The following sentence has been divided into three parts. Identify the part which contains a grammatical error (ignore any punctuation errors, if any). If there is no error in the sentence, then select 'No Error'.
(A) The investigation revealed that the culprit, / (B) rather than being remorseful, was insolent enough / (C) to have been taunted the victims during the trial. / (D) No Error
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
Correct Answer: to have been taunted the victims during the trial
Explanation:
• The error lies in the use of the passive infinitive 'to have been taunted'.
• The subject (the culprit) is the doer of the action who taunted the victims, which requires an active construction.
• 'To have been + past participle' forms a passive structure, which incorrectly implies that someone else taunted the culprit.
• To make the sentence grammatically correct, remove 'been' and use the active perfect infinitive 'to have taunted' (or the simple infinitive 'to taunt').
Correct Sentence: The investigation revealed that the culprit, rather than being remorseful, was insolent enough to have taunted the victims during the trial.