Hindi Language for IBPS RRB: Error Spotting, Cloze and Sentence Rearrangement
Agreement of verb, gender and number
The verb takes its gender and number from one word, and which word depends on the sentence. Rule 1: if the subject carries no postposition, the verb agrees with the subject: laṛkī gīt gātī hai. Rule 2: in the past tense of a transitive verb the subject takes ne and the verb agrees with the object: laṛkī ne gīt gāyā; maiṃne pustakeṃ paṛhīṃ. Rule 3: if both subject and object carry a postposition, the verb is masculine singular: usne mohan ko bulāyā.
Joined subjects: two subjects joined by aur take a plural verb (rām aur śyām āe), but with yā or athvā the verb agrees with the nearer subject (rām yā sītā āegī). Gender slips to remember: dahī, pānī, ghī and motī are masculine; ātmā, havā, chat and nadī are feminine.
ne, case markers and pronoun forms
ne is used only with a transitive verb in the past tenses (usne patra likhā thā). It is never used with the present or the future (vah patra likhtā hai; vah patra likhegā) and not with an intransitive verb such as ānā, jānā, girnā or haṃsnā (vah haṃsā, not usne haṃsā).
Pronoun forms before a case marker: the plain forms mere, tumhāre and uske are wrong before se; the correct forms are mujhse, tumse and usse. So tumhāre se yah kām na hogā is wrong and tumse yah kām na hogā is right. A possessive agrees with the thing possessed, not with the owner: āpkī pustak, āpke bhāī.
Misspelt words
Spelling questions ask for the correctly spelt word or the wrongly spelt one. The wrong forms are not random: they come from dropping a conjunct, shortening a long vowel or confusing the feminine ending. Learn the common words with the reason.
| Correct | Typical wrong forms | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| āśīrvād | ārśīvād, āśirvād | The r (repha) sits on va: āśī + rvād; the ī is long. |
| ujjval | ujval, ujjaval | Conjunct jj followed by jva: ut + jval. |
| pratīkṣā | pratikṣā | Long ī in pratīkṣā, as in parīkṣā and samīkṣā. |
| kavayitrī | kaviyatrī | The feminine of kavi ends in -yitrī after kav, not in -iyatrī. |
| svāsthya | svāsth | The word ends in the conjunct thya. |
| atyadhik | atyādhik | ati + adhik gives atyadhik: i + a becomes ya, with no extra long vowel. |
Chandrabindu and anusvar: write the chandrabindu (the moon-and-dot sign) when the letter has no vowel sign above the headline (āṃkh, haṃsnā, gāṃv), and the plain anusvar dot when a vowel sign already stands above the headline (maiṃ, nahīṃ, meṃ, kahīṃ). The plain dot is also the nasal consonant in words such as aṃk, maṃgal and baṃd.
Cloze and fill in the blanks
In a blank, first decide the logic (cause, contrast, addition, condition, comparison), then the grammar (gender and number). Many blanks are correlative pairs, and the second half must match the first.
| Pair | Logic | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jitnā … utnā | Comparison; utnā agrees in gender and number with the noun | jitnī mehnat, utnī saphaltā. |
| jaise hī … vaise hī | Two events at once | jaise hī ghaṃṭī bajī, vaise hī sab uṭh gae. |
| na keval … balki | Addition with emphasis | vah na keval gātā hai, balki likhtā bhī hai. |
| yadyapi … tathāpi | Contrast (although … yet) | yadyapi vah thakā thā, tathāpi caltā rahā. |
| yadi … to | Condition | yadi tum paṛhoge to saphal hoge. |
Phrase substitution and needless repetition
In a phrase-substitution item, one phrase is marked and four replacements are offered; one option says no change is needed. Treat the marked phrase as a mini error-spotting item: run the five checks on it and on the words it touches (its verb, its object). If it passes, choose "no improvement".
Example: sabne apne-apne vicār rakhā. The object vicār is masculine plural and the subject carries ne, so the verb must follow the object: rakhe. Repetition (punrukti): a word that already carries a superlative or an exclusive sense must not be doubled. Wrong: sabse śreṣṭhatam, atyaṃt suṃdartam, mātra keval. Right: sabse śreṣṭh or śreṣṭhatam; suṃdartam; keval.
Sentence rearrangement
Four jumbled sentences P, Q, R, S must be put in order. Method:
(1) find the opener, the sentence that names the subject in full and does not depend on an earlier sentence;
(2) find the closer, which often starts with isliye, ataḥ or is prakār, or sums up;
(3) join the middle with chains of pronouns and connectors. A sentence that begins with usne, vahī, isse, parṃtu or phir cannot be first.
Worked example. P: usne apnī pahlī kamāī se baiṃk meṃ khātā kholā. Q: rameś ko gāṃv ke vidyālay meṃ adhyāpak kī naukrī milī. R: āj vahī bacat uske beṭe kī paṛhāī ke kām ā rahī hai. S: har māh vah thoṛī-thoṛī rāśi jamā kartā rahā. Q names rameś, so it opens; P (usne, the first earnings) follows; S (every month) continues the deposits; R (āj, vahī bacat) closes. The order is QPSR.
Short passages
A short passage is followed by two or three items: the best title, a statement that follows from the passage, or the meaning of a word. A title must cover the whole passage, not one detail. A statement that follows from the passage must be supported by its lines; reject an option that adds a fact, or that turns a sometimes into an always (keval, sadaiv, kabhī nahīṃ).
Example passage: choṭī-choṭī bacat kī ādat hī baṛe sapnoṃ kī nīṃv rakhtī hai. jo vyakti āy kā ek bhāg niymit rūp se alag rakhtā hai, vah saṃkaṭ ke samay dūsroṃ kā muṃh nahīṃ tāktā. isliye bacat ko bojh nahīṃ, sahārā samajhnā cāhie. A good title is bacat: bhaviṣya kā sahārā, because it covers all three sentences; a title about one detail, such as saṃkaṭ kā samay, covers only the middle one.
Key takeaways
- Check in order: verb agreement, gender, number, ne or other case marker, then spelling and repetition; stop at the first clear error.
- With ne in the past tense of a transitive verb the verb agrees with the object; when both subject and object carry a postposition it is masculine singular.
- prāṇ, darśan, āṃsū and hoś are plural only; a respected person takes a plural verb; and se needs mujhse, tumse, usse, not mere se.
- Learn misspellings by reason: āśīrvād, ujjval, pratīkṣā, kavayitrī, svāsthya, atyadhik.
- In a blank decide the logic first, then match the pair: jitnā–utnā, jaise hī–vaise hī, na keval–balki, yadyapi–tathāpi, yadi–to.
- For rearrangement find the opener and closer and check every pronoun's anchor; for a passage pick the title that covers the whole text and reject added facts.
Practice questions (17)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Which of the following is the correct spelling of the word meaning a blessing?
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Answer: B — āśīrvād
āśīrvād is correct: the repha (r) belongs on va, and the ī is long. The wrong forms put the r before śa or shorten the vowel, which is why ārśīvād is the tempting error.Which one of these words is wrongly spelt?
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Answer: D — pratikṣā
pratikṣā is wrong; the word is pratīkṣā with a long ī, like parīkṣā. The other three, kavayitrī, svāsthya and ujjval, are correctly spelt.Choose the grammatically correct sentence.
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Answer: A — mere prāṇ saṃkaṭ meṃ haiṃ.
prāṇ is a plural-only noun, so the verb is haiṃ and the possessive is mere. mere prāṇ saṃkaṭ meṃ hai looks right but has the singular verb, which makes it the most tempting wrong option.Read the sentences. P: usne kal dillī jāyā. Q: maiṃne āpkī ciṭṭhī paṛhī. R: bahneṃ bāzār se sabzī lāī hai. S: śikṣak ne vidyārthiyoṃ ko samjhāyā. Which sentences are correct?
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Answer: C — Q and S only
Q and S are correct. P is wrong because jānā is intransitive and takes no ne (vah kal dillī gayā). R is wrong because the subject bahneṃ is plural, so the verb must be lāī haiṃ, not lāī hai.Which sentence is correct as regards gender?
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Answer: B — āj subah havā bahut tez cal rahī thī.
havā is feminine, so cal rahī thī is correct. dahī and pānī are masculine, so khaṭṭā and ṭhaṃḍā are needed, and chat is feminine, so the verb must be ṭūṭī hai.Which sentence uses the respectful form correctly?
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Answer: D — pitājī āj der se ghar lauṭe.
A respected male relative takes a plural masculine verb: lauṭe. The feminine forms lauṭī and lauṭīṃ do not match pitājī, and lauṭeṃ the is a spelling and form error for lauṭe the.In the sentence below find the part that has an error. samiti ke sabhī sadasyoṃ ne (P) ekmat se yah prastāv (Q) pārit kiyā (R) aur baiṭhak samāpt ho gayā (S).
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Answer: A — Part S
Part S is wrong: baiṭhak is feminine, so it must be samāpt ho gaī. Part R is correct because the object prastāv is masculine, so pārit kiyā agrees with it.Which sentence is free from needless repetition?
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Answer: C — vah sarvaśreṣṭh khilāṛī hai.
sarvaśreṣṭh already means the best of all, so adding atyaṃt, sabse or the suffix tam doubles the superlative. Only the plain sarvaśreṣṭh is free of repetition.Fill the blank with the correct word. jitnī adhik mehnat karoge, ___ adhik saphaltā milegī.
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Answer: D — utnī
jitnī pairs with utnī: the correlative agrees in gender with the noun it qualifies, and saphaltā is feminine. utnā is the tempting form because it is the commonest, but it is masculine.Fill both blanks. ___ baiṃk kī śākhā gāṃv se dūr thī, ___ kisānoṃ ne hār nahīṃ mānī aur khātā khulvāne pahuṃce.
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Answer: B — yadyapi … tathāpi
The sentence shows contrast (the branch was far, yet they came), so yadyapi … tathāpi is right. cūṃki … isliye expresses cause and result, which does not fit, and yadi … to states a condition.Fill the blank. jaise hī ghaṃṭī bajī, ___ vidyārthī kakṣā se bāhar ā gae.
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Answer: C — vaise hī
jaise hī is paired with vaise hī, to show two events happening at once. isliye shows cause and cannot complete the pair.Choose the best replacement for the marked phrase. baiṭhak meṃ sabne apne-apne vicār rakhā.
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Answer: A — rakhe
The subject has ne, so the verb agrees with the object vicār, which is masculine plural: rakhe. rakhā keeps the singular and is the no-change trap.Four words are listed. Which one is wrongly spelt?
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Answer: B — svāsth
svāsth is not a word; the correct spelling is svāsthya with the conjunct thya. sauhārd, ujjval and śreṣṭh are correctly spelt.Arrange P, Q, R, S in order. P: usne apnī pahlī kamāī se baiṃk meṃ khātā kholā. Q: rameś ko gāṃv ke vidyālay meṃ adhyāpak kī naukrī milī. R: āj vahī bacat uske beṭe kī paṛhāī ke kām ā rahī hai. S: har māh vah thoṛī-thoṛī rāśi jamā kartā rahā.
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Answer: D — QPSR
Q names rameś and must open; P (usne, the first earnings) follows; S continues the monthly deposits; R (āj, vahī bacat) closes. PQSR fails because usne would come before any name.Arrange P, Q, R, S in order. P: parṃtu ab mobāil se yahī kām kuch hī kṣaṇoṃ meṃ ho jātā hai. Q: pahle paise bhejne ke lie logoṃ ko baiṃk kī śākhā tak jānā paṛtā thā. R: isse samay kī bacat hotī hai aur katār meṃ khaṛe rahne kī pareśānī bhī nahīṃ rahtī. S: vahāṃ laṃbī katāroṃ meṃ ghaṃṭoṃ khaṛā rahnā ām bāt thī.
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Answer: B — QSPR
Q sets the past (pahle) and S describes the old queues; P turns to the present with parṃtu ab, and R gives the result with isse. QPSR fails because parṃtu would come before the old practice is described, and SQPR opens with vahāṃ (there), which has no place to refer to before Q names the branch.Read the passage and choose the best title. choṭī-choṭī bacat kī ādat hī baṛe sapnoṃ kī nīṃv rakhtī hai. jo vyakti āy kā ek bhāg niymit rūp se alag rakhtā hai, vah saṃkaṭ ke samay dūsroṃ kā muṃh nahīṃ tāktā. baiṃk meṃ jamā yah rāśi surakṣit bhī rahtī hai aur us par byāj bhī miltā hai. isliye bacat ko bojh nahīṃ, bhaviṣya kā sahārā samajhnā cāhie.
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Answer: C — bacat: bhaviṣya kā sahārā
The passage argues that regular saving is a support for the future, so bacat: bhaviṣya kā sahārā covers all its lines. The other titles pick up only one detail: interest, banks or hard times.According to the passage below, which statement follows? choṭī-choṭī bacat kī ādat hī baṛe sapnoṃ kī nīṃv rakhtī hai. jo vyakti āy kā ek bhāg niymit rūp se alag rakhtā hai, vah saṃkaṭ ke samay dūsroṃ kā muṃh nahīṃ tāktā. baiṃk meṃ jamā yah rāśi surakṣit bhī rahtī hai aur us par byāj bhī miltā hai. isliye bacat ko bojh nahīṃ, bhaviṣya kā sahārā samajhnā cāhie.
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Answer: B — niymit bacat karne vālā saṃkaṭ meṃ dūsroṃ par nirbhar nahīṃ rahtā
The second sentence says a regular saver does not look to others in a crisis. The other options add a fact (only the rich can save) or contradict the text (no interest, saving is a burden).