Error Spotting with Shortcut tricks Set 05

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. The negative infinitive is formed as 'not to' + verb, and the word 'to' is not repeated.
2. Correct form: 'decided not to go abroad'.
3. The rest of the sentence is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Write 'decided not to', never 'decided to not to'.
2. Not comes before the infinitive 'to'.

Answer: (e) No error

Explanation:
1. 'Scarcely' is an adverb of degree and can stand before the main verb 'had' (meaning possessed).
2. 'To pay to the cashier at the cash counter' is a correct, if slightly wordy, construction.
3. No part contains a grammatical error.

Teacher's Note:
1. Adverbs such as scarcely, hardly and never normally sit before the main verb.
2. Before choosing an error, be sure a rule is really broken.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. The sentence describes a past event (decided, yesterday), so the verb must be in the past tense.
2. Correct form: 'suited him'.
3. 'Neither of' with a singular verb is correct, so the error is the tense, not the agreement.

Teacher's Note:
1. Keep tenses in step: past time words need a past verb.
2. Neither of + plural noun takes a singular verb.

Answer: (a) Part (a)

Explanation:
1. The verb 'go through' (to read carefully) must be in the past perfect: 'had gone'.
2. 'Had been gone' is a wrong passive-like form.
3. Correct form: 'Since I had gone through the book long back'.

Teacher's Note:
1. Past perfect = had + past participle.
2. 'Been' is not added to 'gone' for an active meaning.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. A direct question beginning with a question word needs the helping verb before the subject.
2. Correct form: 'What will you think'.
3. The 'if' clause in (c)-(d) is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. In direct questions: question word + auxiliary + subject.
2. Statement order belongs only to reported questions.

Answer: (d) Part (d)

Explanation:
1. 'Since' is followed by a point of time, while a period of time takes 'for'.
2. Correct form: 'for two years'.
3. The present perfect continuous tense in (b) is right.

Teacher's Note:
1. Since = starting point; for = duration.
2. Two years is a duration, so use for.

Answer: (e) No error

Explanation:
1. 'With heart and soul' is a fixed, correct idiom meaning wholeheartedly.
2. 'Served the country' and 'got nothing in return' are both grammatical.
3. So no correction is needed.

Teacher's Note:
1. Learn idioms as fixed units; their article usage is not changed.
2. A correct sentence is also a possible answer.

Answer: (a) Part (a)

Explanation:
1. The words after 'not only' and 'but also' must be of the same kind. Here 'not only' is followed by a verb but 'but also' by a noun.
2. Correct form: 'Manohar has opened not only a restaurant but also a grocery shop'.
3. The pair of correlatives must be placed just before the parallel items.

Teacher's Note:
1. Place not only and but also directly before the two matching items.
2. Check parallel structure in every correlative pair.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. 'One of the most important' must be followed by a plural noun.
2. Correct form: 'one of the most important speeches'.
3. The other parts are correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. One of the + superlative + plural noun.
2. The verb stays singular because the subject is 'one'.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. 'Able' is an adjective and needs the verb 'been' before it after 'have' (would not have been able).
2. Correct form: 'would not have been able to plan'.
3. The conditional 'if you had not cooperated' in (d) is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Would have + past participle, and the participle of 'be' is 'been'.
2. Do not drop 'been' before an adjective.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. 'Hardly' must be followed by 'when' (or 'before'), not 'than'. 'Than' is paired with 'no sooner'.
2. Correct form: 'when I met my friend Vishwas'.
3. The inversion 'Hardly had I entered' is right.

Teacher's Note:
1. Hardly/scarcely ... when; no sooner ... than.
2. Both patterns use the past perfect first.

Answer: (e) No error

Explanation:
1. 'Let out' (reveal) is a correct phrasal verb and the object 'the secret' may come between or after.
2. 'By talking about it loudly' uses the preposition 'by' with a gerund correctly.
3. There is no error.

Teacher's Note:
1. Phrasal verbs can take the object after the particle.
2. By + gerund shows the means.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. 'Ever since' + simple past in one clause requires the present perfect in the main clause for a situation that continues up to now.
2. Correct form: 'the private institutions have run into heavy weather'.
3. The past perfect 'had run' would place the trouble before the announcement.

Teacher's Note:
1. Ever since + past tense, main clause in present perfect.
2. Do not use the past perfect when the action continues to the present.

Answer: (d) Part (d)

Explanation:
1. The sentence is in the past tense (did not like, had no alternative), so 'has to' must change.
2. Correct form: 'as he had to go out to work'.
3. The other verbs agree in tense.

Teacher's Note:
1. Do not shift tense without reason within one sentence.
2. Have to becomes had to in the past.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. 'Look at' means to see, but taking care of someone is expressed by 'look after'.
2. Correct form: 'they look after their old parents very well'.
3. The 'so ... that' pattern in (b) is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Look after = take care of; look at = turn the eyes to.
2. Choose the phrasal verb by meaning.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. An adjective phrase such as 'full of steam' (or the idiom 'in full steam') needs the preposition; 'full steam' cannot follow 'was' alone.
2. Correct form: 'it was full of steam'.
3. The other parts are correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Full is followed by 'of'.
2. Keep needed prepositions in adjective phrases.

Answer: (c) Part (c)

Explanation:
1. 'No sooner' must be completed with 'than', which is missing in (c).
2. Correct form: 'than some participants started shouting slogans'.
3. 'No sooner did ... begin' is a correct inversion.

Teacher's Note:
1. No sooner ... than; hardly ... when.
2. Inversion follows a negative adverb at the start.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. Something that is attached to a surface is fixed 'to' it; 'for' shows purpose, not attachment.
2. Correct form: 'fixed a metal ladder to the wall below his window'.
3. 'So as to be able to escape' in (c)-(d) is a correct purpose phrase.

Teacher's Note:
1. Fix, attach and tie take the preposition 'to'.
2. 'For' shows purpose or benefit.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. The reported clause is in the past, so the verb should be 'expected' (and a singular subject cannot take the base form 'expect').
2. Correct form: 'that Mihir expected / had expected'.
3. Subject-verb agreement and sequence of tenses are both violated.

Teacher's Note:
1. A third person singular subject needs -s in the simple present.
2. After 'told' (past), the reported verb moves back in tense.

Answer: (a) Part (a)

Explanation:
1. An action that began in the past and is still continuing, with a period of time, needs the present perfect continuous.
2. Correct form: 'I have been trying to finish'.
3. 'For the last one hour' goes with the perfect tense, not with the simple present continuous.

Teacher's Note:
1. For/since + period = present perfect (continuous).
2. 'Am trying' cannot be used with 'for the last hour'.

Answer: (a) Part (a)

Explanation:
1. In a third conditional, the 'if' clause takes the past perfect and the main clause 'would have'.
2. Correct form: 'If you had gone to his house'.
3. 'Would have' cannot be used in both clauses.

Teacher's Note:
1. Third conditional: if + had + V3, would have + V3.
2. Never put 'would' directly after 'if' in the condition.

Answer: (a) Part (a)

Explanation:
1. A committee acting as a single body takes a singular verb.
2. Correct form: 'The five-member committee was of the view'.
3. The plural 'are' in (d) agrees with 'conditions' and is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Collective nouns (committee, team, jury) take a singular verb when they act as one unit.
2. Find the true subject of each verb.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. The superlative 'fullest' needs a determiner such as 'the' or 'his'; as printed it has none.
2. Correct form: 'gave him his fullest loyalty' (or 'full loyalty').
3. 'Way of thinking' in (d) is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. A superlative is normally preceded by the or a possessive.
2. Use 'full' without an article when you want a plain adjective.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. A singular subject 'he' in the simple present takes a verb with -s.
2. Correct form: 'he keeps telling'.
3. The present tense fits 'day in and day out', a habit.

Teacher's Note:
1. He, she, it + verb with -s/es in simple present.
2. Habitual actions use the simple present.

Answer: (d) Part (d)

Explanation:
1. A participle that qualifies 'activities' and shows the passive meaning must be 'performed by', not 'performing by'.
2. Correct form: 'activities performed by the Company'.
3. The present participle cannot be followed by 'by' to show the doer.

Teacher's Note:
1. Past participle for passive meaning: activities performed by.
2. -ing forms show active action.

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. The subject is the singular noun 'demand', so the verb must be singular.
2. Correct form: 'for additional wages was considered'.
3. The plural noun 'wages' is the object of a preposition and does not decide the verb.

Teacher's Note:
1. Ignore intervening phrases when deciding the verb.
2. Subject is demand, not wages.

Answer: (d) Part (d)

Explanation:
1. An adverb is needed to modify the verb 'maintained', not an adjective.
2. Correct form: 'maintained it properly'.
3. The third conditional is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Verbs take adverbs; nouns take adjectives.
2. Proper (adjective) becomes properly (adverb).

Answer: (b) Part (b)

Explanation:
1. 'Raining' is a verb and must be modified by an adverb, so 'bad' should be 'badly' (or 'heavily').
2. Correct form: 'raining badly'.
3. The concession with 'even though' is correct.

Teacher's Note:
1. Use an adverb to describe how an action happens.
2. Bad is an adjective, badly an adverb.