In this error spotting question, identify the incorrect part in the sentence about critics of television focusing on violence.

Introduction / Context:
This question tests your knowledge of correct word forms, particularly the difference between adjectives and nouns. The sentence says, Critics of television often focus on the prevalent of violence in today’s programmes. While the idea is clear, one word is used in the wrong form, creating a grammatical error. Such subtle vocabulary issues often appear in competitive exams to check careful reading and understanding of standard English usage.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Part 1: Critics of television often
• Part 2: focus on the prevalent of
• Part 3: violence in today’s programmes.
• Part 4: No error
• The intended phrase is the prevalence of violence, referring to how common violence is.

Concept / Approach:
The word prevalent is an adjective meaning widespread or commonly occurring. To serve as the object of the preposition on and to be followed by of, we need a noun, which is prevalence. The correct expression is the prevalence of violence, not the prevalent of violence. Therefore, part 2 contains the error. Parts 1 and 3 correctly describe critics and violence in programmes, so no changes are needed there. The key is to recognise that the structure focus on the something of requires a noun in place of something.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Look closely at part 2, focus on the prevalent of, and identify the grammatical role of prevalent. Step 2: Recall that prevalent is an adjective, which cannot stand alone as the object of a preposition followed by of. Step 3: Remember that the noun form is prevalence, meaning the fact or condition of being widespread. Step 4: Replace prevalent with prevalence to get focus on the prevalence of violence. Step 5: Conclude that part 2 is the segment with the error.

Verification / Alternative check:
Rewrite the sentence correctly: Critics of television often focus on the prevalence of violence in today’s programmes. This version now uses a noun after the preposition on and before of, forming a smooth and grammatically correct phrase. Since only part 2 needed alteration, we can be sure that this is the part containing the grammatical mistake. Parts 1 and 3 remain unchanged and are in line with standard English usage.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Part 1, Critics of television often, serves as a proper subject phrase and introductory adverb and contains no error.

Part 3, violence in today’s programmes, correctly specifies what is being discussed and is grammatically sound.

Part 4, No error, cannot be chosen because we have identified a clear misuse of word form in part 2.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners often remember adjectives like prevalent and common but forget the corresponding nouns, which leads to mistakes in phrases such as prevalence of crime, frequency of accidents, or presence of pollution. A useful strategy is to study word families together, for example prevalent and prevalence, frequent and frequency, present and presence, so that you can choose the right form based on the grammatical role in the sentence.

Final Answer:
The error is in part 2; the phrase should be the prevalence of violence.