Sentence correction: Class 9 English

Key points

Sentence correction means finding the mistake in a sentence and rewriting it correctly. Most mistakes fall into a few groups. If you know the groups, you can check each sentence step by step: subject, verb, tense, pronoun, article, preposition, word order and punctuation.

Subject and verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. Wrong: The boys plays in the yard. Right: The boys play in the yard. Wrong: One of my friends are absent. Right: One of my friends is absent, because the subject is one. Words that come between the subject and verb do not change the subject: 'The box of apples is heavy.'

More agreement rules:

• Each, every, either, neither, everyone, somebody and nobody take a singular verb: Everyone has arrived.
• Two subjects joined by and take a plural verb: Ali and Hamza are friends. But if they form one idea, the verb is singular: Bread and butter is my breakfast.
• With either...or and neither...nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: Neither the teacher nor the students were late.
• Collective nouns take a singular verb when the group acts as one: The team is ready.
• Words like news, mathematics, physics and measles are singular: The news is good.

Tense errors: keep the time of the sentence consistent. Wrong: Yesterday I go to the market and buy fruit. Right: Yesterday I went to the market and bought fruit. Use the present perfect, not the simple past, with since and for when the action continues now: 'She has lived here since 2018.' Use the past perfect for the earlier of two past actions: 'The train had left when we reached the station.' After if with a real future condition, use the present tense: 'If it rains, we will stay home.'

Pronoun errors: a pronoun must agree with the noun it replaces in number and person. Wrong: Each student must bring their book (in formal exams). Better: Each student must bring his or her book. Use the object form after prepositions: 'between you and me', 'for him'. Use the subject form after than when a verb follows: 'She is taller than I am.'

Article and preposition errors: use an before a vowel sound, and a before a consonant sound. Wrong: She is a honest girl. Right: She is an honest girl, because honest begins with a vowel sound. Wrong: He is an university student. Right: He is a university student, because university begins with a consonant sound. Common wrong prepositions: 'discuss about' (right: discuss), 'enter into the room' (right: enter the room), 'return back' (right: return), 'prefer to rather' (right: prefer A to B).

Comparison errors: use the comparative for two and the superlative for three or more. Wrong: She is the taller of the three girls. Right: She is the tallest of the three girls. Do not use double comparatives: 'more better' is wrong, 'better' is right. When comparing, compare like with like. Wrong: The climate of Murree is cooler than Lahore. Right: The climate of Murree is cooler than that of Lahore.

Double negatives: two negatives in one clause cancel each other and make the sentence wrong in standard English. Wrong: I don't know nothing. Right: I don't know anything, or I know nothing. Wrong: He hardly never comes. Right: He hardly ever comes.

Misplaced words and word order: put a describing word next to the word it describes. Wrong: She nearly ate the whole cake (it suggests she almost ate it but did not). Better: She ate nearly the whole cake. Likewise, 'I have only two pens' is clearer than 'I only have two pens'. Questions in indirect speech keep statement order: 'Tell me where she lives', not 'where does she live'. Adjectives come before the noun, and adverbs of frequency usually come before the main verb: 'He always arrives early.'

Run-on sentences and fragments: a run-on sentence joins two complete sentences without proper punctuation: 'It was raining we stayed home.' Fix it with a full stop, a semicolon or a conjunction: 'It was raining, so we stayed home.' A fragment is an incomplete sentence: 'Because he was tired.' Complete it: 'He slept early because he was tired.'

Method for the examination: read the sentence once for meaning. Find the subject and verb and check agreement. Check the tense and the time words. Check pronouns, articles and prepositions. Then rewrite the full sentence neatly, changing only what is wrong.

Study tip: Use a fixed checklist for every sentence: subject, verb, tense, pronoun, article, preposition, then word order. Practise with ten wrong sentences a day and say the correction aloud with the rule. In the paper, write the full corrected sentence, not just the changed word, and keep the original meaning.

Definitions and flashcards

Say the meaning first, then open the card to check.

Short questions with model answers

These are the kind of questions asked for 2, 3 and 5 marks. Try each one before opening the answer.

Common mistakes

• Matching the verb to the nearest noun instead of the true subject, as in 'The list of items are long'.
• Changing tenses within one sentence without a reason.
• Adding unnecessary words, such as 'return back', 'discuss about' and 'more better'.
• Correcting a sentence by changing its meaning instead of fixing only the error.
• Leaving a comma between two complete sentences, which creates a run-on sentence.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet