Error Spotting Questions for SBI CLERK

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb in a sentence must match its subject in number (singular or plural). SBI Clerk loves tricky constructions where the subject and verb are separated by a long phrase, making you forget what the real subject was. Think of the subject and verb as a handshake — they must always match, no matter how many people stand between them.

• Collective nouns like committee, team, jury take a singular verb unless members act individually.
• Either/Neither as subject takes singular verb. Either of the boys IS correct.
• Phrases like along with, as well as, together with do not change the number of the main subject.
• Titles of books, movies, or countries — always singular verb. The United States IS a nation.
• Each, every, no, one of — always followed by singular verb.
• None can take singular or plural depending on context, but SBI usually tests it as singular.

Tense Errors

Tense errors are the second most common category in SBI Clerk Error Spotting. The key rule is consistency — if a sentence starts in past tense, it should stay in past tense unless a logical time shift occurs. Also watch for the difference between Simple Past and Present Perfect — if a specific time in the past is given (yesterday, in 1990), never use Present Perfect.

• Since and for trigger Present Perfect or Past Perfect, not Simple Past.
• By the time + past simple = Past Perfect in the main clause.
• Conditional Rule: If + Simple Present, Future (will). If + Simple Past, would.
• Hardly/Scarcely + Past Perfect, when/before + Simple Past — this pair is a classic trap.
• Never use Present Perfect with specific past time expressions: I have gone yesterday is WRONG.

Pronoun Errors

Pronouns must agree with their antecedent in number and gender. SBI Clerk frequently tests misuse of reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns, and pronoun case. Think of pronouns as name tags — they must point clearly to one person or thing.

• Who is for persons, which is for things, that can be used for both.
• Himself, herself, themselves are reflexive — they cannot replace a subject pronoun.
• Between you and me is correct, not between you and I (between needs object pronouns).
• Everyone, somebody, anyone take singular pronouns — everyone has his or her book.
• Ambiguous pronoun reference — when it is unclear what the pronoun refers to — is always an error.

Articles — A, An, The

Articles are small but cause big errors. SBI Clerk tests misuse or omission of articles, especially with proper nouns, superlatives, and unique things. Remember: THE is used before things that are unique, already mentioned, or commonly known to both speaker and listener.

• Use AN before words starting with a vowel SOUND, not just a vowel letter. An hour, an MBA, a university.
• Superlatives always need THE — he is the best player.
• Mountain ranges, rivers, seas, groups of islands take THE. Mount Everest does NOT.
• Do not use THE before names of languages, subjects, or sports — She plays the tennis is WRONG.
• First mention = A/An, second mention = THE.

Preposition Errors

Prepositions are fixed by idiom and habit, not logic. SBI Clerk tests wrong preposition used with a verb, noun, or adjective. The best approach is to memorize common preposition pairs as fixed phrases. Think of them as plug-in slots — only the right preposition fits.

• Differ FROM a person, differ WITH an opinion — two different prepositions, two different meanings.
• Comply WITH, conform TO, deal IN (goods) / deal WITH (a person).
• Married TO, not married WITH.
• Angry WITH a person, angry AT a situation or thing.
• Worried ABOUT, familiar WITH, capable OF — these are fixed idioms.

Modifiers and Parallelism

A dangling or misplaced modifier is a phrase that seems to describe the wrong word. SBI Clerk has started asking these in recent years. Parallelism means items in a list or comparison must be in the same grammatical form — all nouns, all verbs, or all phrases. Think of a balanced weighing scale — both sides must have the same type of weight.

• Walking down the street, the trees looked beautiful — WHO was walking? The trees? This is a dangling modifier.
• In a list: She likes reading, writing, and to dance is WRONG. Should be: reading, writing, and dancing.
• Comparisons must be parallel: His salary is more than his brother is WRONG. Should be: more than his brothers.
• Not only...but also, either...or, neither...nor — elements after both connectors must be parallel.
• Both...and connects two parallel elements — watch for mismatches.

• Choosing No Error too quickly — SBI Clerk has No Error as a valid option but students overuse it when confused. Read all parts carefully before selecting it.
• Getting distracted by long phrases between subject and verb — always strip the sentence down to its core subject and verb before checking agreement.
• Confusing who and whom — who is a subject pronoun, whom is an object pronoun. Test by replacing with he (who) or him (whom).
• Marking a tense as wrong just because it sounds unusual — check if the context or time word justifies the tense before calling it an error.
• Ignoring preposition errors because the sentence sounds acceptable — Indian English often uses wrong prepositions that feel natural to us, like discuss about (correct is simply discuss).

• STAMP rule for Subject-Verb Agreement traps: S = Separated subject (long phrase), T = Two subjects joined by or/nor, A = All collective nouns, M = Many a/Each/Every, P = Parenthetical phrases like along with. Check all five before deciding.
• For Tense: SINCE = duration from past to now = Perfect tense. YESTERDAY/IN 1990 = specific past = Simple Past. Never mix these two.
• WHO-WHOM trick: Replace with HE or HIM. If HE fits, use WHO. If HIM fits, use WHOM. (Both end in M — him, whom.)
• Preposition pair: Angry WITH people, angry AT things. Remember W for person, T for thing.

• SBI Clerk typically presents sentences split into 4 parts labeled A, B, C, D plus an option E for No Error. The error is almost never in part A because it establishes the subject — focus your attention on B, C, and D first.
• Recent SBI Clerk prelims papers (2019-2023) show a clear preference for Subject-Verb Agreement and Tense errors. Roughly 2 out of 5 error spotting questions fall in these two categories alone.
• Time allocation: Spend no more than 45 seconds per Error Spotting question. If unsure, eliminate options with obvious grammar breaks and move on. Do not spend over 1 minute on any single question.
• SBI Clerk has introduced phrase-replacement variants where you spot the erroneous phrase and choose a correction — same grammar rules apply but you need to also know the correct form, not just identify the error.
• Difficulty in SBI Clerk is moderate — errors are usually one clear mistake per sentence, not multiple overlapping issues. If you think you see two errors, re-read carefully; you likely misidentified the first one.