If I will be the millionaire (a) / I would eradicate (b) / poverty from the country. (c)
- (a)(a)
- (b)(b)
- (c)(c)
- (d)No error
Correct — A, 'If I will be the millionaire'. An imagined present situation puts a past form in the if-clause and 'would' in the result clause, so the segment should read 'If I were a millionaire'. Two things go wrong inside it — 'will be' where 'were' is required, and 'the' where the indefinite 'a' is needed before a status noun.
- (b)I would eradicate — Error-free — 'would + base verb' is exactly the result-clause form an imagined present situation needs.
- (c)poverty from the country. — Error-free — 'eradicate poverty from the country' is a normal object plus prepositional phrase.
- (d)No error — There is an error — 'will' cannot follow 'if' in an imagined situation — so 'No error' is not the answer.
An error-spotting item on the imagined-present pattern: 'If + were / past form, ... would + base verb'. It also tests 'a' before a noun of status, which names an unspecified member of a class.
'Will' straight after 'if' is the classic slip in this pattern. English marks the unreality with a past form ('were') and keeps 'would' for the result half, so the two halves never both carry 'will'. 'The millionaire' would point to one particular known person, which is not the sense the sentence wants.
- The imagined-present pattern is: If + subject + were / past form, ... would + base verb.
- 'Were' is used for every person in this pattern — 'If I were', 'If he were'.
- 'A millionaire' names an unspecified member of a class; 'the millionaire' points to a specific one already known.
- Writing 'will' after 'if' because the sentence looks forward in time.
- Spotting only the article slip and missing the verb, or the reverse — both sit in the same segment.
Asked as an error-spotting item — name the segment that contains the error, or mark 'No error'.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank: If I ___ you, I would apologise at once.
- (a)am
- (b)was being
- (c)were
- (d)will be
Answer(c) were — an imagined present situation takes 'were' in the if-clause and 'would' in the result clause.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Spot the error: (a) If he will come / (b) tomorrow, we shall / (c) begin the rehearsal. / (d) No error
- (a)(a)
- (b)(b)
- (c)(c)
- (d)No error
Answer(a) If he will come — a real future plan takes the present 'comes' after 'if', never 'will come'.