Sentence Correction – Complete Concepts & 30 Most Important Questions for Competitive Exams
Sentence correction is a crucial topic in competitive exams, assessing your grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Mastering sentence correction requires a strong grasp of grammar rules, common errors, and logical sentence structure.
📌 Key Concepts in Sentence Correction
1️⃣ Subject-Verb Agreement
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A singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
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Example:
❌ The boy play in the park.
✅ The boy plays in the park.
2️⃣ Tense Consistency
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Maintain the same tense throughout a sentence unless a change is necessary.
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Example:
❌ She was eating when he comes in.
✅ She was eating when he came in.
3️⃣ Pronoun Reference & Agreement
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Pronouns must agree in number and gender with their antecedents.
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Example:
❌ Each of the players must bring their own equipment.
✅ Each of the players must bring his or her own equipment.
4️⃣ Modifier Placement
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Misplaced or dangling modifiers can change the meaning of a sentence.
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Example:
❌ Running down the street, the bag fell from John’s hands.
✅ Running down the street, John dropped the bag.
5️⃣ Parallelism
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Items in a list or series should follow the same grammatical pattern.
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Example:
❌ She likes dancing, to sing, and painting.
✅ She likes dancing, singing, and painting.
6️⃣ Redundancy & Wordiness
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Avoid unnecessary repetition of words.
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Example:
❌ The reason why he left is because he was sick.
✅ The reason he left is that he was sick.
7️⃣ Incorrect Prepositions
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Prepositions should be used correctly in context.
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Example:
❌ She is married with a doctor.
✅ She is married to a doctor.
8️⃣ Confusing Words (Homophones & Similar Words)
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Be cautious with words that sound similar but have different meanings.
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Example:
❌ The principle of the school gave a speech.
✅ The principal of the school gave a speech.
9️⃣ Double Negatives
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Using two negatives creates an unintended positive meaning.
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Example:
❌ He didn’t do nothing wrong.
✅ He didn’t do anything wrong.
🔟 Idiomatic Errors
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Certain phrases follow fixed patterns in English.
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Example:
❌ She is good in dancing.
✅ She is good at dancing.
📝 30 Most Important Sentence Correction Questions
🔹 Subject-Verb Agreement
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Neither of the boys (is/are) coming to the party.
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The committee (has/have) decided to postpone the meeting.
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Either my father or my brothers (is/are) going to attend the function.
🔹 Tense Consistency
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By the time we reached the station, the train (left/had left).
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When I was a child, I (used to/use to) play in the garden.
🔹 Pronoun Agreement
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Everyone must complete (his or her/their) assignment before the deadline.
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If a student wants to pass, (he/they) must study hard.
🔹 Modifier Placement
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The boy (nearly/almost) drove for six hours without stopping.
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(Walking along the road, a dog/a dog appeared) in front of me.
🔹 Parallelism
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She enjoys reading, writing, and (to paint/painting).
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The manager explained the rules and (told/telling) us to follow them.
🔹 Redundancy & Wordiness
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The teacher explained the reason (why/because) she was absent.
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The students repeated the same mistake (again/once more).
🔹 Incorrect Prepositions
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She is married (with/to) a famous actor.
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The book consists (of/from) five chapters.
🔹 Confusing Words
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The (affect/effect) of climate change is severe.
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She (borrowed/lent) me her pen.
🔹 Double Negatives
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He doesn’t need (no/any) help.
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I can’t hardly (see/see anything) without my glasses.
🔹 Idiomatic Errors
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I am looking forward (to meet/to meeting) my cousin.
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He is capable (to solve/of solving) the problem.
🔹 Miscellaneous Errors
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I prefer coffee (than/to) tea.
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He is senior (than/to) me in the office.
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The movie was different (than/from) what I expected.
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This book is superior (than/to) that one.
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I am not used (to/of) waking up early.
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She prevented me (to go/from going) there.
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We went to the store (for buying/to buy) some groceries.
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He is responsible (for/to) handling customer complaints.
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You should avoid (to make/making) spelling mistakes.
📝 Answers for Self-Practice
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is
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has
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are
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had left
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used to
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his or her
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he
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nearly
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A dog appeared
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painting
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told
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why
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again
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to
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of
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effect
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lent
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any
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see anything
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to meeting
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of solving
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to
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to
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from
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to
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to
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from going
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to buy
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for
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making
🔥 Pro Tip:
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Read the sentence carefully before choosing an answer.
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Identify the grammar rule being tested.
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Eliminate incorrect choices systematically.
Master these concepts and practice these questions to ace the sentence correction section in any competitive exam! 🚀
