Each item in this section has a sentence with three underlined parts labelled (a), (b) and (c). Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any underlined part and indicate your response in the Answer Sheet against the corresponding letter i.e., (a) or (b) or (c). If you find no error, your response should be indicated as (d).
(a) It is identification with the audience (b) that makes one come home from the play so much more (c) satisfied than one ever is after merely passive enjoyment of the show. (d) No error.
- A(a)
- B(b)
- C(c)
- D(d)
Explanation
The idiomatic noun phrase is 'mere passive enjoyment' - 'mere' as an adjective meaning 'nothing more than'. Using the adverb 'merely' to qualify the adjective 'passive' ('merely passive enjoyment') is unidiomatic here; the fixed form before the noun is 'mere'. Parts (a) and (b) - 'identification with the audience' and the 'so much more... than' comparison - are grammatical. Hence the error is in (c), option C.