Question

Instructions: A sentence has been broken into four parts. Choose the part that has an error.

(a) The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another,
(b) till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the pass,
(c) a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country,
(d) as far as the imagination could grasp them through the gloom of the night.

• A. a
• B. b
• C. c
• D. d

Hint:

The error is a capitalization slip on a proper noun, not a grammar mistake.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

A different way to work through this is to read the four parts as one continuous sentence first, checking only for flow and logic, then go back and scrutinize capitalization and word choice separately.

1. Read (a)+(b)+(c)+(d) together: "The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp them through the gloom of the night." The sentence flows logically as a single continuous description, so the error is not a structural or logical break between parts.
2. Since the flow-check clears all four parts, move to a second pass focused purely on capitalization of nouns, a common trap in this passage-based error format. Scan each part for any noun that might be referring to something specific rather than generic: "dog" (a) is generic, "wind" and "pass" (b) could be generic or specific depending on context, "country" (c) is generic here, and "night" (d) is generic.
3. "Pass" stands out because passages describing mountainous or hilly terrain typically name a specific pass earlier in the narrative (this excerpt is drawn from a longer passage), meaning subsequent references to "the pass" as that same location should be capitalized "the Pass."

This two-pass method, first for flow, then for capitalization, isolates part (b) as the error, confirming option B.

Let's summarize:

• Separate your check into a logic/flow pass and a mechanics pass (capitalization, punctuation), it is easy to miss a capitalization error while focused only on grammar.
• In passage-based questions, assume nouns referring back to an established specific location or person need capitals even if they look like common nouns.

This approach is especially useful when the grammar of every part looks equally clean, because it forces a second, different lens over the same text.