Spotting Errors in English Language Section: Tips and Types with Examples

Error Spotting Test is asked in the Verbal Ability Section of General English. The questions asked in the error spotting test have grammatical errors in them. The candidate is supposed to find the errors correctly. Generally, one question has one error. But at times there can be multiple. Despite being simple to understand, it is difficult to tackle this question without practice. However, if with sufficient practice and by using the tips given below, any candidate can ace this section.  Spotting Errors in English is one of the important topics. 

It is mandatory in Banks and Insurance exams including IBPS (PO, Clerk, So), SBI (PO, CLERK) and other exams like SSC, CDS, RRB and Defence Exams. Therefore, we are here to give you General Tips for Spotting Errors in English which can come in handy in various Government & Banking Exams. Our sentence is made up of words and each word is a part of speech, so to identify an error in a sentence, we should have a good understanding of parts of speech.

For more details on the Para Jumbles, refer to the linked article.

Why Do Exams Have An English Error Spotting?

Words, phrases and sentences can be called the roots of any language. An error in their usage leaves an incomprehensible expression. It would be difficult to understand such sentences and it may also alter the meaning of the sentence. Hence, we must know the roots of the language so that we can understand the written text and its expression perfectly. An Error Spotting Test is to judge a candidate’s complete knowledge of parts of speech, and grammar.

To get the detailed Common Rules for Spellings, candidates can visit the linked article.

Tips to Do Well in English Error Spotting in Exams:

Here are some expert tips which will help you ace in the Error Spotting Test.

Know Your Parts of Speech.

Parts of Speech form the basic knowledge of English Grammar. A candidate should be able to identify the parts of speech in a sentence correctly.

Example: 

Know Your Sentence Type: 

Different types of sentences have different structures. The candidate must identify the sentence to spot the error.

Example:

• What is your name. —WRONG
• What is your name? —CORRECT

This is an interrogative sentence. Hence, it must end with a question mark. Similarly, an exclamatory sentence must end with an exclamation mark. 

To get the detailed Types, Rules & Cases of Sentence Correction, candidates can visit the linked article.

Know Your Punctuation:

Punctuation is important for the sentence to make sense. Without the knowledge of punctuation, candidates can miss the errors. 

Example:

• Its a beautiful house. —WRONG
• It’s a beautiful house. —CORRECT

Know The Exceptions:

Many rules of grammar have exceptions to them. Make sure you make a careful note of every single exception. Many questions are based on them.

Example:

• I will be there in a hour. —WRONG
• I will be there in an hour. —CORRECT

In articles, the words starting with vowel sounds are also preceded with ‘An’. Hour is pronounced as ‘our’. Hence, it becomes an hour. 

To get the details on Types of Sentences, candidates can visit the linked article.

Check the Pronoun:

A text should always have one type of pronoun in it. If the pronoun changes anywhere in the middle, it is an error.

Example:

• One must not tell lies. He must always obey the elders. —WRONG
• One must not tell lies. One must always obey elders. —CORRECT

Here, the text starts with the pronoun ‘One’ and it should be maintained throughout the text.

Attempt the Error spotting grammar Questions for SSC Exam here.

Singularity and Plurality:

We use certain words to represent the singularity and plurality of nouns. Error questions are based on the use of helping verbs with these words. A candidate must have a thorough understanding of these words.

Example:

• The Scissors is missing.—WRONG
• The Scissors are missing.—CORRECT

Here, scissors are one in number. Yet, we use a plural verb with them

• There is many people in the town. —WRONG
• There are many people in the town.—CORRECT

Here people is a plural term. Hence, we use a plural verb with it.

For more details on the Cloze Test, refer to the linked article.

Questions Tags: 

A positive statement will have a negative question tag and a negative statement will have a positive question tag. Also, the structure of a question tag is fixed. It starts with a comma after the main sentence, next it has the positive or negative form of the verb, this is followed by the pronoun and it ends with a question mark. 

Example:

• You did your homework, didn’t you?

A positive statement, negative tag.

• You didn’t do your homework, did you?

The negative statement, positive tag.

For more details on the Synonyms & Antonyms, refer to the linked article.

Read books and newspapers:

The more you read, the more you will get used to the English language. Once you achieve fluency in it, it will be easier to spot errors. 

Practice Well: 

No matter how weak you are in English, thorough practice will fix this up and will give you enough confidence to ace this section. 

To get the detailed Idioms and Phrases, candidates can visit the linked article.

Types of Spotting Errors in English Test with Examples

There are two types of Error Spotting Test, each of them is mentioned below with an example.

Traditional Pattern of Error Spotting:

In this type of error spotting a sentence is divided into four parts in the question itself, you have to find out which part contains an error.

Q) In the following question, one part of the sentence may have an error. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and click the option corresponding to it. If the sentence is free from error, click the “No error” option.

He commanded (A)/ me as if (B)/ he was (C)/ my husband. (D)/

• He commanded
• me as if
• he was
• my husband.
• No error

Ans. The sentence may seem perfectly alright with the singular subject taking the singular verb ‘was’. But in a conditional sentence, as the one is given, we use the plural form of ‘to be’ verb (that is, ‘were’). Remember this for all types of sentences where a clause is being doubted, hypothesized or feared true, etc, rather than being asserted. E.g.: If I were a millionaire, I would get myself a private aircraft.

To get the details on Word Swapping, candidates can visit the linked article.

Errorless Combination

In this type of question, the given sentence has been broken up into four different parts. The error, if any, will be in one or more parts of the sentence. You need to select the option which contains the part of the sentence which is free from an error. If all are incorrect mark Option 5 as your answer.

Q) A day after the Delhi government said none of the four convicts in the 012 Nirbhaya(A)/ gang rape and murder case could be hung on the scheduled date of January 2(B)/ as one of them had moved a mercy plea, a Delhi court on Thursday directed(C)/ Tihar jail authorities to submit a report about the status of the scheduled execution (D).

• Only A
• A and B
• Only B
• C and D
• All incorrect

Ans. Correct option: Only A, this part is grammatically correct and the remaining parts contain an error. Part (B) gang rape and murder case could be hung on the scheduled date of January 2- is grammatically incorrect because here ‘hung’ is incorrect as per the context of the sentence, for situations where someone is given death sentence we use ‘hanged’ not ‘hung’. Hang (V1)   Hung (V2) Hung (V3)     means to attach or place something so that it is held up without support from below. Hang (V1)   Hung (V2) Hung (V3)   means to die by being suspended by the neck. Part (C) as one of them had moved a mercy plea, a Delhi court on Thursday directed- is grammatically incorrect because present perfect tense will be used instead of past perfect as a point of time is absent and in such cases, we use the present perfect tense. Hence, ‘had’ will be replaced with ‘has’. Present Perfect: When an action is done in the near past but we don’t know the exact point of time or period of time, in this situation, the present perfect is used.

• Ravi has submitted his college fees.
• I have had my breakfast.
• Shivani has done her graduation in mass communication.

Part (D) Tihar jail authorities to submit a report about the status of schedule execution.- is grammatically incorrect because we are using past tense in this case as the hearing date is already fixed so past tense will be used. We will replace ‘schedule’ with ‘scheduled’. Hence, Option 1 is correct and the correct sentence will be-A day after the Delhi government said none of the four convicts in the 012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case could be hanged on the scheduled date of January 2 as one of them has moved a mercy plea, a Delhi court on Thursday directed Tihar jail authorities to submit a report about the status of the scheduled execution.

For more details on the Types and Rules of Tenses, refer to the linked article.

Find the Incorrect Sentence

Q) In this type of question given below, three sentences are given and are named as- I, II and III. You have to determine which sentence/s contains an error and mark the appropriate option.

I) Obesity is a medical condition that occurs when a person carries excess weight or body fat that might affect their health, a doctor will usually suggest that a person has obesity if they have a high body mass index.

II) Eating too much fast foods and doing too little exercise can result in weight gain and obesity unless you will not take care of your health, you will not recover.

III) Robert was asked what he is going to do if he becomes the Prime minister, to which he replied- If he were the Prime Minister, he would have solved the problems of the country.

• I and II
•  II Only
•  II and III
• III Only
•  No error

Ans. Correct option: II and III, these two sentences are grammatically incorrect. II) Eating too much of fast foods and doing too little exercise can result in weight gain and obesity unless you will not take care of your health, you will not recover.- this sentence is grammatically incorrect, ‘unless’ is itself negative in a sense so we will omit ‘not’ and we will use  ‘unless you take care’.

When two actions take place one after the other, the second depending on the first, it is called a conditional sentence. These words generally come in conditional sentences- if, provided, as soon as, no sooner, unless, until, when etc. The sentence given above is a conditional sentence, when the if-clause is in simple present tense then the main clause will be in the simple future tense.

 If + Simple Present, Simple Future Let see the examples given below:

• If I come to Delhi, I will meet you.
• I will help him provided he mends his ways.

 III) Robert was asked what he is going to do if he becomes the Prime minister, to which he replied- If he were the Prime Minister, he would have solved the problems of the country .- this sentence is grammatically incorrect, it is a type of conditional sentence where we talk about something which is purely imaginary so ‘would have solved’ will be replaced with ‘would solve’. The main clause uses would, could, or might + the base form of the main verb, then the if-clause uses the past simple tense

• If Jim lent us his car, we could go to the party.
• We would save £3.50 a day if we didn’t eat any lunch.
• If burglars broke into my house, they wouldn’t find any money.
• Would you be very angry if I failed my exam?

To get detailed knowledge and examples on Prefixes and Suffixes, candidates can visit the linked article.

Fixed Sentence

In this type of question, a statement has been divided into 5 parts. The one in the bold is the fixed part in which no changes can be made. Among the other parts (A), (B), (C) and (D), find the error-free parts. If there is no error, mark (5) as your answer.

Q) Physics is Rim’s favourite subject (A). /It comes as a shock (B) /to everyone in the class (C) /seeing him fail in it (D).

Rim has applied for getting his physics paper rechecked.

•  A, B and C
•  B and C
•  A, C and D
•  B and C
•  No error

Ans. The error lies in part B. ‘Comes’ which is in the simple present is grammatically incorrect as per the construction of the context. The simple present tense is used for universal truths and fixed arrangements. Here, the event has happened and something is done about it to change it. In this case, the present perfect tense must be used. “..It has come as a shock…” is grammatically and contextually correct. So, the error-free parts are A, C and D. Therefore, the correct answer is option 3.

Hope this article gave you all the tips you need to solve Error Spotting. Now you can get our expert guidance for free on Testbook App. Solve mock tests and boost your confidence for the exams. 

Learn about Types of Conjunction Explained with Examples Here.

English Error Spotting Test FAQs

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