Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: 2
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This sentence improvement and error spotting question focuses on correct preposition use and natural phrasing in English. The sentence describes a view related to a bridge and downstream scenery. You must decide which part of the sentence is ungrammatical or unnatural in standard English. Many such questions test common collocation patterns like view downstream and view down from the bridge, so it is important to pay attention to the exact words and prepositions used.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
Standard English requires a suitable preposition after directly down when referring to the direction from a bridge toward the ground or water. The phrase directly down the bridge is not natural in this context, because down the bridge suggests moving along the surface of the bridge, not looking from it. A more idiomatic phrasing would be directly down from the bridge or directly down into the river. Therefore, the error lies in the part that contains directly down the. The other parts, although stylistically imperfect, are acceptable in exam style English.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Read the full sentence and understand the likely intended meaning: a combined view downstream and a view directly below from the bridge.
Step 2: Examine part (1), The view of the downstream. While one might prefer The view downstream in polished English, this part is not clearly ungrammatical in exam terms.
Step 3: Examine part (2), and directly down the. This phrase feels incomplete, because native usage would be directly down from the bridge or directly down into the valley, not directly down the bridge.
Step 4: Conclude that part (2) contains the true error because the preposition and phrase are not standard for describing a view from a bridge.
Verification / Alternative check:
Correct the sentence to a natural version: The view downstream and directly down from the bridge was awesome. Here, part (2) would read and directly down from the, which is different from the original error and aligns with idiomatic English. Parts (1) and (3) can remain essentially unchanged. This shows that the main change is needed in the chunk labelled as part (2) in the question.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A, part (1), could be improved stylistically, but it is not as clearly wrong as part (2). Many exam setters focus on the most obvious and specific preposition error, which is directly down the instead of directly down from the. Option C, part (3), bridge was awesome, is grammatically fine, with a correct subject verb combination. Option D, No Error, is incorrect because we have identified a clear unnatural and incomplete phrase in part (2).
Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes overcorrect part (1), thinking that view of the downstream is the major problem because downstream is often used adverbially. While that is a valid stylistic concern, the exam usually targets a sharper, more objective error in preposition choice. Another pitfall is believing that the sentence has no error, simply because the general meaning is understandable. Always check whether any part of the sentence sounds clearly wrong or incomplete in standard English.
Final Answer:
The error is in part 2, which contains the unnatural phrase directly down the.
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