SPOTTING ERRORS (PART I)

 

SPOTTING ERRORS (PART I)

 

1. Certain nouns being a singular form represent plurality and therefore, take a plural verb in a sentence.

 

Example: police, clergy, people, peasantry, cattle.

People has left. (Incorrect)

People have left. (Correct)

 

2. Certain nouns take the plural verb because of their plural form.

 

Example: Clothes, Scissors, trousers, amends, spectacles, thanks.

The spectacles is missing. (Incorrect)

The spectacles are missing. (Correct)

 

3. When a noun denoting weight, number, money, length or measure is following a number, the noun form does not change as long as another noun or pronoun follows it.

 

Example: Million, pair, meter, year, dozen.

This is a 9-meters scale. (Incorrect)

This is a 9-meter scale. (Correct)

 

4. When the pronoun ‘one’ is used, it should be maintained throughout the whole sentence. One must help his siblings. (Incorrect)

One must help one’s siblings. (Correct)

 

5. For living people ‘whose’ is generally used and for things that are non-living ‘which’ is used.

Which phone is kept on charging? (Incorrect)

Whose phone is kept on charging? (Correct)

 

6. ‘Fewer’ is used for denoting number while ‘Less’ is used for denoting quantity.

No less than thirty dogs were. (Incorrect)

No fewer than thirty dogs were. (Correct) 

 

AUTHOR

Dr L Suresh

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore - 641020

Contact: 9944138137

e-mail ID: sureshenglit@rmv.ac.in