Directions: item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response in 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).Bread, butter and (a) / jam common breakfast items (b) / that are consumed by many households. (c) / No error (d)

Question

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

English Grammar Error Identification

The question asks us to identify the part of the sentence that contains a grammatical error among the three underlined parts. The sentence is: "Bread, butter and (a) / jam common breakfast items (b) / that are consumed by many households. (c) / No error (d)".

Let's break down the sentence and examine each underlined part.

Analyzing Each Part for Grammatical Errors

Part (a): "Bread, butter and"

This part introduces the elements forming the subject of the sentence. It lists "Bread," "butter," and prepares for the final item in the list with "and." Grammatically, this part is correct. It sets up a compound subject.

Part (b): "jam common breakfast items"

This part includes the last item of the compound subject, "jam," and immediately follows it with "common breakfast items." The phrase "common breakfast items" describes what Bread, butter, and jam are. However, a linking verb is missing between the subject (Bread, butter, and jam, as a collective set) and its description ("common breakfast items"). The sentence needs a verb to connect the subject to this predicate nominative phrase. The phrase "Bread, butter and jam" is a compound subject referring to multiple things, and they collectively *are* common breakfast items. Therefore, the verb 'are' is required after 'jam'. The correct structure should be "Bread, butter and jam are common breakfast items". The absence of the verb 'are' in part (b) makes it grammatically incorrect.

Part (c): "that are consumed by many households."

This is a relative clause modifying "common breakfast items." The relative pronoun "that" correctly refers to "items" (plural). The verb "are consumed" is in the passive voice and agrees in number with "items." This clause is grammatically correct and properly describes the "common breakfast items."

Part (d): No error

Since we found a grammatical error in part (b), option (d) is incorrect.

Identifying the Error Location

Based on our analysis, the error is in part (b) where the linking verb "are" is missing between "jam" and "common breakfast items". The sentence needs this verb to be grammatically complete and link the subject to its description.

The correct sentence structure would be: "Bread, butter and jam are common breakfast items that are consumed by many households."

Conclusion

The grammatical error lies in part (b) due to the omission of the linking verb 'are'.

Part	Text	Analysis	Error?
(a)	Bread, butter and	Sets up the compound subject.	No
(b)	jam common breakfast items	Missing linking verb 'are' between 'jam' and 'common breakfast items'.	Yes
(c)	that are consumed by many households.	Correct relative clause modifying 'items'.	No

Therefore, the part with the error is (b).

Revision Table: Key Concepts in Error Detection

Concept	Explanation	Relevance to Question
Subject-Verb Agreement	The verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular/plural) with its subject.	Important for identifying if the verb 'are' (which would agree with the compound subject) is needed.
Linking Verbs	Connect the subject to a noun or adjective that renames or describes the subject (e.g., is, are, was, were, seems, becomes).	Crucial here, as 'are' is needed to link the subject (Bread, butter, and jam) to its description (common breakfast items).
Compound Subject	Two or more subjects joined by a conjunction (like 'and') that share the same verb.	"Bread, butter and jam" is a compound subject.
Predicate Nominative	A noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames or identifies the subject.	"common breakfast items" acts as a predicate nominative here, identifying what the subject is.

Additional Information: Linking Verbs and Sentence Structure

Linking verbs are essential for forming complete sentences when the predicate describes or renames the subject rather than showing action. The most common linking verb is 'to be' in all its forms (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). Other verbs like 'seem,' 'become,' 'feel,' 'look,' 'smell,' 'sound,' and 'taste' can also function as linking verbs.

Consider these examples:

She is happy. ('is' links 'She' to the adjective 'happy')
He became a doctor. ('became' links 'He' to the noun 'doctor')
The soup tastes good. ('tastes' links 'soup' to the adjective 'good')

In the given question, "Bread, butter and jam" collectively represent the subject. "common breakfast items" describes what these items are. A linking verb is necessary to form a grammatically correct sentence connecting these two parts. The compound subject, referring to multiple items, requires the plural linking verb 'are'. Omitting this verb results in a sentence fragment or an ungrammatical construction where the subject is not properly linked to its description.

Identifying missing verbs, especially linking verbs, is a common type of error tested in grammar exercises. Always check if your subject is properly connected to the rest of the sentence, either by an action verb or a linking verb followed by a description or renaming phrase.