Spot the error in the given sentence and select the correct sentence from the options given. There were more than thirty delegates who attend the training programme last summer.
There were more than thirty delegates who attended the training programme last summer.
The question asks us to identify and correct a grammatical error in the sentence: "There were more than thirty delegates who attend the training programme last summer."
Let's analyze the sentence carefully. The phrase "last summer" is a time expression that clearly indicates a past action. Therefore, the verb describing the action that happened last summer must be in the past tense.
Analyzing the Verb Tense Error
In the given sentence, the verb related to the action of attending the training programme is "attend". Since the action happened "last summer", the verb "attend" should be in the simple past tense. The simple past tense of "attend" is "attended".
The subject of the clause "who attend the training programme last summer" is the relative pronoun "who", which refers back to "more than thirty delegates". Since "delegates" is plural, the auxiliary verb "were" in the main clause "There were more than thirty delegates" is correctly in the plural past tense, agreeing with "more than thirty delegates". The error lies solely in the tense of the verb "attend".
Evaluating the Given Options
Let's examine each option to see which one correctly fixes the verb tense error while maintaining subject-verb agreement where applicable.
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There are more than thirty delegates who attend the training programme last summer
This option uses "are" (present tense) and "attend" (present tense). The time phrase "last summer" requires past tense verbs, making this option incorrect.
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There were more than thirty delegates who attends the training programme last summer.
This option uses "were" (correct auxiliary verb for plural subject in the past) but uses "attends". "Attends" is the third-person singular present tense form. The action happened last summer, so the past tense is needed. Also, the subject "who" (referring to "delegates", which is plural) should agree with a plural verb form in the present tense if it were present, but here the past tense is required anyway. Thus, this option is incorrect.
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There was more than thirty delegates who attend the training programme last summer
This option uses "was" (singular past tense auxiliary verb). The subject is "more than thirty delegates", which is plural. Therefore, the auxiliary verb should be "were". It also uses "attend" (present tense) instead of the required past tense. This option is incorrect.
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There were more than thirty delegates who attended the training programme last summer.
This option uses "were" (correct plural past tense auxiliary verb for "more than thirty delegates") and "attended" (correct simple past tense for the verb describing the action that happened "last summer"). This sentence correctly reflects the past nature of the event.
Based on the analysis, option 4 is the only sentence that correctly uses the past tense verb "attended" with the past time phrase "last summer" and maintains the correct auxiliary verb "were" for the plural subject "more than thirty delegates".
Revision Table: Verb Tenses with Time Expressions
| Time Expression | Typical Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Yesterday, last week/month/year, ago, in [past year] | Simple Past | I visited my grandparents last week. |
| Every day/week/month/year, usually, often, always | Simple Present | She usually attends the meeting on Mondays. |
| Now, at the moment, currently | Present Continuous | They are attending a conference right now. |
Additional Information: Simple Past Tense Usage
The simple past tense is used to talk about completed actions that happened at a specific point in the past. Time expressions like "last summer", "yesterday", "three years ago", "in 2010", etc., are strong indicators that the simple past tense should be used.
The structure for affirmative sentences in the simple past tense for most verbs is: Subject + Verb (past form) + Object/Complement.
For example:
- Subject: They
- Verb (past form): visited
- Object: Paris
- Completed sentence: They visited Paris last month.
In the sentence "There were more than thirty delegates who attended the training programme last summer," the clause "who attended the training programme last summer" describes the delegates. The action of attending happened in the past ("last summer"), requiring the past tense verb "attended".
Important Questions from Miscellaneous
A stone is thrown horizontally from the top of a 20 m high building with a speed of 12 m/s. It hits the ground at a distance R from the building. Taking g = 10 m/s2 and neglecting air resistance will give :
A mass is attached to a spring that hangs vertically. The extension produced in the spring is 6 cm on Earth. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the Moon is one-sixth of its value on the surface of the Earth. The extension of the spring on the Moon would be:
Directions: Each item in this section consists of a sentence with an underlined word followed by four words (a), (b), (c), and (d). Select the option that is opposite in meaning to the underlined word and mark your response in your Answer Sheet accordingly.
The deluge affected the population.The major source of vitamins and minerals for vegetarians is
Which of the following statements about the Deccan Riots Commission is/are correct?
1. The Commission did not hold enquiries in the districts which were not affected.
2. The Commission did record the statements of ryots, sahukars and eye-witnesses.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
