Error Detection
Error Detection: There is no denying that English Language Section for Government Exams is a part and parcel. Be it SSC CGL Tier 1, Tier 2, SSC CHSL Tier 1, SSC MTS, SSC Stenographer Tier 1 & 2, SSC CPO Tier 1 & Tier 2 or bank exams. Error Detection is a vital subpart of English Language Section which bothers a crowd of aspirants at the same time. Mastering Error Detection is undeniably going to help you conquering topics of Sentence Improvement, Sentence Completion, Cloze Test as well. So it is conspicuously understood that practicing Error Detection is an advantageous task. Aspirants either underrate or overrate the English Section while the balance is much required to maintain dominance over the subject.
To the new category of aspirants who just started preparing for SSC Exams, let us unravel the fact that ERROR DETECTION can be a great scoring opportunity if handled cautiously. To your relief, you can easily go through the basics and master the art of spotting the errors.
Q1. The taxes to be paid are still supposed to be calculated (A)/ by the authorities based on how much the sale price of a company’s (B)/ unlisted share exceeds than its fair market value. (C)/ No Error (D)
(a) A
(b) B
(c) C
(d) D
Ans. (c)
Sol. Exceed: be greater in number or size than (a quantity, number, or other measurable things). Hence the usage of ‘than’ after ‘exceed’ is superfluous and needs to be removed.
Q2. In October 1940, Gandhi, abandoning his original stand, decided to (A)/ launch limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates (B)/of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. (C)/ No Error (D)
(a) A
(b) B
(c) C
(d) D
Ans. (b)
Sol. Add indefinite determiner ‘a’ before the singular countable subject ‘limited civil disobedience campaign’.
Q3. I know I will be (a)/ compelled to leave this house (b)/ this week, which will be very disadvantageous for me. (c) / No error (d)
(a) A
(b) B
(c) C
(d) D
Ans. (a)
Sol. Replace ‘will’ with ‘shall’. Since shall is used with first person if it is followed by ‘be obliged’, ‘be compelled’.
Consider the following points:
- Don’t give specific pauses to the slashes. When you read the sentence with continuity, you often find the errors simply by doing so. While taking your test of error detection, this thing should be kept in mind that you have limited time in which you have to spot the errors. So pausing at the slashes or giving specific time to that breaks will hinder your proficiency.
- While spotting the errors, you shouldn’t forget that examiner is testing your aptitude. In such case, to apply conventional methods would be quite unhealthy. Try to use elimination method. By doing so, one can easily find out the answers to their questions even if they don’t have that much deep knowledge of grammar.
- Always Remember, the questions given to you are the questions of Error Detection, not the Error Correction, hence, don’t waste too much time on finding the reason of error. You just need to find out the part of the sentence which contains error and move further.
- Sometimes there are errors of spell check which come seldom in the exams. Just because we have the habit of finding grammatical errors only, we often develop a tendency to ignore errors related to spell check which rarely but do come in exams. Try to figure out those errors too. This will definitely save your time.
Above mentioned points are the key fundamentals that you should adhere to in order to score good in English Language Section.
Now look at the points related to the grammatical portion, and for which you should have basic knowledge of English.
1. Be a watchdog to Subject-verb Agreement: It is observed that almost 90% questions are framed from the subject-verb agreement. So this portion should be thoroughly gone through by the aspirants as this includes questions related to tenses, prepositions, verbs, nouns, and almost each and every part of grammar which we prepare for verbal. Thus, the rules and formulas of verbal should be learnt by-heart to make it as easy as possible.
2. Don’t Forget: Don’t forget to detect the correct form of verb used in the given sentence. Many questions are framed from this section. Verbs similar to spell or pronounce or which don’t exist but often given in a way to puzzle, are generally kept in order to create confusion. Thus, this section should not be ignored in order to avoid confusion. For example:
Then his eyes overflown with tears, and he fell on his knees before the king. ( ×)
Then his eyes overflowed with tears, and he fell on his knees before the king. (√)
3. Check for conjunctions: The correct use of conjunction should always be checked as the two conjunctions can’t be used in the same sentence unless and until correct format is applied. For example: as….as; so….that….these are the correct combinations but as….so is incorrect.
4. Never remain aside from vocabulary: It is mandatory to work on vocabulary to maximize your score as many words come in the exams that may hinder your understanding. So it is obvious that to crack this section, one must have a good vocabulary.
5. A close watch to Collective Nouns: Collective nouns shouldn’t be overlooked as this is one of the major sections of a sentence which contains errors. Singular and Plural forms should be kept in mind considering it to be one of the most important parts that defines the type of noun.
6. Syntax Errors: This might be the trickiest aspect to understand and/or convey. If grammar is the basic structure, syntax is the nuanced juxtaposition of words and phrases. For Example:
“Not all birds are eagles,” is different from, “All birds are not eagles.” (The latter’s not quite true, is it?)
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