How to Solve Spotting Error Questions
- In
order to solve questions on spotting errors, the first step you should
take is to read the complete sentence carefully. In most of the cases, you
will be able to detect the error in the first go itself. While reading the
entire sentence, you must carefully check the subject-verb agreement.
- The
next step is to carefully check all spellings. Many a times, an error can
be spotted in spellings.
- If
you can still not detect the error or you are still unsure of the correct
answer, then you must read each individual part of the sentence and
closely examine which part consists of an error.
List of Common Errors
Following is the list of common
errors that can be seen in "spotting the error" questions in SBI
PO exam -
1. words beginning with
‘h’ like, honour, honest, heir etc. are considered to be silent.
Hence the vowel following it takes ‘an’, instead of 'a' for the article. Hence,
the correct usage is "an hour", "an heir", "an
honour" etc.
2. In case of using
prepositions, you need to keep in mind the following definitions -
between (to be used for only two)
3. Always check for subject-verb
agreement - if a subject is singular, then its verb should
also be singular. On similar grounds, if a subject is plural, then its
verb should also be plural. Furthermore, if you write in the present
tense, both the noun and the verb take plural forms in opposite ways. For
instance, the noun adds an "s" to its singular form, on the other
hand, the verb removes the "s" from its singular form.
4. Check for errors in use of
conjunctions - remember that a sentence only uses one conjunction at a
time. For instance, use of both "as" and "so" in the same
sentence is incorrect.
5. Distinction between "much"
and "many" - the word "much" is used before
uncountable nouns, while the word "many" is used before countable
nouns.
Here, uncountable nouns are
substances which can not be further broker down into smaller elements. For
example, "litres of milk" (here the word "milk" can not be
further broken down into smaller units). On the other hand, countable nouns are
substances which can be broken down into smaller elements. For instance,
"two dogs" (here the existence of the word "two" makes the
verb countable.
NOTE: it is also important that you
work on your vocabulary, to maximize your marks in the English Language
section.
6. Distinction between "whose"
and "which" - the word "whose" is used to
address living entities and the word "which" is used
for lifeless objects. For instance, the sentence, "which book
is lying there?" is incorrect and the sentence "whose book is lying
there?" is correct.
7. The pronoun
"one" as a subject should use "one's" because
it does not indicate towards a specific gender - male or female.
8. The combination of words "One
of" always takes a plural noun after it. For instance, the
sentence, "it is one of the saddest day" is incorrect and the
sentence, "it is one of the saddest days" is correct.
9. Collective nouns like
public, committee, team, audience, government, etc. can be used both as
singular and plural depending on their meaning. When these words refer
to a unit, the verb is singular, otherwise it is plural.
10. There are certain nouns
that refer to length, measure, money or a number. When they are preceded
by a numeral, they remain unchanged in form. These nouns are - Foot,
metre, pair , score, dozen, head , year, hundred, thousand, million etc.
