The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
He never talks / for anybody. / He is alone / all day
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is option 2 i.e. 'for anybody.'
Error is related to / concept: Incorrect preposition usage.
What is wrong: The phrase “talks for anybody” is incorrect.
Grammatical concept: The correct preposition to use with 'talk' when referring to the person being spoken to is “to”, not “for”.
Incorrectness of the concept in context:
'Talks for anybody' would imply speaking on someone’s behalf, which doesn’t fit the context. The intended meaning is about communication with others. The sentence is about someone who doesn’t talk to anyone and is alone all day.
How to correct: Use “to anybody” instead of “for anybody”.
Correction: to anybody
Final sentence: He never talks to anybody. He is alone all day.