<u>My friend was</u> <u>habitual to drive a car</u> <u>at very high speed.</u> <u>No error.</u>
- (a)My friend was
- (b)habitual to drive a car
- (c)at very high speed.
- (d)No error.
Answer
Why
Correct: B, 'habitual to drive a car'. 'Habitual' is an adjective for the thing that is done again and again (a habitual gesture, habitual lateness) and it is never completed by a to-infinitive. The person who does the thing is 'in the habit of' doing it or 'accustomed to' doing it, so the segment has to read 'was in the habit of driving a car': 'My friend was in the habit of driving a car at very high speed.'
Why the others are wrong
- (a)My friend was: Error-free: a singular subject with the matching past form of 'be'.
- (c)at very high speed.: Error-free: 'at high speed' is the standard adverbial phrase, and 'very' modifies 'high' without any trouble.
- (d)No error.: The second segment cannot stand as printed, so the sentence does carry a mistake.
Concept
'Habitual' describes acts and practices; the person who performs them is said to be in the habit of doing something, or accustomed to it.
The item leans on a phrase that feels natural in Indian English speech. Once the correction is made a second trap opens inside it: the 'to' of 'accustomed to' and the 'of' of 'in the habit of' are prepositions, so what follows is an -ing form and never a bare infinitive. Both 'was in the habit of driving' and 'was accustomed to driving' repair the sentence; 'was habituated to drive' does not.
Key facts
- 'Habitual' sits before a noun naming the repeated thing or the person defined by it (habitual absence, a habitual latecomer) but it takes no to-infinitive.
- 'In the habit of' and 'accustomed to' are both followed by an -ing form.
- 'Habituated to' behaves the same way: habituated to working late.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting 'habitual to' because it is common in speech.
- Writing 'in the habit of drive' after making the first correction.
Asked as an error-spotting item: name the segment that carries the mistake, or mark 'No error.'
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice, not a real PYQ
Which segment carries the error: (a) She is habitual / (b) of getting up / (c) at five in the morning. / (d) No error
- (a)She is habitual
- (b)of getting up
- (c)at five in the morning.
- (d)No error
Answer(a) She is habitual: a person is in the habit of doing something, so it should read 'She is in the habit of getting up at five in the morning.' - practice, not a real PYQ
Fill the blank: He is accustomed ________ long hours.
- (a)to work
- (b)to working
- (c)for working
- (d)with work
Answer(b) to working: the 'to' of 'accustomed to' is a preposition, so an -ing form follows.