⭐ Sabse Important Points · एक नज़र में
- Subject-Verb Agreement: The verb must agree with its subject in number and person; ignore intervening phrases like 'along with', 'as well as' (they do not change the verb).
- Misplaced Modifiers: A modifier should be placed close to the word it modifies; otherwise, it creates ambiguity or illogical meaning.
- Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person; watch for ambiguous references.
- Confusing Word Pairs: Words like 'affect/effect', 'lie/lay', 'its/it's', 'principal/principle' are frequently tested; learn their distinct meanings.
- Tense Consistency: Maintain the same tense unless the meaning requires a shift; use past perfect for an action completed before another past action.
- Redundancy: Avoid unnecessary repetition (e.g., 'return back', 'discuss about', 'repeat again'); one word is sufficient.
Introduction · परिचय
Error Spotting is a high-scoring topic in the IBPS PO English Language section. It tests your ability to identify grammatical, syntactic, and usage errors in sentences. Questions typically present a sentence divided into parts, and you must find the part containing an error or determine that no error exists. Mastery requires a solid grasp of grammar rules, common traps, and careful reading.
Core Grammar Rules for Error Spotting
Most errors fall under a few recurring grammar categories: subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, tense consistency, preposition usage, article usage, and parallelism. Understanding these rules helps you quickly scan for common mistakes.
- Read the full sentence
- Check subject-verb agreement
- Check pronoun agreement
- Check tense consistency
- Check prepositions and articles
- Check parallelism
- Confirm error or no error
⭐ Key Points · याद रखने वाली बातें
- Subject-Verb Agreement: The verb must agree with its subject in number and person; ignore intervening phrases like 'along with', 'as well as' (they do not change the verb).
- Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement: A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person; watch for ambiguous references.
- Tense Consistency: Maintain the same tense unless the meaning requires a shift; use past perfect for an action completed before another past action.
- Preposition Usage: Certain verbs and adjectives take fixed prepositions (e.g., 'deprive of', 'capable of', 'comply with'); memorise common combinations.
- Parallelism: Items in a list or comparison must be in the same grammatical form (e.g., all infinitives, all gerunds).
✍️ Solved Example 1 · हल किया हुआ उदाहरण
❓ Question: Identify the error: 'The quality of the mangoes were not good.'
✅ Solution: Error in 'were' – should be 'was'.
💡 Explanation: The subject is 'quality' (singular), not 'mangoes'. The phrase 'of the mangoes' is a prepositional modifier and does not affect the verb. Hence, singular verb 'was' is correct.
✍️ Solved Example 2 · हल किया हुआ उदाहरण
❓ Question: Identify the error: 'She is one of the best singer in the choir.'
✅ Solution: Error in 'singer' – should be 'singers'.
💡 Explanation: The phrase 'one of the' is followed by a plural noun. So 'singers' is correct.
Common Error Patterns and Traps
Beyond basic rules, examiners use specific traps: misplacement of modifiers, confusing word pairs, redundancy, and errors in comparisons. Recognising these patterns speeds up error detection.
| Rule | Correct Usage | Incorrect Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Prefer | prefer X to Y | prefer X than Y |
| Number of | The number of + plural noun + singular verb | The number of + plural noun + plural verb |
| Fewer/Less | fewer books, less water | less books, fewer water |
| Affect/Effect | Affect (verb), Effect (noun) | Effect as verb (except in formal contexts) |
⭐ Key Points · याद रखने वाली बातें
- Misplaced Modifiers: A modifier should be placed close to the word it modifies; otherwise, it creates ambiguity or illogical meaning.
- Confusing Word Pairs: Words like 'affect/effect', 'lie/lay', 'its/it's', 'principal/principle' are frequently tested; learn their distinct meanings.
- Redundancy: Avoid unnecessary repetition (e.g., 'return back', 'discuss about', 'repeat again'); one word is sufficient.
- Comparisons: Compare like with like; use 'than' with comparative adjectives and 'to' with 'prefer'; avoid double comparatives (e.g., 'more better').
- Countable vs Uncountable: Use 'fewer' with countable nouns and 'less' with uncountable; 'amount' for uncountable, 'number' for countable.
✍️ Solved Example 1 · हल किया हुआ उदाहरण
❓ Question: Identify the error: 'He prefers coffee than tea.'
✅ Solution: Error in 'than' – should be 'to'.
💡 Explanation: The verb 'prefer' is followed by 'to', not 'than'. Correct: 'He prefers coffee to tea.'
✍️ Solved Example 2 · हल किया हुआ उदाहरण
❓ Question: Identify the error: 'The number of students are increasing.'
✅ Solution: Error in 'are' – should be 'is'.
💡 Explanation: 'The number of' takes a singular verb, while 'a number of' takes a plural verb. Here, 'the number' is the subject, so 'is' is correct.
Practice Questions · खुद हल करके देखो
पहले खुद try karo, phir “Answer dekho” dabakar check karo. 👇
Q1Find the error: 'The teacher, along with the students, were present at the seminar.'
👀 Answer dekho
✅ Answer: Error in 'were' – should be 'was'.
💡 Explanation: The subject is 'The teacher' (singular). The phrase 'along with the students' does not change the number of the subject. Hence, singular verb 'was' is correct.
Q2Find the error: 'She is senior than me by two years.'
👀 Answer dekho
✅ Answer: Error in 'than' – should be 'to'.
💡 Explanation: Adjectives like 'senior', 'junior', 'superior', 'inferior', 'prior' take 'to' instead of 'than'. Also, 'me' should be 'I' in formal English, but the primary error is 'than'.
Q3Find the error: 'One of my friend is a doctor.'
👀 Answer dekho
✅ Answer: Error in 'friend' – should be 'friends'.
💡 Explanation: The phrase 'one of' is followed by a plural noun. So 'friends' is correct.
⚠️ Common Mistakes · ये गलतियाँ बिल्कुल मत करना
- Ignoring the subject when a phrase intervenes: Always identify the true subject before checking the verb.
- Assuming every long sentence has an error: Sometimes the sentence is correct; check for 'No error' option.
- Overlooking prepositional verbs: Memorise common verb-preposition pairs to avoid mistakes.
- Misidentifying countable/uncountable nouns: Remember that 'information', 'advice', 'furniture' are uncountable and take singular verbs.
⚡ Quick Revision · Exam से पहले 2 मिनट में दोहराओ
- Subject-Verb Agreement: The verb agrees with the subject, not with intervening phrases.
- Prefer/Comparative: Use 'to' after 'prefer', 'senior', 'junior', etc.; use 'than' after comparative adjectives.
- One of: 'One of' is always followed by a plural noun and a singular verb.
- Fewer/Less: Use 'fewer' for countable nouns, 'less' for uncountable nouns.
- No Error Option: Do not force an error; if the sentence is grammatically correct, choose 'No error'.