Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical or idiomatic…
2023
Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical or idiomatic error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The letter of that part is the answer. If there is ‘No error’, the answer is (e). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any).
To avoid a calamity, the (A)/ police is asking everyone (B)/ to move away from (C)/ the burning building (D)/.
- A.
A
- B.
B
- C.
C
- D.
D
- E.
No Error
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
A noun that names a body of people acting as a group (a collective noun) can take a singular or a plural verb. In standard British and Indian English, ‘police’ is always treated as plural: it denotes the body of officers as several individuals, so it pairs with a plural verb form (‘are’, ‘ask’, ‘were’) and the pronoun ‘they’—never with a singular verb such as ‘is’ or ‘asks’.
Application
Test each segment of the sentence against this rule and against ordinary usage:
‘To avoid a calamity, the’ — a well-formed infinitive purpose phrase; the comma and the article are fine.
‘police is asking everyone’ — here ‘police’ takes the singular verb ‘is’. Because ‘police’ is plural, the verb must be plural: it should read ‘police are asking everyone’. This is the grammatical error.
‘to move away from’ — a correct infinitive followed by the preposition ‘from’, which ‘move away’ takes.
‘the burning building’ — a correct noun phrase with the participle ‘burning’ used as an adjective.
Cross-check
Replace ‘police’ with the pronoun that stands for it: we say ‘they are asking’, not ‘it is asking’. The plural pronoun confirms that the plural verb ‘are’ is required, so the corrected sentence is: ‘To avoid a calamity, the police are asking everyone to move away from the burning building.’