Spotting Errors Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The error is in part (A) A few men.

A few means 'some', a small but positive number, while few without the article means 'hardly any', with a negative sense. The sentence means that hardly anyone is faultless, so it should read Few men are free from fault.

With 'a few' the sentence would claim that some men are faultless, which is not the intended meaning. Parts (B) and (C) are correct.

Answer: B

The error is in part (B), the most ablest man.

Ablest is already the superlative of 'able' (able, abler, ablest). Adding 'most' makes a double superlative, which is wrong. The correct sentence is 'He is the ablest man of the town' (or 'the most able man').

'He is' and 'of the town' are correct, so (A), (C) and the 'No error' option are wrong.

The same rule applies to comparatives: 'more abler' is as wrong as 'most ablest'; use either the -er/-est form or more/most, never both.

Answer: B

The error is in part (B), look down.

The phrasal verb meaning to regard someone as inferior is look down upon (or look down on). Without 'upon', 'look down the poor' has no proper meaning. The correct sentence is 'Why should the rich look down upon the poor?'

'Why should the rich' is correct, with 'the rich' meaning rich people as a class, and 'the poor' is correct in the same way, so the other parts are not at fault.

Answer: C

The error is in part (C), was playing.

When two subjects are joined by not only ... but also, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it. Here the nearer subject is 'the students', which is plural, so the verb must be plural: 'Not only the principal but also the students were playing.'

The first two parts are correctly formed. The trap is to make the verb agree with 'the principal', the first subject.

Answer: D

The sentence is correct, so the answer is No error.

'May I take leave of you?' is a polite, formal way of asking permission to go. May is the right modal for asking permission, and the idiom is take leave of someone, meaning say goodbye to them.

None of the parts can be improved: 'Can I' would ask about ability rather than permission, and 'take leave from' is not the idiom with a person as object.

Answer: D

The sentence is correct, so the answer is No error.

The verb side in the sense of supporting someone in a dispute takes the preposition 'with': I sided with him. The object pronoun 'him' is correct after a preposition.

'I sided' is a correct past tense, so no part contains an error. A common slip would be 'sided to him' or 'sided he', neither of which appears.

'Side against' someone is the opposite construction, used when one opposes him; 'side with' always marks support.

Answer: A

The error is in part (A), Unless you do not.

Unless already means 'if not', so adding 'do not' makes a double negative. The correct sentence is 'Unless you labour hard, you will not pass' (or 'If you do not labour hard, you will not pass').

'Labour hard' and 'you will not pass' are correct as they stand, so the other options are wrong.

Other words that already carry a negative and should not be followed by 'not' include 'until' in the sense of 'before', 'lest' and 'hardly'.

Answer: D

The answer is No error.

'Having received your letter this morning, we are writing to thank you for the same.' The participle phrase 'Having received your letter' refers correctly to the subject we, who received the letter, and the present continuous 'we are writing' suits a letter being written now.

Part (a) is not a dangling participle, part (b) has the right tense, and 'for the same' in part (c), though formal commercial English, is accepted usage, so none of them is in error.

Answer: A

The error is in part (a): 'I could not put up in a hotel'.

The idiom is put up at a hotel, meaning to stay there for a time. The sentence should read: 'I could not put up at a hotel because the boarding and lodging charges were exorbitant.'

Part (b) correctly gives the reason, and part (c), 'were exorbitant', agrees with the plural 'charges', so the error lies only in the preposition of part (a).

Answer: D

The answer is No error.

'A small baby breathes about 45 times per minute while a child of about six years breathes about 25 times per minute.' The singular subjects take the singular verb breathes, 'per minute' is correct, and while rightly contrasts the two rates.

The figures are also realistic, since infants breathe much faster than older children, so nothing in parts (a), (b) or (c) needs correcting.