Grammar Series # Error Spoting (List of Common Errors)

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List of Common Errors

Following is the list of common errors that can be seen in "spotting the error" questions in competitive exams

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.

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