O-Level Editing 1: The School Canteen
Twelve numbered lines, laid out as the paper does it. Lines 1 and 12 are correct. Of the ten between them, eight carry one grammatical error and two are correct: write the corrected word for the eight, and a tick for the two.
This passage leans on subject-verb agreement and tense, and hides one error by leaving a word out altogether.
Spelling and punctuation are not tested. Change a word only when the grammar is wrong.
The passage
(1) Our school canteen has eight stalls, and it opens well before the first lesson each morning.
(2) The queue for the fishball noodles are always the longest in the hall.
(3) Last Monday I arrived early and see a notice taped to the counter.
(4) It said that the noodle stall would be closed for repairs on Wednesday.
(5) My friend Wei Ming, whose aunt runs the drinks stall, was queuing the roti prata when I arrived.
(6) He told me the repairs had been delayed because nobody could find a plumber.
(7) The teachers on duty that morning was surprised by how quietly we queued.
(8) The uncle at the rice stall served everyone patient, even when the queue reached the door.
(9) Neither the drinks stall or the noodle stall opened before half past seven.
(10) At half past one that afternoon the cleaners arrive with their trolleys and began to wipe the tables.
(11) The repairs depended of the one plumber they finally found, who worked across the island.
(12) The stall reopened on Friday, and the queue was longer than it had ever been.
Check your answers
Line 2: reveal answer
are → is (subject-verb agreement)
The subject is "The queue", which is singular. "For the fishball noodles" sits between the subject and the verb, and its plural ending is the one your ear attaches the verb to.
Line 3: reveal answer
see → saw (tense)
The sentence is in the past. "Arrived" and "see" are joined by "and", so they have to share a tense.
Line 4: reveal answer
Tick. This line is correct.
"Would be closed" is the right form after "said", and nothing else in the line is at fault.
Line 5: reveal answer
queuing → queuing for (preposition)
A preposition has been left out. You queue for something. A missing word is still a grammatical error, and it is far easier to read past than a wrong one.
Line 6: reveal answer
Tick. This line is correct.
"Had been delayed" puts the delay before he spoke, which is the right order, and "because nobody could find a plumber" gives the reason without anything being out of place.
Line 7: reveal answer
was → were (subject-verb agreement)
The subject is "The teachers", which is plural. Two phrases stand between it and the verb, and that distance is what makes this one easy to miss.
Line 8: reveal answer
patient → patiently (word form)
The word describes how he served, not what he was like, so it needs the adverb.
Line 9: reveal answer
or → nor (conjunction)
"Neither" pairs with "nor". "Either" is the one that pairs with "or". Changing "Neither" to "Either" also mends the grammar, but it says the opposite, and the instructions do not let you change the meaning.
Line 10: reveal answer
arrive → arrived (tense)
"That afternoon" fixes the line in the past, along with the rest of the visit.
Line 11: reveal answer
of → on (preposition)
The verb is "depend on", or "depend upon", which is also credited. "Depend of" is not English.
Check the harder lines
Line 2 reads: 'The queue for the fishball noodles are always the longest in the hall.' Which correction is right?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) are → is
The correct answer is (B). The subject is the singular 'queue', so the verb is 'is'. (A) is grammatical, but it changes what the sentence says, and the instructions forbid that. (C) changes the dish rather than the grammar, and the noodles were never the subject. (D) would be right only if two queues were being compared, and this line compares one queue with every queue in the hall. Cover the words between the subject and the verb with a finger, then read it again.
Line 5 reads: 'My friend Wei Ming, whose aunt runs the drinks stall, was queuing the roti prata when I arrived.' What is the error?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (A) A word has been left out
The correct answer is (A). The line needs 'queuing for the roti prata'. (B) is wrong: the past is right for what happened last Monday, and the present-tense lines around it describe what the canteen is always like. (C) is wrong on its own terms: 'whose' is the possessive and is right here, because the aunt belongs to Wei Ming, while 'who's' means 'who is'. (D) is the trap. Missing words are the hardest errors to see, because nothing on the page looks wrong. When a line seems clean, read it aloud in your head and listen for the gap.
Line 9 reads: 'Neither the drinks stall or the noodle stall opened before half past seven.' Which pairing is correct?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) neither … nor
The correct answer is (B). 'Neither' takes 'nor'; 'either' takes 'or'. (A) is the error in the line. (C) swaps the halves of both pairs. (D) is not a pairing at all. Note that the pair also governs the verb: in 'Neither the stall nor the stalls were open', the verb follows whichever subject stands nearer to it.
What to take away
One of these eight was a word left out rather than a word that was wrong: line 5 needed "queuing for". An omission is the hardest kind to find, because the line reads smoothly without the missing word. If a line feels fine and you still owe yourself an error, read it once more listening for the gap.
Lines 4 and 6 were correct.
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