This post is part of our special series “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“

How to use CONJUNCTIONS

71. 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.

72. “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.

73. “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.

74. “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.

75. “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.

76. “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.

77. “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

78. 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.

79. 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.

80.  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.

81. 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.

82. 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.

83. 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.

84. “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