Choose the incorrect part of the sentence.

It is often said and nor in vain that fortune favours the brave.

a) It is often said
b) And nor in vain
c) That fortune favours
d) The brave

Hint: The word ‘nor’ is often used with its counterpart ‘neither’. It is not usually used alone.

Complete answer:

Let us deconstruct the given sentence:

a) ‘It is often said’ is the main part of the sentence. It contains the subject ‘it’, the auxiliary ‘is’, the adverb ‘often’, and the verb ‘said’. The subject is placed at the start of the sentence, which is correct. The helping verb ‘is’ is placed after the subject, which is also correct. The adverb is placed before the main verb ‘said’. So, this part of the sentence is without any mistakes.
b) Now, let us look at the second part. It contains the word ‘and’ as the conjunction, which is correct. However, the word ‘nor’ is used without its counterpart ‘neither’. It is followed by a preposition. This is incorrect, as the word ‘nor’ in this case cannot be used alone. The preposition used after it is correct. The phrase ‘in vain’ is used correctly.
c) ‘That fortune favours’ is the third part. It starts with a subordinating conjunction. It is correct for the given sentence. It is followed by the word ‘fortune’ which is used as a noun here. It is succeeded by the word ‘favours’ which is used as a verb. This part of the given sentence is perfectly correct and does not contain any mistakes.
d) ‘The brave’ is the last part of the given sentence. It is a continuation of the given phrase in the previous part of the sentence. It is used as a noun phrase, as ‘the brave’ is a phrase. It follows a verb, so it is the object of the sentence, which is correct.

Note: Try to dissect the sentence, and identify each part of speech. Check for any mistakes in the parts of speech. Choose the option which contains the faulty word.