the subject NEED is in the singular. You can also use the Past Simple Tense (STEMED) here. ‘Stem from sth’ is an idiom which means ‘to start or develop as the result of something’; e.g.

a) Her problems stem from her difficult childhood.
b) Their disagreement stemmed from a misunderstanding.

14. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘smarter’ by ‘smart’. Before ENOUGH we use positive degree (not comparative or superlative); e.g.

INCORRECT: Is the water hotter enough yet?
CORRECT: Is the water hot enough yet?

INCORRECT: Mohit seems happiest enough working for himself.
CORRECT: Mohit seems happy enough working for himself.

15. Part ‘B’. Replace ‘since’ by ‘from’. When two time periods are joined by TO, we use FROM before the first one. Right construction is ‘From – to’.

NOTE-I: We use DURING before the first one when the time periods are joined by AND; e.g.

a) The first world war took place during 1914 and 1918.
b) Dr Jain will be here during Thursday and Friday.

NOTE-II: We use SINCE/FOR for an action which began in the past and is still continuing or has just finished; e.g.

a) I have lived here for five years. (and still live here)
b) She has been here since six o’clock. (and is still here)

16. Part ‘C’. Replace ’causes’ by ’cause’ as the main word of the subject is DOSES, which is in the plural.

19. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘isn’t it’ by ‘haven’t you’ as we must use the pronoun of the subject of the given clause in the question tag. Here the subject of the given clause is YOU, which itself is a pronoun.

20. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘their’ by ‘them’ as we need an objective pronoun for GRANDPA and GRANDMA, not possessive.

21. Part ‘A’. Replace ‘adopt’ by ‘adapt’ as the verb ADOPT is not suitable here. With the verb ADAPT use of the reflexive pronoun is optional.

ADAPT = to become familiar with a new situation; e.g.

a) The good thing about children is that they adapt very easily to new environments. b) It took me a while to adapt to the new job.

ADOPT = to legally take another person’s child into your own family and take care of him or her as your own child; e.g.

They have no children of their own, but they’re hoping to adopt.

22. Part ‘C’. Replace 3 o’clock’s train’ by 3 o’clock train’.

23. Part ‘B’. Replace ‘which’ by ‘as’ Read rules regarding use of a relative pronoun after THE SAME:

CASE-I: If a verb is there directly after the use of relative pronoun we use THAT after THE SAME; e.g.

a) This is the same girl that deceived him. (verb DECEIVED is there, so you can’t use WHO)
b) This is the same dog that bit me. (verb BIT is there, so you can’t use WHICH)

CASE-II: If a verb is not there after the use of relative pronoun we use AS (not THAT) after THE SAME; e.g.

a) This is the same dog as mine.
b) I like the same dress as my brother.

24. Part ‘A’. Remove ‘over’ as ‘sign’ is a transitive verb, and hence follows the object directly.

NOTE: SIGN OVER is a phrasal verb which means to officially give your property to someone by writing your name on a document; e.g.

He’s nervous about signing over the whole farm.

25. Part ‘C’. Replace ‘squares’ by ‘square’. When a definite number like one, two, three, etc. precedes two nouns used together the first noun is not made plural.

COMPARE:
a) The journey takes three hours. [We have noun HOUR in the plural because it’s not following another noun.]

b) It’s a three hour journey. [We can’t make the noun HOUR in the plural because it’s following another noun (here JOURNEY) just after.]

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