No less than fifty students were absent.
Find the Incorrect Sentence Part
The task is to identify the grammatically incorrect portion within the sentence: "No less than fifty students were absent."
Grammar Rule: Fewer vs. Less
A key rule in English grammar distinguishes between "fewer" and "less":
- Use fewer when referring to items that can be counted individually (countable nouns).
- Use less when referring to a quantity or amount that cannot be counted (uncountable nouns).
Analyzing Sentence Components
Let's break down the sentence:
- "fifty students": "Students" are people, which are countable.
- "were absent": The verb "were" correctly matches the plural subject "fifty students." This part is correct.
- "No less than": This phrase uses "less." Since "students" are countable, the correct comparative adjective should be "fewer." The phrase should be "No fewer than."
Conclusion on the Error
The word "less" is incorrectly used with the countable noun "students." The correct phrasing requires "fewer" for countable items. Therefore, the part "No less than" is the incorrect segment of the sentence.
Similar Questions
The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains an error.
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Sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the sentences in the correct order to form a meaningful and coherent paragraph.
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Identify the error in the following sentence.
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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)
