Far from being appreciated, / his conduct was discussed / and sharply commented. / No error.
- (a)Far from being appreciated,
- (b)his conduct was discussed
- (c)and sharply commented
- (d)No error
Correct — C, and sharply commented. 'Comment' cannot take an object directly; a person comments on something. In a passive sentence that preposition still has to be kept, so the segment must read 'and sharply commented on', giving 'his conduct was discussed and sharply commented on.'
- (a)Far from being appreciated, — 'Far from' is correctly followed by an -ing form, and the phrase attaches properly to 'his conduct', so this opening is sound.
- (b)his conduct was discussed — 'Discuss' is transitive and needs no preposition, so its passive is complete as it stands and adding one would itself be an error.
- (d)No error — There is an error, because the preposition belonging to 'comment' has been dropped when the two verbs were joined.
A preposition item on verbs joined by 'and' that do not share the same pattern, so the second verb keeps its own preposition.
The trap is that 'discussed' needs nothing after it while 'commented' needs 'on', and the two are yoked together by 'and'. Whenever a sentence chains verbs like this, each verb has to be tested separately against its object.
- A person comments on or upon a matter, so the passive ends in the stranded preposition, as in 'the matter was commented on'.
- The same split appears in pairs such as 'listened to and questioned' and 'discussed and agreed upon'.
- Letting the pattern of the first verb carry over to the second.
Asked as a spotting-errors item where two verbs are joined and the second has lost the preposition it requires.
The Eastern Ghats are home of 2600 plant species (a) and this habitat fragmentation (b) can pose a serious threat to endemic plants (c). No error (d)
- (a) The Eastern Ghats are home of 2600 plant species
- (b) and this habitat fragmentation
- (c) can pose a serious threat to endemic plants
- (d) No error
Answer(a) The Eastern Ghats are home of 2600 plant species
Same concept — the preposition a word insists on. That NDA item needs 'home to' rather than 'home of'; this one needs the 'on' that belongs to 'comment' and was dropped in the passive.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which segment contains the error — The plan was discussed / and finally / agreed. / No error.
- (a)The plan was discussed
- (b)and finally
- (c)agreed
- (d)No error
Answer(c) agreed — the passive of 'agree upon' keeps the preposition, so 'agreed upon'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which segment contains the error — He was listened / and then / questioned by the panel. / No error.
- (a)He was listened
- (b)and then
- (c)questioned by the panel
- (d)No error
Answer(a) He was listened — 'listen' needs 'to', so the passive is 'he was listened to'.