The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
I have been / looking by my / cream sweater for / a few weeks now.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. looking by my.
Error concept: Wrong use of preposition with verb phrase.
What is wrong: The phrase “looking by my” is incorrect. The correct verb-preposition combination should be “looking for my.”
Grammatical concept: The phrasal verb look for means to search, while look by has no meaning in this context.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: Using “looking by” makes the sentence meaningless and grammatically wrong.
How to correct: Replace “looking by my” with “looking for my.”
Correct phrase/ correction: looking for my
Final sentence: I have been looking for my cream sweater for a few weeks now.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.