Error Spotting
🔒 Log in to trackThe master checklist: SVA → tense → article → preposition
🔒 Log in to trackAn error-spotting item gives you four parts of one sentence and asks which part is faulty. Do not hunt vaguely — audit the sentence in a fixed order, because SSC errors follow the same priority ladder in almost every shift.
| Check | Ask yourself | Instant example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Subject–verb | what is the TRUE subject, and how far is it from the verb? | The quality of the mangoes were → subject = quality (singular) |
| 2. Tense | is there a time anchor? do the clauses agree in time? | had reached before a later past event |
| 3. Article | sound of the next word? specific or general? | an university → a university |
| 4. Preposition | which word governs it, and what is its fixed partner? | insisted for → insisted on |
| 5. Pronoun | case (subject/object)? does it match its antecedent? | between you and I → me |
| 6. Conjunction/correlative | are both halves of the pair present and parallel? | No sooner did... rang → ring |
| 7. Comparison / word choice | double comparative? redundancy? wrong confusable? | more bigger, return back |
Why an order matters: about two-thirds of all errors live in checks 1–4. Sweeping in this order catches them before you waste time on stylistic doubts. Also, only ONE part is wrong — the moment one check convicts a part, stop and verify it once, then mark.
How to verify before marking: rewrite the sentence correctly in your head. The corrected version must sound like ordinary formal English. If your 'correction' needs restructuring two parts, you have probably misread the sentence; re-run the checklist.
Where the error usually hides: the verb part (finite verbs attract agreement and tense errors), the part containing a preposition or article, and the opening part (pronoun case, connectors). Descriptive tail phrases ('of the pending bill') are rarely the answer — they are usually innocent scenery.
Timing: 20–25 seconds per question. Read once at normal speed (your ear catches half the errors), then audit with the checklist for the rest.
Detailed notes
What error-spotting asks
A sentence is cut into three or four parts, printed with slashes. One part contains a grammar error, and you must pick that part. You do not have to correct the sentence — only to locate the fault. SSC, Railway and Banking papers ask 3 to 5 of these in the English section.
Think of yourself as a checker at a toll gate: vehicles (parts) pass by, and you stop the one that is overloaded. You do not unload it — you only stop it.
The eight checks, in attack order
- Subject-verb agreement: find the true subject; ignore words between it and the verb. (The quality of the mangoes was poor.)
- Tense and time anchors: does the verb match the time words? (yesterday → past; since 2019 → perfect; when/if clauses about the future → present tense.)
- Verb form: finite verb, gerund, infinitive. (He enjoys singing, not to sing.)
- Article: a/an by sound; the for known or one-of-a-kind.
- Preposition: fixed pairs — angry with, insist on, consist of.
- Pronoun and conjunction: case (between you and me), relative (whom we met), correlative pairs (no sooner…than).
- Degree of comparison: bigger, never more bigger; superior to, never than.
- Word choice and redundancy: return back → return; effect → affect.
The method: three passes
- Pass 1 — read for sense. Read the whole sentence. An error often makes the meaning silly, and the nonsense points at the part.
- Pass 2 — find the verb and its subject. Cover the interrupting phrase with your finger. Half of all errors die here.
- Pass 3 — walk the checklist. Move through the eight checks in order; stop at the first rule that convicts a part.
The two-suspects rule
Sometimes two parts look wrong. Ask: which one breaks a RULE, and which one merely looks odd?
- "No sooner had / the results were declared / than students began / celebrating." — Part 1 looks odd (had?) but is correct; part 2 breaks the rule that after had the participle follows (had been declared). Trust the rule, not the feeling.
"No error" discipline
When "No error" is an option, most papers keep 2 or 3 no-error questions in a set. Do not invent a fault: if every part passes the checklist, choose "No error" without fear. But never choose it merely because nothing jumped out — run the eight checks first.
Where errors usually hide
- The verb almost always hides its fault next to an interrupting phrase (of the mangoes, as well as the players, along with his friends).
- The last part often carries the since/for, a/an, or tag-question trap, because eyes slow down by then.
- A part that merely ends with a full stop is rarely the error.
Time plan
About 30 to 40 seconds per question. If two passes find nothing, mark your best guess and move on; return only if time remains.
Quick revision
- Read for sense → find subject-verb core → walk the 8 checks.
- Interrupting phrases hide agreement errors; cover them with a finger.
- Rule beats feeling: pick the part that breaks a rule, not the one that merely looks odd.
- No error is a real option — but earn it by finishing the checklist.
- Common faults: agreement, tense anchor, verb form, article, preposition pair, pronoun case, comparison, redundancy.
Types of questions asked
Every way this subtopic shows up in exams — how to recognise it, the formula or logic to use, and a solved example.
Type 1: Divided sentence — find the faulty part (no 'No error' option)very common3 practice Q
The stem says the sentence is divided into parts and one part contains an error; four options are the four parts themselves.
- Read the whole sentence for sense.
- Find the verb and its true subject; cover interrupting phrases.
- Walk the 8-point checklist (agreement, tense, verb form, article, preposition, pronoun, comparison, word choice).
- Pick the part that breaks a rule.
Why it works: the format never hides the fault's location; a rule-based scan finds it faster than intuition.
Example: "The number of scholarships / have increased / this year / across the state."
True subject = the number (singular), though scholarships sits next to the verb. Part 2 breaks the rule: have increased → has increased. Pick part 2.
Type 2: Divided sentence with 'No error' as an optionvery common3 practice Q
The sentence is divided into three parts and the fourth option is 'No error'.
- Run the same 8-check scan.
- If every part passes, accept 'No error' — do not manufacture a fault.
- If one part fails, pick it and ignore the 'No error' bait.
Why it works: papers mix 2-3 no-error items into a set to punish guessers on both sides — those who never pick it and those who always pick it.
Example: "She has been / living in this colony / since her marriage." Options: the three parts / No error
Has been living (perfect, correct); in this colony (fine); since her marriage (point of time with since, correct). All parts pass → No error.
Type 3: Two suspicious parts — the rule decidescommon3 practice Q
Two parts look doubtful at first glance; one merely feels odd while the other breaks a definite rule.
- Mark both suspects.
- For each, name the rule it would break.
- A part with no rule against it is innocent, however odd it feels; pick the part you can convict by a named rule.
Why it works: setters place one 'feel-bait' and one true error; intuition convicts the bait, rules convict the error.
Example: "No sooner had / the results were declared / than students began / celebrating outside."
Part 1 feels odd ('had'?) but no sooner had is exactly right. Part 2 breaks a rule: after had, the participle is needed → had been declared. Pick part 2.
Type 4: Fragments from different sentences — find the faulty fragmentoccasional3 practice Q
Each option is a fragment of a DIFFERENT sentence; only one fragment is ungrammatical.
- Treat each option as a mini-sentence and run the 8-check scan on it, one at a time.
- Find the true subject of each fragment before judging its verb.
- Exactly one option will fail a rule; the other three are complete, correct pieces.
Why it works: fragments disguise agreement errors, because the subject and verb sit far apart in a short phrase.
Example: (a) The news of the floods have reached (b) The furniture in these rooms is (c) Mathematics is my favourite (d) Neither of the two answers is
News is singular (a fails: has reached). Furniture, mathematics and neither-of are all singular subjects with singular verbs (is/my favourite/is) — correct. Pick (a).
Shortcut tricks
⚡ The 7-step sweep
Verb first: find the subject, check number. Then tense anchors. Then a/an/the by sound. Then preposition partners. Only then pronouns, pairs, and word choice.
Example: One of my friends / are going / to London / next week.
Check 1 (SVA): true subject = 'one' (singular) → 'is going'. Part 2 is the error. Later checks never run.
⚡ Strip the middle
Delete phrases between subject and verb ('of my friends', 'of the mangoes', 'as well as the players') and read the bare skeleton — agreement errors become loud.
⚡ No-error discipline
When the paper offers 'No error', choose it only after the full sweep; do not pick it because the sentence 'sounds fine' at speed. Roughly one in five such items hides a sneaky SVA or preposition error.
Where students lose marks
Agreeing the verb with the noun nearest to it instead of the true subject.
Marking the part that merely sounds clumsy — awkward is not always wrong.
Overlooking the error in the FIRST part because the eye starts hunting in the middle.
Finding two 'errors' and freezing: re-check the second one; usually it is standard usage you misjudged.
Practice sets — 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Each answer comes with a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 8 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.