Spotting errors MCQ — 15 Practice Questions with Answers

Explanation

The error lies in subject-verb agreement. The grammatical subject is "The committee", a collective noun treated here as a single body. The phrase "along with its legal advisers" is only an intervening additive phrase; it does not make the subject plural. Therefore, the verb should agree with "committee" and read "has submitted". Candidates often let the nearer plural noun "advisers" control the verb, but proximity does not decide agreement when the head subject is clear.

Explanation

This item tests fixed prepositional patterns and one transitive verb. In standard British/Indian English, 'different from' is preferred in formal usage, and comparative adjectives of superiority take 'to', not 'than': 'superior to'. The verb 'accuse' is followed by 'of' when naming the offence: 'accused of embezzlement'. Finally, 'discuss' is transitive and does not normally take 'about' before its object; we say 'discussed the amendment'. Therefore the complete matching is 1-R, 2-S, 3-P, 4-Q.

Explanation

The assertion is true: 'Having reviewed the objections' is an introductory participial phrase, and it must describe the subject that follows. In the given sentence, the following subject is 'the revised list', but a list cannot review objections. The implied reviewer is the board, so a correct version would be 'Having reviewed the objections, the board published the revised list.' The reason states the exact rule behind the error, so both A and R are true, and R explains A.

Explanation

In a neither...nor construction, the verb is normally governed by the subject nearer to it. In option C, the nearer subject is 'the chairperson', which is singular, so the singular verb 'was' is correct. Options A and B deliberately reverse this agreement: A has a singular verb after the nearer plural subject 'members', and B has a plural verb after the nearer singular subject 'chairperson'. Option D breaks the required correlative pair by using 'or' after 'neither'.

Explanation

The correct matching is 1-a, 2-b, 3-c. 'Criteria' is a plural noun in formal standard usage, so it takes 'are', not 'is'. The adjective 'averse' is followed by 'to', not 'of'. After the preposition 'between', the pronoun must be in the objective case: 'between you and me'. Each error tests a different point: subject-verb agreement with a Latin plural, fixed preposition after an adjective, and pronoun case after a preposition.