Error Spotting – Choose the segment (A–D) that contains a grammatical error; select “No error” only if the entire sentence is correct. Sentence: A) Yesterday, a visitor to B) the park was attacked C) by a tiger and D) had to hospitalise.

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: had to hospitalise.

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
This item checks the correct passive complement after “had to …” when the subject undergoes a medical procedure. The active verb “hospitalise” requires an object (“doctors hospitalised the patient”), but when the patient is the subject, English uses the passive “be hospitalised”.


Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Event time: “Yesterday”.
  • Passive attack clause: “was attacked by a tiger”.
  • Subsequent necessity: “had to …”.


Concept / Approach:
With “had to”, use a base verb describing what the subject had to do or undergo. Since the subject (visitor) underwent hospital admission performed by others, the idiomatic form is “had to be hospitalised”.


Step-by-Step Solution:
1) Recognize that “hospitalise” is transitive in active voice.2) Align with subject-undergoer semantics: choose passive infinitive.3) Correct sentence: “Yesterday, a visitor to the park was attacked by a tiger and had to be hospitalised.”4) Therefore, D is the segment with the error.


Verification / Alternative check:
Parallel: “had to be treated/operated on/admitted” — all take passive when the subject is the patient.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • A–C: Grammatically fine; the passive “was attacked … by a tiger” is standard.


Common Pitfalls:
Forgetting to switch to passive after “had to” when the subject is a recipient of an action performed by others.


Final Answer:
Option D

More Questions from Spotting Errors

Discussion & Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
Join Discussion