When I saw Arnab he said he had taken his driving test yesterday.
(a) (b) (c) (d)
Sentence Error in Tense Usage
The task is to identify a grammatical error in the sentence: "When I saw Arnab he said he had taken his driving test yesterday." The error is present in one of the underlined parts labeled (a), (b), (c), and (d).
Analysis of Underlined Parts
- (a) When I saw Arnab: This introductory clause is grammatically correct.
- (b) he said he: This part correctly introduces reported speech.
- (c) had taken his: This uses the past perfect tense.
- (d) driving test yesterday.: This specifies the action and the time.
Grammar Rule Application
A key rule in English grammar states that specific time expressions in the past, such as 'yesterday', typically require the use of the simple past tense. The past perfect tense (e.g., 'had taken') is generally used to indicate an action completed before another past action or time reference, not usually with a specific anchor like 'yesterday'.
In the given sentence, the phrase "had taken his driving test yesterday" combines the past perfect tense with the specific past time marker 'yesterday'. This usage is considered incorrect. The correct tense to use with 'yesterday' is the simple past.
Identifying the Error Location
The sentence should correctly read: "When I saw Arnab he said he took his driving test yesterday." The core grammatical mistake is using 'had taken' instead of 'took'. While the incorrect tense originates with part (c), the phrase 'driving test yesterday' (part d) is the specific context where this tense misuse occurs with the time marker. Therefore, the identified incorrect part is Option D: driving test yesterday.
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