Infosys Systems Engineer – Verbal Ability Error Correction

Infosys Systems Engineer Verbal Ability: 20 Essential Error Correction Rules
Infosys Systems Engineer (SE) Prep Guide

20 Essential Verbal Error Correction Rules

Master high-frequency grammar rules tested in the Infosys Online Test with real exam-level examples, explanations, and quick practice modes.

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Exam Weightage High Frequency (10-12 Marks)
Rule 01

Subject-Verb Agreement with ‘Neither/Nor’ & ‘Either/Or’

Infosys High Frequency Subject-Verb

Rule Logic: When two subjects are connected by neither… nor or either… or, the verb must agree in number with the subject closest to it.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Neither the manager nor the software developers was aware of the system glitch.

Correct Sentence

Neither the manager nor the software developers were aware of the system glitch.

Exam Tip: “Developers” is plural and directly precedes the verb; hence use plural verb “were”. If swapped (“Neither the developers nor the manager…”), use singular “was”.
Rule 02

Expressions like ‘Along With’, ‘As Well As’, ‘Together With’

Infosys High Frequency Subject-Verb

Rule Logic: Expressions like along with, as well as, together with, in addition to, accompanied by do not make the subject plural. The verb agrees strictly with the first subject.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The project lead as well as the team members are attending the client meeting today.

Correct Sentence

The project lead as well as the team members is attending the client meeting today.

Exam Tip: Ignore the phrase introduced by ‘as well as’ when choosing the verb. The primary subject “project lead” is singular, so use “is”.
Rule 03

Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers

Infosys High Frequency Modifiers

Rule Logic: An introductory modifying phrase must immediately precede the noun/subject it modifies. Otherwise, it creates a illogical “dangling” statement.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Walking into the server room, the temperature felt extremely cold.

Correct Sentence

Walking into the server room, the engineer felt that the temperature was extremely cold.

Exam Tip: Ask “Who was walking into the server room?” The temperature wasn’t walking! Place the logical subject (“engineer”) right after the comma.
Rule 04

Parallel Structure in Lists & Correlative Conjunctions

Infosys High Frequency Parallelism

Rule Logic: Items in a series or joined by correlative conjunctions (not only… but also, both… and, either… or) must match grammatically (verbs with verbs, nouns with nouns, gerunds with gerunds).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The system analyst is responsible for gathering requirements, designing systems, and to test code.

Correct Sentence

The system analyst is responsible for gathering requirements, designing systems, and testing code.

Exam Tip: All items in the list follow “for”, requiring gerund (-ing) forms throughout: gathering, designing, testing.
Rule 05

Past Perfect Sequence for Two Completed Past Actions

Infosys High Frequency Tenses

Rule Logic: When two actions happened in the past, the earlier action takes the Past Perfect (had + V3), while the later action takes the Simple Past (V2).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The server crashed before the database administrator saved the updated logs.

Correct Sentence

The server had crashed before the database administrator saved the updated logs.

Exam Tip: Since the server crash occurred prior to the save attempt, “had crashed” represents the earlier past action.
Rule 06

Third Conditional Construction (Unreal Past)

Infosys High Frequency Conditionals

Rule Logic: For hypothetical past situations, use If + Past Perfect (had + V3) in the condition clause, and would have / could have + V3 in the result clause.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

If the team would have tested the API earlier, they would have caught the bug.

Correct Sentence

If the team had tested the API earlier, they would have caught the bug.

Exam Tip: Never use “would have” inside the “If” clause itself. Always use “had + V3” in the ‘if’ part.
Rule 07

Pronoun Case Following Prepositions (‘Between you and me’)

Infosys High Frequency Pronouns

Rule Logic: Prepositions (like between, except, besides, with) must always be followed by Objective Case Pronouns (me, him, her, us, them), not subjective pronouns (I, he, she, we).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The confidential project details must remain strictly between you and I.

Correct Sentence

The confidential project details must remain strictly between you and me.

Exam Tip: “Between” is a preposition. “Between you and I” is a very common trap in Infosys SE verbal sections.
Rule 08

Singular Indefinite Pronouns & Pronoun Agreement

Pronouns

Rule Logic: Indefinite pronouns like everyone, everybody, someone, each, nobody, anyone are grammatically singular and require singular verbs and singular pronouns.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Everyone on the engineering team must submit their time-sheet by Friday.

Correct Sentence

Everyone on the engineering team must submit his or her time-sheet by Friday.

Exam Tip: In formal test grammar, ‘everyone’ pairs with singular possessive ‘his/her’ or ‘his’. Avoid plural ‘their’ when ‘everyone’ is subject.
Rule 09

‘Who’ vs. ‘Whom’ Distinction

Infosys High Frequency Pronouns

Rule Logic: Use Who when referring to the subject of a clause (he/she). Use Whom when referring to the object of a verb or preposition (him/her).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The candidate who the panel interviewed last was highly qualified.

Correct Sentence

The candidate whom the panel interviewed last was highly qualified.

Exam Tip: Test substitution: “The panel interviewed him (not he).” Because ‘him’ is object, use ‘whom’.
Rule 10

Faulty Comparisons (‘Than that of’ / ‘Than those of’)

Infosys High Frequency Comparisons

Rule Logic: Always compare logical equivalents. Compare attributes of A to attributes of B using than that of (singular) or than those of (plural).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The salary of a Systems Engineer at Infosys is higher than a fresh graduate.

Correct Sentence

The salary of a Systems Engineer at Infosys is higher than that of a fresh graduate.

Exam Tip: You cannot compare “salary” (a thing) to “a fresh graduate” (a person). Use “than that of” to refer back to salary.
Rule 11

Redundancy & Tautology Errors

Infosys High Frequency Redundancy

Rule Logic: Avoid pairing words that repeat the same meaning. Common corporate traps include revert back, return back, repeat again, sufficient enough, reason is because.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Please revert back to this email with the sufficient enough documentation.

Correct Sentence

Please reply to this email with sufficient documentation.

Exam Tip: ‘Revert’ means ‘return to a former state’. Use ‘reply’. Also, ‘sufficient’ and ‘enough’ mean the same thing; use only one.
Rule 12

Inversion after Negative Adverbs (‘Hardly… when’, ‘No sooner… than’)

Infosys High Frequency Inversion

Rule Logic: Sentences starting with negative adverbs (Hardly, Scarcely, Barely, No sooner) require subject-verb inversion (e.g., Hardly had I…). Pair Hardly… when and No sooner… than.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Hardly the deploy finished then the server went down.

Correct Sentence

Hardly had the deployment finished when the server went down.

Exam Tip: Remember pairs: “Hardly/Scarcely… WHEN” and “No sooner… THAN”. Never mix “then” or “than” with Hardly.
Rule 13

Uncountable Nouns & Plurality Traps

Infosys High Frequency Nouns

Rule Logic: Uncountable nouns such as information, furniture, advice, equipment, scenery, luggage, knowledge do not take plural ‘s’ or singular articles ‘a/an’.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The consultant provided valuable informations and equipments for the lab.

Correct Sentence

The consultant provided valuable information and equipment for the lab.

Exam Tip: To express quantity, use “a piece of information” or “items of equipment”, but never add ‘s’ to these words.
Rule 14

Use of ‘Lest’ followed by ‘Should’

Grammar Rule

Rule Logic: Lest means “for fear that” and carries a negative connotation. It must be followed by should (or subjunctive verb). Do not use ‘not’ with lest.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Double-check the code lest you should not fail the automated build test.

Correct Sentence

Double-check the code lest you should fail the automated build test.

Exam Tip: Adding ‘not’ after ‘lest’ creates a double negative error. Always pair: Lest + [Subject] + Should + [Verb V1].
Rule 15

Definite Article ‘The’ with Superlatives & Ordinals

Articles

Rule Logic: The definite article ‘the’ must precede superlative adjectives (best, highest, most efficient) and ordinal numbers (first, second, main).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Python is most popular language used for machine learning models.

Correct Sentence

Python is the most popular language used for machine learning models.

Exam Tip: Missing ‘the’ before superlative degree adjectives is a frequently tested error in Infosys SE sentence correction.
Rule 16

Redundant Prepositions & Latin Adjectives (‘Superior to’)

Infosys High Frequency Prepositions

Rule Logic: Certain verbs do not take prepositions (e.g., discuss, comprise, order, emphasize). Also, Latin comparatives ending in ‘-ior’ (superior, inferior, senior, prior) take to, never ‘than’.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

We will discuss about the solution which is superior than theirs.

Correct Sentence

We will discuss the solution which is superior to theirs.

Exam Tip: Never say “discuss about” (just say “discuss”) or “comprise of” (use “comprise” or “is composed of”).
Rule 17

Hyphenated Compound Adjectives with Nouns

Adjectives

Rule Logic: When a compound number and noun form an adjective preceding another noun, the measure noun in the hyphenated unit must be singular.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

Infosys announced a three-months training program at Mysore campus.

Correct Sentence

Infosys announced a three-month training program at Mysore campus.

Exam Tip: Adjectives in English never take plural forms. “Three-month” acts as an adjective describing “program”.
Rule 18

‘Few / A Few’ vs. ‘Little / A Little’

Infosys High Frequency Quantifiers

Rule Logic: Use Few / A few with countable nouns. Use Little / A little with uncountable nouns. (‘A few / A little’ = positive small amount; ‘Few / Little’ = negative/almost none).

Incorrect (Exam Error)

There are little defects remaining in the software module.

Correct Sentence

There are few defects remaining in the software module.

Exam Tip: “Defects” is a countable plural noun, so it requires “few” or “a few”, not “little”.
Rule 19

Present Perfect vs. Simple Past with Time Markers

Tenses

Rule Logic: Do NOT use Present Perfect (has/have + V3) with specific past time markers (e.g., yesterday, last week, in 2022, ago). Use Simple Past (V2) instead. Use Present Perfect with since/for.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

The recruitment team has sent the offer letters yesterday evening.

Correct Sentence

The recruitment team sent the offer letters yesterday evening.

Exam Tip: The keyword “yesterday” pinpoints a finished past time, demanding simple past verb “sent”.
Rule 20

Gerunds after Specific Expressions (‘Look forward to + V-ing’)

Infosys High Frequency Gerunds

Rule Logic: Phrases where ‘to’ is a preposition (e.g., look forward to, accustomed to, object to, with a view to) must be followed by a Gerund (Verb-ing), not a base verb infinitive.

Incorrect (Exam Error)

We look forward to join the Infosys Mysore training center next month.

Correct Sentence

We look forward to joining the Infosys Mysore training center next month.

Exam Tip: This is one of the most tested errors in corporate placement exams. Always use “look forward to + V-ing”.

Infosys Systems Engineer Placement Prep Tool • Verbal Ability Error Correction Module

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