10 English Sentence Mistakes FPSC Examiners See Every Single Year

Every CSS/PMS English paper contains sentence-correction and error-identification questions drawn from a surprisingly small, repeating pool of grammar traps. Aspirants who study the pattern — not just grammar rules in the abstract — consistently score higher on this section. Here are the ten mistakes that show up most often.

1. Subject-Verb Agreement with Collective Nouns ❌ "The team are preparing for the exam." ✅ "The team is preparing for the exam." Collective nouns (team, committee, government) take a singular verb in formal English when acting as one unit.

2. Dangling Modifiers ❌ "Having studied all night, the exam felt easy." ✅ "Having studied all night, she found the exam easy." The modifier must attach to the person performing the action, not the object.

3. Confusing "Fewer" and "Less" ❌ "Less candidates qualified this year." ✅ "Fewer candidates qualified this year." Use "fewer" for countable nouns, "less" for uncountable ones.

4. Misplaced "Only" ❌ "She only studies at night." ✅ "She studies only at night." Place "only" directly before the word it modifies to avoid ambiguity.

5. Redundant Pairs ❌ "Each and every candidate must submit the form." ✅ "Every candidate must submit the form." CSS examiners penalize redundancy — say it once, precisely.

6. Incorrect Preposition Usage ❌ "He is good in English." ✅ "He is good at English." Preposition errors are the single most common error category in CSS English papers — memorize verb-preposition and adjective-preposition combinations directly.

7. Comma Splices ❌ "The results were announced, everyone was anxious." ✅ "The results were announced, and everyone was anxious." Two independent clauses need a conjunction, semicolon, or full stop — never just a comma.

8. Confusing "Affect" and "Effect" ❌ "The policy will effect thousands of students." ✅ "The policy will affect thousands of students." "Affect" is (almost always) the verb; "effect" is (almost always) the noun.

9. Wrong Tense Sequencing ❌ "If I would have studied harder, I will pass." ✅ "If I had studied harder, I would have passed." Third conditional sentences require past perfect in the if-clause and "would have + past participle" in the result clause.

10. Overusing the Passive Voice ❌ "It is believed by many candidates that the paper was difficult." ✅ "Many candidates believe the paper was difficult." Active voice is more direct and is what CSS examiners reward in essay and précis sections.

How to Practice This Pattern Don't just memorize these ten — build the habit of spotting them in everything you read. Pick up any Dawn editorial and mark every sentence that could be rewritten more precisely. This is exactly the daily drill our Dawn Writing Session is built around.