Error Spotting — SSC CGL English

Error-spotting questions are not a vocabulary test and not an "ear" test — they are a rule test, and the rule list is short. Every year the same 25 grammar points rotate through the papers wearing new sentences. Aspirants who trust their ear score ~60%; aspirants who check the rule list score 90%+, because SSC deliberately writes sentences that sound fine and break a rule (or sound wrong and are correct).

1. What SSC actually asks

A sentence divided into parts (a)/(b)/(c)/(d — "No error"). You name the faulty part. Tier 1: 2–3 Q · Tier 2: 4–6 Q. The error distribution across PYQs:

2. Subject–verb agreement — the top scorer

1. Ignore the interrupting phrase. "The quality of the mangoes were good" ✗ → was (subject = quality). Phrases like along with, as well as, together with, and not, in addition to do not change the subject: "The captain, along with the players, was felicitated."
2. Either/or, neither/nor: verb agrees with the nearer subject: "Neither the students nor the teacher was present."
3. Each, every, everyone, anybody, nobody → singular verb and singular pronoun: "Each of the boys has done his duty."
4. Collective nouns (committee, jury, team) → singular when acting as one body; plural when members differ: "The jury was unanimous" / "The jury were divided."
5. Uncountable classics — these are singular and take no plural -s: furniture, advice, information, luggage, machinery, scenery, poetry, hair, news, knowledge, stationery. "Advices"/"informations" are always wrong.
6. Plural-form singulars: news, physics, mathematics, politics (as a subject) → singular. Pair nouns: scissors, trousers, spectacles → plural.
7. "The number of" → singular; "A number of" → plural.
8. One of the + plural noun + singular verb: "One of the boys was…" — and in relative clauses, "one of the boys who were…" (the who refers to boys).

3. Tense — sequence and the time-marker giveaways

1. Since/for: since + point of time, for + duration; both usually demand perfect (continuous): "He has been working here since 2019 / for five years."
2. "Ago" pairs with past simple, never present perfect: "He left an hour ago" — "has left an hour ago" ✗.
3. When two past actions occur in sequence, the earlier takes past perfect: "The train had left before we reached."
4. If-clauses: if + present → will; if + past → would; if + had + V3 → would have + V3. Never double the "would": "If he would have come" ✗ → "If he had come".
5. Universal truths stay in present even after past reporting: "The teacher said that the earth revolves…"
6. Time and condition clauses reject "will": "I will call you when I reach (not will reach)."

4. Pronouns — case and redundancy

1. Case after "than/as": "He is taller than I (am)" — formal SSC answer, though the trap usually lies elsewhere; more common is object case after prepositions: "between you and me" (never "between you and I").
2. Subject double-up is an error: "My brother he works…" ✗.
3. "Let" takes object case: "Let him and me go."
4. Reflexives: enjoy, absent, avail, pride, acquaint take a reflexive — "He absented himself"; but "He hid himself" vs preferred "The thief hid" — SSC tests missing/extra reflexives.
5. who vs whom — subject vs object: "The man who I thought was honest" vs "The man whom I trusted."
6. Its/it's, whose/who's — possessive vs contraction.

5. Articles, prepositions, conjunctions

Articles: an before vowel sound (an hour, an MLA, a university, a one-rupee note); the with superlatives, unique objects, rivers/seas/mountain ranges, and "the same/the only"; no article with languages, meals, abstract nouns used generally.

Preposition classics SSC recycles:

• discuss (not "discuss about"), describe, order, demand, attack, resemble, marry, lack — take no preposition.
• comprise = "consist of" — "comprise of" ✗.
• prefer X to Y (not "than"), senior/junior/superior/inferior to.
• different from, die of a disease, deal in goods / deal with people, good at, congratulate on, accused of, charged with.
• since/for (time), between two / among many, beside (next to) / besides (in addition to).

Conjunction pairs are welded: not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, no sooner…than, hardly/scarcely…when, lest…should, both…and, so…that. "No sooner did he arrive when" ✗ → than. Also parallelism: the elements joined must match in form — "She likes singing, dancing and to paint" ✗.

6. Adjectives, adverbs & comparison

1. Linking verbs take adjectives: "The flowers smell sweet (not sweetly)"; feel bad, taste good.
2. Double comparatives are errors: "more better", "most tallest" ✗.
3. Comparative with two, superlative with three+: "the taller of the two".
4. Than + any other: "better than any other boy in the class" (not "any boy" — he'd be better than himself).
5. Absolute adjectives (unique, perfect, complete, ideal) resist "very/more": "more unique" ✗.
6. Confusable pairs: elder/older (elder = family), farther/further (distance/addition), less/fewer (uncountable/countable), much/many, little/a little/the little.

7. The scanning algorithm (exam-hall version)

Read the sentence once, then interrogate parts in this order:

1. Find the verb → find its true subject (skip the interrupters). Agreement OK?
2. Scan for time markers (since, for, ago, yesterday, by the time) → tense consistent?
3. Check every pronoun — case, number, necessity.
4. Check every preposition against the verb/adjective it follows.
5. Check the welded pairs and parallelism if the sentence has a list or paired conjunction.
6. Nothing found after two passes → "No error" is a real answer (SSC uses it ~15–20% of the time). Do not invent an error to avoid choosing (d).

8. Solved PYQ-style examples

Q1. (a) One of my friend / (b) is going abroad / (c) for higher studies. / (d) No error Answer: (a) — "one of the/my + plural noun": one of my friends.

Q2. (a) The teacher as well as the students / (b) were present / (c) at the seminar. / (d) No error Answer: (b) — "as well as" doesn't pluralise; subject = teacher → was.

Q3. (a) He has been living in Delhi / (b) since five years / (c) with his uncle. / (d) No error Answer: (b) — duration takes for: for five years.

Q4. (a) No sooner did the bell ring / (b) when the students / (c) rushed out of the class. / (d) No error Answer: (b) — no sooner…than.

Q5. (a) The committee discussed about / (b) the new proposal / (c) for over an hour. / (d) No error Answer: (a) — discuss takes no preposition.

Q6. (a) Being a rainy day, / (b) Vijay decided to stay / (c) at home and read. / (d) No error Answer: (a) — dangling participle: It being a rainy day… (the subject of "being" isn't Vijay).