Question 1

The manager asked the employees to submit their reports by Friday, but none of them have submitted it yet. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part D. The pronoun 'it' is singular, but the antecedent 'reports' is plural. The correct pronoun should be 'them'. The sentence should read: 'The manager asked the employees to submit their reports by Friday, but none of them have submitted them yet.'

Question 2

The new policy requires all employees to adhere to the code of conduct and submit their compliance reports to their respective departments. No error

Accepted Answer

There is no error in this sentence. All parts are grammatically correct: (A) 'requires' is singular and agrees with singular subject 'policy'; (B) 'to adhere' and 'submit' are parallel infinitives; (C) 'their' correctly refers to plural 'employees'; (D) the prepositional phrase is correctly formed. The answer is 'No error'.

Question 3

Either the director or the assistant directors is responsible for ensuring that all documents are filed properly. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part B. When subjects are joined by 'either...or', the verb agrees with the nearest subject. Here, 'assistant directors' (plural) is nearest, so the verb should be 'are', not 'is'. The correct form is: 'Either the director or the assistant directors are responsible for ensuring that all documents are filed properly.'

Question 4

The committee (A) have decided / (B) has decided / (C) are deciding / (D) have been deciding that the new policy will be implemented next month. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). 'Committee' is a collective noun that takes a singular verb in Indian English. The correct form is 'has decided' (option B). The sentence uses simple past tense appropriately for a completed decision.

Question 5

The teacher asked the students (A) to complete / (B) completing / (C) complete / (D) for completing their assignments before the deadline. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). After the verb 'asked', the infinitive form 'to complete' is correct. This follows the standard pattern: 'ask someone to do something'. The sentence is grammatically correct as written.

Question 6

She has been working in this organisation for five years and she have completed all her assigned projects. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part C. The subject 'she' is singular and requires the singular auxiliary verb 'has', not 'have'. Both clauses refer to the same subject (she), so both must use 'has'. The correct form is: 'She has been working in this organisation for five years and she has completed all her assigned projects.'

Question 7

Neither the manager nor the employees (A) was / (B) were / (C) is / (D) are willing to compromise on the salary issue. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). With 'neither...nor' constructions, the verb agrees with the nearest subject. Here, 'employees' (plural) is nearest, so the correct verb is 'were' (option B). The sentence structure requires plural agreement.

Question 8

The manager asked him to (A) complete / (B) completing / (C) have completed / (D) to complete the report before the deadline. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (D). After the verb 'ask' followed by an object and infinitive, the correct structure is 'ask + object + infinitive without 'to'' (bare infinitive). The sentence should read 'asked him to complete', not 'asked him to to complete'. Part (A) is correct.

Question 9

The committee (A) have decided / (B) has decided / (C) are deciding / (D) have been deciding that the new policy will be implemented from next month. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). 'Committee' is a collective noun that takes a singular verb in Indian English when referring to the body as a single unit. The correct form is 'has decided' (option B). The sentence uses simple past tense appropriately for a completed decision.

Question 10

The principal, along with the staff members, (A) have planned / (B) has planned / (C) are planning / (D) have been planning a special assembly for the students. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). The phrase 'along with' is a modifying phrase, not a coordinating conjunction. The main subject is 'principal' (singular), so the verb must be singular 'has planned', not plural 'have planned'. Part (B) is correct.

Question 11

The manager asked the staff (A) to not submit / (B) not to submit / (C) to submit not / (D) to not be submitting their reports after the deadline. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). The correct form of the infinitive with negation is 'not to submit' (option B). In English, the negation 'not' must come before the infinitive marker 'to', not between 'to' and the verb.

Question 12

Neither the principal nor the teachers (A) was / (B) were / (C) have been / (D) has been aware of the serious misconduct that occurred in the school. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). With the correlative conjunction 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearest subject. Since 'teachers' (plural) is nearest to the verb, the correct form is 'were' (option B). The sentence uses simple past tense appropriately for a completed action.

Question 13

The research team has been working (A) on / (B) at / (C) in / (D) for the project for the past two years without any external funding. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). When indicating work on a task or project, the correct preposition is 'on', not 'at', 'in', or 'for'. 'Working on the project' is the standard collocation in English.

Question 14

Neither the students nor the teacher (A) were / (B) was / (C) have been / (D) are being present at the meeting yesterday. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). When using 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the nearest subject. Here, 'teacher' (singular) is nearest, so the verb should be singular 'was', not plural 'were'. Part (B) is correct.

Question 15

The committee (A) have decided / (B) has decided / (C) are deciding / (D) have been deciding that the new policy will be implemented from next month. No error (E)

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). 'Committee' is a collective noun that takes a singular verb in Indian English when referred to as a single unit. The correct form is 'has decided', not 'have decided'. Part (B) contains the correct verb form.

Question 16

She is one of the few employees (A) who has / (B) who have / (C) which have / (D) that has completed the advanced training programme. No error

Accepted Answer

The error is in part (A). The relative pronoun 'who' refers to 'employees' (plural), not 'one', so the verb must be plural: 'who have completed' (option B). This tests the rule that the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent, not the noun immediately before it.

Question 17

The committee have decided that the new policy, which affects all employees who works in the marketing department, will be implemented from next month.

Accepted Answer

Part C contains a subject-verb agreement error. The relative pronoun 'who' refers to the plural noun 'employees', so the verb must be 'work' (plural), not 'works' (singular).

Question 18

The committee have decided that neither of the two proposals are acceptable, and they has requested that a new plan be submitted by next Monday.

Accepted Answer

Part C contains the error. 'They has' is incorrect; the pronoun 'they' is plural and requires the plural verb form 'have', not the singular 'has'. The subject-verb agreement rule states that plural pronouns must agree with plural verbs.

Question 19

If the government would have implemented the new policy earlier, the economic crisis could have been avoided, and the citizens would not have suffered such hardship.

Accepted Answer

Part A contains the error. The conditional sentence uses an incorrect form in the 'if' clause. The correct form for a past contrary-to-fact conditional is 'If the government had implemented' (past perfect), not 'If the government would have implemented'. The 'would have' construction belongs in the main clause, not the conditional clause.

SSC CHSL Error Spotting

Error Spotting— Rules & Concept

Key Points to Remember

Exam-Specific Tips

Error Spotting — Practice Questions

60-Second Revision — Error Spotting