LESSON 13.3 — Sentence Correction

A. Standard Map

GATE AR context: S-V agreement (2021, 2025), pronoun case (2025), causative tense (2023), and preposition collocations (2026) have all appeared as direct 1-mark questions. Modifier and parallelism errors appear in sentence-identification MSQ formats. Every error type in this lesson has a GATE GA precedent across streams.

B. Mechanism in Words

1. Find the main verb and its subject. Ignore all prepositional phrases, relative clauses, and parenthetical material between the subject and verb — these are the primary source of agreement traps. Strip the sentence down to [subject] + [verb].

2. Name the error type before evaluating options. In a sentence-correction MCQ, read the sentence and mentally tag it: “This looks like an agreement error” or “This opening phrase might be dangling.” Named categories prevent you from accepting a grammatically fluent but structurally wrong option.

3. Apply the signal-word scan (see Section D table). The presence of each, every, either, neither, not only, between/among, or an opening participle phrase is a hard signal that a specific rule applies. Do not read past these words without pausing to recall the rule.

4. Test options by substitution. Replace the underlined or blank portion with each option and read the full sentence aloud mentally. Errors that are invisible in isolation become audible in context — especially agreement and parallelism violations.

5. Eliminate by rule, not by sound. “Sounded correct” is the reason most wrong answers get chosen. A sentence with a subject-verb error often sounds fine because the closest noun to the verb agrees — but the grammatical subject may be further away and singular.

6. For MSQ “identify all errors” questions: Evaluate each sentence independently. Do not assume that exactly two sentences are wrong because of the option pairings; mark only sentences you can rule out with a specific named rule.

C. Core Concept Explanations

C1. Subject–Verb Agreement — Collective Nouns, “Each/Every”, Inverted Sentences

Rule 1 — Compound subjects with “and”: Two subjects joined by and take a plural verb.
“Ravi and Priya are present.” ✓   “Ravi and Priya is present.” ✗

Rule 2 — Collective nouns: In standard Indian and American English, collective nouns take singular verbs.

Rule 3 — Each / Every: Both always take a singular verb, regardless of what follows.
“Each of the students is required to register.” ✓   “Each of the students are required…” ✗
“Every plan and proposal needs approval.” ✓ (not “need”)

Rule 4 — Neither…nor / Either…or: Verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb (proximity rule).
“Neither the manager nor the employees were informed.” ✓ (employees is closest → plural)
“Neither the employees nor the manager was informed.” ✓ (manager is closest → singular)

Rule 5 — Inverted sentences (There is / There are): Find the real subject — it follows the verb.
“There is a plan and a budget ready.” ✗ → “There are a plan and a budget ready.” ✓
(Real subject = “a plan and a budget” → plural)

GATE AR 2021: “Arun and Aparna is here” → wrong; compound subject → plural. “Arun’s family is here” → correct; collective noun → singular. GATE AR 2025: “It is I who am responsible” → verb am agrees with antecedent I of relative pronoun who.

C2. Tense and Sequence of Tenses — Reported Speech Basics

Tense consistency: Within a single sentence, tenses must be logically consistent with the time frame described. Do not mix past and present tenses without a contrast word (now, currently, since) that justifies the switch.

Sequence of tenses in complex sentences:
– When the main clause is past tense, subordinate clauses normally shift to an earlier tense.
– Action completed before another past action → past perfect (had + V3).

Reported speech tense shifts:

Key time/place word changes in reported speech: now → then; here → there; today → that day; tomorrow → the next day; yesterday → the day before.

GATE AR 2023: “He did not manage to fix the car, so he [got it fixed] in the garage” — past tense sentence; causative get + object + V3 required; “getting it fixed” wrong (present participle breaks tense).

C3. Pronoun Reference and Agreement — Ambiguous Antecedent

Ambiguous antecedent: A pronoun is ambiguous when two or more possible antecedents of the same gender and number appear in the sentence.

❌ “When the architect met the client, she presented the drawings.”
(Who presented — the architect or the client? She is ambiguous.)
✓ “The architect presented the drawings when she met the client.” (context clarifies)
✓ “The architect presented the drawings to the client.” (restructure to eliminate pronoun)

Pronoun-antecedent number agreement:
– Antecedent = singular → pronoun = singular (he, she, it, his, her, its)
– Each / every / either / neither / anyone / everyone → singular pronoun
❌ “Everyone submitted their report.” (grammatically contested; formal: his or her)
✓ “All participants submitted their reports.” (rewrite with plural antecedent)

Case errors (GATE AR 2025):

❌ “It is myself who is responsible.” — myself cannot be a subject complement; use I.
✓ “It is I who am responsible.” ← tested directly in GATE AR 2025.
❌ “Between you and I, this plan is flawed.” — after a preposition, use objective: between you and me.

C4. Modifiers — Dangling, Misplaced, Squinting

A modifier is a word or phrase that describes another element. Modifier errors arise when the connection between modifier and target is broken or ambiguous.

Dangling modifier: The opening participial phrase has no logical subject in the main clause — the noun right after the comma cannot perform the action described.

Misplaced modifier: A word or phrase is placed too far from what it modifies, distorting meaning. The adverbs only, just, even, almost, nearly are the most common culprits.

❌ “She only eats vegetables on Mondays.” (implies she does nothing else with vegetables)
✓ “She eats only vegetables on Mondays.” (correctly limits what she eats)

❌ “The firm almost designed every project in the city.” (implies near-design, not near-all)
✓ “The firm designed almost every project in the city.”

Squinting modifier: The modifier is placed between two elements it could modify, making meaning ambiguous.

❌ “Students who practise problems often score well.”
(Does often modify practise or score?)
✓ “Students who often practise problems score well.” — or — “Students who practise problems score well consistently.”

C5. Parallelism — Lists and Correlative Conjunctions

Rule: Items in a list or joined by correlative conjunctions must be in the same grammatical form — all nouns, all gerunds, all infinitives, all clauses.

List parallelism:

Correlative conjunctions — both elements must be parallel:

Test: Cover one side of the correlative and read what remains. Then cover the other. Both halves must be the same grammatical category.

C6. Prepositions and Phrasal Verbs — High-Frequency Exam Pairs

Fixed collocations cannot be derived from logic alone — they must be learned as units. GATE tests these in fill-in-blank and sentence correction formats.

High-frequency adjective + preposition:

Preposition collocations tested in GATE AR 2026: “parted at the door / the door of the cabin / rented for the night” — at (location of action), of (possession/belonging), for (duration/purpose).

Homophones tested in GATE AR 2022: “After playing two hours… feeling too tired.” — two = number; too = excessively. To = preposition/infinitive marker.

Phrasal verb collocations (GATE-level):

C7. Comparison — Comparative/Superlative, “Between” vs “Among”

Comparative vs superlative:
– Comparative (more, -er) = comparing two items.
– Superlative (most, -est) = comparing three or more items; only one is the extreme.

❌ “Of the two proposals, the third was the most innovative.” — only two being compared → more innovative.
✓ “Of the two proposals, the second was more innovative.”
❌ “She is the most intelligent of the two candidates.” → more intelligent.

Double comparative: Adding more and -er together is always wrong.
❌ “This design is more better.” ✓ “This design is better.”

Between vs Among:
– Between: exactly two items, or when items are individually distinct even in a group.
– Among: three or more items treated as a group.

❌ “The contract was distributed between the four firms.” ✓ “…among the four firms.”
✓ “The choice is between Option A and Option B.” (exactly two → between is correct)

Illogical comparison: Comparing a noun to a different category noun.
❌ “The output of this machine is higher than the rival company.”
(Comparing output to company — mismatched categories.)
✓ “The output of this machine is higher than that of the rival company.”
(Use that of / those of to compare like with like.)

“As…as” in equality comparison:
✓ “This method is as reliable as that one.” ← both “as” required.
❌ “This method is as reliable or more reliable than that one.” ← broken; needs restructuring.
✓ “This method is as reliable as, or more reliable than, that one.”

D. Worked Examples and Practice Sets

Error-Type → Signal Word Table

Use this as a rapid diagnostic checklist. When a sentence contains any signal word below, immediately apply the corresponding rule before reading the options.

Worked Example 1 — Dangling Modifier

Original (incorrect): “Having completed the environmental impact assessment, the construction permit was issued by the authority.”

Step 1 — Identify the signal. The sentence opens with a participial phrase: “Having completed the environmental impact assessment.” This is the dangling modifier signal.

Step 2 — Apply the rule. The phrase describes an action. Who completed the assessment? It must be the grammatical subject of the main clause. The main clause subject is “the construction permit” — a permit cannot complete an assessment.

Step 3 — Identify the intended subject. The sentence intends: the authority completed the assessment, and then the authority issued the permit.

Step 4 — Rewrite.
✓ “Having completed the environmental impact assessment, the authority issued the construction permit.”
The subject “the authority” now immediately follows the comma and logically performed the action in the opening phrase. The modifier no longer dangles.

What the distractor options do: Common wrong options move only small words or reorder the main clause without fixing the subject mismatch — the permit is still implicitly the doer. Evaluate the subject identity, not just the verb tense.

Worked Example 2 — Broken Parallelism with Correlative Conjunction

Original (incorrect): “The renovation project was commended not only for completing on schedule but also because the costs were kept within budget.”

Step 1 — Identify the signal. “Not only…but also” is a correlative conjunction pair — immediate parallelism signal.

Step 2 — Apply the rule. The element following not only must be grammatically identical to the element following but also.

After not only: “for completing on schedule” → prepositional phrase (for + gerund)
After but also: “because the costs were kept within budget” → subordinate clause (because + clause)

These are different grammatical structures → parallelism is broken.

Step 3 — Rewrite to match the first element’s form:
✓ “The renovation project was commended not only for completing on schedule but also for keeping costs within budget.”

Both elements are now for + gerund phrase.

Alternative restructure (match second element’s form):
✓ “The renovation project was commended not only because it completed on schedule but also because it kept costs within budget.”

Both elements are now because + clause. Either restructuring is correct; the key is consistency.

E. Common Confusions

• Collective noun + plural verb: “The committee have decided” sounds natural in British English but is non-standard in GATE’s formal Indian English context. Unless a collective noun clearly refers to members acting individually, use a singular verb. When in doubt: committee, board, panel, jury, team → singular.

• “Each of the X” trap: “Each of the architects are expected” — each is singular regardless of what follows of. The prepositional phrase of the architects is not the subject. Singular verb required: “Each… is expected.” This rule is absolute.

• Dangling vs misplaced: Dangling modifiers have no appropriate noun in the sentence to attach to — the intended subject is absent. Misplaced modifiers have the correct noun in the sentence but the modifier is positioned too far from it. The fix is different: dangling requires adding or restructuring the subject; misplaced only requires moving the modifier.

• “Different than” vs “different from”: In formal written English, different from is correct. Different than is commonly heard but is not accepted in formal grammar. “This method is different from that one.” ✓

• Reflexive pronoun overuse: Students add myself for formality. “Please contact myself if you have questions” is wrong — myself is not a substitute for me when me is a simple object. “Please contact me.” ✓ Use myself only when subject and object refer to the same person: “I hurt myself.”

• Squinting modifier overlooked: GATE sentence-correction questions sometimes include a sentence that is grammatically legal but logically ambiguous. “Students who study hard often succeed” — does often modify how they study or how they succeed? The sentence is not technically wrong, but a revision that removes the ambiguity would be the better option.

F. Exam Traps

G. Answer-Writing Cues

H. PYQ Linkage Note

Forecast for 2027: S-V agreement and pronoun case are near-certain based on recurrence. Preposition collocations appeared in 2026 — possible recurrence in a different collocation pair. Dangling modifier and parallelism carry medium probability as the exam often cycles through untested but syllabus-listed error types after a run of S-V and pronoun questions.

I. Mini-Check — Lesson 13.3

Instructions: Q1 is an MSQ — select all grammatically incorrect sentences. Q2–Q5 are MCQ with one correct answer each. No NAT questions.

Q1. (MSQ) Which of the following sentences contain a grammatical error? Select all that apply.

(A) Each of the submitted proposals are being evaluated by the committee.
(B) Neither the site engineer nor the architects were present at the review.
(C) Having reviewed the drawings, the approval was granted by the board.
(D) The project was praised not only for its design but also for completing within budget.

Answer: (A), (C), (D)

Explanation:
– (A) Error — S-V agreement: Each is always singular. “Each of the proposals is being evaluated.” The plural proposals follows of and does not change the subject. ✗
– (B) Correct: Neither…nor → verb agrees with the closer subject (architects, plural) → were. ✓
– (C) Error — Dangling modifier: “Having reviewed the drawings” implies a subject that reviewed them. The grammatical subject of the main clause is “the approval” — an approval cannot review drawings. Fix: “Having reviewed the drawings, the board granted approval.” ✗
– (D) Error — Broken parallelism: Not only for its design = prepositional phrase (for + noun). But also for completing within budget = for + gerund phrase. These differ in form: the second element should be for its completion within budget (matching noun form) or the first should change. In most GATE-style marking, the mismatch of noun vs gerund phrase is the flagged error. ✗

Q2. (MCQ) Fill in the blank with the correct verb form.

“She told the team that the client _ the revised drawings by the end of the week.”

(A) will approve
(B) approved
(C) would approve
(D) has approved

Answer: (C) would approve

Explanation: Reported speech rule — when the reporting verb (told) is past tense, the verb in the reported clause shifts back one tense: will → would. (A) “will approve” is direct speech tense — incorrect in reported speech. (B) “approved” implies the action was already completed, changing the meaning. (D) “has approved” is present perfect — not a valid back-shift of “will.”

Q3. (MCQ) Identify the error in the following sentence.

“The output of this machine is significantly higher than the competing model.”

(A) “significantly” is misplaced
(B) The comparison is between mismatched categories
(C) “higher” should be “highest”
(D) There is no error

Answer: (B)

Explanation: The sentence compares “the output of this machine” (a thing produced) with “the competing model” (a whole machine) — mismatched categories. Correct: “…higher than that of the competing model” or “…higher than the competing model’s output.” (A) “significantly” correctly modifies “higher” and is appropriately placed. (C) “higher” is correct — two items (this machine vs competing model) → comparative, not superlative.

Q4. (MCQ) Choose the sentence with correct preposition usage.

(A) The firm’s output is different than its previous year’s performance.
(B) All board members must comply to the revised code of conduct.
(C) The success of the project is dependent on early stakeholder engagement.
(D) She is not familiar of the new procurement guidelines.

Answer: (C)

Explanation:
– (A) different than — incorrect in formal English; correct collocation is different from. ✗
– (B) comply to — incorrect; the correct collocation is comply with. ✗
– (C) dependent on — correct fixed collocation. ✓
– (D) familiar of — incorrect; the correct collocation is familiar with. ✗

Q5. (MCQ) Which revision correctly fixes the misplaced modifier in the sentence below?

“The engineer almost checked every drawing submitted for approval.”

(A) “The engineer checked almost every drawing submitted for approval.”
(B) “Almost the engineer checked every drawing submitted for approval.”
(C) “The engineer checked every drawing almost submitted for approval.”
(D) No revision is needed; the sentence is correct.

Answer: (A)

Explanation: In the original sentence, almost modifies checked — implying the engineer nearly (but didn’t quite) check anything. The intended meaning is that the engineer checked nearly all of the drawings. Moving almost to before every correctly limits the noun phrase: “almost every drawing.” (B) places almost before the engineer, changing meaning absurdly. (C) places almost before submitted, which is also not the intended meaning.