I can fly / if I will be / a bird. / No error.
- (a)I can fly
- (b)if I will be
- (c)a bird
- (d)No error
Correct — B, if I will be. A clause introduced by 'if' never carries 'will' to express its condition; the verb goes into a present or past form instead. The segment has to become 'if I were', and the sentence in full unreal form reads 'I could fly if I were a bird.'
- (a)I can fly — The subject and its modal verb are correctly formed, and the fault lies in the conditional clause that follows rather than in this opening segment.
- (c)a bird — The complement is fine, since a singular countable noun after 'be' correctly takes the article 'a'.
- (d)No error — There is a clear error, because 'will' cannot appear inside the 'if' clause of a conditional sentence.
This item turns on the 'if' half of the sentence, which takes a present tense for a real condition and a past subjunctive for an imagined one, never 'will'.
Since being a bird is impossible, the strictest correction moves the whole sentence into the unreal pattern, 'I could fly if I were a bird', which also softens 'can' to 'could'. The key marks only segment B, and that is where the grammar genuinely breaks, because 'will' inside an 'if' clause is wrong under either reading.
- The real conditional pairs 'if + present' with 'will + plain verb' in the main clause.
- The unreal conditional pairs 'if + past' with 'would' or 'could', and 'were' is used for all persons.
- Putting the future auxiliary into the 'if' clause because the situation itself lies in the future.
Asked as a spotting-errors item where the faulty segment is the conditional clause carrying a stray 'will'.
Work hard (a) lest you do not (b) fail (c). No error (d)
- (a) Work hard
- (b) lest you do not
- (c) fail
- (d) No error
Answer(b) lest you do not
Same concept — the verb form English fixes inside a subordinate clause. That NDA item turns on 'lest' already carrying a negative, so 'lest you should fail' is required; this one turns on an 'if' clause that cannot carry 'will'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which segment contains the error — If it will rain / tomorrow / we shall cancel the match. / No error.
- (a)If it will rain
- (b)tomorrow
- (c)we shall cancel the match
- (d)No error
Answer(a) If it will rain — the 'if' clause needs the present tense, 'If it rains'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which segment contains the error — I would help you / if I am / in your place. / No error.
- (a)I would help you
- (b)if I am
- (c)in your place
- (d)No error
Answer(b) if I am — an imagined condition matched with 'would' needs the past subjunctive, 'if I were'.