Read each of the following sentences to find out whether there is an error or…
2023
Read each of the following sentences to find out whether there is an error or errors in any underlined part(s). If you feel that there is no error in the sentence, choose ‘None of the above’.
Some of the peoples stopped him from moving further.
Answer: A. Some of the peoples — ConceptStandard English uses people as the ordinary plural of person, while peoples chiefly denotes distinct ethnic, cultural, or national groups. Both…
- A.
Some of the peoples
- B.
stopped him
- C.
from moving further.
- D.
More than one of the above
- E.
None of the above
Attempted by 7 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
Standard English uses people as the ordinary plural of person, while peoples chiefly denotes distinct ethnic, cultural, or national groups.
Both farther and further can refer to physical distance in contemporary English. Farther is often preferred when the distinction is observed, but further is also standard for literal movement.
Application
Some of the refers here to an unspecified subset of persons rather than to separate ethnic or national groups, so peoples should be people. The construction stopped him from moving is grammatical, and moving further is an accepted use of further for physical distance. Therefore, only one underlined segment contains the tested error.
Contrast
Some of the peoples requires the ordinary plural people in this context.
stopped him supplies the past-tense verb and its object in the construction stop + object + from + gerund.
from moving further uses further in a standard physical-distance sense.
More than one of the above would require at least two independently defective underlined segments, but this sentence has one.
None of the above would require all three underlined segments to be acceptable, but the noun form in the first segment is not.
Cross-check
The matching official answer-key document NB-2023-12-08-26 for code 23/MAV/M-2023-01 gives Set A question 113 as A, which maps to the value “Some of the peoples.” The separate 09-Dec paper’s key does not govern this item. Contemporary usage references also permit further for physical distance.
Result
The accepted answer is “Some of the peoples.”