Question

Read the sentence below, which is divided into four underlined parts (a), (b), (c) and (d). Identify which part contains an error. If the sentence has no error, choose (e).

The mutual co-operation (a) / of employees is (b) / essential to the success (c) / of business. (d)

• A. The mutual co-operation
• B. of employees is
• C. essential to the success
• D. of business.
• E. No error

Hint:

Look closely at the very first phrase, ask yourself whether one of its two words is already implied by the other.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Read the sentence part by part.
"The mutual co-operation / of employees is / essential to the success / of business." On first read it looks grammatically complete, there is a subject, a verb, and a completed idea, so the error, if any, must be a subtler word-choice issue rather than a missing verb or wrong tense.

Step 2: Examine part (a) closely.
The word "co-operation" already means working together with others toward a shared goal, the idea of togetherness is built into the word itself. Adding "mutual" in front of it, as in "mutual co-operation", repeats the same idea a second time, since co-operation cannot happen any other way than mutually, one person alone cannot "co-operate". This makes "mutual" redundant, a classic case of tautology, where a word restates a meaning that is already present in the word next to it.

Step 3: Check the remaining parts for correctness.
Part (b), "of employees is", correctly uses the singular verb "is" to agree with the singular subject "co-operation", so there is no subject-verb agreement error here. Part (c), "essential to the success", is a standard, correctly formed phrase. Part (d), "of business", completes the sentence grammatically without any missing article or preposition error in this context.

Step 4: Conclude.
Since parts (b), (c) and (d) are all correct, and the redundancy lies in pairing "mutual" with a word that already implies mutuality, the error is in part (a). The answer is option (a).