SOLUTION ERROR FINDING PRACTICE SET 7 IN ENGLISH
ERROR FINDING Practice Set 7 SOLVED IN HINDI & ENGLISH
VIEW SOLUTION WITH EXPLANATION IN ENGLISH
1. I shall have to / withdraw from my savings / to buy a new car. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Remove the preposition ‘from’ from part ‘B’. Verb ‘withdraw’ can both be used as a transitive verb or as an intransitive verb. When something itself is taken away back or removed back we use it as a transitive verb (with an object), but when something is taken away back or removed from something else we use it as an intransitive verb (without an object).
Here in the sentence we are not given anything from where or what savings to be withdrawn, so we must use it transitively and remove the preposition ‘from’. Had the place/thing given from savings to be withdrawn, the preposition ‘from’ would have been correct; e.g.
I shall have to withdraw my savings from the bank to buy a new car.
2. Please find / my yesterday’s and today’s / daily reports in the documents. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Remove he word ‘daily’ from part ‘C’ as we are talking about only two days reports, not the daily reports.
3. His tradition–bound attitude / had to be a constant source of dissatisfaction / among the younger members of the family. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘among’ by ‘for’ in part ‘C’. If somebody is benefited to get something we use the preposition ‘for’, not ‘among’ or ‘between’. Use of ‘had to’ in part ‘B’ is quite correct; the verb ‘have to’ can also be used to say you feel certain that something is true; e.g.
a) There has to be a reason for his strange behaviour.
b) That has to be the biggest lie ever told.
Translation in Hindi: उसके परम्परावादी दृष्टिकोण को परिवार के युवा सदस्यों के लिए असंतुष्टि का constant साधन/कारण होना ही था.
4. The comedian enthralled everybody / with his quick witty as he had chosen / just the right topic to warm up to the crowd. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘witty’ by ‘wit’ in part ‘B’. ‘Witty’ is an adjective, but we need a noun here. ‘Warm up to’ is correct. ‘Warm up to someone/something’ = to begin to like/enjoy someone/something; e.g.
I warmed up to the committee as the interview went on.
5. The Times of India / is the most popular news paper / of these days. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Remove the preposition ‘of’ from part ‘C’ as We don’t use a preposition before time phrases beginning with This, These, Every, Another and Last/Next, etc.; e.g.
a) We can’t afford a holiday this year.
b) Where did you go last weekend?
c) My exams finish next Tuesday afternoon.
d) I will not stay here another minute.
6. I must compliment you / on your good manners / and your impeccable behavior. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Remove the possessive adjective ‘your’ before ‘impeccable’ in part ‘C’ as it doesn’t need to be repeated here.
7. He was a learnt man / among lords, and a lord among men. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘learnt’ by ‘learned’ in part ‘A’. Though both are V3 of the verb ‘learn’, as an adjective ‘learned’ is used, not ‘learnt’. Here we need an adjective for the noun ‘man’.
8. Excuse / me / interrupting you. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Place the preposition ‘for’ before ‘interrupting’ in part ‘C’.
9. Seldom if ever / nature does operate / in closed and separate compartments. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘nature does’ by ‘does nature’ in part ‘B’. When a sentence begins with a negative expression we invert the verb, means the helping verb comes before the subject. ‘Seldom if ever’ is a negative expression. It means ‘almost never’.
NOTE: ‘Seldom if never’ and ‘seldom or never’ are same thing, and are used as a more forceful way to say ‘rarely’ or ‘seldom’; e.g.
a) I have seldom if ever been so embarrassed.
b) Such radical opinions have rarely if ever been heard here before.
c) She rarely if ever sings anymore.
10. A chill wind blew / and icy fingers of death / crept up my spine. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘crept up’ by ‘crept up on’ in part ‘C’. ‘Creep up on’ = to begin to affect somebody, especially before they realize it; e.g.
Tiredness can easily creep up on you while you’re driving.
NOTE: ‘Chill’ and ‘chilly’ as adjectives are used in the same sense, but slightly differently. ‘Chill’ is used when something is unpleasantly cold whereas ‘chilly’ is used for things which are moderately cold. The phrase ‘crept up on my spine’ suggests that ‘wind’ was unpleasantly cold, not moderately cold.
11. Read not to contradict / nor to believe / but to weigh and consider. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error. ‘Neither — Nor’ is used to say when there are two things and neither of them is true, or does not happen at all. But here there is nothing like that. ‘Nor’ can also be used without pairing it with ‘neither’. When this happens the first statement is negative as it is here – ‘read not to contradict’.
Translation in Hindi: Reading केवल किसी विचार का विरोध करना ही (contradict) नहीं है, और न ही ये किसी बात को मात्र मान लेना (believe) ही है, बल्कि ये है अपने खुद के opinion को बनाना. (दूसरे शब्दों में — तुम्हें किसी भी बात पर जो तुम पढ़ रहे हो trust नहीं करना चाहिए जब तक की तुम ये वास्तव में ये न समझ लो कि कहा क्या जा रहा है.)
Another examples of use of ‘not — nor’:
b) He doesn’t want to live in the country when he grows up, nor does he want to live in the city.
12. I told the teacher / that the homework set for the day / was much too heavy for us to complete. /NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error. Here use of ‘much too’ is quite correct. You cannot replace it by ‘too much’. We use ‘much too’ in front of an unpleasant adjective to say that something cannot be done or achieved because someone or something has too much of a quality.
The difference between the uses of ‘too much’ and ‘much too’ is that ‘too much’ is used with a noun whereas ‘much too’ is used before adjectives and adverbs without a noun; e.g..
INCORRECT: These are much too heavy bags. (‘Bags’ is a noun.)
CORRECT: These bags are much too heavy.
INCORRECT: Madhu is too much rude. (‘Rude’ is an adjective, not a noun.)
CORRECT: Madhu is much too rude.
INCORRECT: I’m feeling much too pain in my leg. (‘Pain’ is a noun, not an adjective.)
CORRECT: I’m feeling too much pain in my leg.
13. 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 not’ by ‘did not need to’ in part ‘A’. According to the context of this sentence we need a past tense in part ‘A’. Here you see use of ‘need’ is as a modal verb. But ‘need’ when it’s a modal verb has no past tense form. To make it in the past we use the helping verb ‘did’ with it, so it’s past form is either ‘didn’t need to’ or ‘didn’t have to’; 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.
14. It was obviously for everyone / that grandfather was /hiding something from all of us. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘obviously’ by ‘obvious’ in part ‘A’. Here we need an adjective, not an adverb. ‘Obviously’ is an adverb rather.
15. One must learn / to distinguish / good from bad. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error. ‘How to’ is used to say methods of doing something. Its use with the verb ‘learn’ is optional. For the verb ‘know’ its use is necessary; e.g.
I’m learning to drive.
= I’m leaning how to drive.
INCORRECT: Do you know to swim?
CORRECT: Do you know how to swim?
16. The majority of the woman teachers / are persuading the principal / to consider their demands. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Replace ‘woman teachers’ by ‘women teachers’ in part ‘A’. Here both the nouns ‘woman’ and ‘teacher’ are main nouns, so we need to make both in the plural. When the nouns ‘man’ or ‘woman’ is placed before another noun, rule of making them in the plural is as follow:
i) When both the nouns are main nouns, both nouns are made plural; e.g.
a) man driver — men drivers
b) woman doctor — women doctors
ii) When only the second noun is main noun, the second noun is made plural; e.g.
a) man eater — man eaters
b) woman lover — woman lovers
c) man hater — man haters
17. What is / wanted are not large houses / but small cottages. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘are’ by ‘is’ in part ‘B’. Here entire clause ‘what is wanted’ is the subject of the verb ‘are’. But, here, ‘are’ needs to be replaced by ‘is’ as When ‘what’ starts a clause which is the subject of a sentence, we use a singular verb for that clause; e.g.
a) What I want is your books.
b) What she wants to buy is a car.
18. Just as / I was entering the room, / the family was going for a party. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘for’ by ‘to’ in part ‘C’. To talk about movement in relation to a place or a person we use the verb going + to + noun phrase. ‘Party’ is a noun which is referring to the place of the party here; e.g.
a) Are you going to Reema’s party tonight?
b) I’m going to the shops. Do you want anything?
19. The new lecturer seems to be / very popular with / most of the class. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘with’ by ‘in’ in part ‘B’. When talking about people ‘popular’ takes the preposition ‘with’ or ‘among’, when talking about things we use the preposition ‘in’ with it. ‘Class’ is a thing; e.g.
a) She’s the most popular teacher in school. (SCHOOL is a thing.)
b) That song was popular with people from my father’s generation.
c) How popular is Madonna among/with teenagers?
d) The potato is the most popular vegetable in India.
NOTE: If a person is popular we use either ‘among’ or ‘with’, if a thing is thing/idea is popular we can only use ‘among’, not ‘with’; e.g.
She is popular among her students. (‘She’ is used for people.)
= She is popular with her students.
INCORRECT: This policy is popular with the workers. (POLICY is a thing/idea.)
CORRECT: This policy is popular among the workers.
20. You say it’s your problem / but I say / it’s my also. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘my’ by ‘yours’ in part ‘C’. Here we a need a possessive pronoun, that too ‘yours’, not ‘mine’.
21. He is a saint / and as such / must be respected. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error
22. I forgot / if I had to pay / the fees today. / NE
Answer: B
Explanation: Replace ‘if’ by ‘that’ in part ‘B’. If a clause is there after the verb ‘forget’ we use the conjunction ‘that’ not ‘if’. Use of ‘that’ in such a case is optional, means it’s not necessary to use at all; e.g.
I’d forgotten that you’d already given me the money.
= I’d forgotten you’d already given me the money.
23. Standing on the top of the light-house / the distant ships / are clearly visible. / NE
Answer: A
Explanation: Insert ‘to one’ before the participle ‘standing’ in part ‘A’ as a participle (ing form working as an adjective) works of an adjective it must have a noun/pronoun to describe. ‘standing’ is a participle; e.g.
INCORRECT: Walking in the garden, a tree fell down.
CORRECT: While I was walking in the garden, a tree fell down.
[‘Walking’ in this sentence is a present participle (A verb form working as an adjective), so it must have a noun/pronoun to describe. But you’ll see it’s missing that. Of course the ‘tree’ is not that noun as a tree cannot walk.]
Some more such examples
INCORRECT: Being a rainy day, I did not go out.
CORRECT: It being a rainy day, I did not go out.
INCORRECT: Being too costly for him, he could not buy the car.
CORRECT: The car being too costly for him, he could not buy it.
NOTE: But sometimes we do not need to mention the subject of a participle as it’s already understood; e.g.
Being ill, I could not attend the meeting.
[In this sentence we do not need to mention the subject with the participle ‘being’ as it’s understood that ‘I’ itself is the subject here.]
24. The winner of the / ‘journalist of the year’ award was / not other than the editor’s daughter. / NE
Answer: C
Explanation: Replace ‘not’ by ‘none’ or ‘no’ in part ‘C’. When we want to emphasize the name of a person or thing when something about that person or thing is surprising in a particular situation we use ‘none other than’ or ‘no other than’; e.g.
He called together all his employees and announced that the manager was none other than his son.
25. The path to / the famous church passes / through a forest. / NE
Answer: D
Explanation: No error
VIEW SOLUTION WITH EXPLANATION IN HINDI
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