Error Spotting Questions for SSC CGL

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must always agree with its subject in number and person, not with any word that comes in between. Phrases like 'along with', 'as well as', 'together with', 'besides', 'in addition to' do not change the number of the subject. The verb still agrees with the original subject before these phrases.

• Singular subjects joined by 'along with', 'as well as', 'together with' take a singular verb.
• Either/Neither used alone = singular verb. Either/Neither with 'or/nor' = verb agrees with the nearer subject.
• Collective nouns like team, jury, army take singular verb when acting as one unit.
• Indefinite pronouns like everyone, nobody, each, either take singular verbs always.
• Expressions like 'a number of' take plural verb; 'the number of' takes singular verb.

Tense Consistency

SSC loves errors where the tense of one part of the sentence does not match the rest. A common trap is mixing past and present tense in the same sentence without a logical reason. Also watch for incorrect use of perfect tenses — 'had' is used for the earlier of two past actions.

• If a sentence describes two past actions, the earlier one uses Past Perfect (had + V3) and the later uses Simple Past.
• After 'since', the main clause is in Present Perfect and the clause after 'since' is in Simple Past.
• Universal truths and habits always use Simple Present regardless of the rest of the sentence.
• Conditional sentences: If + Simple Present, will + V1 (Type 1). If + Simple Past, would + V1 (Type 2).

Articles — A, An, The

Articles are tested very frequently in SSC CGL. The main errors are: using 'a' before a vowel sound, missing 'the' before superlatives or unique nouns, and using 'the' before uncountable or abstract nouns where it is not needed.

• Use 'an' before words beginning with a vowel sound — an hour, an honest man, an MBA (because M sounds like 'em').
• Use 'a' before words beginning with a consonant sound — a university, a European, a one-rupee note.
• Superlatives and ordinals always take 'the' — the best, the first, the most beautiful.
• Names of rivers, mountain ranges, oceans, groups of islands take 'the'. Single mountains and lakes do not.
• Do not use 'the' before names of languages, sports, meals, or subjects in general.

Pronoun Usage and Reference

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person. SSC frequently tests errors where a pronoun does not match its noun or where the reference is ambiguous. Also watch for wrong use of reflexive pronouns like himself, myself, themselves.

• Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself) are used only when the subject and object are the same person.
• Do not use 'myself' as a subject — wrong: Myself and Ram went. Correct: Ram and I went.
• Pronouns for collective nouns: use 'it/its' when the group acts as one unit.
• Each, either, neither, everyone, someone, nobody — use singular pronoun (he/she/his/her, not they/their).
• When comparing, use subject pronoun after 'than' and 'as' — He is taller than I (not me).

Prepositions

Preposition errors are subtle and appear in almost every SSC CGL paper. The key is to memorize fixed phrasal combinations because logic alone does not always work. Wrong preposition or missing preposition are the two most tested types.

• Discuss does not take 'about' — say 'discuss the matter' not 'discuss about the matter'.
• Married to (not with). Blind in one eye but blind to a fact. Die of a disease, die in an accident.
• Angry with a person, angry at a situation/thing.
• Comply with, abide by, interfere in/with, accuse of, abstain from — learn these fixed pairs.
• Dates use 'on', years use 'in', times use 'at' — on Monday, in 2020, at 5 o'clock.

Redundancy and Double Negatives

Redundancy means saying the same thing twice. SSC consistently tests this error type because candidates do not notice it. Double negatives create an affirmative meaning and are always incorrect in standard English.

• Common redundancies: return back, repeat again, revert back, final conclusion, past history, free gift.
• Double negative example — 'I didn't see nobody' is wrong. Correct: 'I didn't see anybody'.
• Avoid: hardly/scarcely/barely + negative verb. These words are already negative in meaning.
• Hardly had I reached, when... — use 'when' not 'than' with hardly/scarcely.
• Words like 'since', 'because', 'reason' — avoid 'the reason is because'. Use 'the reason is that'.

Adjective vs Adverb and Comparatives

SSC tests whether candidates know when to use an adjective (modifies noun) versus adverb (modifies verb/adjective). Also, incorrect degrees of comparison are a repeated trap in the exam.

• Use adverb with verbs — He ran quickly (not quick).
• After linking verbs like feel, smell, taste, look, seem — use adjective. She looks beautiful (not beautifully).
• Comparative degree: use 'than'. She is more intelligent than him.
• Avoid double comparatives — more better, more faster are always wrong.
• Superlative among two: use comparative, not superlative. Between Ram and Shyam, Ram is the better student (not best).

• Confusing 'along with' as a conjunction and making the verb plural — 'The manager along with his staff are present' is wrong. Use 'is'.
• Using 'had' for recent events without any earlier past reference — 'I had eaten lunch just now' is wrong. Use simple past.
• Writing 'discuss about', 'mention about', 'describe about' — these verbs never take 'about'. This is the most repeated preposition trap.
• Using 'hardly...than' instead of 'hardly...when' — 'Hardly had I sat than she arrived' is wrong. Use 'when'.
• Confusing 'fewer' and 'less' — use 'fewer' for countable nouns (fewer students) and 'less' for uncountable nouns (less water).

• PASTA rule for Subject-Verb Agreement traps: Preposition phrase, Along with, Similarly, Together with, As well as — all these do NOT change verb number.
• AUO for Articles: A before consonant sound, U-turn words (university, European) take 'a' not 'an', O for unique things take 'the'.
• DEAD for redundancy check: Does Every Added word add Different meaning? If not, it is redundant — revert back, return back fail this test.
• Three Ds for preposition memory: Die Of disease, Die In accident, Die By a weapon — three Ds, three different prepositions.

• SSC CGL typically gives 2-4 Error Spotting questions per tier. In Tier 1, sentences are divided into 4 parts labeled A, B, C, D and you pick the error. Part D is often 'No error' and is chosen about 20% of the time — do not default to it out of confusion.
• Subject-verb agreement and tense errors together account for nearly 40% of all Error Spotting questions in SSC CGL previous papers. Always check these two first before looking at other rules.
• Difficulty level is easy to moderate in Tier 1. In Tier 2, sentences are longer and may combine two error types. Budget around 30-40 seconds per question in Tier 1.
• When unsure, read each part aloud mentally — a native rhythm check catches many preposition and article errors that logic alone misses. Trust your ear after practice.
• Errors in SSC rarely appear in the first part of the sentence. Start scanning from Part B or C — this saves time and attention in the actual exam.