Question

Select the part of the sentence which has an error in it. If the sentence is correct, select “No Error”:
(a) The front-page story was about a school girl, (b) that had hurt herself, (c) while saving a child in an accident. (d) No Error.
A) a
B) b
C) c
D) D

Answer 1

Hint: An independent clause that expresses a complete thought in a group of words and contains a subject and a verb. A dependent clause contains a subject, a verb but does not express a complete thought with its group of words. When a pronoun, like conjunction, connects a dependent clause to an independent clause, it is known as a relative pronoun.

Complete answer:
When a clause is separated by a comma, it becomes a non-defining dependent clause i.e. it only adds additional information which may or may not be required and does not complete an entire thought.
For example - “His mother who works at the farm is a friend of mine.” is a defining clause, however,
“His mother, who is an author, is a friend of mine.” is a non-defining clause.

A non-defining clause is always introduced with a relative pronoun, also known as an adjective pronoun as they identify and provide supplementary information about the subject of the independent clause they are connected to. Relative pronouns used to introduce a non-defining clause are: “who, whose, which or whom”.

“That” cannot be used to introduce a non-defining relative clause as that can only be used in defining relative clauses.
For example- “Mr Verma, that I like, has invited me to his wedding.” is not correct.
“Mr Verma, who I like, has invited me to his wedding.” is grammatically correct.

Therefore, in the question given above, part (b) of the sentence, beginning with “that” is the erroneous section. It should have been - (b) who had hurt herself

Hence the correct answer is Option B- (b).

Note: That” is only used in defining relative clauses as they provide information essential for identifying or defining the particular person or thing we are talking about.
For example- The sentence- “Cats that like dogs are very unusual.” talks about a particular group of cats.