For English, I didn't use any big grammar book. The Punjab Board books of classes 10, 11 and 12 were enough, because the paper tests the same rules again and again. Error spotting is where those rules show up most. Here are the ones I saw most, each with a sentence you can remember.
What this topic covers
A method first: find the subject and the verb of every sentence before anything else. Most errors are about how they agree, or about the small words around them.
Subject-verb agreement
- Each / every / either / neither + singular verb.
✗ Each of the boys have a book. ✓ Each of the boys has a book.
- "One of the" + plural noun + singular verb.
✗ One of my friends are a doctor. ✓ One of my friends is a doctor.
- Neither... nor / either... or: the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
✓ Neither the teacher nor the students were present.
- "Along with", "as well as", "with" don't change the subject.
✓ The captain, along with his players, was honoured.
Nouns and articles
- Uncountable nouns have no plural: information, advice, furniture, luggage, equipment.
✗ He gave me many advices. ✓ He gave me much advice / a piece of advice.
- "A" or "an" goes by sound, not spelling.
✓ an hour, an MLA, an honest man; a university, a European, a one-day match.
Prepositions
- No preposition after: discuss, comprise, reach, enter, order, resemble.
✗ We discussed about the plan. ✓ We discussed the plan.
- Fixed pairs: married to, senior to, prefer to, superior to, different from, accused of, angry with a person, angry at a thing.
✗ He is senior than me. ✓ He is senior to me.
Tenses
- Since + point of time, for + period of time, with present perfect (continuous).
✓ I have lived here since 2020 / for six years.
- No future tense after "when / if / before / until" (time and condition clauses).
✗ I will call you when he will come. ✓ I will call you when he comes.
- "Hardly / scarcely ... when"; "no sooner ... than".
✓ No sooner had he left than it started raining. ✓ Hardly had he left when it started raining.
- Imaginary wish or condition: "were" for every subject.
✓ If I were you, I would apologise.
Pronouns and conjunctions
- After a preposition, use the object form.
✗ Between you and I. ✓ Between you and me.
- "Lest" is followed by "should", never by "not".
✓ Work hard lest you should fail.
- "Though ... yet", "not only ... but also", "both ... and" (never "both ... as well as").
✓ He is not only intelligent but also hardworking.
How it is asked in the exam
The sentence is split into three or four parts (A, B, C, D), with one option for "No error". Read the whole sentence once, find the subject and verb, then check the small words: articles, prepositions and the second half of conjunction pairs.
Points to remember
- Don't hunt for big words. Errors are almost always in small words.
- "No error" is a real answer. If you've checked subject, verb, article, preposition and tense and found nothing, choose it.
- Collective nouns (team, committee, jury) take a singular verb when acting as one unit.
Common mistakes
- Choosing the part with the hard word because it "sounds wrong".
- Matching the verb with the noun nearest to it instead of the real subject.
- Using "than" after senior, junior, superior, inferior, prefer.
Practise straight after reading
Write these fifteen rules in your own notebook, one example each. Solve error-spotting questions from previous Punjab papers and from the English quizzes on this site. Every time you miss one, write which rule it was. That rule list is what you revise after 1, 7 and 30 days.