Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
It was not merely the fragmentation of administrative jurisdictions across sectors (1)/ that disintegrated cohesive governance, but the inertia entrenched in overlapping official mandates (2)/ which, though designed to shield institutional autonomy, (3)/ ends up crippling inter-departmental responsiveness altogether.(4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. (4).
Error is related to / concept
Tense consistency in complex sentences.
What is wrong
The clause “ends up crippling inter-departmental responsiveness” is in present tense, but the rest of the sentence consistently uses past context (was not, disintegrated, entrenched).
Grammatical concept
In formal writing, when the entire sentence is anchored in a past-time framework, the final clause should also maintain past-tense concord.
Incorrectness of the concept in context
Using “ends up” breaks the tense flow and creates grammatical inconsistency.
How to correct + extra concept
We should use a past tense form in the place of the present tense, maintaining uniformity.
Correct form: “ended up crippling…”
Correct phrase / correction
“…ended up crippling inter-departmental responsiveness…”
Final sentence
It was not merely the fragmentation… which, though designed to shield institutional autonomy, ended up crippling inter-departmental responsiveness altogether.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.