Two Right Marks, Two Wrong Marks: Where a Grammar Rule Actually Applies
A peer-checking session in a Class 12 section preparing for the board paper. Four sentences from a student’s letter about a school excursion are on the board: (a) “The number of students who have opted for English has risen this year.” (b) “He is senior than me by two years.” (c) “I am living in Kanpur since 2019.” (d) “Neither of the two brothers were present at the function.” The checker, a bright student who has memorised several rules, marks (a) and (d) wrong and (b) and (c) correct. His written reasons are: “(a) ‘students’ is plural, so it must be ‘have risen’; (d) ‘neither’ refers to two people, so it must be plural.” The teacher wants the class to see that knowing a rule’s name is not the same as knowing where it applies, and that two of the four sentences are the ones the board will actually penalise.
1. Which marks are correct? Correct every sentence that needs correction and justify each decision in one or two lines.
Read the worked answer
(a) Correct as written - the checker is wrong. The subject of “has risen” is the number, which is singular; “of students” is a prepositional phrase and cannot be the subject. “Who have opted” is right because the relative pronoun refers to students. So: “The number of students who have opted for English has risen.”
(b) Wrong - the checker passed it. Senior is an adjective already carrying comparison; it takes to, not than: “He is senior to me by two years.” Keep than for ordinary comparatives: older than, taller than.
(c) Wrong - the checker passed it. Since with a point of past time requires the present perfect (continuous): “I have been living in Kanpur since 2019.” Present continuous (“am living”) describes what is happening now, not what began in the past and continues.
(d) Correctly marked wrong, but for the wrong reason. Formally neither is singular: “Neither of the two brothers was present.” The informal plural exists in speech, but the board answer key will want the singular. The checker reached the right verdict by the wrong route, which means he will get the next one wrong.
2. Explain why the checker’s reasoning about (a) is exactly the trap the board sets, and give one more example of the same pattern with its correct verb.
Read the worked answer
The trap. He has matched the verb to the nearest noun (students) instead of the head noun (number). This is proximity agreement, and it is the commonest source of subject–verb errors in board editing items.
Test. Delete the prepositional phrase and read the skeleton: “The number … has risen.” The singular verb is immediately audible.
Parallel pattern. Compare:
- The number of applications has fallen. (head noun = number, singular)
- A number of applications have fallen. (here a number of means “many”, so the verb is plural)
Teaching point. The same words change the agreement because the structure changes. A candidate who memorises “number is singular” will also get the second sentence wrong, just as the checker got (a) wrong by memorising “students is plural”. Always find the head noun first, then decide.
3. The same student later writes: “The new rule will effect all students and have a bad affect on their studies.” Identify and correct both errors, and give a memory hook that will survive exam pressure.
Read the worked answer
Correction: “The new rule will affect all students and have a bad effect on their studies.”
Why. Affect is normally the verb - it means to influence. Effect is normally the noun - it means the result. The student has swapped them because the two sound almost identical.
How to test in the exam. Try substituting a word you are sure of. “Will influence all students” works, so the slot needs a verb → affect. “A bad result on their studies” works, so the slot needs a noun → effect.
Memory hook. A for Action (verb), E for End result (noun); or the word RAVEN - Remember, Affect is a Verb, Effect is a Noun.
Note on the exception. Effect can be a verb meaning “to bring about” (“to effect a change”), and affect can be a noun in psychology meaning outward emotion. Neither appears in school contexts, so do not raise them in the answer; the examiner is testing the ordinary pair.