Pronouns & Determiners

'Between' is a preposition — it must be followed by pronouns in the object case. 'I' is subject case. The correct form is 'between you and me'. This is one of the five most repeated errors in CDS Spotting Errors. The trap: 'you and I' sounds polite, but after any preposition (between, for, with, to, by) only the object case is correct — me, him, her, us, them.

'Officers' is the subject of 'were asked' — a subject-case pronoun is needed. 'We officers' is correct; 'Us officers' is the common error. The rule: when a pronoun precedes a noun as an appositive in subject position, use the subject case. Test: remove the noun — 'We were asked' is correct; 'Us were asked' is clearly wrong. This exact pattern appears in CDS PYQs.

'Themselves' is the correct reflexive/emphatic pronoun for 'they'. 'Hisself' is non-standard — the correct form is 'himself'. 'By herself' in option B is grammatically correct. Option D uses 'hisself' which is wrong — it should be 'himself'. Option C ('enjoyed themselves') is correct and complete. Note: reflexive pronouns are -self/-selves forms that match the subject.

'Each' is always singular — it requires a singular verb and singular pronoun. 'Have submitted' should be 'has submitted'. 'Their application' should be 'his/her application'. Two errors in one sentence — a classic CDS double-trap. The phrase 'of the cadets in the three batches' is a modifier; strip it away and the true subject 'Each' is revealed as singular.

'Neither' as a pronoun is singular and takes a singular verb. 'Is' is correct. 'Are' and 'were' are plural. The rule: 'neither' and 'either' used alone as pronouns (not in correlative pairs) always take singular verbs. 'Neither of the soldiers was present' — not 'were'. This is a standard CDS SVA-pronoun cross-over question testing whether the student knows the number value of indefinite pronouns.

'That' can refer to both persons and things as the object of a relative clause — 'The mission that we planned' is correct. Option A uses 'which' for a person — wrong; use 'who'. Option C has a structural error — 'whose performance' is needed. Option D uses 'whom' as a subject relative pronoun — wrong here; the correct form for things is 'which', and for persons as subject it is 'who'.

'Praised' is a transitive verb — its objects must be in the object case. 'He' and 'she' are subject-case pronouns. The correct form is 'both him and her'. Test: 'The general praised him' — correct. 'The general praised he' — clearly wrong. The same rule applies when two pronouns follow a verb: use the object case for both.

'This is my pen' — 'my' is a possessive adjective (determiner) that precedes a noun. 'Mine' is a possessive pronoun used without a following noun — 'This pen is mine'. Option A 'my … her' is correct: 'my' before 'pen' (adjective use) and 'her' as a possessive adjective before an implied noun. Option D 'mine … hers' would work only if rewritten as 'This is mine; that one is hers.'

'Who' is used as subject; 'whom' is used as object (of verb or preposition). Option C: 'Who do you think is responsible?' — 'who' is the subject of 'is responsible' (the embedded clause). Option A: 'Whom did you meet?' — here 'whom' is the object of 'meet', so A should use 'whom', not 'who'. Options B and D have the wrong pronoun as subject positions require 'who'.

'Among' is a preposition — pronouns after prepositions must be in the object case. 'We' is subject case; the correct form is 'us'. The phrase should be 'among us officers'. Test: remove 'officers' — 'among we' is clearly wrong; 'among us' is clearly correct. This is the same rule as 'between you and me' — prepositions always demand object case: me, him, her, us, them.

'Neither' is used for exactly two — 'neither of the two candidates'. 'None' is used for three or more or when the count is unspecified. 'Any' would not fit the negative sense of the sentence as structured. 'Both' would mean both are suitable, which contradicts the idea. 'Neither … is' correctly pairs the singular indefinite pronoun with a singular verb.

'Those sorts of problems' — 'those' (plural) correctly agrees with 'sorts' (plural). Option A: 'These kind' is wrong — 'kind' is singular, so 'this kind' or 'these kinds'. Option B: 'This type of errors' — 'errors' should be singular 'error' or the noun should be kept singular after 'type of'. Option D: 'these sorts … is' — plural subject needs plural verb 'are'. Only C is fully correct.

This sentence has no error. 'One another' is correctly used for three or more — and a committee has multiple members. 'Each other' is used for exactly two; 'one another' is used for three or more. Both are reciprocal pronouns. The verb 'blamed' is correct. The structure 'blamed one another for' is standard. CDS sometimes presents correct sentences to test whether students can correctly identify 'no error'.

'Yours' is a possessive pronoun used without a following noun — 'The decision is entirely yours.' 'It' refers to 'the decision' (singular). 'Your' would need a noun after it ('your decision'). 'Them' is plural and cannot refer to the singular 'decision'. So 'yours … it' is correct: a standalone possessive pronoun followed by a singular object pronoun.

'Either' for exactly two + singular verb: 'Either of the two plans is workable' is correct. Option A: 'either of the three' — 'either' applies to two; for three or more use 'any'. Option B: with 'either…or', the verb agrees with the nearer subject ('men' → plural → 'were'). Option D: 'Either student have' — 'either' takes a singular verb: 'has submitted'.

After the verb 'to be' in formal/written English, the subject case is required: 'It is I who has made the mistake.' 'Me' is object case — incorrect after 'to be'. Similarly, 'not they' is correct (subject case after 'not' in this elliptical construction — 'not they [who made it]'). The error is 'It is me' — it should be 'It is I' in formal written English as tested in CDS.

'Each soldier' — singular subject, referring to individual soldiers one by one. 'He' — correct singular pronoun to refer back to 'each soldier'. 'Every' and 'each' are singular and take singular verbs and pronouns. Option A: 'Every soldier performed … all won' — mixed singular/plural incorrectly. Option B: 'each of them' — awkward. Option C: 'All … every' — inconsistent. 'Each … he' is the cleanest parallel.

'Whom did the CO select?' — 'whom' is the object of 'select', so object case is correct. But option B 'Who did the CO select?' — actually this is debatable in informal usage, but in strict CDS grammar, 'whom' is the object. However, option A 'Whom do you think will lead' is clearly wrong — 'who' is needed as subject of 'will lead'. Option C: 'Whom is the most qualified' — subject position needs 'Who'. Option D: 'Who does the report belong to' — correct informal usage; 'whom' would be more formal but 'who' is acceptable. B is cleanest of these options.

'Let' takes the object case — 'let me', 'let him', 'let us'. Therefore 'let you and me' is correct, not 'let you and I'. 'I' is subject case and cannot follow 'let'. Similarly: 'Let him and me go', 'Let her and us decide'. This is a parallel error to 'between you and I' — both involve prepositions or causative verbs that require object case, but students use subject case out of overcorrection.

'All the candidates passed' — 'all' with plural noun and plural verb. 'Only a few of them cleared' — 'a few' (positive meaning: some, not many) with a pronoun 'them' referring back to 'candidates'. Option B: 'Every' requires singular — 'Every candidate passed'. Option C: 'Each' requires singular too. Option D: 'few' without 'a' means 'hardly any' — logically inconsistent with the context of passing the written test.