Question

What is the grammatical error in the office manager had passed out the memos after the meeting.?

Answer 1

Answer:

The grammatical error is in the improper use of the verb tense.

Explanation:

The sentence "The office manager had passed out the memos after the meeting" uses the Past Perfect - had + past participle of a verb. The Past Perfect tense is used when we want to talk about an action that took place in the past before another action that also took place in the past. For example:

- Aunt Shirley had called twice when you finally showed up.

First, aunt Shirley called. Then, you showed up.

Since we use "after" in the sentence, instead of "before", the best option would be the use of the Simple Past tense. Let's compare:

- The office manager passed out the memos after the meeting.

- The office manager had passed out the memos before the meeting.

Answer 2

The grammatical error in the given sentence above is the use of the verb "had". We all know that we can only use the word "had" if the subject is in plural form. In this sentence, the subject is "office manager" and is singular. Therefore, the correct form should be "has". Hope this helps.