Spotting Errors For SBI PO : Set – 32

In the following questions, find out which part of a sentence has an error. The letter corresponding to that part is your answer. If there is no mistake, the answer is ‘No error’

1. He couldn’t but help (a) / shed tears at the plight of the villagers (b) / rendered homeless by a devastating cyclone (c) / No error (d)

2. Although we reached his house on time (a) / he was left (b) / for the airport (c) / No error (d)

3. He is working in (a) / a bank in New Delhi (b) / for the past several months (c) / No error (d)

4. He has seen (a) / the picture (b) / yesterday (c) / No error (d)

5. I was there (a) / many a times (b) / in the past (c) / No error (d)

6. The Arabian Nights (a) / have lots interesting stories (b) / for young readers (c) / No error (d)

7. If a thing (a) / is worth doing at all (b) / it is worth done well (c) / No error (d)

8. If I will have enough (a) / time tomorrow, (b) / I’ll come and see you (c) / No error (d)

9. If I had known (a) / this yesterday (b) / I will have helped him (c) / No error (d)

10. Frozen foods are so popular today (a) / that many people wonder (b) / how they ever lived without them (c) / No error (d)

Answer Key With Explanations:

1. (a) ‘He couldn’t help but’ is the correct expression.

2. (b) ‘He had left’ is correct because the action of his leaving was over by the time we reached his house.

3. (a) Use ‘has been’ in place of ‘is’: he stared working in the past and is continuing to work at present. The present perfect continuous tense is used for actions that began in the past but are continuing to take place in the present and are expected to continue in the near future

4. (a) Simple past tense should be used in place of present perfect tense as a past action is referred to: ‘He saw…’

5. (b) ‘Many a time’, meaning ‘again and again’, is the correct expression, not ‘many a times’.

6. (b) ‘The Arabian Nights’ is the name of a single book; it should have the singular verb ‘has’ followed it.

7. (c) ‘It is worth doing well’ is the correct last part of the sentence.

8. (a) In conditional sentence with an ‘if’ clause, the verb in the ‘if clause’ should be in the present tense; It is only the verb in the main clause that is in future tense. If + ‘will/would’ is only possible with certain special meaning. Use of ‘tomorrow’ indicates a future time, so there is no need to use ‘will’ in (a).

9. (c) As we are referring to a past action in a hypothetical sense, ‘would’ should be used rather than ‘will’.

10. (d) No error.