Editing Item: Four Underlined Errors and One Defensible Non-Edit
Four scripts are being moderated on an editing item. The paragraph is: 'The new footbridge was build last year by the village council. It was opened by the sarpanch, who said that the bridge will reduce the journey to the market by twenty minutes. Each of the 240 households were asked to contribute Rs 100. The council has completed the work in March, and the accounts have been displayed outside the panchayat office.' The underlined items are 'build', 'will', 'were' and 'has completed'. The marking key allows one mark per corrected item: 'built', 'would', 'was', 'completed'. Candidate 1 changes all four as keyed. Candidate 2 leaves 'will' and writes: 'No change: the reduction is still true, so will is acceptable.' Candidate 3 changes 'has completed' to 'had completed'. The head examiner must decide whether Candidate 2's explanation earns the mark and whether Candidate 3's answer can be credited.
1. For each of the four items, state the expected correction and the grammatical reason in one line. Then say which candidate's non-key answer is defensible.
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| Item | Correction | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| build | built | Passive past requires was + past participle, not the base form. |
| will | would | After the past reporting verb said, reported speech normally backshifts. |
| were | was | The subject is each, a singular indefinite pronoun; of the 240 households is a modifier. |
| has completed | completed | in March is a definite past time, so the present perfect is not appropriate. |
Candidate 2's non-edit is defensible. Backshift is the default, but it is not an absolute law: if the reported statement is still true, a present or future form can be retained. The bridge still reduces the journey, so will can be justified. Award the mark only if the candidate gives that explanation, not if the item is simply left blank.
Candidate 3's had completed is not defensible. Past perfect needs an earlier past reference point. There is none here: in March is a finished time, and the second clause uses present perfect have been displayed.
2. Rewrite the paragraph with the minimum necessary edits, and mark any item you deliberately leave unchanged.
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The new footbridge was built last year by the village council. It was opened by the sarpanch, who said that the bridge will reduce the journey to the market by twenty minutes. Each of the 240 households was asked to contribute Rs 100. The council completed the work in March, and the accounts have been displayed outside the panchayat office.
Note: I have deliberately left will unchanged. The minimum edit set for a keyed examination answer would be would, but will is acceptable here because the reduction is a still-current fact and the candidate has supplied a reason. The examiner should record which convention is being applied so that the script is not penalized twice.
3. A student asks why 'each ... were' is wrong when '240 households' is plural. Write a 50-70 word explanation.
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The grammatical subject is each, not households. Each is a singular indefinite pronoun, so it takes a singular verb: each was asked. The phrase of the 240 households is a prepositional modifier; it does not control agreement. Compare: Each student was given a form, not Each student were given a form. The plural noun inside the phrase is not the subject.