The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
When a beggar appeared, / I offered him / an one rupee coin / but he did not take it.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is option 2 i.e. an one rupee coin
Error Concept: Incorrect use of article before a noun starting with a consonant sound.
What is wrong: The phrase “an one rupee coin” is incorrect because “one” starts with a consonant sound, not a vowel sound.
Grammar Concept:
We use:
-
“a” before words that begin with a consonant sound (e.g. a boy, a car, a university)
-
“an” before words that begin with a vowel sound (e.g. an apple, an honest man)
Incorrectness of the concept in context: The word “one” starts with a ‘w’ sound (like 'won'), which is a consonant sound. So, we should use “a” instead of “an”.
Correction: Replace “an” with “a”.
Corrected phrase: a one rupee coin
Final sentence: When a beggar appeared, I offered him a one rupee coin, but he did not take it.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.