The following sentence has been divided into parts. One of them may contain an error. Select the part that contains the error from the given options. If you don’t find any error, mark ‘No error’ as your answer.
Hurray! Here is the toy / what I was looking for, / as my birthday gift.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e what I was looking for.
Error Concept: Incorrect use of the relative pronoun.
What is wrong: The use of "what" in the clause is incorrect in this context.
Grammatical Concept:
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When the antecedent is already mentioned, we use that or which, not “what”.
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In this sentence, we already have the noun "toy", so using "what" becomes ungrammatical.
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The correct relative pronoun after a noun is "which" or "that".
Incorrectness of the Concept in Context:
Using “what” makes the clause stand alone, as if the object (toy) had not already been mentioned. Since the noun “toy” is already introduced, the clause must refer back to it using "which" or "that".
How to Correct: Replace “what” with “which” or “that” to make it a proper relative clause referring to "the toy."
Final Sentence: Hurray! Here is the toy which I was looking for, as my birthday gift.
Hence, the chosen option will be correct.