Error Spotting
🔒 Log in to trackPronoun and correlative-conjunction errors
🔒 Log in to trackPronoun case. Subject forms (I, he, she, we, they, who) do the action; object forms (me, him, her, us, them, whom) receive it or follow a preposition:
- after prepositions: between you and me, for him and me;
- after let: Let him and me try;
- comparing with a hidden verb: She is taller than I (am).
Pronoun–antecedent agreement: each, everyone, somebody, nobody, either take singular pronouns (Each of the boys... his assignment). Collective nouns take it (as units) or they (as members).
Unnecessary pronouns: My friend he came... / The book, it is... — a pronoun duplicating the subject is an error.
Correlative pairs. The classic SSC items:
| Pair | Correct shape | Trap |
|---|---|---|
| No sooner... than | No sooner did the bell ring than... | using when, or past tense after did |
| Hardly / Scarcely... when | Hardly had he sat down when... | using than |
| Not only... but also | parallel structures after both halves | joining noun with clause |
| Either... or / Neither... nor | verb agrees with nearer subject | verb agreeing with first subject |
| Both... and | Both Ram and his brother... | both... as well as |
| Lest... should | Work hard lest you should fail. | lest... will not |
| Such... as / such... that | Such books as... / such a noise that... | mixing the two |
| Whether... or | I asked whether he would come or not. | whether... nor |
Parallelism under pairs: whatever follows not only must match in form what follows but also (noun with noun, clause with clause). She not only sings but also dances — parallel verbs. Mixing forms is itself the planted error.
No sooner forms: with did → base verb (No sooner did the bell ring than...); with had → past participle (No sooner had the bell rung than...). Both shapes are standard; mixing shapes is not.
Detailed notes
Pronoun case: who is doing what
- Subject pronouns (I, we, he, she, they) do the action; object pronouns (me, us, him, her, them) receive it.
- After a preposition, always the object form: between you and me (never 'between you and I'); for him and me.
- After let, the object form: Let him and me finish.
- Compare to save someone: She is taller than I (am), but a verbless comparison in speech takes 'me' — exams accept than I with the verb understood.
- Possessives: its (belonging to it) vs it's (= it is); whose vs who's (= who is); their vs there vs they're. It's tail is always wrong; its tail is right.
Relative pronouns
- who = subject of the clause: The lawyer who took our case.
- whom = object: The lawyer whom we met. (We met HIM → whom.)
- whose = possession, for people AND things: the building whose roof leaked (never 'which roof').
- which = things; that = people or things in defining clauses. Quick test: replace the relative with he/she/it (→ who) or him/her/it (→ whom).
Correlative conjunctions travel in pairs
- not only … but also — never 'but…also' missing the match of the first half.
- no sooner … than — never 'no sooner…when'.
- hardly / scarcely … when — never '…than'.
- either … or; neither … nor; not only before verbs but also before nouns must sit in matching positions. The correlative often drags word order with it: No sooner had the train left than… (had + subject + participle).
Connectives in reported speech
- Reported yes/no question → if / whether, and never 'that whether': She asked whether I had locked the door.
- Reported wh- question keeps the wh-word and drops that: The judge asked why he had changed his statement (never 'asked that why').
- Reported order/request → to + verb: The coach told them to warm up.
Order and agreement of pronouns
For politeness, the second person comes first and the speaker last: you and I, you and he, he and I — never 'I and you'. When the same pronoun could be subject or object, test with the verb: My brother and I went (we went), but They invited my brother and me (they invited us).
Each other vs one another
Traditional rule: each other for two, one another for more than two: The two sisters helped each other; the six labourers helped one another. Exams still reward this split.
Quick revision
- Preposition or 'let' → object pronoun: between you and me.
- its ≠ it's; whose ≠ who's.
- whom when him/her would fit; whose for possession (even of things).
- no sooner…than; hardly…when; not only…but also.
- asked whether / asked why — never 'that whether' or 'that why'.
- two → each other; many → one another.
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: Pronoun case after a preposition or 'let'very common2 practice Q
A preposition (between, for, to, with) or the word 'let' is followed by a pronoun in the subject form (I, he, she, they).
- Find the preposition or 'let' before the pronoun.
- Objects take object forms: me, him, her, us, them.
- Never 'between you and I' — the preposition demands 'me'.
Why it works: 'you and I' sounds formal and polite, so it is the classic planted error.
Example: "The award was shared between Ravi and (1) ______, though the judges had earlier picked only Ravi." he / him / his / himself
After the preposition between → object form: him. 'Between Ravi and he' is the planted error.
Type 2: Relative pronoun choice (who / whom / whose / which)common2 practice Q
A clause introduced by who/whom/whose/which contains the error, usually with the wrong case or 'which roof' for possession.
- Locate the relative clause and its verb.
- If the relative does the clause's action → who; if it receives it (him/her fits) → whom.
- Possession → whose, even for buildings and things.
Why it works: the him-substitution test settles who/whom in seconds, and 'which' for possession has no defence.
Example: "The building (1) ______ roof was damaged in the storm is being repaired." which / whose / who's / that
Possession (the roof OF the building) → whose roof. 'Which roof' reads as 'choose a roof' — wrong.
Type 3: Correlative pair mismatch (no sooner…than, not only…but also)common2 practice Q
The sentence opens with no sooner, hardly, scarcely, or not only, and the second half carries the wrong partner word (when instead of than) or a broken verb order.
- Circle the first half of the pair.
- Recall its fixed partner: no sooner…THAN; hardly/scarcely…WHEN; not only…BUT ALSO.
- Check the word order too: 'No sooner had + subject + participle'.
Why it works: the pairs are frozen; swapping the partner word is the most planted error in the section.
Example: "No sooner had the train left (1) ______ the passengers began complaining." when / than / then / that
Fixed pair no sooner…than → than. 'When' belongs with hardly/scarcely.
Type 4: Possessive and form errors (its / it's, their forms)common2 practice Q
The suspect part contains its/it's, their/there, whose/who's or another possessive-lookalike pair.
- Expand the apostrophe version: it's = it is; who's = who is.
- If the expansion makes no sense, the plain possessive (its, whose, their) is needed.
- A possessive before a noun never takes an apostrophe.
Why it works: the apostrophe versions are contractions, and the sentence rarely wants a contraction before a noun.
Example: "The committee published (1) ______ annual report before the audit could even begin." it's / its / their's / it is
Its annual report (possessive, no apostrophe). 'It's' = it is → 'it is annual report' is nonsense.
Type 5: Connective in reported questionsoccasional2 practice Q
The sentence reports a question (asked, wanted to know, enquired) and the connective is that + wh-word, or 'that whether'.
- Spot the reporting verb (asked, wanted to know).
- Yes/no question → whether or if (never 'that whether').
- Wh-question → the wh-word alone; 'that' must not stand before it.
Why it works: the exam joins two legal connectives ('that' + 'why') into one illegal chunk.
Example: "Mother wanted to know (1) ______ I had locked the back door." that whether / whether / that if / that why
A yes/no question in reported speech → whether (or if). 'That whether' stacks two connectives — the planted error.
Shortcut tricks
⚡ Preposition + I? Kill it
Any 'between you and I', 'for he and I' construction is wrong in standard English — object form after a preposition, every time.
Example: Between you and I, / the new manager / has no / practical experience.
Preposition takes object form → between you and me. Part 1.
⚡ Did + base form
After did/does/do, the verb loses its tense: No sooner did the bell ring. A past form after did is a guaranteed error.
⚡ Partner visibility test
Cover the sentence except the pair words. If one half of a correlative appears without its partner, or with the wrong partner (hardly... than), that part is the error.
Where students lose marks
Using whom as a subject or who after a preposition ('to who').
Writing 'one of my friend' (plural noun needed) or 'between him and she'.
Pairing hardly/scarcely with than and no sooner with when — the two pairs are swapped.
Making 'everyone... their' the error without noticing the paper accepts singular their in informal use — SSC's answer key follows his/her; mark accordingly when options force a choice.
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.