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Question

Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:

Had he not deferred the proposal for weeks, (1)/ the board would have had a better chance (2)/ to evaluating the project's long-term viability (3)/ before the deadline lapsed. (4)

This question was previously asked in
SSC CGL 2025 Tier 1 Question Paper (25-Sep-2025) (Shift 3)
The correct answer is

(3)

The verb "have" in the phrase "would have had a better chance" must be followed by a "to + base verb" infinitive construction, as in "a chance to evaluate," not a gerund.

Part (3), "to evaluating the project's long-term viability," wrongly combines "to" with the "-ing" form instead of the base verb "evaluate," making this the erroneous segment.

Part (1) correctly forms the third conditional with inversion ("Had he not deferred"), part (2) correctly continues the conditional result clause, and part (4) is a grammatically sound closing phrase, so the error lies only in part (3).

Hence, the answer is (3).

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Important Questions from Error Spotting

  1. Direction: Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c) Read each sentence to determine whether there is an 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).

    A honest mistake (a) / is no more than that; (b) / just an honest mistake. (c) / No error (d)
  2. Direction: Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c) Read each sentence to determine 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).

    A company of five thousand soldiers , (a) / having marched tirelessly for over five days , (b) /  have just moved into their cantonment . (c) / No error (d)
  3. Direction: Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c) Read each sentence to determine whether there is an 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).

    Every person who believes in principles (a) / must stand up to fight  (b) /  for their convictions . (c) / No error (d)
  4. Direction: Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c) Read each sentence to determine 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).

    The Olympic Games reflects(a) /  the highest spirit of (b) /  human endeavour and achievement . (c) / No error (d)
  5. Direction: Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c) Read each sentence to determine whether there is an 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).

    The principal of the school (a) /  stressed the need for discipline (b) /  amongst the students. (c) / No error (d)
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