Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
Had he not deferred the proposal for weeks, (1)/ the board would have had a better chance (2)/ to evaluating the project's long-term viability (3)/ before the deadline lapsed. (4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. to evaluating the project's long-term viability.
Error Concept: Related to the incorrect use of preposition with verb form.
What is wrong: The phrase “to evaluating” is incorrectly used in the sentence.
Grammar Concept: After the expression “chance”, the correct structure is “chance of + verb-ing” and not “chance to evaluating”.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: Here, “to” is wrongly used before the gerund “evaluating”. The sentence requires the preposition “of” before the gerund form.
Correction: Thus, “to evaluating” should be replaced with “of evaluating”.
Corrected phrase: of evaluating the project's long-term viability.
Final sentence: Had he not deferred the proposal for weeks, the board would have had a better chance of evaluating the project's long-term viability before the deadline lapsed.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.