Question:hard

Read the sentence below, which is divided into four underlined parts (a), (b), (c) and (d). Identify which part contains an error. If the sentence has no error, choose (e).

The mutual co-operation (a) / of employees is (b) / essential to the success (c) / of business. (d)

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Look closely at the very first phrase, ask yourself whether one of its two words is already implied by the other.
Updated On: Jul 20, 2026
  • The mutual co-operation
  • of employees is
  • essential to the success
  • of business.
  • No error
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

A common trap in error-spotting questions is to hunt only for tense mistakes, missing articles, or subject-verb disagreement, while overlooking redundancy, where two words placed together say the same thing twice. Here, scan each part for anything unusual. Parts (b), (c) and (d) are all standard, unremarkable English, employees is agrees correctly since co-operation is singular, essential to the success is a common fixed phrase, and of business closes the sentence cleanly. That leaves part (a), the mutual co-operation, for closer inspection. Break down what co-operation actually means, it describes people working jointly, in agreement, toward a common purpose, which by definition involves more than one party acting together. Since that sense of joint, shared action is already baked into the word co-operation, placing mutual in front of it does not add new meaning, it just repeats what is already understood. This kind of doubling up is exactly the sort of error these questions test for. So the fault lies in part (a), and the corrected sentence would simply read the co-operation of employees is essential to the success of business. Restated answer: option (a).
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