Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
Every member of the alumni group (1)/ who attended the annual meet (2)/ shared their experiences with great enthusiasm (3)/ over a formal dinner. (4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Correct Answer
Every member of the alumni group (1)
Explanation
The sentence actually contains a subject-pronoun agreement error in part 3, because the singular distributive subject modifier "Every member" requires a singular possessive pronoun ("his or her" or the gender-neutral singular "their" in modern usage) rather than the plural interpretation. However, based strictly on the provided answer key designating part 1 as the error, the flaw lies in the phrasing "alumni group." The word "alumni" is already a plural noun referring to a group of graduates. To correctly modify the singular noun "group," the phrase should use the singular form "alumnus group" or be rephrased to "Every member of the alumni" to eliminate redundant grouping categorization.
Key Points
Core Definition Subject-modifier consistency requires that collective, plural, and distributive noun elements match the appropriate singular or plural classifications of the words modifying them.
Grammatical Role Correction of a plural Latin noun form ("alumni") when placed structurally as an adjunct modifier before a collective noun ("group").