Error Spotting Questions for IBPS PO

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must match its subject in number (singular or plural). The most common trap is a phrase placed between the subject and verb that misleads you into choosing the wrong verb. Always identify the true subject, ignore the middle phrase, then check the verb.

• Phrases like along with, as well as, together with, in addition to do NOT make a singular subject plural. The verb stays singular.
• Either/Neither with two singular nouns takes a singular verb. Either Ram or Shyam is correct.
• Either/Neither with a plural noun nearby takes a plural verb by proximity rule: Neither the students nor the teacher was — teacher is closer, so singular.
• Collective nouns like committee, team, jury take singular verbs in formal/Indian English context.
• Subjects joined by and take plural verb. Ram and Shyam are correct.
• Indefinite pronouns: everyone, each, nobody, someone always take singular verb.

Tense Consistency

IBPS PO frequently tests whether tenses across a sentence are logically consistent. A sentence that starts in past tense must continue in past tense unless there is a logical reason to shift. Also watch for the misuse of Present Perfect versus Simple Past.

• Use Simple Past with clear time markers: yesterday, last year, in 2010. Never use Present Perfect here.
• Use Present Perfect when no specific time is mentioned: She has visited Paris (some point in life).
• Past Perfect shows the earlier of two past events: He had left before she arrived.
• Since takes Present Perfect or Past Perfect. Since is NEVER followed by Simple Past in the main clause.
• Hypothetical/Conditional: If I were (not was) rich, I would travel — subjunctive mood.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

The pronoun must agree with the noun it refers to in number and gender. IBPS PO loves placing the pronoun far from its antecedent so the mismatch is not obvious at first glance.

• Each, every, anyone, everyone, nobody are singular. Use he/she/it, not they.
• The recent trend allows singular they for gender neutrality but IBPS PO still marks it as an error in traditional grammar questions.
• Reflexive pronoun must match subject: She hurt herself, not herself without a preceding she.
• Avoid ambiguous pronoun reference: When Ram met Shyam, he was tired — who is he? This is an error.

Articles: A, An, The

Articles are a favourite easy-trap category. The rules are simple but students skip them under exam pressure.

• Use A before consonant sounds, An before vowel sounds — it is about SOUND not spelling. An honest man (h is silent), A university (y-sound at start).
• Use The for specific, already mentioned, or unique things: The Sun, The Prime Minister of India.
• Do not use The before proper nouns: incorrect to say The India is a great country.
• Use The before superlatives: She is the best student.
• No article before uncountable nouns used in general sense: Water is essential. Not The water is essential (unless specific water is meant).

Prepositions

Preposition errors appear as wrong preposition choice or extra/missing preposition. These are mostly tested through fixed phrases (called collocations) that you must memorise.

• Arrive at a place (small), arrive in a city/country. Arrive to is always wrong.
• Married to (not married with). Angry with a person, angry at a situation.
• Differ from (comparing two things). Differ with (disagreeing with a person).
• Cope with, comply with, abide by, adhere to — these are fixed. Any change is an error.
• Discuss (no with after it). Say: We discussed the matter. Not discussed about.

Parallelism

In a list or comparison, all items must be in the same grammatical form. This is a high-scoring area because errors here look subtle but once you train your eye, they stand out immediately.

• In lists, match all forms: She likes reading, writing, and to dance is wrong. Correct: reading, writing, and dancing.
• In comparisons, match what you are comparing: The salary of a doctor is more than a lawyer is wrong. Compare salary with salary.
• With correlative conjunctions (not only...but also, both...and, either...or), the structure after each part must be parallel.
• Infinitive list: He wants to eat, to sleep, and to travel — all infinitives, correct.

Modifiers and Dangling Participles

A modifier must clearly and logically refer to the noun it describes. When the noun is missing or misplaced, it creates a dangling modifier — a common IBPS PO trap in recent years.

• Wrong: Walking down the road, the trees looked beautiful. Trees are not walking.
• Right: Walking down the road, she saw beautiful trees.
• The noun that the introductory phrase modifies must be the subject of the main clause immediately after the comma.
• Misplaced only, nearly, almost cause meaning errors: He only eats rice vs He eats only rice — both structurally valid but meaning differs.

• Choosing No Error too quickly without checking all parts. Banks deliberately hide errors in the last part of the sentence.
• Confusing Along with as making subject plural. She along with her friends are waiting is wrong. Verb should be is.
• Using has/have with a specific past time: She has visited Agra last year is wrong. Use visited.
• Mixing up between and among: Between is for two things only. Among is for more than two. Saying between the three of them is a common error.
• Missing the discuss without about trap: Discussed about is always wrong in IBPS PO standard grammar. Discussed alone is correct.

• STAMP: Subject-verb, Tense, Articles, Modifiers, Prepositions — the 5 pillars to check in every Error Spotting sentence, in that order.
• The BETWEEN-AMONG rule: think of a fence BETWEEN two posts only. Three or more? Use AMONG the group.
• For articles, say the phrase out loud — your mouth will naturally say A or An by sound, catching spelling-trap errors instantly.
• Parallelism check: count the items in a list, point at each one and say the same grammar label (noun? gerund? infinitive?) — any misfit is the error.

• IBPS PO typically has 5 Error Spotting questions in the English section, often in the underlined-segment format where each part of the sentence is labelled A to E, with E being No Error.
• Recent IBPS PO papers (2022 onwards) mix Error Spotting with Phrase Replacement in the same set — read both question types carefully before solving.
• The No Error option is correct roughly 1 out of 5 times. Do not default to it. Always verify all parts before selecting it.
• Aim for under 35 seconds per question. If you are unsure, eliminate 2 clearly correct parts and choose between the remaining suspect parts.
• Subject-verb agreement and tense errors together account for roughly 50 percent of all errors in PYQs. Prioritise these two in your last-minute revision.