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Question

The authorities had taken the emergency steps before the storm hit.

This question was previously asked in
SSC Stenographer 2025 Question Paper (06-Aug-2025) Shift 2
The correct answer is
The emergency steps were taken before the storm hit.

Understanding Authorities' Emergency Steps

The original sentence, "The authorities had taken the emergency steps before the storm hit," describes an action completed in the past before another past action occurred. Key elements are:

  • Subject: The authorities
  • Action: had taken emergency steps (Past Perfect tense, indicating completion before another past event)
  • Timing: before the storm hit (The second past event)

The Past Perfect tense (had + past participle) is used here to clearly establish the sequence: taking emergency steps happened first, and then the storm hit.

Analyzing the Options for Emergency Steps

Option 1: The storm was faced with emergency steps.

This option changes the meaning significantly. It uses the passive voice and suggests the storm encountered the steps, rather than the authorities performing the action of taking emergency steps. It also loses the specific timing information ("before the storm hit").

Option 2: The authorities took emergency steps.

This option uses the Simple Past tense ("took"). While it correctly identifies the authorities and the action of taking emergency steps, it loses the crucial timing aspect specified in the original sentence – that these actions were completed *before* the storm arrived. It doesn't convey the sequence clearly.

Option 3: The emergency steps were taken before the storm hit.

This option effectively conveys the core meaning and the sequence of events from the original sentence. Although it uses the passive voice ("were taken") and Simple Past tense structure, it crucially maintains the timing relationship: the taking of emergency steps happened prior to the storm hitting. It accurately reflects that the steps preceded the storm event.

Conclusion on Emergency Steps Timing

The sentence emphasizes that preventative actions, the emergency steps, were completed by the authorities prior to the occurrence of the natural event, the storm. Option 3 best captures this sequence of events and the timing relative to the storm's arrival among the choices provided.

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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).

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    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).

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