Spotting Errors (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 22 Apr, 2026

**Spotting errors refers to the process of identifying grammatical, punctuation, spelling, or usage mistakes in a sentence or passage. It’s a key skill in English grammar that helps improve accuracy and clarity in writing and speaking.

**Example:

**Sentence: She **don’t like going to the market in the evening.

**Corrected Sentence: She **doesn’t like going to the market in the evening.

**Explanation:

• The subject "She" is singular, so it should be paired with "does not" (doesn’t) instead of "don’t", which is used with plural subjects or "I/you".
• Therefore, the error is in the verb agreement.

Rules and Tips to Solve Spotting Errors

1. Read the sentence carefully. This is the foremost step in the process. Read it as many times as you can.

2. Most of the time, there are spelling mistakes in any part of the sentence.

3. Check for the correct usage of helping verbs as per the subject in a sentence, for eg.,

4. Check for the correct usage of main verbs in a sentence, for eg.,

• do/does/did + 1st form of the main verb
• has/have/had + 3rd form of the main verb
• will/shall/would/should + 1st form of the main verb
• will be/shall be/would be/should be + 'ing' form of the main verb

5. Always check if the sentence is framed in active/passive voice or direct/indirect speech.

6. Check for the correct usage of all the tenses in a sentence, for eg., indefinite tense, continuous tense, perfect tense, and perfect continuous tense.

7. In the case of perfect continuous tense, always remember that "for" is used for denoting a period of time or duration (i.e., 2 months, 2 years, etc.) while "since" is used for denoting the point of time (i.e., 1959, yesterday, tonight etc.).

8. Check for the correct usage of the following:

• there (used as an adverb to denote the position) while their (denotes a pronoun)
• who/whoever (used as a subject) while whom/whomever (used as an object)
• whose (used to identify who owns what)
• then (denotes time and is mostly used with 'if') while than (denotes comparison).

9. Check for the correct usage of articles in a sentence, for eg.,

• Indefinite Article: "a" - used with all consonants sound (eg., a kite) & "an" - used with all vowel sounds (eg., an MBA, an umbrella)
• Definite Article: "the" - used when you are talking about something specific, historic places, planets, names of some continents/countries/oceans/rivers, etc. (like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Amazon, the Indian Ocean etc.

10. Check for the correct usage of proper nouns and if they are written in CAPITAL letters, for eg., Neeta Arora, the Great Wall of China etc.

11. Check for the correct usage of noun/pronoun/adjectives and adverbs in a sentence. Also, check if proper conjunctions and prepositions have been used.

12. Always remember that generally, if one part of a sentence is in the past tense, the other half should also be in the past tense.

Sample Questions on Spotting Errors

**1) The inflation rate (a)/ is currently high in India (b)/ NO ERROR (c).

**Answer ****(c** ) No Error

**2) She was my class teacher (a)/ and she didn’t went (b)/ to the school yesterday (c)/ NO ERROR (d).

**Answer (b) only the 1st form of the main verb is used with ‘did’, it should be **“go” instead of “went”.

**3) Seema is not smarter (a)/ then my brother (b)/ when it comes (c)/ to playing chess (d)/ NO ERROR (e).

**Answer (b) to show comparisons, we use **“than” .

**4) It has been (a)/ proved multiple times (b)/ that Riya is a honest girl (c)/ NO ERROR (d).

**Answer ****(c)** **“an” should be used because ‘h’ is silent while pronouncing honest and it gives a vowel sound of ‘o’.

**5) The inspector asked Rahul (a)/ to report to the police station (b)/ as soon as he comes from office (c)/ NO ERROR (d).

**Answer ****(c) “came”** _should be used because the first half of the sentence is in the past tense.

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