After reading foreword of (a) / the book on environmental issues in India, (b) / I decided to meet its author. (c) / No error (d)
- (a)After reading foreword of
- (b)the book on environmental issues in India,
- (c)I decided to meet its author.
- (d)No error
Correct — A, 'After reading foreword of'. 'Foreword' is a singular countable noun, and the sentence points to one particular foreword, the one belonging to that book, so it needs the definite article — 'After reading the foreword of'. A singular countable noun cannot stand bare in this position.
- (b)the book on environmental issues in India, — Error-free. 'The book on environmental issues in India' is a correct noun phrase with its article and modifier.
- (c)I decided to meet its author. — Error-free. 'I decided to meet its author' is correctly formed, and 'its' refers back to the book.
- (d)No error — There is an error — the countable noun 'foreword' is missing its article — so 'No error' is not the answer.
A singular countable noun needs a determiner, and 'the' is the one required when an of-phrase pins the noun to a particular thing.
The segment is printed without the article, and that omission is the error the item is testing. Missing articles are the commonest omission in this format and the easiest to skim past, because the sentence still makes sense without them. Whenever an of-phrase identifies a noun, expect 'the' in front of it.
- A foreword is an introductory note to a book, often written by someone other than the author.
- An of-phrase that identifies a noun normally forces the definite article, as in 'the end of the letter'.
- Reading the article in silently because the sentence still makes sense.
- Searching only for a verb fault when the omission is a determiner.
Asked as a spotting-errors item — name the segment that contains the error, or mark 'No error'.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Spot the error. After reading preface of (a) / the novel, I understood (b) / why the author wrote it. (c) / No error (d)
- (a)After reading preface of
- (b)the novel, I understood
- (c)why the author wrote it.
- (d)No error
Answer(a) After reading preface of — the countable noun needs its article, giving 'the preface of'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct option. He signed his name at __________ end of the letter.
- (a)a
- (b)an
- (c)the
- (d)one
Answer(c) the — 'end' is identified by the of-phrase, so it takes the definite article.