Read the sentence below to find out if there is any error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The letter of that part is the answer. If there is no error the answer is (5). (Ignore errors in punctuation if any). Three men were arrested for alleged (A) / impersonating civic body officials (B) / and extorting money from shopkeepers (C) /in east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park, the police said on Sunday. (D) /. No Error. (E)
A
Finding the Error in the Sentence
The question asks us to identify if there is a grammatical error in the given sentence and, if so, in which part (A, B, C, or D). If there is no error, the answer is (E).
Let's break down the sentence into its parts:
- (A) Three men were arrested for alleged
- (B) impersonating civic body officials
- (C) and extorting money from shopkeepers
- (D) in east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park, the police said on Sunday.
- (E) No Error.
Now, let's examine each part carefully to find the error.
Analyzing Part (A) and (B) Together
The phrase in question is "for alleged impersonating".
Here, "impersonating" is a gerund, which functions as a noun (the object of the preposition "for"). The word "alleged" is an adjective. Adjectives typically modify nouns or pronouns.
However, the structure "alleged + gerund" is not the standard or correct grammatical way to express the intended meaning. The word "alleged" should describe the action or the act of impersonating.
There are two common and correct ways to phrase this:
- Use the adverb form "allegedly" to modify the verb (gerund in this case): "for allegedly impersonating". The adverb "allegedly" describes how the impersonating was done - it was alleged.
- Use the noun form of the action: "for alleged impersonation". Here, "alleged" correctly modifies the noun "impersonation".
In the context of this sentence, "for allegedly impersonating" civic body officials is the most likely intended structure, describing the *manner* of the action for which they were arrested.
The presence of "alleged" immediately preceding "impersonating" in part (A) creates the error because an adjective is incorrectly modifying the gerund functioning in a verbal sense (describing the action). The adverb "allegedly" is needed to modify the action of "impersonating". Therefore, the error lies in part (A).
Analyzing Other Parts
Let's quickly check other parts to confirm.
- (B) "impersonating civic body officials": This part is correct in form, following the preposition "for" (implicitly connected to the corrected part).
- (C) "and extorting money from shopkeepers": This phrase is parallel to "impersonating civic body officials" and also follows the preposition "for". The structure is grammatically sound.
- (D) "in east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park, the police said on Sunday.": This part provides the location and the reporting source/time and is grammatically correct.
Since part (A) contains a grammatical error related to the incorrect use of the adjective "alleged" before the gerund "impersonating", this is the part with the error.
The corrected sentence would be: "Three men were arrested for allegedly impersonating civic body officials and extorting money from shopkeepers in east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park, the police said on Sunday."
Thus, the error is in part (A).
Important Questions from Error Spotting
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)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)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)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)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)
