Golden rules for error spotting – part 3

As promised, we have continued with our on-going error spotting series. A total of 13 rules will be discussed today.

Rule 25 

A noun, usually forms its plural by adding ‘-s’ at the end.  

E.g. dog – dogs, pigeon – pigeons  

Rule 26 

Most nouns ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ change into ‘-ves’. 

E.g. leaf – leaves, knife – knives Exceptions: staffs, cliffs, chiefs, roofs, safes 

Rule 27 

Nouns ending in ‘y’ add ‘s’ if the ‘y’ follows a vowel.  

E.g., toy – toys, ray – rays  

Rule 28  

Nouns ending in ‘y’ change the ‘y’ to ‘-ies’ if the ‘y’ follows a consonant.  

E.g. baby – babies, story – stories 

Rule 29 

Most nouns ending in ‘o’ form their plurals by adding ‘-es’.  

E.g., tornado – tornadoes, echo – echoes Exceptions: pianos, solos, bamboos  

Rule 30  

Nouns ending in ‘s’, ‘ss’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘x’, or ‘z’ add ‘es’ to form plurals.  

E.g., gas – gases, grass – grasses, branch – branches 

Rule 31 

When the sound is ee and alphabets used are ‘i’and ‘e’:  

1) ‘e’ comes first, when they come after ‘c’ E.g., deceive, receive  

2) ‘i’ comes first in all other cases  

E.g., pie, grief Exceptions: seize, weird 

Rule 32 

When the words ‘all’ and ‘full’ are used to make up longer words, one ‘l’ is dropped.  

E.g., always, cheerful 

Rule 33 

When adding ‘dis’ and ‘mis’ to other words, the ‘s’ is always kept, even if the other word begins with an ‘s’. E.g., Misspell 

Rule 34 

‘Where’, ‘When’ & ‘Why’ as Relative Pronoun 

Although there is no place for these three words in the formal English, but we are still habitual in using them. Let’s understand this by taking three different examples: 

Case 1 – Where’ as a relative pronoun – Places 

Informal – This is the temple where I visited last year for my prayers. 

Formal – This is the temple at which I visited last year for my prayers. 

Case 2 – ‘When’ as a relative pronoun – Times 

Informal – The day when I joined my first job was a day to be remembered. 

Formal – The day on which I joined my first job was a day to be remembered. 

Case 3 – ‘Why’ as a relative pronoun – ‘Reasons’ 

Do you know the reason why our boss fired our co-employee? 

Do you know the reason for which our boss fired our co-employee? 

Rule 35 

The hyphenated noun does not have a plural form 

Correct – I always stay at five-stars hotels whenever I visit a new city. 

Incorrect – I always stay at five-star hotels whenever I visit a new city. 

Hyphenated (compound nouns) are always used in singular form.  

Rule 36 

Superlative degree, none, no one, anyone, much, little, (the same + noun,) (the only + noun) are followed by ‘that’ relative noun.  

Incorrect – Julie is the smartest girl who I ever met 

Correct – Julie is the smartest girl that I ever met 

Rule 37 

A Noun or Pronoun governing a Gerund should be put in the possessive case.  

Incorrect – My father doesn’t like me partying late night with my friends.  

Correct – My father doesn’t like my partying late night with my friends. 

50 golden rules for error spotting – Part 1

50 golden rules for error spotting – Part 2

SBI PO Error Spotting Questions April, 2013 

Directions (Q.16-20): Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical mistake error in it.  The error if any, will be in one part of the sentence. Mark the number of that part with error as your answer. If there is “No error”, mark 5.  

16. 1) There cannot be any situation where / 2) somebody makes money in an asset / 3) located in India and does not pay tax / 4) either to India or to the country of his origin. / 5) No error.  

17. 1) India has entered a downward spiral / 2) Where the organized productive / 3) and law abide sectors are subject to / 4) savage amounts of multiple taxes. / 5) No error.  

18. 1) The bank may have followed / 2) an aggressive monetary tightening policy / 3) but its stated aim of / 4) curbing inflation have not been achieved. / 5) No error.  

19. 1) Equal opportunities for advancement / 2) across the length and breadth / 3) of an organization will / 4) keep many problems away. / 5) No error.  

20. 1) A customized data science degree / 2) is yet to become / 3) a standard programme / 4) to India’s premier educational institutes. / 5) No error.  

Answer Key 

16. 2; Replace ‘on’ with ‘in’  

17. 3; Replace ‘abide’ with ‘abiding’ and ‘subject’ with ‘subjected’   

18. 4; Replace ‘have’ with ‘has’  

19. 5  

20. 4; Replace ‘to’ with ‘in’  

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