ENGLISH Notes ( RULES AND EXAMPLES OF SPOTTING ERRORS)

1.When a pronoun comes after ‘like ‘ and ‘ unlike ‘ it takes an objective case.

Example:

1. (i) A man like I will not do it. ( Incorrect )

  (ii) A man like me will not do it.  ( Correct)

2. A pronoun takes an objective case after ‘let’.

Example :

1. ( i ) Let I do it. ( Incorrect)

 ( ii)  Let me do it. ( Correct)

3. Pronouns joined by ‘and ‘ remain in the same case.

Example :

1. (i) He and her are brother and sister. ( Incorrect)

    (ii) He and she are brother and sister. (Correct)

2 ( i) He and me are friends. ( Incorrect)

(ii) He and I are friends. ( Correct)

4. When  pronouns of second person and third person are used as subjects, the pronoun following them will be according to the second person pronoun.

Example:

1. (i) You and he must bring his books ( Incorrect)

    (ii) You and he must bring your books. ( Correct)

5. When pronouns of second person and first person are used as subjects, the pronoun following them will be first person plural form.

Example:

1. (i) You and I must finish your work in time. ( Incorrect)

    (ii) You and I must finish our work in time. ( Correct)

6. The relative pronoun ‘that is used in preference to ‘who’ or ‘which after adjectives in the superlative degree.

Example:

1. (i) The wisest man who ever lived made mistakes. ( Incorrect)

(ii) The wisest man that ever lived made mistakes ( Correct)

2.(i) This is the best which we can do ( Incorrect)

(ii) This is the best that we can do . ( Correct)

7. When there are two antecedents, a man and an animal or two things before the relative pronoun, we should use ‘that’.

Example:

1. (i) The man and his dog which passed through this road were killed. ( Incorrect)

(ii) The man and his dog that passed through this road were killed. ( Correct)

8.The case of the noun or pronoun preceding or succeeding the verb ‘to be’ should be the same.

Example:

1. (i) It is him who came to see us. ( Incorrect)

(ii) It is he who came to see us. ( Correct)

2. It is me who caught the thief . ( Incorrect)

(ii) It is I who caught the thief. ( Correct)

9. To show equality ‘as’ is used before after adjective.

Example:

1. (i) I can run as fast, if not faster, than you. (Incorrect)

(ii) I can run as fast as, if not faster, than you. ( Correct)

10. ‘More than one’ indicates a plural sense, but it is treated as a sort of compound of one. Thus it agrees with a singular noun and takes a singular verb.

Example:

1. ( i) More than employees were killed in the accident. ( Incorrect)

(ii) More than one employee was killed in the accident. ( Correct)