Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
Not only the minister but also the bureaucrats (1)/ has been accused of manipulating (2)/ the data presented in the economic survey (3)/ to align with political interests. (4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is option 2 i.e. (2).
Error Concept: Subject-Verb Agreement with correlative conjunctions.
What is wrong: The singular auxiliary verb 'has' is incorrectly used with a plural subject located closest to it.
Grammatical Concept: When subjects are joined by 'not only... but also,' the verb must agree with the nearest subject.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: In this sentence, the subjects are 'the minister' (singular) and 'the bureaucrats' (plural). Since 'the bureaucrats' is the subject closer to the verb, the verb must be plural.
How to correct: Replace the singular verb 'has' with the plural verb 'have' to match the plural subject 'bureaucrats.'
Correct phrase: have been accused of manipulating.
Final sentence: Not only the minister but also the bureaucrats have been accused of manipulating the data presented in the economic survey to align with political interests.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.