Parts of the following sentence are given as options. Identify the part that contains a grammatical error. If there is no error, select 'No error'.
He has been / told many a times to / mind his manners.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. told many a times to.
Error Concept: Incorrect use of quantifier “many a”.
What is wrong: The phrase “many a times” is grammatically incorrect.
Grammatical Concept: “Many a” is a formal expression that is always followed by a singular noun and singular verb. When referring to frequency or repetition, the correct phrase is “many times”, not “many a times”.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: “many a times” is a wrong combination of “many a time” and “many times”.
“many a time” (formal) or “many times” (informal) should be used correctly depending on tone.
How to correct: Replace “many a times” with either “many times” or “many a time”.
Correct phrase/correction: told many times to / told many a time to
Final sentence: He has been told many times to mind his manners.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.