Each question consists of four sentences on a topic. Some sentences are…

2024

Each question consists of four sentences on a topic. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Select the option that indicates the grammatically incorrect and inappropriate sentence(s).

A. Harish told Raj to plead guilty.

B. Raj pleaded guilty of stealing money from the shop.

C. The court found Raj guilty of all the crimes he was charged with.

D. He was sentenced for three years in jail.

  1. A.

    A and B

  2. B.

    B and D

  3. C.

    A, C and D

  4. D.

    B, C and D

Attempted by 4 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Concept: Certain verbs and adjectives take one fixed preposition, and swapping it for another is a grammatical error. Two such fixed patterns are tested here: "plead guilty to" (a charge) — never "of" — and "sentenced to" a term of imprisonment — never "for". By contrast, "found guilty of" (a crime) is the correct pairing after the verb "found".

Application: Checking each sentence: A. "Harish told Raj to plead guilty" uses the standard "told + object + to-infinitive" pattern — no preposition error. B. "Raj pleaded guilty of stealing money from the shop" wrongly uses "of" after "pleaded guilty"; it should read "pleaded guilty to stealing money from the shop" — this is an error. C. "The court found Raj guilty of all the crimes he was charged with" correctly pairs "found" with "guilty of" — no error. D. "He was sentenced for three years in jail" wrongly uses "for"; it should read "sentenced to three years in jail" — this is an error. So the grammatically incorrect sentences are B and D.

Contrast:

  • "A and B" — wrongly includes sentence A, which correctly uses "told...to plead"; the combination also misses another sentence in the passage that has the same kind of preposition error.

  • "A, C and D" — wrongly includes both sentence A and sentence C, which correctly use "told...to" and "found guilty of" respectively; only part of what is listed is actually erroneous.

  • "B, C and D" — wrongly includes sentence C, which correctly pairs "found" with "guilty of"; adding a correct sentence to the list makes the combination inaccurate.

Cross-check: Applying the two fixed patterns "plead guilty to" (a charge) and "sentenced to" (a term) consistently, alongside the reverse pairing "found guilty of" (a crime) after "found", confirms B and D as the only two sentences that misuse their preposition.

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