Question

    As the fire approached, firefighters are (1)/winched in

    by helicopter to activate the irrigation (2)/systems while other aircraft dropped water along (3)/the flames’ edge to minimize their impact.(4) Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. Mark the part with the error as your answer. If there is no error, mark ‘No error’ as your answer. Ignore the errors of punctuation, if any.
    A As the fire approached, firefighters are Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    B winched in by helicopter to activate the irrigation Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    C systems while other aircraft dropped water along Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    D the flames’ edge to minimize their impact Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    E no error Correct Answer Incorrect Answer

    Solution

    The verb "are" should be in the past tense to maintain consistency with the past tense verbs "winched" and "dropped" later in the sentence. The correct form is "were." The corrected sentence would be: "As the fire approached, firefighters were winched in by helicopter to activate the irrigation systems while other aircraft dropped water along the flames’ edge to minimize their impact."

    Practice Next
    More Spotting Errors Questions

    Relevant for Exams:

    ask-question