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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 sphere of volume V is made of a material with lower density than water. While on Earth, it floats on water with its volume f1V (f1 < 1) submerged. On the other hand, on a spaceship accelerating with acceleration a < g (g is the acceleration due to gravity on Earth) in outer space, its submerged volume in water is f2V. Then:
A railway wagon (open at the top) of mass M1 is moving with speed v1 along a straight track. As a result of rain, after some time it gets partially filled with water so that the mass of the wagon becomes M2 and speed becomes v2. Taking the rain to be falling vertically and the water stationery inside the wagon, the relation between the two speeds v1 and v2 is :
Consider the following statements:
1. Distance between the longitudes becomes zero on North Pole and South Pole.
2. Distance between the longitudes is maximum on the Equator.
3. Number of longitudes is more than number of latitudes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
One block of 2⋅0 kg mass is placed on top of another block of 3⋅0 kg mass. The coefficient of static friction between the two blocks is 0⋅2. The bottom block is pulled with a horizontal force F such that both the blocks move together without slipping. Taking acceleration due to gravity as 10 m/s2, the maximum value of the frictional force is :
