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).

Revision Table: Adverbs vs. Adjectives and Compound Adjectives

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".