Study Materials › English › Sentence Correction
Sentence correction asks you to spot and fix an error rather than fill a blank. The 2022 Constable paper used the fill-in-the-blank format instead — but it tested exactly the same errors, so the skill transfers directly and the grammar below is drawn from what that paper actually examined.
1. Find the subject and the main verb, and check they agree in number.
2. Check the tense against any time word in the sentence.
3. Check prepositions and articles — these are fixed, not logical.
4. Read the corrected sentence back in full before choosing.
| Error | Example of the fix | In the 2022 paper |
|---|---|---|
| Subject-verb agreement | Each of the boys has finished | Q1, Q3, Q13, Q14, Q17, Q20 |
| Tense | She reads the paper every morning | Q4, Q8, Q11, Q12, Q18 |
| Preposition | superior to, not superior than | Q16 |
| Article | an icon, a country | Q5 |
| Collocation | a great deal of work | Q15 |
| Pronoun | Between you and me, not you and I | — |
| Redundancy | return, not return back | — |
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One of my friend | One of my friends | "one of" is followed by a plural noun |
| since five years | for five years | since takes a point in time, for a duration |
| discuss about | discuss | the verb already carries "about" |
| return back | return | redundant |
| more better | better | double comparative |
| The sceneries are | The scenery is | uncountable noun |
| cope up with | cope with | no "up" in the phrase |
Find the error: One of my friend is working as a sub inspector in Warangal.
"One of" must be followed by a plural noun — you are singling one out from a group.
One of my friend →
One of my friends.
The verb stays singular ("is"), because the subject is one, not friends.
Corrected: One of my friends is working as a sub inspector in Warangal.
Related: the same "the subject is not the nearest noun" idea drives Constable Q1 and Q14.
Find the error: Each of the candidates have submitted their application form.
"Each of" is singular, exactly like "either of" and "neither of".
have submitted → has submitted.
Corrected: Each of the candidates has submitted the application form.
Test: delete "of the candidates" and read it back — "Each has submitted" is obviously right.
Find the error: He has been staying in Hyderabad since three years.
Since marks a starting point in time; for marks a length of time.
Three years is a duration, so since three years →
for three years.
Corrected: He has been staying in Hyderabad for three years.
Compare: "since 2019" is correct, because 2019 is a point rather than a span.
Find the error: The police was investigating the case when the witness arrived.
"Police" is a plural noun in English and always takes a plural verb.
was investigating →
were investigating.
Corrected: The police were investigating the case when the witness arrived.
Directly related: Constable Q13 tested this exact noun.
Also see: Subject-Verb Agreement · Active & Passive Voice · Narration