Grammar Error Spotting Cheat Sheet
Use this step-by-step checklist to quickly spot grammatical errors in sentences during exams.
1. Subject–Verb Agreement (SVA)
Singular subject → singular verb, plural subject → plural verb. Ex: ■ The list of items are long. ■
The list of items is long.
2. Verb Tense & Form
Check tense consistency and correct verb form. Ex: ■ She go to school yesterday. ■ She went to
school yesterday.
3. Pronouns
Number, gender, person, and case must match. Ex: ■ Everyone must bring their book. ■ Everyone
must bring his/her book.
4. Articles & Determiners
Check a, an, the, some, few, little, many, much, etc. Ex: ■ She is the honest girl. ■ She is an
honest girl.
5. Prepositions
Wrong or missing prepositions are common. Ex: ■ She discussed about the issue. ■ She
discussed the issue.
6. Adjectives & Adverbs
Check comparative/superlative forms, adverb vs adjective. Ex: ■ She runs quick. ■ She runs
quickly.
7. Parallelism
Items in a list should follow the same form. Ex: ■ He likes reading, to swim, and playing. ■ He likes
reading, swimming, and playing.
8. Modifiers
Modifier should be close to the word it modifies. Ex: ■ She almost drove her kids to school every
day. ■ She drove her kids to school almost every day.
9. Conjunctions & Connectors
But/although/yet must be used correctly. Ex: ■ Although he was tired, but he kept working. ■
Although he was tired, he kept working.
10. Redundancy & Idioms
Remove unnecessary words. Ex: ■ He returned back home. ■ He returned home.
■ Shortcut Tip:
When spotting errors in a sentence: 1. First check the verb (SVA + tense) 2. Look for
pronoun/article errors 3. Scan prepositions, adjectives/adverbs, parallelism 4. Finally, check
connectors, modifiers, redundancies
