In the following question, one part of the sentence may contain a grammatical error. This item tests your knowledge of subject verb agreement. Read the sentence and identify the part that has an error, if any. Too great a / variety of studies / distract the mind / No error

Introduction:
Error spotting questions are designed to check your understanding of English grammar in real sentences. This particular sentence tests subject verb agreement, which means that the verb must agree in number (singular or plural) with its true subject. You are asked to select the part that contains the error or choose "No error" if the sentence is already correct.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- The sentence is divided into four parts: "Too great a", "variety of studies", "distract the mind", and "No error".
- The complete sentence is: "Too great a variety of studies distract the mind."
- The structure "Too great a" is followed by a singular noun phrase in standard English.
- We assume general modern grammar rules used in competitive exams.

Concept / Approach:
The key concept is that the true subject of the sentence is "variety", not "studies". The phrase "a variety of studies" is grammatically singular because the word "variety" is singular, even though "studies" is plural. Therefore, the verb should also be singular. The correct verb form would be "distracts", not "distract". The approach is to identify the head noun of the subject phrase and then match the verb accordingly.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Combine the parts to see the full sentence: "Too great a variety of studies distract the mind."Step 2: Identify the subject. The expression "Too great a variety of studies" has "variety" as its head noun, which is singular and is preceded by "a".Step 3: Check the verb "distract". This is the plural form that would normally agree with a plural subject.Step 4: Since "variety" is singular, the verb must also be singular: "distracts".Step 5: Conclude that the error lies in the part "distract the mind", which should instead read "distracts the mind".

Verification / Alternative check:
As a check, replace the subject with a clearly singular noun. For example, "Too great a burden distracts the mind" sounds correct, whereas "Too great a burden distract the mind" sounds wrong. This pattern confirms that the singular noun governed by "a" requires a singular verb. You can also test the sentence by rewriting it as "A great variety of studies distracts the mind," which again uses "distracts".

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A, "Too great a", is a standard and correct expression. Option B, "variety of studies", is also grammatically correct as it stands. Option D, "No error", is incorrect because we have identified a clear subject verb disagreement in part C. Therefore, the only part containing the error is option C, "distract the mind", where the verb should be "distracts".

Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to focus on the plural noun "studies" and assume that the verb must also be plural. However, in structures like "a variety of", "a number of", or "a series of", it is important to identify whether the exam expects you to treat the expression as singular or plural. In this particular question, "a variety" is clearly singular, and the exam is checking whether you notice that. Always locate the main noun that carries the article "a" or "the" before deciding on the verb form.

Final Answer:
The part of the sentence that contains the error is distract the mind, because the verb should be singular: "distracts the mind".