Question

Identify the part of sentence that contains a mistake in grammar, idiom or syntax :
[A] She was as pretty, [B] if not prettier than [C] any other girl who had come [D] to participate in the meeting
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Answer 1

Hint: The idioms and the syntax that is having error or the mistake should be carefully observed like commas and the formation of the sentences and then based on the correct sentence we need to select the correct option for the sentence formation.So the idioms and the sentence should be checked before.

Complete answer:
Let us analyze the given options:
Option A is correct : The error is one of parallel structure. Here we have two different structures: (1) "as pretty"; and (2) "prettier." In the sentence, they are not grammatically parallel to each other, though they are logically parallel since both are structures used to make comparisons. The first structure ("as pretty") needs to be followed by "as" (which is missing from the sentence).

Option B is incorrect : whereas the second structure needs to be followed by "than" (which is present in the sentence). As a result, we get the ungrammatical construction "as pretty ... than." For the sentence to be grammatically correct, it should be: She was as pretty as, if not prettier than, any other girl who had come to participate in the meeting.

Option C is incorrect : Here the idioms and the sentences are actually correct and there is no mistake in option and all the sentences here given are grammatically correct and proper.

Option D is incorrect : Here the last sentence that is D is also correct so the option is answering the mistake in the question so this option is not used because there is no mistake in the sentence and we do not use it.

Hence the correct answer is ‘A’.

Note: We have added commas before and after "if not prettier than." Now, the two comparative structures are grammatically parallel to each other. That is, "as pretty as" is now parallel, both grammatically and logically, to "prettier than.