The Most Common Sentence Errors in CSS Scripts
The CSS Sentence Correction question (10 marks) presents about five sentences, each containing a single error. Your task is to spot the error and rewrite the sentence correctly. The errors are drawn from a small, repeating pool — master that pool and the section becomes almost free marks.
1. Subject–verb agreement
A verb must agree in number with its grammatical subject — not with the nearest noun.
Wrong: Each of the candidates have submitted their forms. Correct: Each of the candidates has submitted his or her form.
Each is singular, so the verb is singular too. Candidates is merely the object of of, not the subject.
Tricky cases
- Either / neither: take a singular verb when both subjects are singular. Neither the captain nor the player is available.
- None: traditionally singular (none of them is here), but plural usage (none of them are here) is increasingly accepted.
- A number of (= many) takes plural: A number of students were absent.
- The number of takes singular: The number of students was small.
- Collective nouns (team, committee, government) — singular in American English; British English allows plural if you focus on the individuals.
2. Pronoun–antecedent agreement
A pronoun must match its antecedent (the noun it refers to) in number, person and gender.
Wrong: Every student must bring their book to class. Correct (formal): Every student must bring his or her book to class. Correct (modern relaxed): Every student must bring their book to class.
In strict CSS marking, prefer the formal version.
3. Dangling and misplaced modifiers
A modifier should sit next to the word it modifies. When it doesn't, it "dangles" — attaching itself to the wrong subject.
Wrong: Walking down the lane, the houses looked deserted.
Houses can't walk. The modifier walking down the lane dangles because the sentence subject (houses) isn't who is walking.
Correct: Walking down the lane, I noticed that the houses looked deserted.
Worked example — misplaced modifier
Wrong: She only eats vegetables on Sundays. Correct: She eats only vegetables on Sundays. (= no meat) Correct: She eats vegetables only on Sundays. (= other days she doesn't eat them)
The position of only changes the meaning entirely.
4. Parallel structure
Items joined by and, or, but, both…and, neither…nor must share the same grammatical form.
Wrong: She likes swimming, jogging and to hike on weekends. Correct: She likes swimming, jogging and hiking on weekends.
Three gerunds, all parallel.
Wrong: His responsibilities included writing reports, attending meetings and to draft proposals. Correct: His responsibilities included writing reports, attending meetings and drafting proposals.
- Subject and verb must agree in number, regardless of the words in between.
- Pronouns must match their antecedent in number and person.
- Modifiers must sit next to what they modify.
- Items in a list must share the same grammatical form.
- These four rules account for the bulk of the marks on this question.
5. Pronoun case errors
The case of a pronoun depends on its role in the sentence.
- Subjective case (I, he, she, we, they) — subject of a verb.
- Objective case (me, him, her, us, them) — object of a verb or preposition.
Wrong: Between you and I, the test was easy. Correct: Between you and me, the test was easy.
Between is a preposition; its object must be in the objective case.
Wrong: Him and me went to the market. Correct: He and I went to the market.
A quick test: drop the other person. "Him went to the market" is obviously wrong, so "He" is required.
6. Tense shifts
Don't switch tenses mid-narrative without a reason.
Wrong: She entered the room and looks at the painting. Correct: She entered the room and looked at the painting.
Both verbs describe a sequence in the past, so both must be past tense.
7. Confusion of "less" and "fewer"
- Fewer for countable items: fewer books, fewer mistakes.
- Less for uncountable quantities: less water, less time.
Wrong: There are less people at this conference than last year. Correct: There are fewer people at this conference than last year.
A quick self-check: if you can put a number in front of the noun (three books, ten chairs), use fewer. If you can't (three waters? no), use less.
8. Apostrophe mistakes
- Its (possessive) vs it's (contraction of it is or it has). The dog wagged its tail. / It's raining.
- Your (possessive) vs you're (contraction of you are). Your book / You're late.
- Their / there / they're. Their car. / Over there. / They're coming.
These four are the most-flagged errors in CSS answer scripts. Memorising them is worth at least one or two marks per paper.