In this English grammar error-spotting question, identify the part of the sentence that contains an error: "Her elegance (1) makes her (2) an attracting lady. (3) No error (4)".

Introduction / Context:

This question checks your knowledge of correct adjective forms in English. The sentence "Her elegance (1) makes her (2) an attracting lady. (3) No error (4)" is divided into numbered parts. You must decide which part contains a grammatical or usage error. The focus here is on the difference between the adjective "attractive" and the present participle "attracting".

Given Data / Assumptions:

- Full sentence: "Her elegance (1) makes her (2) an attracting lady. (3) No error (4)".

- Part 1: "Her elegance"

- Part 2: "makes her"

- Part 3: "an attracting lady."

- Part 4: "No error"

- The intended meaning is that her elegance causes her to be a lady who attracts others; in standard English, we would normally describe such a person as "an attractive lady".

Concept / Approach:

In English, present participles ("attracting") are often used to describe ongoing actions, as in "an attracting force" or "a shining star" (emphasising action). However, when we describe a fixed quality or characteristic of a person, we usually use an adjective like "attractive" rather than "attracting". We say "an attractive proposal", "an attractive person", not "an attracting person", in ordinary descriptive contexts. Therefore, the error is in the choice of "attracting" instead of "attractive".

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

We can test the corrected sentence: "Her elegance makes her an attractive lady." This sounds fully natural and idiomatic. It clearly states that because of her elegance, she possesses the quality of attractiveness. If we keep "attracting", the sentence becomes awkward and implies that she herself is actively attracting in some ongoing sense, which is not how native speakers ordinarily describe a person's inherent charm. Therefore, the correction in Part 3 is necessary.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Part 1 "Her elegance" correctly uses a possessive pronoun and a noun. Part 2 "makes her" is a proper causative structure and matches the subject-verb agreement. Part 4 "No error" is incorrect because we have identified a definite error in Part 3. Selecting any of these parts would either ignore the real mistake or invent a non-existent one, so they cannot be right.

Common Pitfalls:

Students sometimes overuse present participles as adjectives because they sound similar to standard adjectives and appear frequently in English. However, many adjectives have fixed forms like "attractive", "productive", or "effective" that are generally preferred for describing stable qualities. Another pitfall is not paying attention to collocations: common word pairings such as "attractive lady" are so well established that any alternative ("attracting lady") sounds strange. Building awareness of such natural combinations is crucial for scoring well in error-spotting tasks.

Final Answer:

The error lies in part "3", where "an attracting lady" should be corrected to "an attractive lady".