Identify the part of the sentence that contains an error.
By the time Dadaji reached / the ration shop with his card, / the shopkeeper already closed / the shutter for the lunch break.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → the shopkeeper already closed
The given sentence says “the shopkeeper already closed”. Two things happened in the past here. The shopkeeper closed the shutter first, and Dadaji reached later. The earlier of two past actions takes the past perfect tense: had + past participle (V3). The words “by the time” and “already” make the order clear. So the right form is had already closed.
Option 1: By the time Dadaji reached — No error. The later action stays in the simple past.
Option 2: the ration shop with his card, — No error.
Option 3: the shopkeeper already closed — Error. “already closed” should be “had already closed”.
Option 4: the shutter for the lunch break — No error.
Corrected: By the time Dadaji reached the ration shop with his card, the shopkeeper had already closed the shutter for the lunch break.