In the following question, some part of the sentence may have errors. Find out which part of the sentence has an error and select the appropriate option. If a sentence is free from error, select 'No Error'. My mother (1)/ told me (2)/ not to eat the junk food. (3)/ No error (4)?

Option 3 : 3

The correct answer is 3

• The definite article 'the' is used to refer to something in particular or definite. 
  • When something in particular is referred to we should always use the. 
  • But when talking about things in general, we should not use the definite article. 
  • In the given sentence junk food is a very broad term and nothing particular is mentioned here. 
  • If the junk food being talked about was from a specific or particular place or outlet we could have used the. 
  • Therefore in the given sentence, the should be omitted. 
• The correct sentence is: My mother told me not to eat junk food. 

• If the junk food being talked about was from a particular place Ex: Pizza Hut 
• Then we use 'the' in the sentence. 
  •  My mother told me not to eat the junk food from Pizza Hut 
• Here we are talking about a particular junk food, hence we use the definite article.