Question

The following sentence has been split into four segments. Identify the segment that contains a grammatical error.
In today's motivational literature, / failure is often celebrated / as a essential / stepping stone to success.

• A. stepping stone to success
• B. In today's motivational literature
• C. as a essential
• D. failure is often celebrated

Hint:

Remember the rule for indefinite articles: use 'a' before words starting with a consonant sound and 'an' before words starting with a vowel sound. The sound matters, not just the letter (e.g., 'an hour', 'a university').

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Interpreting the Problem:
We need to find the segment in the given sentence that contains a grammatical error.
Step 2: Explanation and Analysis:
Let's check each segment for errors:


Segment (A) "stepping stone to success": This is a correct and common idiom.
Segment (B) "In today's motivational literature": This is a correctly formed introductory phrase.
Segment (C) "as a essential": This segment contains an error related to the use of an indefinite article. The word 'essential' begins with a vowel sound ('e'). The rule is to use the article 'an' before words that start with a vowel sound. Hence, it should be "as an essential".
Segment (D) "failure is often celebrated": This segment is grammatically correct.
Step 3: Conclusion and Answer:
The error is in the segment "as a essential", which should be corrected to "as an essential".