In the NDA English paper, spotting errors gives you a sentence split into parts and asks which part — if any — has a grammatical mistake. It is one of the most scoring areas because almost every error comes from a short, fixed list of grammar rules. The Cavalier shows you exactly which rules to check, in which order, so you never miss the trap.
What Spotting Errors Actually Tests
A spotting errors question gives you one sentence broken into labelled parts, usually (a), (b), (c) and (d), where (d) is often ‘No error’. Exactly one part may contain a grammatical mistake, and your task is to name that part.
The sentence itself is normal English — the meaning is clear. What is being tested is your knowledge of grammar rules: agreement, tense, prepositions, articles, pronouns and so on. The examiner plants a single wrong word or form and hopes you read past it.
Only one part is wrong (or none). You are not asked to correct the sentence — only to locate the faulty part. Never change two things at once in your head.
For example: (a) The number of students / (b) who have failed / (c) are very large. / (d) No error. Here the subject is ‘The number’, which is singular, so the verb should be ‘is’, not ‘are’. The error is in part (c). Notice how the sentence reads smoothly — that is the trap.
Why This Topic Is a Marks Machine
The NDA English paper carries 200 marks (100 questions of 2 marks each), and grammar-based questions — spotting errors, sentence improvement and ordering — form a large, repeating block. Spotting errors is especially valuable because the rules are finite and predictable.
- The same handful of rules is tested every single year.
- No outside knowledge is needed — only grammar you can master.
- Once you build a checking routine, each question takes seconds.
NDA has negative marking of 0.83 marks (one-third of 2.5) for a wrong answer. If you genuinely cannot find a fault after checking the rules, ‘No error’ is a real, correct option about a fifth of the time — do not invent a mistake out of fear.
Students who treat grammar as a vague feeling lose these marks. Students who treat each sentence as a checklist collect them. That single shift in approach is the whole secret of this section.
Rule 1: Subject-Verb Agreement
This is the single most tested rule in NDA spotting errors. The verb must agree with its subject in number (singular or plural) and person.
- A singular subject takes a singular verb: The boy runs; a plural subject takes a plural verb: The boys run.
- Two subjects joined by and are usually plural: Ram and Shyam are here.
- With either…or / neither…nor / or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
- Each, every, everyone, neither, either, none are singular: Each of the boys is present.
The classic trap is putting a long phrase between the subject and verb so you forget the real subject. In The quality of the apples were poor, the subject is quality (singular), not apples, so it must be was. The words in between are decoys.
Treating The number of as plural. The number of is singular (The number is…), but A number of is plural (A number of people are…). The NDA tests this difference often.
Rule 2: Tense and Sequence
Errors of tense happen when the time of the verb does not match the rest of the sentence. Keep a sharp eye on time-markers like yesterday, since, for, already, ago and tomorrow.
- Since + a point of time and for + a length of time go with the present perfect: I have lived here since 2010 / for ten years.
- A past action before another past action takes the past perfect: The train had left before I reached.
- After If in a real condition, use present tense, not will: If it rains, we will stay.
A frequent error is mixing past and present in one sentence: He came home and switches on the TV. Since came is past, it must be switched. When one verb in a sentence is past, the others usually follow unless there is a good reason.
Universal truths and habitual facts stay in the present tense even in a past sentence: The teacher said that the sun rises in the east — not ‘rose’.
Rule 3: Prepositions
Prepositions (in, on, at, to, for, with, of, from) are tiny but heavily tested, because English fixes certain words to certain prepositions and there is no logic — only usage.
Memorise these fixed pairs that appear in NDA papers:
- married to (not with)
- good / bad at something
- composed / consist of
- depend on, insist on, rely on
- different from (not than)
- superior / inferior to (never than)
Some verbs need no preposition at all, and adding one creates the error. We say discuss the matter (not discuss about), reach the station (not reach to), and resemble his father (not resemble to).
Writing superior than or inferior than. Words ending in -or from Latin comparatives (superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior) always take to, never than.
Rule 4: Articles and Determiners
The articles a, an, the trip up many students. The choice between a and an depends on the sound that follows, not the spelling.
- Use an before a vowel sound: an hour, an honest man, an MLA (silent h or vowel-sound).
- Use a before a consonant sound: a university, a one-rupee coin, a European (these start with a ‘y’ or ‘w’ sound).
- Use the for something specific, unique objects (the sun, the Ganga) and superlatives (the best).
Do not use the before abstract nouns, proper nouns and material nouns used generally: we say Honesty is the best policy, not The honesty. Equally, omitting a needed article is also an error: He is honest man must be an honest man.
Rule 5: Pronouns, Adjectives and Adverbs
A pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces in number, gender and person, and its case (subject vs object form) must be right.
- Use subject pronouns (I, he, she, they) as the doer and object pronouns (me, him, her, them) as the receiver: between you and me (not ‘I’).
- Each, everyone, anybody are singular — refer back with his / her, not their, in formal grammar.
- Comparatives compare two (better, larger); superlatives compare three or more (best, largest).
Adjective-versus-adverb confusion is another planted error. Adjectives describe nouns; adverbs describe verbs. So we say She sings beautifully (adverb), not She sings beautiful. After verbs of sense like look, feel, smell, taste, use the adjective: The rose smells sweet.
For comparing two things always use the comparative: He is the taller of the two brothers — never ‘tallest of the two’.
A Step-by-Step Checking Routine
The fastest way to spot the error is to scan the sentence in a fixed order rather than reading randomly. Run this quick mental checklist every time.
- Find the subject and verb — do they agree in number?
- Check the tense — does it match the time-markers?
- Scan every preposition — is each fixed pair correct?
- Check articles — a / an by sound, and is ‘the’ needed or wrong?
- Check pronouns and comparatives — right case, right degree?
Read each part as a separate unit. The NDA labels parts for a reason — test each part against the checklist, and the moment one part breaks a rule, that is your answer. Do not keep reading after you have found a clear error.
This routine works because almost every planted error belongs to the five rule-groups above. If a sentence survives all five checks, the answer is genuinely No error.
Worked Example
Let us apply the routine to a real-looking sentence.
Spot the error: (a) Neither the captain / (b) nor the players / (c) was present at the ground. / (d) No error.
See how the routine made the answer obvious. Without the neither…nor rule, ‘was present’ sounds perfectly fine — that is exactly the trap the examiner set. The lesson is that your ear cannot be trusted here; only the rule can. A reader who relies on what ‘sounds right’ will mark part (d) and lose the question, while a reader who tested each part against the agreement rule lands on (c) in seconds.
Traps the NDA Loves to Set
Beyond single rules, the paper recycles a few favourite tricks. Knowing them by name lets you catch them instantly.
- Redundancy: two words doing the same job, like return back, repeat again, more better, free gift. Drop the extra word.
- Double negatives: I did not see nobody — one negative is enough.
- Wrong word pair: not only…but also, scarcely…when, no sooner…than. Mixing these halves is an error.
- Uncountable nouns made plural: informations, advices, furnitures, equipments are all wrong — these have no plural.
Writing one of the + singular noun. After one of the, the noun must be plural: one of the best players, never ‘one of the best player’.
Previous-Year Style Question
Try this in the exact NDA format before reading the answer.
Q. Spot the part with the error: (a) The Principal along with / (b) the teachers were / (c) invited to the function. / (d) No error.
Answer: Part (b). The subject is ‘The Principal’, which is singular. The phrase along with the teachers is extra information set off from the subject, so it does not change the number. The verb must be was, not ‘were’. Phrases like along with, as well as, together with, in addition to, accompanied by never make a singular subject plural.
Quick Revision
- Only one part is wrong (or none) — just locate it.
- Check in order: subject-verb, tense, prepositions, articles, pronouns.
- The number of = singular; A number of = plural.
- Superior / inferior take to, never than.
- Along with, as well as, together with do not change the verb's number.
- Use a / an by sound, not spelling: an hour, a university.
- Watch redundancy, double negatives and uncountable nouns.
- If nothing breaks a rule, ‘No error’ is a real answer — do not panic-guess.
Practise twenty sentences a day with this checklist, and within weeks spotting errors becomes the fastest, most reliable marks in your NDA English paper. The rules never change — only the words around them do.
Frequently asked questions
How many spotting-error questions come in the NDA exam?
The exact count varies year to year, but grammar-based questions including spotting errors and sentence improvement form a steady block in the 200-mark English paper. Mastering a few core rules covers most of them.
Is 'No error' ever the correct answer?
Yes. In a notable share of questions the sentence is fully correct and 'No error' is the right choice. After checking all the rules, if nothing breaks, choose 'No error' confidently rather than inventing a fault.
What is the most commonly tested rule in spotting errors?
Subject-verb agreement is the single most tested area, especially traps where a long phrase separates the subject from its verb, or where words like 'each', 'the number of' and 'along with' confuse the number.
Should I correct the sentence or just find the error?
You only need to locate the faulty part, not rewrite it. Knowing the correction helps you confirm your choice, but the answer you mark is simply the label of the wrong part, such as (a), (b) or (c).
How do I get faster at spotting errors?
Use a fixed checking order every time: subject-verb agreement, tense, prepositions, articles, then pronouns and comparatives. Daily practice with this routine turns slow reading into quick, rule-based scanning.
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