Tips for Spotting Errors in English Part 2

Here are 26 more rules and you can be confident about tackling any error spotting or phrase replacement question.

1. Some nouns always use a singular verb.

Eg: Advice, scenery, stationery, mathematics, news

• Mathematics are a difficult subject. (Incorrect)
• Mathematics is a difficult subject. (Correct)

2. ‘Who’ denotes the subject and ‘whom’ denotes the object.

• Whom do you think won the competition? (Incorrect)
• Who do you think won the competition? (Correct)
• Who did you talk to? ( Incorrect)
• Whom did you talk to? ( Correct)

3. The verb and pronoun in case of two nouns joined by ‘either…or’ or ‘neither… nor’ or by ‘or’ take the form of the latter noun.

• Either my father or my sister will use their credit card. (Incorrect)
• Either my father or my sister will use her credit card. (Correct)

4. The verb and pronoun are plural when there is one singular noun and one plural noun and is joined by the conjunction ‘and’.

• The teacher and her students donated her money. (Incorrect)
• The teacher and her students donated their money. (Correct)

5. When there are two nouns joined by a preposition like ‘with’ or ‘along with’, the verb and pronoun take the form of the main (first) noun.

• Mansi, along with her students, were on their way to the movies. (Incorrect)
• Mansi, along with her students, was on her way to the movies. (Correct)

6. If the plural subject indicates a definite amount or quantity taken as a

whole, it takes the verb in the singular form.

• Eighty kilometres are a good distance.( Incorrect)
• Eighty kilometres is a good distance. (Correct)

7. When two or more adjectives show the qualities of the same person or thing, all the adjectives must be in the same degree.

• Bhanu is more intelligent and wise than Manu. (Incorrect)
• Bhanu is more intelligent and wiser than Manu. (Correct)

8. When two singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ are preceded by ‘each’ or ‘every’ the pronoun used is singular.

• Each man and each boy must be rewarded for their good deeds. ( Incorrect)
• Each man and each boy must be rewarded for his good deeds. (Correct)

9. ‘No sooner’ is always followed by ‘than’.

• No sooner had the bell rung when the students started leaving the classroom. (Incorrect)
• No sooner had the bell rung than the students started leaving the room.( Correct)

10. ‘No sooner’ is always followed by ‘does/do’ or ‘has/have’ in the present tense and by ‘did’ or ‘had’ in the past tense.

• No sooner are the boys marching than the whistle blows. (Incorrect)
• No sooner do the boys march than the whistle blows.( Correct)

11. ‘A great many’ is always followed by a plural noun and a plural verb.

• A great many invention has been declared successful. (Incorrect)
• A great many inventions have been declared successful. (Correct)

12. ‘Some’ is used in affirmative sentences to express quantity or degree. ‘Any’ is to be used in negative or interrogative sentences.

• I shall buy some books. (Correct)
• I shall not buy any books. (Correct)
• Have you bought any books? (Correct)

But ‘some’ might be used in interrogative sentences which are requests.

• Will you please give me some water? (Correct)

13. ‘Since’ indicates a point of time and ‘for’ stands for the length of time.

• He has been reading the book since three hours. (Incorrect)
• He has been reading the book for three hours. (Correct)
• It has been raining heavily for Monday. (Incorrect)
• It has been raining heavily since Monday. (Correct)

14. When we use ‘everybody’ ‘everyone’, ‘anybody’, and ‘each’ the pronoun of the masculine or the feminine gender is used with respect to the content.

• I shall be willing to help each of the girls in her practice. (Correct)

But when the gender is not mentioned, we use the pronoun of the masculine gender.

• Anyone can do this job if he tries. (Correct)
• Each of the boys in the class has finished their tasks. (Incorrect)
• Each of the boys in the class has finished his task. (Correct)

15. A singular pronoun is used for a collective nouns, and should be in the neuter gender if the collective noun is viewed as a whole.

• The pride gave away their location by roaring loudly. (Incorrect)
• The pride gave away its location by roaring loudly. (Correct)

16. When pronouns of different persons are to be used together in a sentence, the sequence of persons should be as follows: second person + third + first person in a normal sentence.

• Raju, I and you have finished the work. (Incorrect)
• You, Raju and I have finished our studies. (Correct)

17. ‘Older’ refers to persons as well as things and is usually followed by ‘than’.

• Raju is elder than all other boys of this class. (Incorrect)
• Raju is older than all other boys of this class. (Correct)

‘Elder’ is used for members of the family.

• Suyash is my older brother. (Incorrect)
• Suyash is my elder brother. (Correct)

18. ‘Than’ is used in the comparative degree usually , but with words like superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior, posterior and prefer ‘to’ is used.

• Gandhi is preferred than Nehru. (Incorrect)
• Gandhi is preferred to Nehru. (Correct)

19. ‘Many a’ is always followed by the singular verb.

• Many a man were influenced by the speech. (Incorrect)
• Many a man was influenced by the speech. (Correct)

20. The singular verb is used when the subject is “the number of”.

• The number of buildings are very low. (Incorrect)
• The number of buildings is very low. (Correct)

21. ‘Since’, ‘because’, ‘as’, ‘for ‘are often used alternatively, however there is a difference in their degree. Stronger cases use ‘since’ and ‘because’ and ‘as’ and ‘for’ are used in weak cases.

• I respect him as he is the best teacher. (Incorrect)
• I respect him because he is the best teacher. (Correct)

22. A pronoun is sometimes incorrectly used where it is not required at all. Eliminate the redundant ones.

• He, being an M.A., he is over qualified for the position. (Incorrect)
• He, being an M.A., is over qualified for the position. (Correct)

23. The relative pronoun ‘that’ is used instead of ‘who’ or ‘which’ after adjectives in the superlative degree.

• This is the best which the doctors could do. (Incorrect)
• This is the best that the doctors could do. (Correct)

24. When ‘as if’ is used in the sense of pretension, ‘were’ is used in all cases, even with third person singular.

• She behaves as if she was a queen. (Incorrect)
• She behaves as if she were a queen. (Correct)

25. A pronoun takes an objective case after ‘let’.

• Let I show it. (Incorrect)
• Let me show it. (Correct)

26. Pronouns joined by ‘and’ are in the same case.

• He and me are friends. (Incorrect)
• He and I are friends. (Correct)