Spotting Errors Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The key treats the sentence as correct: No error.

The rule of the sequence of tenses (a past tense in the main clause pulls the verb of the dependent clause into the past) governs reported clauses, such as He said that I was ill. A clause of reason introduced by because states a fact in its own right and can take whatever tense the sense requires. If the speaker is still ill now, He sent for the doctor because I am ill is grammatical: the sending is past, the illness is present.

Section C, because I am ill, is the tempting answer for anyone who applies the sequence of tenses to every subordinate clause; because I was ill would also be correct, but the present is not an error. He sent and for the doctor are idiomatic as they stand.

Answer: A

The error is in section A, No less than; it should be No fewer than.

Fewer is used with countable plural nouns (fewer persons, fewer books), and less with uncountable quantities (less water, less time). Persons are counted, so the sentence should read No fewer than forty persons came.

Section B, forty persons, is correct, as persons is an acceptable plural of person in formal English, and the past tense came in section C agrees with the plural subject. So the sentence does have an error, and it is in A.

Answer: A

The error is in part (A), Whole the chapter.

The article comes before whole when it is used as an adjective with a singular noun: The whole chapter of the book is full of printing errors. The alternative is the whole of the chapter.

Part (B), of the book, and part (C), is full of printing errors, are correct: the subject is singular, so is agrees. As there is an error, 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: C

The error is in part (C), for the last news of this week.

Last means final, the one after which there is no more; latest means most recent. The sentence means the most recent news, so it should read for the latest news of this week.

Parts (A), You can, and (B), see this channel, are correct, so neither they nor 'No error' is the answer.

Answer: B

The error is in part (B), some money.

In a negative sentence any replaces some: He does not have any money to buy a new laptop. Some is used in affirmative statements (he has some money) and in offers.

Part (A), He does not have, and part (C), to buy a new laptop, are correct as written, so neither is the answer, and 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: B

The error is in part (B), ponds just dry down; it should be ponds just dry up.

The phrasal verb for water disappearing completely is dry up: rivers and ponds dry up in summer. Dry down is not used in this sense.

Part (A), In various parts of the country, is a correct opening phrase, and part (C), in the scorching heat of summer, is correctly formed. So the only error is the wrong particle after dry, and 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: B

The keyed error is in part (B), that Earth; by the rule the paper follows it should be that the Earth.

Traditional grammar gives the definite article to things that are one of a kind: the sun, the moon, the sky, the earth. Part (C) itself follows this rule with the sun, so by the same rule the planet should be the Earth: Copernicus proved that the Earth moves round the sun.

In scientific writing, Earth is also used without an article as the planet's proper name, but the examiners apply the classroom rule. Parts (A) and (C) are correctly formed, so the keyed answer is (B), not 'No error'.

Answer: C

The error is in part (C), among the two brothers; it should be between the two brothers.

Between is used when something is shared or divided by two people or things; among is used for three or more. Since there are exactly two brothers, the correct sentence is The property was divided between the two brothers.

Part (A), The property, is a correct subject, and part (B), was divided, is the correct passive verb for a singular subject. The error lies only in the preposition, so 'No error' is wrong.

Answer: C

The error is in part (C), to play games; it should be playing games.

When two activities are compared with more than, they must be in the same grammatical form. The first is the gerund reading, so the second must also be a gerund: I like reading more than playing games. Mixing a gerund with an infinitive breaks the parallel structure.

Part (A), I like reading, and part (B), more than, are correct. The sentence could also be made parallel as I like to read more than to play games, but that would change part (A), which is not the faulty part.

Answer: A

The error is in part (A), He was hard down; the idiom is hard up.

To be hard up (for money) means to be short of money or in financial difficulty. The correct sentence is He was hard up for money and was being harassed by his creditor. Hard down is not an English idiom.

Part (B), for money and was, correctly completes the idiom and joins the second clause. Part (C), being harassed by his creditor, is a correct past continuous passive. So the only error is the particle in part (A).