SSC CGL 2023-Most Important Sentence Correction Rules

To ace sentence error-spotting questions, you need solid English grammar skills. But grammar alone won’t help you spot structural mistakes. You need to practice a lot to master these questions, which are crucial for the SSC CGL exam. If you ignore them, you can forget about passing this Govt. exam.

So, don’t slack off on spotting errors. Learn the basics of grammar first. Then, memorize some common rules that will save you time and trouble in the SSC CGL exam, where your English will be tested. In this blog, we’ll share some useful rules and a Free Mock Test to help you nail Error Spotting.

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Useful & Easy Grammatical Rules

Rule- 1: Certain nouns have a singular form, but they always take plural verbs, e.g. Peasantry, Gentry, Police, People, Vermin, Cattle, etc.

• Incorrect: The cattle was grazing in the field the day before yesterday.
• Correct: The cattle were grazing in the field the day before yesterday.

Rule- 2: ‘One of, each of, none of,’ are always followed by nouns in the plural form.

• Incorrect: One of the player was not on the field when I reached their.
• Correct: One of the players was not on the field when I reached there.
• Incorrect: Each of the student was given four books.
• Correct: Each of the students was given four books.

Rule- 3: If a collective noun does not act as a single unit, then it takes a plural verb.

• Incorrect: The medical panel was divided in its latest diagnosis.
• Correct: The medical panel were divided in their latest diagnosis.
• Incorrect: The family is at sixes and sevens pertaining to the division of ancestral property.
• Correct: The family are at sixes and sevens pertaining to the division of ancestral property.

Rule- 4: The possessive of the pronoun ‘one’ is ‘one’s’ and not ‘his/their’.

• Incorrect: One must do his duty towards one’s loved ones.
• Correct: One must do one’s duty towards one’s loved ones.

Rule- 5: Prepositions are not used with words uptown, downtown, outside, inside, downstairs and upstairs.

• Incorrect: Father went to upstairs a few minutes ago.
• Correct: Father went upstairs a few minutes ago.
• Incorrect: She must go to outside immediately.
• Correct: She must go outside immediately.

Rule- 6: If a recurrent action becomes problematic or irritating, present continuous tense should be used instead of simple present tense.

• Incorrect: Ram always hits me without any reason.
• Correct: Ram is always hitting me without any reason.

Rule- 7: It is preferable not to split the infinitive (to+V1)

• Incorrect: Radha liked to never play basketball.
• Correct: Radha never liked to play basketball.

Rule- 8: If two actions in a sentence are to take place in future, the conditional clause uses the simple present and the other clause uses the simple future.

• Incorrect: If Dilpreet will come to Lucknow, we will meet him.
• Correct: If Dilpreet comes to Lucknow, we will meet him.
• Incorrect: As soon as Sandeep will enter the room, you will turn off the lights.
• Correct: As soon as Sandeep enters the room, you will turn off the lights.

Rule- 9: For the conditional that refers to an impossible past condition and its likely result in the past, we use: Past Perfect & Would+Have+V3. Past Perfect is used for the impossible past condition. Would+Have+V3 is used for the likely result.

• Incorrect: If Nikhil would have invited me to the party, I would have met him.
• Correct: If Nikhil had invited me to the party, I would have met him.

Rule- 10: If two actions are shown to happen in the past, the action that happened first uses past perfect whereas the action that happened later uses simple past.

• Incorrect: By the time we reached there, Vidhi left the place.
• Correct: By the time we reached there, Vidhi had left the place.

Rule- 11: In case of comparisons, the subject of a sentence must be compared with another subject or a subjective pronoun. An objective pronoun must not be compared with the subject of a sentence.

• Incorrect: Niranjan is taller than me.
• Correct: Niranjan is taller than I.
• Incorrect: Savita is as honest as she.
• Correct: Savita is as honest as she is.

Rule- 12: We must never use ‘not’ along with ‘until’ and ‘unless’.

• Incorrect: The workers will not leave the building until their demands are not met.
• Correct: The workers will not leave the building until their demands are met.

Rule- 13: Question tags are negative if the sentence is positive and vice versa.

• Incorrect: Devika has returned to her family, has she?
• Correct: Devika has returned to her family, hasn’t she?
• Incorrect: You don’t respect me, don’t you?
• Correct: You don’t respect me, do you?

Rule-14: We should use fewer, not less, with plural nouns.

• Incorrect: They have got less pens than they need.
• Correct: They have got fewer pens than they need.

Rule- 15: The words hardly, barely, scarcely, and rarely carry the force of a negative. Therefore, the question tag used after them must be positive.

• Incorrect: It is barely worth the price, isn’t it?
• Correct: It is barely worth the price, is it?
• Incorrect: Their actions are hardly reasonable, aren’t they?
• Correct: Their actions are hardly reasonable, are they?

Rule- 16: Between is followed by ‘and’ and not ‘to’.

• Incorrect: Mohit is expected to arrive between 7 pm to 8 pm.
• Correct: Mohit is expected to arrive between 7 pm and 8 pm.

Rule-17: Lest mustn’t be used along with not. The only helping verb that can be used after lest it should.

• Incorrect: Think carefully lest you should not commit a mistake.
• Correct: Think carefully lest you should commit a mistake.
• Correct: Think carefully lest you commit a mistake.

Rule-18: No sooner should be followed by than, not when.

• Incorrect: No sooner had we started studying, when there was an interruption because of the arrival of a guest.
• Correct: No sooner had we started studying, than there was an interruption because of the arrival of a guest.
• Incorrect: No sooner had Pooja graduated, when she got a reputed job.
• Correct: No sooner had Pooja graduated than she got a reputed job.

Rule-19: The verb following the ‘both (of)’ construction is always positive and plural. ‘Both’ isn’t used in negative structures.

• Incorrect: Both of these options are not correct.
• Correct: Both of these options are wrong.
• Incorrect: Both of them are not aware of what happened yesterday.
• Correct: Both of them are unaware of what happened yesterday.

Rule-20: We must not use the article a/an after kind of, sort of, type of, etc.

• Incorrect: What sort of an animal is that?
• Correct: What sort of animal is that?
• Incorrect: Anakonda is a type of snake.
• Correct: Anaconda is a type of snake.

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Takeaway

Master the rules given above by taking as many Mock Tests as you can.

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