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There was a question in a competitive exam and it was like this.
When the teachers are on strike and a notice to this effect is pasted on the gate there is no sense to go there.
The question was asked to find out which part of the sentence has an error.
The answer is "replace to go by in going".
When the teachers are on strike and a notice to this effect is pasted on the gate there is no sense in going there.
Can anybody explain the answer elaborately?
This is a licensing issue. As several questions on that tag will tell you (just click on the button), each verb and verbal idiom† licenses distinct sorts of complement.
BE no sense takes a preposition—usually in, but occasionally you will encounter to—and the preposition takes a gerund clause as its object. The subject of the clause may be expressed with either a possessive or an objective NP.
There is no sense in going there.
There is no sense in our going there.
There is no sense in us going there.
MAKE no sense takes a to-infinitive clause. If the subject is expressed the clause must be introduced with the complementizer/subordinator for, and a pronominal subject is cast in the objective case:
It makes no sense to go there.
It makes no sense for us to go there.
† and many adjectives, too
