NDA (II) 2016 General Ability Test · Question 7 of 150

Correct — C, 'to harm him.' When 'dare' is used as a modal verb — and 'dare not' is exactly that — the verb after it stands in the bare infinitive, with no 'to'. The sentence has to read 'The guards dare not harm him.'

• (a)The guards — Error-free — a plural subject that agrees with the verb form which follows it.
• (b)dare not — Error-free — the modal 'dare' forms its negative directly with 'not', so no form of 'do' is needed here.
• (d)No error. — The stray 'to' in the third segment is a genuine fault, so the sentence is not error-free.

'Dare' and 'need' lead a double life. As modal verbs — dare not go, need not wait — they take the bare infinitive; as ordinary verbs — did not dare to go, does not need to wait — they take 'to' and the do-forms.

The mixed form is the trap. Once 'dare not' has been written the modal has been chosen, and 'to' cannot follow. Both of these are correct English — 'The guards dare not harm him' and 'The guards do not dare to harm him' — and what is wrong is half of one joined to half of the other. The same rule governs 'need', which gives 'You need not go' beside 'You do not need to go'.

• The modal 'dare' takes no -s in the third person — 'he dare not speak'.
• The ordinary verb 'dare' behaves normally — 'he dared to speak', 'he did not dare to speak'.
• 'Need' follows the same twin pattern — 'need not wait' beside 'does not need to wait'.

• Writing 'dare not to' by blending the modal and the ordinary verb.
• Adding -s to the modal 'dare' in the third person.

Asked as an error-spotting item — name the segment that carries the mistake, or mark 'No error.'

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Fill the blank — He dare not ________ the truth.

  • (a)to tell
  • (b)tell
  • (c)telling
  • (d)tells

  Answer(b) tell — the modal 'dare' takes the bare infinitive.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which segment carries the error — (a) You need not / (b) to worry / (c) about the result. / (d) No error

  • (a)You need not
  • (b)to worry
  • (c)about the result.
  • (d)No error

  Answer(b) to worry — after the modal 'need not' the bare infinitive is used, so it is 'You need not worry'.