SOLUTION ERROR FINDING PRACTICE SET 4 SOLVED IN ENGLISH
ERROR FINDING Practice Set 4 SOLVED IN HINDI & ENGLISH
VIEW SOLUTION WITH EXPLANATION IN ENGLISH
1. Where / have I / to deposit the fee? / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘have I’ by ‘do I have’ in part ‘B’. When ‘have’ does not mean ‘to possess/own’ we make negative and interrogative of ‘have’ with ‘do/did’. If the verb ‘have’ means to ‘possess/own’, then we can make its negative and interrogative either using ‘have’ itself or using the helping verbs ‘do/did’; e.g.
INCORRECT: How many classes have you a week?
CORRECT: How many classes do you have a week?
INCORRECT: Has she a difficulty solving this sum?
CORRECT: Does she have a difficulty solving this sum?
INCORRECT: I had not any difficulty locating the office.
CORRECT: I didn’t have any difficulty locating the office.
Have you an extra pen? (Here ‘have’ = to possess/own)
= Do you have an extra pen?
2. If Deepak had been with us / from the beginning / we would be much happier / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘would be’ by ‘would have been’ in part ‘C’. This is a type-III conditional sentence. In such sentences when the verb of the ‘if-clause (here ‘had been’) is in the past perfect, the verb of main clause is Perfect Conditional (Would+Have+V3). Use of ‘much’ is quite correct here. Before a comparative degree we do not use ‘more/most’, also we don’t use ‘very’. Yes, We can use ‘much’. Read this:
We don’t use ‘very’ with comparatives, rather we use Much, Very much or Far with them; e.g.
INCORRECT: Rohan is very quicker than she is.
CORRECT: Rohan is much/very much/far quicker than she is.
INCORRECT: Yours is very bigger house than ours.
CORRECT: Yours is a much/very much/far bigger house than ours.
NOTE: Though the sentence can also be made error free by making a correction of the verb in part ‘A. But in the given format we can’t do so as when a sentence can be corrected from two parts we can’t touch the first part.
3. By the time she had finished her work / I had nearly given up / all hope of arriving at the party in time. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘had finished’ by ‘finished’ in part ‘A’. Phrase ‘by the time’ is typically used to mean that the other given event occurs before the event given in the ‘by the time’ clause, so we can’t use the Past Perfect Tense in this clause; e.g.
By the time we turned on the TV, the movie had already started.
4. How close the ball / will come depends / on how forcefully it was hit. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘was hit’ by ‘is hit’ in part ‘C’. It’s a universal fact, therefore the verb of the second clause needs to be in the present.
5. The vaccine / when hit the Indian market / is dogged by controversy. /NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘is dogged’ by ‘was dogged’ in part ‘C’ as it’s a past event.
6. Ram is as good, / if not better / than they. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘as good’ by ‘as good as’ in part ‘A’. ‘If’ is a conjunction here. If we have to use both positive and comparative degrees in one single sentence, we join them by adding a conjunction in either of the following two ways:
i) As + positive degree + as + conjunction + Comparative degree + than
ii) Comparative degree + than +conjunction +As + positive degree + as
a) She is as tall as and more beautiful than you.
b) He is better than and as wise as you.
INCORRECT: Karan is as intelligent if not more than his sister.
CORRECT: Karan is as intelligent as if not more than his sister. OR Karan is as intelligent as his sister, if not more.
INCORRECT: This is as good if not better than that.
CORRECT: This is as good as if not better than that. OR This is as good as that, if not better.
7. This young lady is more beautiful / but not so cultured as / her sister. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘more beautiful’ by ‘more beautiful than’ in part ‘A’. ‘But’ is a conjunction here. See the explanation at question 6 just above.
8. As they climb / higher, the air became cooler. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘climb’ by ‘climbed’ in part ‘A’. This is a particular instance of climbing somewhere. If the subject would have been ‘one/we/you’ instead of ‘they’ it would have become a universal fact, and therefore the error would be in part ‘C’ and the verb then would be ‘becomes’ instead of ‘became’.
9. Engines used in space shuttles / are much larger and more stronger than / the ones used in jet planes. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Remove ‘more’ from part ‘B’ as we do not use ‘more’ before a comparative degree. ‘Stronger’ is an adjective of comparative degree. Also two comparative degrees (here ‘larger’ and ‘stronger’) are joined by ‘and’, so we only use the adverb before the first one. Use of the adverb ‘much’ is quite correct here.
10. It is / a / desert place. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘desert’ by ‘deserted’ in part ‘C’. Here we need an adjective qualifying the noun ‘place’, we don’t need a noun. ‘Desert’ is a noun.
11. The man whom I thought / was thoroughly honest / proved to be a swindler. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘whom’ by ‘who’ in part ‘A’.
In case of confusion count the number of verbs and see whether or not there are as many subjects in the sentence. If every verb of the sentence has a subject, we need ‘whom’ otherwise ‘who’. In the above sentence there are three verbs namely ‘thought, ‘was’ and ‘proved’. Here the subject of the verb ‘thought’ is ‘I’, and subject of the verb ‘proved’ is ‘man’, but the subject of the verb ‘was’ is not given, therefore here we need ‘who’ instead of ‘whom’. ‘Whom’ is used as an object. Another example:
The doctor who/whom you recommended is not available for three months.
(In this sentence, the verb ‘recommended’ has the subject ‘you’, the verb ‘is’ has the subject ‘the doctor’. There is no verb left without a subject now. Therefore we need ‘whom’ here.)
12. Bacon the father / of the English essay had / a thirst for knowledge. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error. Here the article ‘the’ is used for ‘essay’, not for the language ‘English’. ‘English’ has been used here as an adjective.
Thirst for knowledge = a strong desire for knowledge
13. When Albert stayed at the African jungle / he chose to put up with many inconveniences such as / wild animals and poisonous insects. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘the’ by ‘an’ in part ‘A’ as the jungle we are talking about here is not specific. ‘Put up’ is correct, it means to stay somewhere temporarily.
14. Deepak told me that he / would take me to the park / when he would come home. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘would come’ by ‘came’ in part ‘C’. The direct speech of this sentence is: Deepak said to me, “I will take you to the park when I come home.”
15. Let us go / for a picnic, / shouldn’t we? / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘shouldn’t’ by ‘shall’ in part ‘C’. With ‘let’s (let us)’, the question tag is ‘shall we’. (For both affirmative and negative); e.g.
Let’s go to the market, shall we?
16. Whenever they go out / shopping, they / take their pet cat with them. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error. When we speak about general activities that involve movement we can use either ‘go out + gerund (ing form)’ or ‘go + gerund (ing form)’; e.g.
They have gone fishing until later this evening.
= They have gone out fishing until later this evening.
It was pouring with rain and all we could do was to go shopping.
= It was pouring with rain and all we could do was to go out shopping.
NOTE-I: In this meaning of ‘go’ we can also use ‘be out + gerund (ing form)’; e.g.
Mother is out shopping with my sister.
NOTE-II: If the activities have a clear beginning and end, then we use ‘go + to-infinitive’; e.g.
INCORRECT: They’ve gone watching the tennis match.
CORRECT: They’ve gone to watch the tennis match.
NOTE-III: If it’s a noun (not activity) after ‘go’ we use ‘go for’; e.g.
He goes for a morning walk daily. (Here ‘walk’ is a noun.)
17. It is a worth watching documentary, / you must not / miss it. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘worth watching documentary’ by ‘documentary worth watching’ in part ‘A’. ‘Worth + ing form’ is used after the noun, not in front of it.
18. The process was too simple and easy to understand / that it hardly took five minutes / for us to grasp it. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘too simple’ by ‘so simple’ in part ‘A’. When we use an adverb in a positive way we use ‘so’ not ‘too’. When we put ‘too’ in front of an adjective or adverb, it means that an amount or degree of a quality is more than needed or wanted. ‘Hardly took five minutes’ suggests that here we are talking in a positive way; e.g.
a) My bed is too short for my height.
b) I could know his character too late.
c) He drives far too fast.
d) I was very angry but not too angry to lose control.
19. The arm was so badly injured / that he must have / it amputated. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘must have’ by ‘had to have’ or ‘had to get’ in part ‘B’. ‘Must + V1‘ can only be used in present or future contexts, but we need the past tense here. Past of ‘must’ in this sense is ‘had to’.
20. The father said to his son / that if he wanted to achieve his goal / he must work hard. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Remove the article ‘the’ before ‘father’ in part ‘A’ as we don’t use an article with the names of family relations.
NOTE-I: The given sentence is in the Indirect Speech. Correct use of ‘say’ and ‘tell’ in indirect speech: In indirect speech we normally use ‘say’ or ‘tell + object’, but ‘say to + object’ is also correct, however is much less usual than ‘tell + object’; e.g.
He said, “I just heard the news.”
= He said that he had just heard the news.
= He told me that he had just heard the news.
= He said to me that he had just heard the news.
NOTE-II: Use of ‘that’ and ‘if’ in togetherness is correct. Use of ‘that’ is as a conjunction that we use to convert assertive sentences in the Indirect Speech whereas use of ‘if’ is as a conjunction that we use for conditional sentences.
21. When viewed with his point of view / the entire episode assumes / a different colour altogether./ NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘with’ by ‘from’ in part ‘A’. Use of the verb ‘assumes’ is correct as we are talking the effect of the episode in the present. Preposition ‘from’ is used for showing somebody’s point of view. From one’s point of view = as far as one is concerned. More such examples:
a) From a financial point of view the project was a disaster.
b) From my point of view, the party was a complete success.
22. I did not / play, / nor I studied. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘nor I studied’ by ‘nor did I study’ in part ‘C’. ‘Nor’ can be used with nouns like in ‘Neither Mohan nor Sohan’, and before clauses. ‘I studied’ is a clause, when it’s used with a clause you put ‘nor’ at the beginning of that clause and use the helping verb of the main verb before the subject of that clause; e.g.
a) The officer didn’t believe me, nor did the girls when I told them.
b) We cannot give personal replies, nor can we guarantee to answer letters.
23. You need not tell a lie / when the judge asked you where you were / when the crime was committed. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘need to tell’ by ‘did not need to tell’ in part ‘A’. According to the context of the sentence we need the modal verb ‘need’ to be in the past. The modal verb ‘need’ does not have a past form. Instead, we use ‘didn’t need to’ or ‘didn’t have to’ in the past; e.g.
INCORRECT: I needed not to take my wife to the doctor.
CORRECT: I didn’t need to take my wife to the doctor. OR I didn’t have to take my wife to the doctor.
24. Someone, they don’t know whom, / knocked at / their door in midnight. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace the preposition ‘in’ by ‘at’ in part ‘C’. For time expressions that refer to ‘particular point in time’ we use the preposition ‘at’, for time expressions that refer to ‘particular period of time’ we use the preposition ‘in’. ‘Midnight’ is the part of day when the clock strikes at 12 at night, ‘noon’ is the part of day when the clock strikes at 12 in the day time. Therefore both ‘midnight’ and ‘noon’ are particular points of time.
‘Afternoon’ and ‘morning’ are not particular points of time; rather they are particular periods of time, therefore we don’t use the preposition ‘at’ for them; rather we use ‘in’ and say ‘in the morning’ and ‘in the afternoon’.
25. Let us picnic / on that field / over there. NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace the preposition ‘on’ by ‘in’ in part ‘B’. We use ‘on’ for surfaces with open ends whereas we use ‘in’ for a surface with a wall, fence, etc. around it. ‘A field’ is normally surrounded by a fence.
View solution with explanation in Hindi
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