English: Error Spotting for Upcoming Exams – Set 188

Directions(1-5): A sentence divided into three parts (I, II and III) is given. There may be an error in one or more parts. Determine the part(s) which requires correction and mark it as your answer.

1. Hundreds of thousand of travellers faced chaos (I)/ as more than 1,300 flights were cancelled (II)/ across Europe because of a strike at Lufthansa. (III)
   Only I
   Only II
   Both I and II
   Both II and III
   None of these
   Option A
   Only part I has an error as the correct idiomatic expression is 'hundreds of thousands' which indicates an imprecise or unknown number between one hundred thousand and a million.
   
    



2. Fascism has many faces, but the most constant is that the supremacist delusion that the West is the carrier of “universal values” (I)/ and that, as exclusive interpreter and custodian of these values; (II)/ the West is obligated to act upon watchdog of democracy and human rights throughout the globe. (III)
   Both I and II
   Both II and III
   All I,II,III
   Only I
   Both I and III
   Option E
   Part I: "the supremacist delusion" is one of the many faces of Fascism. It is the faces which the pronoun 'that' is referring to. So, we need to add 'of' after 'that' to make 'faces', the referent and not 'Fascism'.
   Part III: “Act as someone/something” means to do the job of a particular kind of person or thing. “Act upon” means “to act in accordance with or follow.” It also means to have an effect on something/someone, therefore, “Act as” must be used as per the context of the passage.
   
    



3. One has to be either stupid or complicit if one cannot see (I)/ that the US supports two states in making the most egregious records of violations of human rights, "Saudi Arabia and Israel", (II)/ meanwhile demonizing the socially progressive government of Venezuela as a “dictatorship.” (III)
   Only II
   Both I and III
   Both II and III
   Both I and II
   All I,II,III
   Option C
   Part II: The names of "Saudi Arabia and Israel" has been used to state that in these two, the most egregious records of violations of human rights occurred. “In making” means “in the process of developing or growing or being made.” “With” is a preposition means "having or possessing (something)". Therefore, “with” should be used.
   Part III: Meanwhile is followed by a subject (person or a thing being talked about) whereas while is followed by a verb. In the sentence, 'demonizing' is a verb. Therefore, “while” is the appropriate replacement.
   
    



4. Although many of the performances are dull and vibrant, (I)/ and there’s a tuneful orchestra, led by musical director (II)/ Walter McCoy, the production overall has a musty, potted vibe. (III)
   
   Only II
   Both I and II
   Both I and III
   Only I
   All I,II,III
   Option D
   In part I, the performances have been described to be 'dull and vibrant'. The two words are antonymous and thus do not convey a similar context. We need to replace 'dull' with a word providing the same context as 'vibrant'. 'Droll' meaning 'curious or unusual in a way that provokes dry amusement' is an appropriate choice.
   
    



5. Ms Collard said that he found both the substantiate (I)/ decision to dismiss and the procedures adopted (II)/ to be objectively unreasonable and unfair. (III)
   Only I
   Both I and II
   Only II
   Both II and III
   Both I and III
   Option A
   In part I, the use of the verb 'substantiate' is incorrect as to modify the noun 'decision' we need an adjective. 'Substantive' will be the appropriate replacement.
   
    


Directions(6-10): Out of the three statements given below, one or more may be grammatically incorrect. Identify the correct statement(s) and choose the relevant option as your answer.


6. I) Sturgis and I sang along with the radio, bouncing on our toes, burning energy while we had it and twirling tongs on our fingers like gunslingers before dropping them onto the steamer's bar handles.
   II) Sturgis and I sung along with the radio, bouncing on our toes, burning energy while we had it and twirling tongs on our fingers like gunslingers before dropping them onto the steamer's bar handles.
   III) Sturgis and I was singing along with the radio, bouncing on our toes, burning energy while we had it and twirling tongs on our fingers like gunslingers before dropping them onto the steamer's bar handles.
   Only I
   Only II
   Only III
   Both I and II
   All of these
   Option A
   ‘Sing’ is the present form of the verb while ‘sang’ is the simple past tense, ‘sung’ is the past perfect tense and ‘was singing’ is the past continuous tense. The given sentence is in simple past tense making the application of ‘sang’ correct.
   
    



7. I) Anissa Helou has assembled an astonishing treatise on food of the Islamic world, which includes recipes from countries as far flung as Iran, Somalia, India, Turkey, Oman and Nigeria.
   II) Anissa Helou has assembled an astonishing exposition on food of the Islamic world, which includes recipes from countries as far flung as Iran, Somalia, India, Turkey, Oman and Nigeria.
   III) Anissa Helou has assemble an astonishing treatise on food of the Islamic world, which includes recipes from countries as far flung as Iran, Somalia, India, Turkey, Oman and Nigeria.
   Only I
   Only II
   Only III
   Both I and II
   All of these
   Option D
   Statement III is incorrect as the sentence is in past tense while ‘assemble’ is in present tense. ‘Treatise’ and ‘exposition’ are synonyms and means a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject.
   
    



8. I) The superbly written and research account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blending the personal and the academic in a way that makes the heavy subject matter accessible.
   II) The superbly written and researched account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blend the personal and the academic in a way that makes the heavy subject matter accessible.
   III) The superbly written and researched account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blending the personal and the academic in a way that make the heavy subject matter accessible.
   Only I
   Only II
   Only III
   None of these
   All of these
   Option
   I) The superbly written and research account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blending the personal and the academic in a way that makes the heavy subject matter accessible.
   As according the rule of parallelism, same pattern and grammatical form needs to be used. So, we need to use 'researched '(participle form) to agree with 'written' (participle form) when joined by coordinating conjunction 'and'.
   II) The superbly written and researched account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blend the personal and the academic in a way that makes the heavy subject matter accessible.
   'Blend' is the base form of verb and needs to be replaced with 'blending', the gerund form to act as subject of the subordinate clause.
   III) The superbly written and researched account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blending the personal and the academic in a way that make the heavy subject matter accessible.
   In case of a third person singular noun/pronoun (he, she, it, a person, a thing) we need to use the third person present form of the verb 'makes' in accordance with the rule of subject verb agreement.
   
   The correct sentence is
   'The superbly written and researched account is at once poignant and deeply troubling, blending the personal and the academic in a way that makes the heavy subject matter accessible'.
   
    



9. I) A woman very much like Laing prepares to get married against a backdrop of Trump, Brexit and a generalized malaise that makes everything feel out of control and bad.
   II) A woman very much like Laing prepares to get married against an backdrop of Trump, Brexit and a generalized malaise that makes everything feel out of control and bad.
   III) A woman very much like Laing prepares to get married against a backdrop of Trump, Brexit and an generalized malaise that makes everything feel out of control and bad.
   Only I
   Both I and II
   Both II and III
   Both I and III
   None of these
   Option A
   The article ‘an’ has been incorrectly used in statements II and III. ‘An’ can be used only before words starting with a vowel.
   
    



10. ) This often-poignant collections of Mandela's missives gives us a deeper insight into how he struggled with being an absent and incarcerated father and husband.
    II) This often-poignant collection of Mandela's missives gives us a deeper insight into how he struggled with being an absent and imprisoned father and husband.
    III) This often-poignant collection of Mandela's missives gives us a deeper insight into how he struggled with being an absent and incarcerated father and husband.
    Only I
    Both I and II
    Both II and III
    Both I and III
    None of these
    Option C
    The plural ‘collections’ is used to denote groups of dissimilar things/objects. Thus it has been incorrectly used in statement I as the singular form should have been used to denote the assembly of similar writings. Statement II and III are both correct as ‘incarcerated’ and ‘imprisoned’ are synonyms.