Question

Identify and correct the errors in the following sentence:
The elephant is largest living animal on land.

Answer 1

Hint: This is an example of a superlative degree of comparison, where a particular thing is supposed to be the only one of its kind in a group.

Complete step-by-step answer:

We know that there are three degrees of comparison, namely, positive, comparative, and superlative. We can use each of these degrees of comparison in a sentence, depending on its context.
A positive comparison is achieved when a person or an object is all alone and not be compared with anything else. E.g., The elephant is a large animal.
A comparative comparison is achieved when a person or object is being compared with another person or object. E.g. The elephant is a larger animal than the tiger.
 A superlative comparison is achieved when a person or an object is deemed to be the only one of its kind among a group of persons or objects. E.g., The elephant is the largest animal of all.
Let us consider the given question - The elephant is the largest living animal on land.
Here, we are being given the particulars of the largest living animal on land. No other animal on land is as large as the elephant. Adjectives in the superlative form are always preceded by the article ‘the’. However, this article is missing in the question. Therefore, the correct answer is - The elephant is the largest living animal on land.

Note: The adjective in the superlative form is always preceded by the article ‘the’. Without this article, your sentence will be grammatically incorrect.