Spotting Errors Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The error is in part (B), 'My heart was interrupted beating'.

'Interrupt' does not work this way: a heart is not 'interrupted beating'. The idea of fear stopping the heartbeat is expressed idiomatically as 'my heart stopped beating' or 'my heart missed a beat'.

The other parts are acceptable: 'When the teacher alleged' introduces the time clause, and 'out of panic that I might be the victim' gives the reason. Since the sentence does contain an error, 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: C

The corrected sentence is The scenery is beautiful.

Scenery is an uncountable noun: it refers to the landscape as a whole and has no plural form, so sceneries is an error. As an uncountable noun it takes a singular verb, so are becomes is.

The other options keep the wrong plural. The sceneries were beautiful only changes the tense, and The sceneries was beautiful adds a mismatch between subject and verb. "No errors" is wrong because the sentence does contain one. Other uncountable nouns that learners wrongly pluralise include information, furniture, luggage and advice.

Answer: A

The error is in part (A), The old furnitures.

Furniture is an uncountable noun: it refers to tables, chairs and the like as a mass and has no plural form. The correct phrase is The old furniture, which then agrees with the singular verb was disposed of in part (B).

Part (B) is correct once (A) is fixed. In part (C), the new ones is loose usage, but the error the question targets is the plural furnitures, so "No error" is also wrong.

Answer: D

The error is in not to go.

The verb forbid already contains the negative idea: to forbid someone to do something is to order them not to do it. Adding not creates a double negative, which would literally mean forbidding them to stay away. The correct sentence is I forbid you to go there again.

I forbid you and there again are correct as they stand, so the sentence does contain an error and 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: A

The correct replacement is were severely criticised: Though his actions were severely criticised, he did not lose his temper.

The actions received the criticism, so the clause needs the passive: were + past participle criticised. The adverb severely modifies that verb. As printed, 'his actions were severe criticism' wrongly says the actions themselves were a criticism.

Had severely criticised is active and would make the actions the critics. Were at severely criticising is ungrammatical, and had severe criticised uses an adjective where an adverb is needed.

Answer: C

The error is in is always talking; it should be are always talking.

The subject Some people is plural, so it takes a plural verb: Some people are always talking about themselves. The present continuous with always is correctly used here to describe an irritating habit.

Some people is a correct subject, and about themselves correctly uses the plural reflexive pronoun that agrees with people. The only error is the singular verb, so 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: A

The error is in many time; it should be much time.

Time, in the sense of duration, is an uncountable noun, so it takes much (or a lot of), not many: He was not able to give much time to his research. Many goes with plural countable nouns, as in many times meaning 'on many occasions', which is a different sense.

He was not able, to give and to his research are all correctly formed.

Answer: C

The error is in part (C) are enchanting.

The subject of the sentence is the scenery, a singular, uncountable noun; of Kashmir only describes it. So the verb must be singular: The scenery of Kashmir is enchanting.

Parts (A) and (B) are correct. The trap is to let the nearby proper noun pull the verb into the plural. 'Scenery' never takes a plural form or plural verb.

Answer: B

The error is in part (B) defeats the English.

The sentence reports a single completed result, a win by an innings, so it needs the past tense: The Indian team defeated the English by an innings. The simple present 'defeats' would describe a habit or general truth, which does not fit one match.

Parts (A) and (C) are correct, so 'No error' is wrong.

The simple past is the tense for a finished event at a definite time, which is how match results are reported.

Answer: D

The answer is (D) No error.

Names of subjects ending in -ics, such as mathematics, physics and economics, look plural but are treated as singular when they name the subject. So Mathematics is a difficult subject is correct.

The trap is to think 'mathematics is' should be 'mathematics are' because of the final s. Parts (A), (B) and (C) are all correct.