Verbal Ability (English) · Lesson 8 of 8 · Updated ·
Error Spotting and Sentence Improvement — A Checklist That Works
"Spot the error" and "improve the sentence" questions combine everything from the earlier lessons. Instead of reading and "feeling" the error, run a checklist.
The 7-point checklist
- Subject–verb agreement — is the verb singular/plural to match the real subject?
- Tense — do the time words match the verb? Any "have seen … yesterday"?
- Articles — a/an by sound; "the" where something is specific.
- Prepositions — fixed pairs (discuss ∅, married to, senior to, prefer … to).
- Pronouns — right case (me/I, him/he) and agreement ("Everyone … his or her").
- Comparisons — "more better" ✗, "than" vs "to", comparing like with like.
- Word choice — commonly confused words (affect/effect, lose/loose, fewer/less).
10 worked examples
| # | Sentence | Error → fix | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Each of the players have a kit. | → has | each = singular |
| 2 | I have met him last week. | → met | no present perfect with "last week" |
| 3 | She is a honest person. | → an | vowel sound |
| 4 | He is senior than me. | → to | senior to |
| 5 | Between you and I, the plan failed. | → me | object after a preposition |
| 6 | This laptop is more faster than mine. | → faster | no double comparative |
| 7 | Less people came this year. | → Fewer | fewer for countable nouns |
| 8 | The climate of Shimla is better than Delhi. | → than that of Delhi | compare climate with climate |
| 9 | Hardly had I reached than it rained. | → when | hardly … when; no sooner … than |
| 10 | He did not went to college. | → go | did + base verb |
Commonly confused words
| Word | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| affect / effect | verb / noun | Stress affects sleep; it has an effect on sleep. |
| lose / loose | misplace / not tight | Don't lose your ID; the belt is loose. |
| fewer / less | countable / uncountable | fewer bugs, less time |
| its / it's | belongs to it / it is | The app updated its icon; it's fast. |
| advice / advise | noun / verb | Take my advice; I advise you. |
| principal / principle | head of school / rule | the principal; a basic principle |
Sentence improvement
These questions underline a part and give replacements (often with "No improvement"). Apply the same checklist to the underlined part only, and choose "No improvement" confidently when nothing is wrong — it is the right answer more often than students think.
Common mistakes
- Reading quickly and "feeling" the answer instead of checking each point.
- Ignoring the possibility of "No error".
- Missing errors in comparisons (comparing climate with a city).
Quick recap
- Run the 7-point checklist: agreement, tense, article, preposition, pronoun, comparison, word choice.
- Learn the confused-words table.
- "No error / No improvement" is a real option — trust your checklist.