Question

In the following passage, each line has an error. Edit the passage by identifying the wrong word/ inappropriate expression, strike it off, and then write the correct word in the blank provided as shown in the example:

Example: Shri Ramakrishna did not got his ideas - get
a) from books. He did not go to some college or
b) university; in fact he did not even at
c) school for a long time. He was born on 1836
d) and very early in life he becomes a temple
e) priest. He found the great happiness is being
f) a priest, and spent many his time in the service
g) of Kali, the Divine Mother which he worshipped in
h) the temple for Dakshineshwar. He lived a
i) deep religious life. He led a very hard
j) life but often went without food and water.

Answer 1

Hint: While correcting paragraphs (like the one given above), one must keep in mind the tense, gender, position of verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and other rules of grammar in mind so as to not make an error. In the solution that follows we have used ‘italics’ font type to indicate the wrong/ inappropriate expression.

Complete answer:
Now, let us look at the given paragraph and correct the errors –
a)from books. He did not go to some college or – any (in place of some because we are not talking about quantity but rather we are speaking of him attending ‘neither this nor that’)
b)university; in fact he did not even at – go to (in place of at, ‘did not even at school’ makes no sense and is an incorrect way to write a sentence)
c)school for a long time. He was born on 1836 – in (in place of on, because while talking about years we use ‘in’ instead of ‘on’)
d)and very early in life he becomes a temple – in his life he became (in place of in life he becomes)
e)priest. He found the great happiness is being – no need of the, i.e. found great (in place of found the great, it become found great)
f)a priest, and spent many his time in the service – much of (in place of many)
g)of Kali, the Divine Mother which he worshipped in – whom (in place of which as ‘which’ is used to denote things rather than human figure).
h)the temple for Dakshineshwar. He lived a – of (in place of for)
i)deep religious life. He led a very hard – no need for deep (we can write – ‘He lived a religious life)
j)life but often went without food and water. – and (in place of but).

Note: In these kinds of questions try to read the sentences very carefully. In some cases, there are minute errors that one can overlook easily.