The Combined Graduate Level Examination is organized for recruitment in various positions in the Indian government’s ministries, departments, and organizations. The Staff Selection Commission conducts it to choose candidates for different Group B and C positions.
To crack SSC CGL, the candidates must have a strong command of the English language. Today we will discuss some practice questions on error spotting, which is a significant part of the SSC CGL exam’s English section. Even applicants with great knowledge of the English language might make grammatical mistakes. So with this article, we are here to assist you.
Direction (1-15): In each sentence, identify the segment that contains the grammatical error. If the sentence has no errors, select “No Error”.
1. She faces the puzzling dilemma of disobeying her father or losing the man she loves.
A. of disobeying her father
B. or losing the man she
C. faces the puzzling dilemma.
D. No Error
Answer: Option – C
Solution: The word “dilemma” refers to a perplexing scenario in which you must make a difficult decision between two options. Here the word “puzzling” is redundant or unnecessary to be used.
2. He is originally from Republic of Ireland and has come here for a change.
A. He is originally from Republic of Ireland
B. and has come here
C. for a change
D. No error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: We know that a definite article is not used before the names of states/countries. But if the name of the country contains words like “states,” “Kingdom,” or “Republic,” we use the definite article “the” before them. Thus, “the” should be used before “Republic of Ireland.”
3. After carefully consideration of your proposal, I regret to say that we are unable to accept it.
A. to say that we are unable
B. after carefully consideration
C. of your proposal, I regret
D. No Error
Answer: Option – B
Solution: In the given sentence, we need a word that tells us more about the noun “consideration,” and thus the word should be an adjective. “Carefully” is an adverb. The correct adjective is “careful,” which means giving a lot of attention to what you are doing so that you do not have an accident, make a mistake, or damage something.
4. Don’t touch a wire lest you should not receive a shock.
A. should not receive
B. wire lest you
C. don’t touch a
D. No Error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: ‘Lest’ is a conjunction that is used to express the intention of preventing (something undesirable); or avoiding the risk of something, as in “I was afraid to go to the corner lest I should fall.” It has a negative meaning, so it isn’t followed by “not”. “Lest + should + (without s/es) Verb 1st Form” is the correct format.
5. The world is at a crucially phase in its fight against the virus.
A. The world is at
B. a crucially phase
C. No error
D. its fight against the virus
Answer: Option – B
Solution: We need an adjective to describe the noun “phase”. But in the sentence, “crucially” is an adverb in its place. Thus, replace the adverb “crucially” with its adjective form “crucial” to make the sentence grammatically sound.
6. Something has been interpreted wrongly, have they?
A. wrongly, have they?
B. something has
C. been interpreted
D. No Error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: Here, the use of the phrase “have they” is incorrect. To turn statements into questions, use question tags. They’re typically utilized to double-check the information that we believe to be accurate. We use the word “it” as the subject and a singular auxiliary verb in the question tag with indefinite pronouns like “someone,” “anybody,” and “nobody.” As a result, the proper question tag is “hasn’t it?”
7. The ASEAN initiative in Myanmar calls up an immediate cessation of violence and utmost restraint from all sides.
A. The ASEAN initiative
B. calls up
C. of violence and utmost restrain
D. No error
Answer: Option – B
Solution: The phrasal verb ‘call up’ means to telephone someone or to bring something back to your mind. The use of the phrasal verb “call up” in the above sentence is contextually incorrect. It should be replaced with ‘calls for’, which means to publicly ask for something to happen.
8. He, together with his long-term collaborator, were awarded the Dirac Medal for Theoretical Physics.
A. with his
B. were awarded
C. long-term
D. No error
Answer: Option – B
Solution: The number of the subject is not changed by expressions like with, together with, including, accompanied by, in addition to, or as well. If the subject is singular, the verb is too. Thus, “were” is incorrect, it should be “was” to make the sentence grammatically correct.
9. You can check-in online, but you have to do it at least four hours from your flight.
A. hours from your flight
B. you have to do it at
C. can check-in online
D. No Error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: Here, the use of the preposition ‘from’ is incorrect. When referring to time activities, the word “before” is most often used with noun phrases. Thus, replace “from” with “before” to make the sentence grammatically correct.
10. We will be lying on the beach now if we hadn’t missed the plane.
A. We will be lying on the
B. beach now if we hadn’t
C. missed the plane
D. No error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: When we want to make a hypothesis about the past that has an effect in the present, we can use mixed conditional sentences, which combine the second and third conditions in one sentence. Thus, “would be lying” is grammatically correct.
11. Rama had asked me once; I would have given her some useful advice.
A. Rama had
B. her some useful
C. asked me
D. No Error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: Option A has the grammatically incorrect part. In the third conditional sentence, the speaker is looking back from the present to a past time and event. The speaker is discussing what could have happened but did not, either because something went wrong or because nothing was done. The main clause contains “would, could, or may” + have + the main verb’s past participle. The if-clause uses the past perfect tense. Thus, either add “if” before “Rama” in option A or put the auxiliary “had” before “Rama” (inversion).
12. Neither our families nor our friends knows that we are getting married.
A. Our families
B. We are
C. No error
D. Knows
Answer: Option – D
Solution: When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by “or” or “nor”, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb. Thus, “our friends,” a plural noun, must agree with the plural verb “know.”
13. June is upset at him saying that India’s millennial population confronts fewer incidents of domestic violence than Russia’s, so she leaves the apartment with her sister in anger.
A. June is upset at him saying that India’s millennial
B. population confronts fewer incidents of domestic
C. violence than Russia’s, so she leaves the apartment with her sister in anger.
D. No error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: A gerund is a verb used as a noun and always follows a possessive pronoun, for example, mine, yours, hers, theirs, his, etc. In the above sentence, “him” has to be replaced by “his”. Here, “saying” is a noun in gerund form. Therefore, we need a possessive pronoun here instead of a personal pronoun.
14. She was looking too beautiful that not a single person was there at the party who did not want to have her company.
A. looking too beautiful
B. was there at the party
C. to have her company
D. No error
Answer: Option – A
Solution: The adverb “too” is followed by the adjective when referring to such an extent. But, according to the structure and context of the given sentence, “too” is not relevant. We should use the “so… that” structure to refer to the correct meaning, as in “He is so weak that he cannot walk”. Thus, “too” must be replaced with “so” to make the sentence grammatically correct.
15. No sooner had they completed the work when they demanded wages.
A. No error
B. when they demanded
C. no sooner had they
D. wages
Answer: Option – B
Solution: “No sooner” is a phrase that means something happened right after something else. It’s frequently used with the past perfect or past indefinite. The right conjunction is “than,” which is generally used after it. “No sooner + did/had + subject + verb (Ist/IIIrd form) +… + than +…” is the structure.
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