Error Detection and Correction

Why This Chapter Matters

Error Detection has 5-10 marks in banking exams. The question gives a sentence divided into parts — find the part with grammatical error. Speed matters — each question should take 30-45 seconds max.

Common Error Types

1. Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must agree with its subject in number (singular/plural).

Rule: Singular subject → singular verb. Plural subject → plural verb.

Tricky cases:

•Collective nouns: "The committee HAS decided" (committee = singular entity)

•"Each/every/either/neither" → singular verb: "Each of the students HAS submitted"

•"A number of" → plural: "A number of students WERE present"

•"The number of" → singular: "The number of students WAS large"

•Intervening phrase: "The box of apples IS on the table" (subject = box, not apples)

2. Tense Errors

Consistency within sentence and across related clauses.

Common errors:

•"She has went to market" → "has GONE" (present perfect needs past participle)

•"If I WILL go..." → "If I GO..." (condition clause: no will)

•"He said that he IS coming" → "he WAS coming" (reported speech: tense shifts back)

•"By tomorrow, she will FINISH" → "will HAVE FINISHED" (future perfect for completed future action)

3. Preposition Errors

Fixed prepositions that must be memorised:

Phrase	Correct Preposition

|---|---|

Accused OF	not accused for
Congratulate ON	not congratulate for
Married TO	not married with
Suffer FROM	not suffer with
Concerned ABOUT	not concerned for
Differ FROM	not differ with (for things)
Agree WITH (person)	Agree TO (proposal)
Die OF (disease)	Die FROM (wound/accident)

4. Article Errors

A/An/The — one of the most common error types.

A vs An: based on SOUND, not spelling

"An hour" (h is silent — vowel sound)

"A university" (u sounds like "yu" — consonant sound)

"An honest man" (h silent)

"A one-time event" (one sounds like "won" — consonant)

The — used when: previously mentioned, unique, specific, part of name

Wrong: "The life is short" (general statement — no article needed)

Wrong: "I am the doctor" (profession — no article or "a")

Correct: "The sun rises in the east" (unique sun)

5. Pronoun Errors

Pronoun must agree with antecedent (the noun it refers to) in number and gender.

"Everyone must submit THEIR assignment" — everyone is singular but "their" is now accepted as gender-neutral; traditional: "his or her"

"The team celebrated ITS victory" — team (singular) → its

"Each of the students submitted HIS/HER work"

6. Comparison Errors

•"She is more smarter" → "more smart" OR "smarter" (not both)

•"He is the most tallest" → "the tallest"

•"This book is superior than that" → "superior TO"

•"I prefer tea than coffee" → "prefer tea TO coffee"

7. Redundancy

Using two words that mean the same thing:

•"Return back" → just "return"

•"Revert back" → just "revert"

•"Advance planning" → just "planning"

•"Mutual cooperation" → just "cooperation"

•"Widow woman" → just "widow"

Approach to Error Detection Questions

1.Read the full sentence once for overall sense

2.Identify the subject and verb — check agreement

3.Check tense consistency

4.Check prepositions (especially after verbs that have fixed prepositions)

5.Check articles

6.Check for redundancy or double negatives

PYQs

SBI PO 2023: "Neither of the students have submitted their assignment on time."

Error: "have submitted" → "HAS submitted" (neither = singular → singular verb)

IBPS PO 2022: "She has been working in this company since five years."

Error: "since five years" → "FOR five years" (duration = for; specific point = since)

IBPS Clerk 2022: "The committee have decided to postpone the meeting."

Error: "have decided" → "HAS decided" (committee as single entity = singular)

Revision Notes

SUBJECT-VERB:
Singular: each, every, either, neither, anyone, everyone → singular verb
A number of → plural | The number of → singular
Collective noun (committee, team) → singular when acting as one

TENSE:
Perfect tenses: use past participle (has gone, had seen, will have finished)
Conditional (if): no will in if-clause (if I go, not if I will go)
Reported speech: tense shifts back (said he IS → said he WAS)

PREPOSITIONS (memorise):
accused OF | congratulate ON | married TO | suffer FROM
die OF (disease) | die FROM (accident) | agree WITH (person) | agree TO (proposal)
superior TO | prefer TO | differ FROM

ARTICLES:
An + vowel SOUND (an hour, an MBA)
A + consonant SOUND (a university, a one-day event)
The + specific/unique/previously mentioned

COMPARISON: more + adj (no -er) | most + adj (no -est) | superior/inferior/prefer + TO (not than)
REDUNDANCY: revert back, return back, advance planning, mutual cooperation