🔍 Spotting Errors

Day 1 | ⏱️ Part of Verbal Ability Block | TCS Interview Prep

📌 Subtopics

• Subject-verb agreement errors
• Tense and voice consistency
• Pronoun reference and case errors
• Preposition and article misuse
• Parallelism and modifier placement

📖 Comprehensive Notes

1. Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must agree in number (singular/plural) with its subject, not with the nearest noun.

• Key Rules:
  • A singular subject takes a singular verb: He runs daily.
  • Compound subjects joined by “and” take a plural verb: Ram and Shyam are friends.
  • Subjects joined by “or”, “nor”, “either…or”, “neither…nor” — the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the teacher nor the students were present.
  • Collective nouns (team, committee, jury) are singular when acting as a unit: The team is ready.
  • Indefinite pronouns (everyone, someone, nobody) are singular: Everyone has arrived.

Example: “Each of the boys have completed their homework.” Error: “have” should be “has” — “Each” is singular regardless of the prepositional phrase “of the boys.”

2. Tense Consistency

Mixing tenses within a sentence without logical reason is a common error.

• Strategy:
  • Identify the time reference (past, present, future).
  • Check if all verbs in the sentence align with the same time frame.
  • Past perfect ($had + V3$) is used for an action completed before another past action.

Example: “He goes to the market yesterday and bought vegetables.” Error: “goes” should be “went” to match the past-tense indicator “yesterday.”

3. Pronoun Errors

• Reference Errors: The pronoun must clearly refer to a specific noun.
• Case Errors: Use subjective case (I, he, she, they) for subjects and objective case (me, him, her, them) for objects.
• Number Agreement: A singular noun takes a singular pronoun.

Example: “Every student must bring their ID card.” Formal correction: “Every student must bring his or her ID card.” (In exam context, singular agreement is tested.)

4. Preposition and Article Errors

• Use “the” for specific references, “a/an” for general.
• Common errors: discuss about → discuss, enter into the room → enter the room.
• Fixed prepositions: interested in, good at, depend on, consist of.

5. Parallelism

Items in a list or comparison must follow the same grammatical structure.

Example: “She likes swimming, to run, and cycling.” Correction: “She likes swimming, running, and cycling.”

🌐 Learning Resources

✅ Practice Links

📝 Key Approach

Steps:
  1. Read the entire sentence FIRST — don't jump to parts
  2. Check Subject-Verb agreement
  3. Check Tense consistency
  4. Check Pronoun reference & case
  5. Check Prepositions (fixed pairs)
  6. Check Parallelism in lists/comparisons
  7. If no error found → Option "No Error"

Common Traps:
  - "One of the boys" → singular verb
  - "Neither...nor" → verb matches NEARER subject
  - "Each/Every/Either/Neither" → always singular

Tip: Read the sentence aloud mentally — grammatical errors often “sound wrong” even before you identify the exact rule.

🔗 Related Topics

• Verbal Ability — Sentence completion and email writing share grammar fundamentals
• Para Jumbles — Sentence arrangement requires understanding of grammatical connectors
• Decision Making and Data Sufficiency — Logical analysis of statements