Spotting the error

Read each of the following sentences to find out if there is any error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of
the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is (e). Ignore errors of
punctuation if any.

1. Sigmund Freud had published (a) / his groundbreaking book, The Interpretation of Dreams, (b) / in 1899, after
years (c) / of studying the brain as a neurologist (d). / No error (e)

2. I would ask him (a) / to leave our house (b) / immediately (c) if my father should not have been at home. (d) /
No error (e)

3. While has was walking (a) / along the road (b) /, a speeding car (c) / knocked down to him (d). / No error (e)

4. Though none of his well-wishers (a) / forwarded to help him (b) / I helped him (c) / by lending him $100 dollars
(d). / No error (e)

5. Your over-dependent on (a) / others even for (b) / trivial matters may (c) / prove disadvantageous. (d) / No error
(e)

Answers

1. (a). It should be: Sigmund Freud published. (We do not use the past perfect tense to simply state that
something happened some time ago. That idea is expressed using the simple past tense.)

2. (d). It should be: if my father were not at home. This is an example of the type 2 conditional sentence. Here we
use would + infinitive in the main clause and simple past in the if-clause.

3. (d). It should be: knocked him down.

4. (b). It should be: came forward to help him

5. (a). It should be: Your over-dependence on

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