In this English grammar error detection item, identify which part of the sentence "One should respect religious beliefs of others, as much as his owns" contains a mistake.

Difficulty: Medium

Correct Answer: Part C: "as much as his owns."

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
This sentence looks like a moral statement about tolerance and respect for religion, but the exam tests grammar rather than ethics. Error spot questions of this type normally hide the problem in pronouns, articles, or small word forms such as own and owns. The sentence reads One should respect religious beliefs of others, as much as his owns. We must find which segment violates standard patterns of English usage.


Given Data / Assumptions:
- The sentence is: One should respect religious beliefs of others, as much as his owns. - It is divided into four parts labelled A, B, C, and D. - Only one part is grammatically incorrect. - The register is formal written English as used in competitive exams.


Concept / Approach:
The first important structure is One should respect religious beliefs of others. This is a general statement using the pronoun one to talk about people in general. When we compare with a possessive reference to the same subject, we normally say as much as one respects one own beliefs or as much as he respects his own. The adjective own does not take a plural s in this context. The phrase his owns is therefore incorrect. We need to locate the part of the sentence where this incorrect phrase appears.


Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Look at part A: One should respect. This is grammatically correct and is a standard moral style in English. Step 2: Look at part B: religious beliefs of others,. This correctly expresses the idea of the beliefs held by other people. Step 3: Look at part C: as much as his owns. Here, the word owns appears where we expect own, which is an adjective. Step 4: Recognise that own functions as a possessive adjective, and it does not take the plural marker s in this construction. Step 5: Part D claims there is no error, but we have already seen an error in part C. Step 6: Conclude that the incorrect portion lies in part C, which should read as much as his own.


Verification / Alternative check:
We can rewrite the sentence in a corrected form: One should respect religious beliefs of others as much as his own. Another check is to see how own behaves with other pronouns, for example, her own, my own, our own. We never say my owns or their owns in standard grammar. This confirms that the extra s in owns is wrong. Therefore our identification of part C as the error containing segment is correct.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A is wrong because the phrase One should respect is perfectly standard for giving general advice or moral principles. Option B is wrong because religious beliefs of others is a clear and grammatically correct noun phrase. Option D is wrong because, as discussed, the sentence does contain an error, so we cannot claim No error.


Common Pitfalls:
A frequent trap in such questions is that test takers focus only on big vocabulary words like religious or beliefs, and they overlook small function words. However, competitive exams often hide the error in small but crucial items, such as prepositions, possessive adjectives, and singular plural endings. Another pitfall is to think that owns is acceptable because we say owns as a verb, for example, He owns a house. In this sentence, however, own is not a verb but an adjective modifying an understood noun such as beliefs or faith. Remembering this difference helps you avoid the confusion.


Final Answer:
The correct answer is Part C: "as much as his owns."

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