Introduction / Context:
This is an error spotting question that tests fine points of English grammar and usage, especially relative pronouns and standard collocations. The sentence is divided into parts labelled A, B, C, and D, and you need to identify the segment that contains a grammatical or idiomatic error. The sentence talks about someone telling the same story to two different people on different occasions.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- Full sentence: He told me the same (A) story which he told (B) you yesterday. (C) No error (D).
- Part A: He told me the same.
- Part B: story which he told.
- Part C: you yesterday.
- The structure uses the phrase the same story which he told you yesterday.
Concept / Approach:
In standard English, the word that is preferred after same in the pattern the same ... that. The combination same which is not considered idiomatic in such cases. Therefore, story which he told you yesterday should be corrected to story that he told you yesterday. Nothing is wrong with the rest of the sentence, so the error lies where which is used instead of that in part B.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Examine part A: He told me the same. This is fine because it leads naturally into story.
Step 2: Examine part B: story which he told. The key here is the word which used after same.
Step 3: Recall the idiomatic pattern: the same thing that, the same story that, the same person that. So we expect the same story that he told you yesterday.
Step 4: Since which is less natural and considered incorrect in this fixed expression, part B contains the error.
Step 5: Examine part C: you yesterday. This is correct and simply names the other person and the time.
Step 6: Since only part B breaks a standard pattern, we mark B as the segment with the error.
Verification / Alternative check:
We can rewrite the corrected sentence: He told me the same story that he told you yesterday. This version reads smoothly and follows standard usage. Grammarians often point out that same takes that, not which, in formal English. If we tried to correct other parts instead, the sentence would become ungrammatical or unnatural. Therefore, the only reasonable correction is to change which to that in part B.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- Part A: He told me the same introduces the noun story and is structurally correct.
- Part C: you yesterday clearly indicates who heard the story and when, and there is no grammatical problem here.
- Part D: No error is not correct, because we have already identified a clear issue with the relative pronoun in part B.
Common Pitfalls:
A common pitfall in error spotting is to overlook small but important collocational rules and instead search for bigger problems in tense or prepositions. Some candidates might focus on the tense told in both parts and think it should change, but the repetition is acceptable. The subtle but significant issue is the use of which instead of that after same. Paying attention to frequently examined patterns such as same that, prefer to, and different from helps avoid such mistakes.
Final Answer:
The error is in segment
B; it should read story that he told, not story which he told.
Discussion & Comments