CAT 2013 Series part 2: Practice the 5 types of Error Corrections in Verbal Ability

NOIDA, India - Oct. 10, 2013 - PRLog -- After the first article http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7139/   in the Verbal series, this is the second expert article by Prof SK Agarwal, author and expert in Verbal Area, sharing the tips and tricks to solve five most important types of error correction questions.

Error correction in paragraphs and sentences is a very important part of Verbal Ability and the question types vary from year to year.  For example, CAT 2012 did not ask the aspirants to re-write or correct the underlined sentences, although there were paragraphs from which correct or incorrect sentences had to be picked out. Wrong attempts on these two-three questions may take you out of the fray and the right attempts may enable you to enter your desired B-school.  Fraction of the percentile counts, please remember.

Types of Questions with sample Exercises
Following Five types of questions, based on fundamentals of Grammar, Verb Agreements etc. in paragraphs and sentences may appear in CAT 2013 (http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7142/verbal-ability...). Questions on corrections in paragraphs appear year after year and sometimes CAT substitutes them with following other types as well. They require more and more practice and analysis.  More practice using tips and tricks in right direction will definitely help you to perform better in this area but there is no time now to build your fundamentals

Type-1 spotting the errors in underlined Parts of sentences – The question consists of a sentence, a part of which is underlined.  Four options (A, B, C, D) are given to replace the underlined clause. It can be a part of sentence, a phrase, an idiom with incorrect syntax, tense, verb or other grammatical errors which may or may not exist. Option A is same as the question. The test taker is directed to pick out the most appropriate option that should replace the underlined clause in terms of standard written English.

Type-2 Complete sentence is underlined
The question comprises an underlined sentence which may or may not be correct as per the rules of standard written English. Again, four options (A, B, C, D) are given to replace the underlined sentence. Option A is same as the question. The test taker is directed to pick out the most appropriate option that should replace the underlined sentence in terms of standard written English.

Type-3 Re-writing of entire sentence. There is no underlined part of sentence.  It may contain one error, multiple errors or no error.  Four options (A, B, C, D) with the re-written sentence structure are given and the most appropriate one has to be picked out. There may be the direction to the aspirant  in the beginning of the question  like- ‘ if you think, sentence needs re-writing, do not  waste your time reading  option ‘A’ as it is same as the question’. Proceed accordingly as close reading of Option A is required in case, you find no error or unable to find any error in the question. In this case all the options are required to be closely read before marking the correct answer.

Type-4 Marking the correct sentences in a paragraph– This question type consists of four sentences, forming a paragraph, out of them one or more sentences or all the sentences may be correct.  The options (A, B, C, D) are given accordingly and you are supposed to mark the most appropriate option that identifies the correct sentences in the paragraph.

Type-5 Marking the incorrect sentences in a paragraph-It is opposite to earlier one. Here also, you are given four sentences- the difference is that you have to mark the incorrect sentences, which may be one or more. Right choice of options can be exercised by following the rules of grammar, syntax and verbosity.

Already published article Part-1 http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7139/ in the Verbal series-7 days to CAT  described the solution tips on 6 types of LR problems and in the part-3 of the series I will guide you how to perform better in different types of Vocabulary questions, while Part-4 will focus on scoring high in Reading Comprehension.  Those who missed the earlier article on anticipated surprise questions in Verbal Ability should read it attentively by following the link http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7137/