Error spotting for LIC AAO

Error spotting rewards a checklist more than a "feel" for English. A sentence split into three or four parts, with a "No error" option at the end, is testing one rule, and the rules come from a short list: agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, comparison, pronouns, parallel structure and a few fixed patterns. If you check them in the same order every time, most questions take under 30 seconds.

How to read the question

1. Read the whole sentence first, not part by part. Many errors only show up when the subject in part (a) meets the verb in part (b).
2. Find the subject and its verb. Check that they agree. This one step catches the largest share of errors.
3. Check the tense against any time word (yesterday, since, by next year).
4. Scan the small words: articles, prepositions and pronouns.
5. Check comparisons and lists for matching forms.
6. Only then mark "No error". It is a real answer, not a trap, but choose it only after the checks.

The rules that produce most errors

Two fixed patterns are worth learning by heart because they appear often: No sooner had X happened than Y, and Hardly (or Scarcely) had X happened when Y.

Six worked questions

1. The number of claims (a) / have increased sharply (b) / over the last year. (c) / No error (d)

The subject is "the number", which is singular. Part (b) should read "has increased". Part (c) is fine: "over the last year" suits the present perfect. Answer (b).

2. The agent explained (a) / the policy very clear (b) / to the customer. (c) / No error (d)

"Clear" describes how the agent explained, so it describes a verb and must be the adverb "clearly". Part (a) and part (c) are correct. Answer (b).

3. If the applicant would have submitted (a) / the form on time, (b) / the policy would have been issued. (c) / No error (d)

This is a past unreal condition. The if-clause takes "had submitted"; "would have" belongs only in the main clause, which part (c) already uses correctly. Answer (a).

4. No sooner had the branch opened (a) / when a long queue (b) / formed outside. (c) / No error (d)

"No sooner" pairs with "than", not "when". Part (a) uses the correct inverted form "had the branch opened". Answer (b).

5. The new manager is senior (a) / than all the officers (b) / in the division. (c) / No error (d)

"Senior" is one of the Latin comparatives (senior, junior, superior, inferior, prior) that take "to". Part (b) should read "to all the officers". Answer (b).

6. Neither the clerk nor the officers (a) / were informed (b) / about the audit. (c) / No error (d)

The nearer subject is "officers", which is plural, so "were" is correct. "Informed about" is standard. Answer (d), no error. A question like this is where candidates who distrust "No error" lose a mark by inventing a mistake.

Practice set

Mark the part with the error, or (d) if there is none.

1. Neither the manager nor the agents (a) / was aware (b) / of the change in rules. (c) / No error (d)
2. One of the branch (a) / has been renovated (b) / recently. (c) / No error (d)
3. We discussed about (a) / the new plan (b) / at the meeting. (c) / No error (d)
4. Each of the candidates (a) / have been given (b) / an admit card. (c) / No error (d)
5. The claim has been settled (a) / last Monday (b) / after verification. (c) / No error (d)
6. The cashier is working (a) / in this branch since 2021 (b) / and knows every customer. (c) / No error (d)
7. The report was prepared (a) / carefully and (b) / submitted on time. (c) / No error (d)
8. Please return back (a) / the signed form (b) / by Friday. (c) / No error (d)
9. It was an unique (a) / opportunity for (b) / the new recruits. (c) / No error (d)

Answers

1. (b). The nearer subject, "agents", is plural, so "were aware".
2. (a). "One of the branches": the noun after "one of the" is plural.
3. (a). "Discuss" takes a direct object: "We discussed the new plan".
4. (b). "Each" is singular: "has been given".
5. (a). "Last Monday" is a finished past time, so "was settled". The error is the verb, which sits in part (a).
6. (a). "Since 2021" with an action still going on needs "has been working".
7. (d). No error. "Was prepared… and submitted" shares the helping verb "was", and both halves are passive.
8. (a). "Return" already means "give back", so "back" is redundant.
9. (a). "Unique" begins with a "yoo" sound, a consonant sound, so "a unique".

Seven or more correct: keep error spotting to maintenance, with ten questions twice a week. Fewer than six: revise the table above and do ten questions a day, writing the rule next to each mistake.

A ten-day routine

What to do next

• Go deeper on the most common rule with subject-verb agreement for LIC AAO.
• Use the same rules on passages in the cloze test guide.
• Keep a one-page list of every rule you get wrong, and read it the night before the exam.