CDS 2026 (I) English, question 111

Topic: Spotting errors

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Directions · Q111 to Q115

Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to determine whether there is an error in any underlined part and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. If there is no error, indicate your response as (d).

Q111

Today she was an accomplished singer because she had trained under an acclaimed guru in her youth.

  1. (a) Today she was an accomplishedCorrect answer
  2. (b) singer because she had trained
  3. (c) under an acclaimed guru in her youth.
  4. (d) No error.

Solution.

Answer: (a) Today she was an accomplished

  1. Today points to the present, so the verb must be present tense: Today she is an accomplished singer.
  2. The training came earlier, so had trained in part (b) and in her youth in part (c) are acceptable.
  3. Correction: Today she is an accomplished singer because she had trained under an acclaimed guru in her youth.

Trap: had trained in (b) looks wrong, but the past perfect is acceptable for the earlier action; the clash is between Today and was.