Spot the error in the following sentence; if there is no error, mark (d). Most of us who are older competitive runners (a) are not able to race anywhere at the same speed (b) as we do when we were 30 (c). No error (d)
- (a)Most of us who are older competitive runners
- (b)are not able to race anywhere at the same speed
- (c)as we do when we were 30
- (d)No error
Correct — C, 'as we do when we were 30'. The tense is wrong: 'when we were 30' is set firmly in the past, so the verb must also be past — 'as we did when we were 30'. The present 'do' clashes with the past 'were', and the two clauses must agree in time.
- (a)Most of us who are older competitive runners — Correct — the present 'are' rightly describes the runners' current status.
- (b)are not able to race anywhere at the same speed — Correct — this present-tense clause about their present ability is well formed.
- (d)No error — There is a tense error in part (c), so 'No error' does not apply.
Tense consistency — a clause pinned to a past time ('when we were 30') needs a past-tense verb ('did'), not the present 'do'.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the grammatically correct option: 'He speaks now as clearly as he ______ as a boy.'
- (a)does
- (b)did
- (c)do
- (d)is
Answer(b) did — the comparison refers to the past ('as a boy'), so the past 'did' is required.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Identify the correct sentence.
- (a)I cannot run as fast as I do when I was young.
- (b)I cannot run as fast as I did when I was young.
- (c)I cannot run as fast as I do when I am young.
- (d)I cannot run as fast as I done when I was young.
Answer(b) — 'when I was young' is past, so 'did' matches.