The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
Our team lost the game / only because of / a mistake / with one of our players.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. with one of our players.
Error concept: Wrong preposition usage.
What is wrong: The phrase “with one of our players” is incorrect in this context.
Grammatical concept:
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The correct preposition for indicating cause or fault is “by.”
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Structure: “a mistake by someone” indicates who made the mistake.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: Using “with” suggests accompaniment, not responsibility, which changes the meaning of the sentence.
How to correct: Replace “with” with “by.”
Correct phrase/ correction: a mistake by one of our players
Final sentence: Our team lost the game only because of a mistake by one of our players.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.