Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: 1
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This sentence improvement question focuses on the correct preposition used with the verb accused. Legal and formal English often appear in exam passages, so you must know standard patterns such as accuse someone of something, not accuse someone for something. Your task is to find which numbered segment of the sentence contains the error.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Sentence: Sneha was accused for murder of her husband (1) / but the court found her (2) / not guilty and acquitted her. (3) / No error (4).
Part 1: Sneha was accused for murder of her husband.
Part 2: but the court found her.
Part 3: not guilty and acquitted her.
We are asked to choose the part that contains the grammatical error, or No error if all parts are correct.
Concept / Approach:
The key grammar rule here is the verb preposition combination accuse of. In standard English, we say someone is accused of a crime, not accused for a crime. While for is a common preposition, it does not form the correct collocation in this legal context. The rest of the sentence uses typical legal phrasing found her not guilty and acquitted her and is acceptable. The strategy is therefore to scan for incorrect prepositions with the verb accused.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Look at part 1: Sneha was accused for murder of her husband. The phrase accused for immediately stands out as unusual.
Step 2: Recall the correct pattern: accuse someone of something. A correct version should read Sneha was accused of the murder of her husband.
Step 3: Parts 2 and 3, but the court found her not guilty and acquitted her, are standard legal phrases. Courts find someone not guilty and acquit them; there is no error in those expressions.
Step 4: Because only part 1 misuses the preposition with accused, it is the segment that contains the error.
Step 5: No error (4) cannot be chosen because we have clearly identified an incorrect preposition in part 1.
Step 6: Therefore, option 1 is the correct answer to mark.
Verification / Alternative check:
Rewrite the sentence correctly: Sneha was accused of the murder of her husband, but the court found her not guilty and acquitted her. This version is fully grammatical and idiomatic. Comparing it to the original shows that the only required change is for to of after accused, confirming that the error lies in part 1 alone.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Part 2, but the court found her, is standard and introduces the contrasting outcome of the trial, so it contains no error.
Part 3, not guilty and acquitted her, correctly uses both not guilty and acquitted in legal English. Acquitted her means legally declared her not guilty, which is a common collocation.
Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes overuse the preposition for after many verbs, as in punished for, blamed for, fined for, and think accused for follows the same pattern. However, English has specific verb preposition pairs, and accused of is one of the most frequently tested in exams. Remember that misusing prepositions is a favourite trap in error spotting questions.
Final Answer:
The incorrect part is part 1, which should use accused of rather than accused for.
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