Question

Instructions: In the following sentences, one word or phrase is used wrongly. Choose the word that must be changed, modified, or deleted to make the sentence correct. There are sentences without any errors too.

The committee came to a decision to discuss in detail about assorted problems that people have been facing for a long time.

• A. came to
• B. to discuss
• C. about
• D. a long time

Hint:

“Discuss” already means “talk about”, so adding “about” after it is redundant.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

“Discuss” is one of a handful of English verbs that already carries the sense of “about” inside its own meaning, so adding “about” after it is a very common but incorrect redundancy.

1. “Discuss” means “to talk about”, so “discuss about X” literally becomes “talk about about X”, a clear redundancy.
2. The correct usage is simply “discuss X” (for example, “discuss the problems”), with no preposition needed.
3. The other three flagged phrases, “came to (a decision)”, “to discuss”, and “a long time”, are all standard, correct English usage on their own.

So the correct answer is option C, “about” is the word that must be deleted.