The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains an error.
They secret / decided / to leave / the town.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct answer is option 1 i.e. They secret.
Error concept: Incorrect part of speech
What is wrong: The phrase 'They secret' is grammatically incorrect. Secret is a noun or an adjective, but here it is wrongly used in place of an adverb or adjective.
Grammatical concept: If the intention is to say that they decided secretly, then the correct word should be 'secretly' (adverb), not 'secret' (noun/adjective).
Incorrectness of the concept in context: You cannot use 'They secret' as a valid subject-verb phrase. It should be 'They secretly decided...'
How to correct: Use 'secretly' to describe how they decided.
Correction: They secretly
Final sentence: They secretly decided to leave the town.