Error Spotting Questions for IBPS RRB CLERK

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must match its subject in number. Singular subject takes singular verb, plural subject takes plural verb. The trick is that in exam sentences, the real subject is often hidden far from the verb — a long phrase or clause sits in between and fools you into using the wrong verb form.

• Collective nouns like committee, team, jury take singular verb: The committee has decided.
• Two subjects joined by 'and' take plural verb: Ram and Shyam are present.
• Either/Neither with 'or/nor' — verb agrees with the closer subject: Neither the boys nor the girl is ready.
• Expressions like 'along with', 'as well as', 'together with' do NOT change the verb — it follows the first subject only.
• Indefinite pronouns: everyone, nobody, each, either are always singular.
• News, Mathematics, Economics — these look plural but are singular nouns.

Tense Consistency

A sentence must not shift tense without a valid reason. If the first clause is in past tense, the second clause should also be in past tense unless the second action is a universal truth or a habit. IBPS RRB frequently hides an unwanted tense shift in the middle or end of a long sentence.

• Past action + past result: She studied hard and passed the exam — both past tense, correct.
• Universal truth always takes present tense even after past: The teacher said that the earth revolves around the sun.
• Had + V3 is used for the earlier of two past actions: She had left before he arrived.
• Watch out for wrong use of 'would have' and 'had': If he had tried, he would have passed — not 'would have tried, he had passed'.
• Present perfect (has/have + V3) is used for recent past with current relevance — not interchangeable with simple past.

Articles — A, An, The

Articles are tiny but tested heavily. 'A' is used before consonant sounds, 'An' before vowel sounds — note it is the SOUND not the spelling that matters. 'The' is used for specific, already-known, or unique things. Many sentences in IBPS RRB have a wrong or missing article as the planted error.

• An hour, an honest man — 'h' is silent so vowel sound applies.
• A university, a unique idea — 'u' sounds like 'you' so consonant sound applies.
• Use 'the' with superlatives: He is the best player.
• No article with plural countable nouns in general sense: Dogs are loyal animals.
• No article with proper nouns like names of people, cities, most countries — except The USA, The Netherlands, The Himalayas.

Preposition Errors

Prepositions are tested through fixed phrases called collocations. You simply need to know which preposition goes with which word. There is no grammar rule — only practice and memory. IBPS RRB regularly tests about 8-10 high-frequency preposition pairs.

• Differ from (two things differ): Indian culture differs from Western culture.
• Different from — NOT 'different than' or 'different to' in formal Indian English exams.
• Abide by (a rule), Comply with (a request), Conform to (a norm).
• Accused of — NOT accused for.
• Good at (a skill), Good for (a purpose), Good to (a person).
• Married to — NOT married with.

Pronoun Errors

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun it replaces) in number and gender. The most common exam trap is using a plural pronoun for a singular subject, or using object pronoun where subject pronoun is needed.

• Each student must submit their assignment — technically 'his or her' is grammatically precise, but in modern usage 'their' is accepted.
• Between you and me — NOT between you and I. 'Between' needs object pronouns.
• It is I (formal) but 'It is me' is also now accepted — do not change such forms in error spotting unless clearly wrong.
• Who vs Whom: Who is subject pronoun, Whom is object pronoun. 'Whom did you meet?' is correct.
• Reflexive pronouns like myself, himself cannot be used alone as subject: 'Myself went to bank' is wrong — 'I went to bank' is correct.

Comparatives and Double Negatives

Two common error types that look harmless but carry mistakes. Comparative errors involve wrong use of 'more' with adjectives that already have -er form, or comparing incomparable items. Double negatives cancel each other out and make a positive — examiners plant them knowing aspirants miss them.

• More better, more faster — wrong. Better and faster already are comparative forms.
• She is more intelligent than any other student — correct. Without 'other', she is compared to herself.
• I don't know nothing — wrong double negative. Should be: I don't know anything.
• Hardly, barely, scarcely are negative words — do not pair with 'not': I could hardly not hear — wrong.
• Use 'than' for comparison, never 'then': She is taller than her brother.

• Choosing the wrong part because a phrase between subject and verb looks like the subject — always find the true subject first before checking verb.
• Marking 'No Error' too quickly without checking every part — examiners deliberately make errors subtle and place them in the last part.
• Confusing 'An historical' (wrong in Indian English exams — 'h' is pronounced) with 'An hour' (correct — h is silent).
• Overlooking preposition errors because the sentence sounds natural in spoken Hindi-influenced English — 'discuss about the matter' is wrong; just 'discuss the matter' is correct.
• Mixing up 'less' and 'fewer': less is for uncountable nouns, fewer is for countable: fewer students, less water.

• PAST SCAT for subject-verb agreement traps: Pronouns (indefinite), Along-with, Subjects (collective), Time expressions, Special nouns (news/maths), Correlatives (either-or), Along-with-type phrases, Two subjects.
• For articles, remember the SOUND RULE as: A Uniform, An Umbrella — U sounds different in each, trust your ear not your eye.
• PREPOSITION PAIRS to memorise like a song: Differ FROM, Different FROM, Married TO, Good AT, Accused OF — chant these five daily.
• WHO vs WHOM trick: Replace with HE or HIM in the sentence. If HE fits, use WHO. If HIM fits, use WHOM. HIM = WHOM, both end in M.

• IBPS RRB Office Assistant typically gives 5 error spotting questions in the English section. Each sentence is split into 4 parts plus a No Error option. Target all 5 in under 5 minutes.
• Recent papers (2022-2024) show heavy repetition of subject-verb agreement and preposition errors — practice these two topics most intensively.
• Avoid choosing No Error unless you have actively verified all four parts. Many aspirants skip to No Error when confused — examiners count on this.
• Read each sentence aloud in your head part by part. Your instinct for spoken English will flag tense shifts and pronoun mismatches faster than analysis.
• If two parts both look suspicious, re-read the sentence for the MAIN VERB first — the error is almost always near the verb or after a long intervening phrase.