Monday 20 July 2009

Common Mistakes/Common Mistakes 7

Academic English Structures - Common Mistakes.






The following are examples from students’ essays. Re-write them correctly. The number in brackets indicates how many mistakes or problem areas there are.





1) As far the design faults is concerned, they can all be corrected. (two)

Please write your answer here:[ANSWER]

2) Import tariffs must be maintained, if not, our own steel industry will suffer. (one) [ANSWER]


3) There are many problems. Such as repetitive and monotonous work on computers and work pace. (one.... or two) [ANSWER]



4) The university has made many changes will improve the provision of student accommodation. (one) [ANSWER]


5) The author found from her survey that an amount of the questioner didn't notice the changes. (two) [ANSWER]







Do you need some hints and clues (pieces of helpful information)? Then scroll down...................







[ADVERT]










Hints and clues



1) As far the design faults is concerned, they can all be corrected. (two)

1) There is a word missing from the idiomatic expression at the beginning of the sentence. (An idiomatic expression means anything the teacher can't explain.)

Also

Lack of agreement between the subject and verb is one of the commonest problems in essays written by overseas students. [ANSWER]








2) Import tariffs must be maintained, if not, our own steel industry will suffer. (one)

2) There is a punctuation problem here. [ANSWER]





.

3) There are many problems. Such as repetitive and monotonous work on computers and work pace. (one.... or two)

There is a problem with the link here which could be thought of as the opposite of the problem with the link in 2) above.

Also

"...... and work pace" seems clumsy (not appropriate) and out of place here. Could you improve it? ("Pace" here refers to "how fast things are done".) [ANSWER]








4) The university has made many changes will improve the provision of student accommodation. (one)

"many changes" is the direct object of the verb "has made". It cannot, therefore, also be the subject of "will improve", so a new subject is needed. Again, this is a very common mistake. [ANSWER]









5) The author found from her survey that an amount of the questioner didn't notice the changes. (two)

"amount" is only used with "uncountable" nouns.

Also

"the questioner" is wrong. What should it be?[ANSWER]







When you've rewritten the sentences, check further down the page to see if they're the same as the suggested answers..............







[ADVERT]











Answers



1) As far the design faults is concerned, they can all be corrected. (two)

1) As far as the design faults are concerned, they can all be corrected.








2) Import tariffs must be maintained, if not our own steel industry will suffer. (one)

2) Import tariffs must be maintained. If not, our own steel industry will suffer.

Or

Import tariffs must be maintained; if not, our own steel industry will suffer.

Note: The semi-colon (;) can be used to separate two sentences which are closely linked in sense and meaning. It's a useful connecting device when used in this way.







.

3) There are many problems. Such as repetitive and monotonous work on computers and work pace. (one.... or two)

3) There are many problems, such as repetitive and monotonous work on computers and speed of work (or "working").








4) The university has made many changes will improve the provision of student accommodation. (one)

4) The university has made many changes which will improve the provision of student accommodation.








5) The author found from her survey that an amount of the questioner didn't notice the changes. (two)

5) The author found from her survey that a number of people questioned didn't notice the changes.


Or


5) The author found from her survey that a number of those questioned didn't notice the changes.









Photo album



Stages in the making of a (rather high class) spoon.










Seeing the spoon take shape rather reminds me of listening to an overseas student learning to shape their mouth to pronounce a difficult word.....

[ ləʊn ] > [ laʊn ] > [ la:n ] > [ lɜ:n ] > [ lɔ:n ]

That's right - lawn! It's the area of grass in your garden.


Photo: Shows a spoon in the making exhibited in the Robert Welch studios in Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire. The shop was subjected to a violent robbery in 2005 by a gang responsible for the biggest domestic burglaries ever seen in Britain. You can read about their trial here:


http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/forest/sport/Stately-mansion-burglary-biggest-history/article-255144-detail/article.html







.

Do you get it?








Vocabulary:

to pull up - to stop (your car)

filling station / petrol station / (U.S.) gas station / garage - all of these are used, though a garage would also be a place to get your car repaired when something goes wrong

to take someone in - to let them share your home

to go out of your mind - to go crazy

outskirts - the outside part of a town, far from the centre

wandering around - walking with no particular direction or purpose




A man pulls up at a petrol station and the attendant is filling his car, when he notices a penguin sitting in the back seat. He asks the man about it, and the man tells him: I found him wandering around the streets a couple of weeks ago, looking really miserable and sorry for himself. I took him in and he's been living in my bath ever since. Trouble is, I'm going out of my mind trying to think what to do with him.

"Well," says the attendant, "if you follow this road down the hill, there's a zoo just on the outskirts of the town. Why don't you take him there?"

"That's a good idea," says the man as he hands over his money. "I'll do that!"

A week goes by and the man comes into the petrol station again. The attendant notices to his surprise that the penguin is still there, in the back seat.

"I thought you were going to take him to the zoo," he says to driver.

"I did take him to the zoo," answers the man, " and he loved it. So today I'm going to take him
to the beach."

No comments:

Post a Comment