Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: and beautiful waterfall
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This is an error spotting question focusing on correct use of articles and connectors in English sentences. The sentence given is This town has an ancient temple and beautiful waterfall so many tourists come here. Such questions are common in competitive exams and are designed to test whether you can notice missing articles, incorrect conjunctions, and sentence fragments that affect clarity and correctness.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
In English, when two singular countable nouns are listed, each usually requires an article, especially when they are distinct items. The phrase an ancient temple is correct, but beautiful waterfall lacks any article. It should be a beautiful waterfall to match the parallel structure. Another nuance is the conjunction so, which normally introduces a result clause and is often preceded by a comma in writing, although the main grammatical error here is clearly the missing article. The question asks for the part that contains the error, so we must choose the segment where the noun waterfall appears without its required article.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the two attractions mentioned: an ancient temple and a beautiful waterfall.
Step 2: Notice that the first noun phrase an ancient temple has the article an, indicating a single specific temple.
Step 3: Look at the second noun phrase beautiful waterfall and recognise that waterfall is also a singular countable noun.
Step 4: Realise that a singular countable noun normally requires an article such as a, an, or the, so the correct phrase should be a beautiful waterfall.
Step 5: Conclude that the error lies in part B and that the corrected sentence should read This town has an ancient temple and a beautiful waterfall, so many tourists come here.
Verification / Alternative check:
Read the corrected sentence aloud and observe its flow. This town has an ancient temple and a beautiful waterfall, so many tourists come here sounds natural. If you remove the article before beautiful waterfall, the phrase feels incomplete and unbalanced against an ancient temple. Additionally, grammar rules for parallel structures support the idea that both coordinated nouns should be of similar form. Therefore, adding a before beautiful waterfall is necessary to maintain grammatical correctness and stylistic harmony in the sentence.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A This town has an ancient temple is grammatically correct with the proper use of the article an before ancient temple.
Option C so many tourists come here is acceptable as a result clause meaning that many tourists visit this town because of these attractions.
Option D No error cannot be correct because we have identified a clear missing article in part B.
Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes overlook missing articles because they focus only on obvious tense or subject verb agreement errors. Another frequent issue is believing that the article before the first noun automatically covers the second noun as well. This can be true in special cases where two nouns refer to a single combined idea, but here a temple and a waterfall are separate attractions. A useful strategy is to check each singular countable noun individually and confirm that it has an appropriate article unless there is a strong reason to omit it.
Final Answer:
and beautiful waterfall
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