Direction:Read it to find out whether there is any error in any part and indicate your response. If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d). This hardly won liberty (a) / was not to be (b) / lightly abandoned. (c) / No error (d)
(a)
Understanding English Grammar Errors: Analysing the Sentence
This question asks us to identify if there is any grammatical error in the provided sentence. The sentence is divided into parts to help pinpoint the location of a potential error. Let's examine each part carefully.
Analysing Part (a): "This hardly won liberty"
This part contains the phrase "hardly won". Let's break down the words:
- hardly: This is an adverb meaning "scarcely", "barely", or "with difficulty". It is often used to modify verbs or adjectives. Examples: "He could hardly see in the dark." (modifying the verb 'see'), "The problem was hardly difficult." (modifying the adjective 'difficult').
- won: This is the past participle of the verb "win". In this context, it is used as an adjective modifying "liberty", describing the kind of liberty it is.
- liberty: This is the noun being described.
The phrase "hardly won" attempts to describe the liberty as something that was won with difficulty. However, the adverb "hardly" meaning "scarcely" or "barely" does not convey the intended meaning of achieving something through great effort or difficulty in this context. The correct adjective to describe something achieved with great difficulty is "hard-won". "Hard-won" is a compound adjective formed from the adjective "hard" and the past participle "won".
Therefore, the phrase "hardly won liberty" is grammatically incorrect. It should be "hard-won liberty". This indicates an error in part (a).
Analysing Part (b): "was not to be"
This part uses the structure "was not to be". This is a common grammatical structure used to express future actions from a past perspective, often implying a plan, destiny, or obligation. In the context of the sentence, it sets up the idea that the "hard-won liberty" was not meant to be abandoned. This part is grammatically correct.
Analysing Part (c): "lightly abandoned."
This part uses the adverb "lightly" to modify the verb "abandoned". "Lightly" means without much seriousness, care, or effort. This makes sense in the context – the liberty was not to be abandoned carelessly or easily. The passive structure "to be abandoned" is also correctly used here. This part is grammatically correct.
Conclusion on Error Detection
Based on the analysis, the error lies in the incorrect use of "hardly won" instead of the appropriate compound adjective "hard-won" in part (a).
The correct sentence should read: "This hard-won liberty was not to be lightly abandoned."
Thus, the part containing the error is (a).
| Part | Text | Analysis | Error? |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) | This hardly won liberty | Incorrect usage of 'hardly won' instead of 'hard-won' (compound adjective). | Yes |
| (b) | was not to be | Correct grammatical structure. | No |
| (c) | lightly abandoned. | Correct adverb usage ('lightly' modifying 'abandoned'). | No |
| (d) | No error | Not applicable as an error was found. | No |
Revision Table: Adverbs vs. Adjectives and Compound Adjectives
| Term | Type | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | Adjective / Adverb | Describes something requiring great effort (Adj). Means with great effort (Adv). | It was a hard task. (Adj) He worked hard. (Adv) |
| Hardly | Adverb | Means scarcely, barely, almost not. | He could hardly hear. (Almost couldn't hear) |
| Hard-won | Compound Adjective | Describes something gained or achieved with great effort or difficulty. | It was a hard-won victory. |
| Light | Adjective | Not heavy; not serious. | A light feather. A light matter. |
| Lightly | Adverb | Without much seriousness, care, or effort. | He treated the advice lightly. |
Additional Information: Understanding Compound Adjectives
A compound adjective is formed by combining two or more words, usually with a hyphen between them when they appear before the noun they modify. These combined words function together as a single adjective.
Common forms of compound adjectives include:
- Adjective + Noun (often with -ed): e.g., kind-hearted person, blue-eyed girl
- Noun + Past Participle: e.g., sun-dried tomatoes, man-made materials
- Adjective + Past Participle: e.g., long-forgotten memory, hard-won battle
- Adverb + Past Participle (less common, but possible, depending on the adverb's meaning and the context): e.g., well-known author, badly-behaved child
In the case of "hard-won", it fits the Adjective + Past Participle pattern, describing something achieved through being "hard" (difficult) to win. It's crucial to distinguish this correct structure from using an adverb like "hardly" before a past participle when the meaning is "with difficulty".
Similar Questions
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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).
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The following question has a sentence with four parts. Read each sentence to find out whether there is an error in any part and indicate your response. If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
Two-thirds of the book (a) were (b) rubbish. (c) No error. (d)
Important Questions from Error Spotting
- Select the option that correctly punctuates the given sentence.
I visited Delhi Mumbai and Kolkata last summer. Select the correctly punctuated version of the phrase to fill in the blank and complete the given sentence.
'spent our holiday in France it was very crowded'
Rahim, Rajam and I ________.- Choose the one that correctly represents the sentence in direct speech.
Adit explained that he hadn't had the time to prepare his speech the day before. - Choose the correct idiom for the word highlighted in bold.
"The builder hired several carpenters and electricians to work on the building, but he left them in the lurch when it came time to pay them." Read the given statements and conclusions carefully. Decide which of the given conclusions is true based on the statements.
Statements:
$Z < S < E = J, J \geq T > G = V$
Conclusions:
I. $V < E$
II. $T > Z$
