Directions : Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled as (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet against the corresponding letter, i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
a. Either Vikas b. or his friends c. is going to cook dinner. d. No error
is going to cook dinner.
Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement with 'Either/Or'
This question asks us to identify a grammatical error in the sentence provided. We need to check the underlined parts for correctness, focusing on subject-verb agreement.
Sentence Breakdown and Analysis
The sentence is:
"Either Vikas (a) or his friends (b) is going to cook dinner. (c)"
Let's examine the components:
- Part (a): "Either Vikas" - This introduces the first subject.
- Part (b): "or his friends" - This introduces the second subject, linked by the correlative conjunction 'either...or'.
- Part (c): "is going to cook dinner." - This contains the verb phrase.
Subject-Verb Agreement Rule
A key grammar rule states that when subjects are joined by 'either...or' (or 'neither...nor'), the verb agrees with the subject that is closest to it.
In this sentence:
- The first subject is 'Vikas' (singular).
- The second subject, closer to the verb, is 'his friends' (plural).
Therefore, the verb should be plural to agree with 'his friends'.
Identifying the Error
The verb used in part (c) is 'is'. 'Is' is a singular verb.
Since the subject closest to the verb ('his friends') is plural, the singular verb 'is' is incorrect.
The correct verb should be the plural form 'are'.
The error lies in part (c) because the verb 'is' does not agree with the plural subject 'his friends'.
Corrected Sentence
To correct the sentence, we replace 'is' with 'are':
"Either Vikas or his friends are going to cook dinner."
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Important Questions from Error Spotting
The following question has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
It is identification with the audience(a)that makes one come home from the play so much more(b)satisfied than one ever is after merely passive enjoyment of the show.(c) No error.(d)
The following question has a sentence with four parts labelled (a), (b), (c), and (d). Read each sentence to find out whether there is an error in any part and indicate your response against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
CV Raman was one of the greatest sons of India (a) who has earned everlasting fame (b) for scientific researches. (c) No error. (d)
The following question has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
This box(a)is heavy than(b) the other one.(c) No error. (d)
The following question has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
Thewriter does not have the freedom (a) to choose his own themes, (b) society thrusts them on him (c) No error. (d)
The following question has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is an error in any underlined part and indicate your response against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
No one knows (a) why he did it, (b) or who was behind his doing it.(c) No error. (d)
