This post is part of our special series “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
How to use CONJUNCTIONS
- A sentence should not contain two conjunctions.
For example
Incorrect – Although she was sick, but she still went to work.
Correct – Although she was sick, she still went to work.
- “Both” should be followed by “and”. It should be used in the positive sense. In the negative sense, “neither nor” should be used in place of “both”
For example
Incorrect – Both Ramesh as well as Mahesh completed their homework.
Correct – Both Ramesh and Mahesh completed their homework.
- “Either or”, “neither nor”, “both and”, “not only but also”, should be followed by the same parts of speech.
For example
Incorrect – He not only lost his books, but also his uniform.
Correct – He lost not only his books but also his uniform.
- “Neither nor” and “either or” should not be confused with each other.
For example
Incorrect – He neither slept or completed his homework.
Correct – He neither slept nor completed his homework.
- “No sooner” should be followed by “than”, not by “then” or “but”.
For example
Incorrect – No sooner do I complete my maths homework, then I will begin science homework.
Correct – No sooner do I complete my maths homework, than I will begin science homework.
- “Hardly” and “scarcely” should be followed by “when” or “before”, but not by “than” or “that”.
For example
Incorrect – Hardly did I board the train, than it left platform.
Correct – Hardly did I board the train when it left platform.
- “That” should not be used before a sentence in direct speech, and before interrogative adverbs and pronouns in the indirect speech.
For example
Incorrect – He said that “I will take leave tomorrow”.
Correct – He said, “I will take leave tomorrow”.
Incorrect – He said he will take leave tomorrow.
Correct – He said that he will take leave tomorrow.
How to use PREPOSITIONS
- Objective case of noun or pronoun is used after preposition.
For example
Incorrect – His wife do not depend on he.
Correct – His wife do not depend on him.
- Prepositions used after two words must be made clear whether these two words are joined using “and” or “or”.
For example
Incorrect – Doctor is engaged and conscious of his work.
Correct – Doctor is engaged in and conscious of his work.
- If a Principal Verb is used after “about, after, at, before, for, from, in, on, to” than that Verb must be in present continuous form.
For example
Incorrect – The teacher stopped students from copy in exam hall.
Correct – The teacher stopped students from copying in exam hall.
- Words such as “on, it, at” are not used before “today, tomorrow, yesterday, the next day, the following day”
For example
Incorrect – We have exam at tomorrow.
Correct – We have exam tomorrow.
- No Preposition is used before the word “home”. Please note that “At home” is a phrase which bears a different meaning all together.
For example
Incorrect – My husband will bring new television at home.
Correct – My husband will bring new television home.
- After Transitive Verbs like “discuss, describe, reach, order, tell, demand, attack, resemble, ridicule, etc.”, directly use the object. Preposition is not used after the Verb in this case.
Incorrect – The poet describes about the forest in his new poetry.
Correct – The poet describes the forest in his new poetry.
- “Say, suggest, propose, speak, reply, explain, talk, listen, write” is followed by “to” preposition if there is a person in the object.
For example
Incorrect – He did not listen me on phone.
Correct – He did not listen to me on phone.
To view all the posts in this series, go to — “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
Photo credit: Rex Pe / Source / CC BY
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