The sentence reads: "Every motorist knows road signs---whether symbols or colour codes--- have an immediacy that neither the spoken nor the written word can match." Let's break it down to identify any grammatical error:
- Option A - Every motorist knows:
- This part is grammatically correct. The subject "Every motorist" is followed by the verb "knows," and there is no error in this part.
- Option B - road signs---whether symbols or colour codes--- have an immediacy:
- This part contains an error. The subject "road signs" is plural, so the verb "have" is correctly used. However, there should be a comma or dash after "colour codes" for clarity, and "have" is correctly placed here. There seems to be a minor punctuation error, but no grammar error in verb usage.
- Option C - that neither the spoken nor the written word can match:
- This part is grammatically correct. The structure of "neither...nor" is used correctly, and the phrase "can match" is also fine in this context.
- Option D - No error:
- The sentence is almost correct except for some punctuation issues in Option B. The sentence structure itself is grammatically correct, so Option D is not fully correct.
- Final Answer:
- The error is related to punctuation, which affects clarity, but grammatically the sentence is correct in verb agreement. The correct answer is B.