Error Paragraphs/Editing Section
6 th Unit: C-Reading: A Tale of Three Villages - Para No: 36 from the List
Practice page · 20.36 36th_Er_Pr
Write Your Answers
Write the corrected word or phrase for each numbered error (22–26). Submit your answers to receive marks, then review the explanations.
Correct (22): They took all day unloading them.
Explanation: The verb should be in the -ing form after expressions like “spend time,” “waste time,” or “take time.”
• took all day unload them ❌
• took all day unloading them ✔️
Correct (23): No-one told us what was in them.
Explanation: The reporting verb “told” is in the past tense, so the clause must also change to past tense.
• what is in them ❌
• what was in them ✔️
Correct (24): They gave the Chief a brown paper bag—I saw him smiling as the lorries drove away.
Explanation: The verb must match the past narration.
• give ❌
• gave ✔️
Correct (25): This was five years ago. Then three months ago, one of the brightest boys in the village—Thomas Agonyo—started university in Lagos.
Explanation: We use “the” with the expression “one of the…”.
• one of a brightest boys ❌
• one of the brightest boys ✔️
Correct (26): He came home one weekend with a new Chemistry book, and spent all day looking at the drums and writing things down and talking to himself and shaking his head.
Explanation: We use “and” to connect similar or continuous actions. The -ing form is required after “spent all day.”
• incorrect sequence ❌
• correct sequence with looking, writing, talking, shaking ✔️