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."

Common Mistakes/Common Mistakes 6

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) At first the teacher had difficulties with discipline things, but finally he solved his problems in this area. (two)

Please put your answer here:[ANSWER]



2) 69% the sample spent their money to buy souvenirs of their visit to the museum. (two) [ANSWER]



3) The results of the questionnaire are as following; (two) [ANSWER]



4) The informations form the research are shown: (four) [ANSWER]



5) There's a notice tells where to leave the building. (one - needs two changes) [ANSWER]

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

[ADVERT]

Hints and clues:

.
1) At first the teacher had difficulties with discipline things, but finally he solved his problems in this area. (two)

1) “things" is not a very good word to use here. Can you think of an alternative?


Also



"finally" should be used to mean "the last item in a sequence", as in "first, second", etc. Which word could be used to contrast with "at first" to mean "after a period of time"? [ANSWER]










2) 69% the sample spent their money to buy souvenirs of their visit to the museum. (two)

2) There's a word missing after the percentage.



Also



Note the following structure:



spend (or waste) + expression of (time or) money + gerund ("-ing" form of the verb) [ANSWER]









3) The results of the questionnaire are as following; (two)

3) There is a mistake with the expression "as following".



Also



There is a mistake in the punctuation. [ANSWER]










4) The informations form the research are shown: (four)

4) There is a problem with "informations", which is an uncountable noun,

So

..... there is also problem with the verb.

Also

There is a common spelling mistake.

Also

"are shown" where? [ANSWER]

.
5) There's a notice tells where to leave the building. (one - needs two changes)


5) The problem is with "tells". It must be replaced by a relative clause, using a "w.." word.

Or

Instead of a relative clause a gerund can be used.

Also

The word "say" or "show" could be used on their own, but you must "tell" someone. [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) At first the teacher had difficulty with discipline things, but finally he solved his problems in this area.

1) At first the teacher had difficulty with matters of discipline, but in the end he solved his problems in this area.

Or

At first the teacher had difficulty with discipline (-), but eventually he solved his problems in this area.

2) 69% the sample spent their money to buy souvenirs of their visit to the museum.

2) 69% of the sample spent their money buying souvenirs of their visit to the museum.

3) The results of the questionnaire are as following;

3) The results of the questionnaire are as follows:

4) The informations form the research are shown:

4) The information from the research is shown below:

5) There's a notice tells where to leave the building.

5) There's a notice which tells people where to leave the building.

Or

There's a notice which shows where to leave the building.

Or

There's a notice showing where to leave the building.

Photo album:




Bicycles leaning against the wooden wall of a hire shop, Haapsalu, Estonia, Northern Europe.

Language notes:

"leaning" replaces "which are leaning".

"wooden" is the adjective meaning "made from wood".

"hire" and "rent" can both be used for cars or bicycles. The adjectives are "hire" (hire car) and "rental" (rental agreement) or "rented" (a rented bike).










Do you get it?

Vocabulary:

householder - owner of a house

French bulldog - see picture (at least I think it is)

deckchair - chair of a type you might see on a beach, or the deck of a ship

lap - the flat surface on the top of your legs when you sit down

tapping - touching lightly (with the fingertips)

wink - make a (secret) signal by closing one eye

kept under wraps - kept secret

reconnaissance - military research

infiltrating - getting into a secret or enemy location

lair - secret hiding place

smuggling - getting (stolen) goods into or out of a country

plot - (evil) plan

sabotage - destroy or damage (a machine, etc.)

missile installation - place where flying bombs are kept

destroyer - war ship

allied generals - high level officers in an army of mixed nations

findings - discoveries

unsuspecting - not knowing about a secret

lying low - hiding

mere - only, nothing more than. Example - "He's a mere boy!"

why on earth - this makes the expression stronger (more emphatic). See also "who on earth... where on earth... what on earth... how on earth... and (maybe) when on earth."





A man was walking down the street one day when he saw a sign in window saying "TALKING DOG. £10." Hardly able to believe what he was reading, he decided to investigate further, and knocked on the door. Invited in, he said to the householder, "What's this about a talking dog? Is it a joke?"

"Oh the dog," said the old fellow. "Yeah, he's out the back. Go ahead and have a word with him, if you want." So he pushed open the door to the garden and there was a French Bulldog sitting in a deckchair with a glass of brandy and a copy of a magazine on his lap.

"Er, excuse me," said the man, feeling rather embarrassed, "but are you the talking dog?"

"Sure I can talk, and do a lot more besides," said the little animal.

"But that's incredible," remarked the man. "How come I've never heard of you?"

"Ah, well," says the dog tapping his nose and giving him a wink, "That's because I'm top secret, see. Been kept under wraps, haven't I?"

"Really - but why?"

"Well, you see, to begin with I worked for James Bond. Used to do all his reconnaissance for him, infiltrating the secret lairs of of crazy multi-millionaires who wanted to take over the world, stealing their secret plans and smuggling them back to James so that he would be able to put an end to their evil plots. Then I was starting to get recognised by the big bosses of the criminal underworld, so they sent me off to work in the war. I was parachuted behind enemy lines and carried out missions to sabotage their missile installations, before using my mini-submarine to return to an offshore destroyer to deliver my findings to the allied generals. Unfortunately the government decided I knew too much so would have to be 'silenced'. But I got word of their plans, killed the two secret agents sent to find me and then escaped out here to the country where I'm lying low with the unsuspecting house owner who opened the door to you."

"I see," said the man. "Er, would you excuse me for a minute...."

He rushed back into the house enthusiastically and took out a ten pound note. "Do you mean for a mere ten pounds, I can buy that dog?"

"Sure," said the house owner, taking the ten pounds, "he's all yours."

"But I just have to ask... I mean a dog like that. It's just that, surely.... it seems too good to be true that you're letting me buy him for ten pounds! Why on earth do you want to sell him?" The other man turned to him with a sad shake of the head and said:

"Because I'm just so sick of his damned lies!"

General Grammar Exercises/Verb Tense Quiz 2 (The Future and Other Forms.)

Academic structures often wrongly used - Future Tenses and Other Forms of the Verb.

Problem: Students often have trouble remembering the rules for their use.
Remedy: People frequently see pages and pages of information relating to use of verbs and just give up because there's too much. Don't try to learn all the rules from the grammar books. Do the following quiz, then, after 24 hours, come back to it and write down a summary of what it has told you about the uses of the various future tenses and other forms of the verb. Be sure to revise this after one week. Then it should be fixed in the "long term memory".

QUIZ

Answer true or false:




1) “They will be waiting” is an example of the future continuous tense.

Please write your answer here:[ANSWER]





2) All continuous verb tenses end in “-ing”. [ANSWER]






3) One use of the “going to” future is to make predictions of the future from a sign in the present. (example – “I am going to write”) [ANSWER]






4) The “about” to future is used for actions which will happen in the distant future (i.e. a long way in the future. Example – “I am about to write”) [ANSWER]






5) Both present simple and present continuous tense can be used with future meaning. (example – “I write” and “I am writing”) [ANSWER]






6) The future perfect continuous form is used when we are more interested in the action and the future perfect (non-continuous) form when we are more interested in the result. (examples – “I will have been writing” and “I will have written”) [ANSWER]


************ Other forms of the verb:






7) “Knew” is an example of a past participle. [ANSWER]






8) “The building is being pulled down” contains an example of a passive tense. [ANSWER]






9) All sentences in the passive form include the verb “to be” (in a variety of tenses) + a past participle. [ANSWER]






10) You can always successfully convert a verb from its active to its passive form by putting the verb “to be” in the same form and adding the past participle of the main verb [ANSWER]






11) In the sentence “I must go”, “go” is a “full infinitive”. [ANSWER]






12) In the sentence “I regret having married an old man”, “having married” is a perfect gerund. [ANSWER]







Do you need some hints and clues? Then scroll down ..........

[ADVERT]

1) “They will be waiting” is an example of the future continuous tense.
Are all the necessary parts there, and in the right form? And is it the right name for the tense? [ANSWER]






2) All continuous verb tenses end in “-ing”.
Think of as many examples as you can, such as present continuous, past continuous, present perfect continuous. Do the continuous tenses you know all end in "-ing"? [ANSWER]







3) One use of the “going to” future is to make predictions of the future from a sign in the present. (example – “I am going to write”)

Consider these examples:
"I'm going to go to London tomorrow."
"If you don't work harder, you're going to fail your exams."
"We're going to build an extension to our house."
"Hm - it looks as if he's going to die!" [ANSWER]











4) The “about” to future is used for actions which will happen in the distant future (i.e. a long way in the future. Example – “I am about to write”)
Which of these examples are you most likely to hear?
"I'm about to graduate at the end of my course next year."
"I can't check your work now because I'm about to leave." [ANSWER]











5) Both present simple and present continuous tense can be used with future meaning. (example – “I write” and “I am writing”)
This was answered in Verb Quiz 1. Try putting a future time expression after these examples and see if they work:
"They are having a party ..............."
"They have a party ................" [ANSWER]






6) The future perfect continuous form is used when we are more interested in the action and the future perfect (non-continuous) form when we are more interested in the result. (examples – “I will have been writing” and “I will have written”)
Again, if you've already answered Verb Tense Quiz 1, then you should know this one! [ANSWER]








************ Other forms of the verb:




7) “Knew” is an example of a past participle.
One traditional way to learn verbs is this:
"Root" of the verb:.......write.........see........ride........know
Past tense form:......... wrote........saw.......rode.... .............
Past participle:............written.. ...seen ... .ridden... ............. [ANSWER]











8) “The building is being pulled down” contains an example of a passive tense.
Decide for yourself if all the necessary parts are there, and in the right form. And is it the right name for the structure? If you've already done the exercise on "Passive Voice Structures", then this one should be easy! [ANSWER]










9) All sentences in the passive form include the verb “to be” (in a variety of tenses) + a past participle.
See number eight. Does it follow this pattern? And did you you say that number 8) was true or false? [ANSWER]











10) You can always successfully convert a verb from its active to its passive form by putting the verb “to be” in the same form and adding the past participle of the main verb
Is this a good conversion from active voice to passive?
>>>>> "The students will have finished all the written work next month."
>>>>> "All the written work will have finished by the students next month."
If you think it is, then has it followed all those stages? [ANSWER]













11) In the sentence “I must go”, “go” is a “full infinitive”.
There are two commonly used infinitives, the "full infinitive" and the "naked infinitive". Is it one of these? Or is it something altogether different from an infinitive, and if so, what? [ANSWER]














12) In the sentence “I regret having married an old man”, “having married” is a perfect gerund.
What does a gerund look like? And what auxilliary verb will you always see in perfect tenses? These questions may help you. Then again they may not! (in which case I advise you to go back to "Essential Grammar Terms 1"). [ANSWER]





When you've made your final true / false decisions, check further down the page to see if they're the same as the suggested answers..............

[ADVERT]

Answers




1) “They will be waiting” is an example of the future continuous tense.
True. All the necessary parts are there. ALL CONTINUOUS TENSES need SUBJECT + the appropriate form of the verb "TO BE" + THE "-ING" form of the main verb, as in "he" + "will be" + "going".
Use of the future continuous:
Example: "Don't come round at seven. I'll be working." Here the longer action (starting before and continuing after the other one) is in the continuous tense. Compare to notes on the past continuous tense in Verb tense quiz 1. This is very similar in use and meaning, but in future time instead of the past.
Another example: "This time next week I'll be lying on a Spanish beach." (See photo album below.)






2) All continuous verb tenses end in “-ing”.
True. See number 1.







3) One use of the “going to” future is to make predictions of the future from a sign in the present. (example – “I am going to write”)
True. In "hints and clues", two of the examples were of this type. In one of them I'm predicting that you're going to fail your exams... because I've seen your work in the present. In the other, I'm sorry to tell you you're likely to die soon.... because you don't look at all well! Here's a more obvious example:
"Look at those dark clouds!"
"Yes - it's going to rain."
There is NO other tense a native speaker is likely to use in this last example. And yes, the "going to" future is its correct name. Don't confuse it with the present continuous tense of the verb "to go". It looks like that, but followed by a full infinitive.
Other important uses of the "going to" future.
For personal plans. See the other two examples in hints and clues. I hope they didn't put you off! (To put someone off - to cause them to lose concentration so that they make a mistake.)









4) The “about” to future is used for actions which will happen in the distant future (i.e. a long way in the future. Example – “I am about to write”)
False. In "hints and clues" you were asked:
Which of these examples are you most likely to hear?

"I'm about to graduate from my course at the end of the year."
"I can't check your work now because I'm about to leave."
The answer is the second (near future). The first (more distant future) is extremely unlikely.









5) Both present simple and present continuous tense can be used with future meaning. (example – “I write” and “I am writing”)
True. I hope the examples didn't put you off! The second of these:
"They are having a party ..............."
"They have a party ................"
is very unlikely. But "My plane lands at seven tonight" is something you may well hear. It's for timetables or impersonal future arrangements. (NOT like parties!) The first is for more personal things.







6) The future perfect continuous form is used when we are more interested in the action and the future perfect (non-continuous) form when we are more interested in the result. (examples – “I will have been writing” and “I will have written”)
True. This seems to be the most useful way to think about the difference between the continuous and non-continuous forms. For more information compare to number 7) in Verb Tense Quiz 1.









************ Other forms of the verb:










7) “Knew” is an example of a past participle.
False. The past participle of "know" is "known".







8) “The building is being pulled down” contains an example of a passive tense.
False. The passive is not a tense. In grammar terms we refer to "active and passive VOICE" of the verb. Sing "active and passive voiiiiiiiiiiice" to yourself to help you to remember.








9) All sentences in the passive form include the verb “to be” (in a variety of tenses) + a past participle.
True. In number 8), all the right parts are there, and in the right form. The only thing wrong is the name of the structure ("tense" for "voice").








10) You can always successfully convert a verb from its active to its passive form by putting the verb “to be” in the same form and adding the past participle of the main verb.
True. See the exercise on Passive Voice Structures for more on this topic. (Topic = subject.)








11) In the sentence “I must go”, “go” is a “full infinitive”.
False. It's a "naked" infinitive. This is also known as the "bare" infinitive, or the infinitive "without to". Here the naked infinitive is being used after a modal verb "must". It is similarly used after "should, would, can, could" etc.
Other important uses of the naked infinitive:
The naked infinitive is also used after.....
let + object + naked infinitive ("Let them eat cake!")
make + object + naked infinitive ("Make them wait in line.")
help + object + naked infinitive (or full infinitive). ("Help them understand better." OR, "Help them to understand better.")
Also:
It can be used with verbs of the senses. Example: "I saw him steal the money." If it was a longer action, we might prefer to use the gerund: "I saw him stealing the money."
Another example: "I felt him touch my leg, so I punched him in the throat!" (The author does not encourage violent behaviour.)







12) In the sentence “I regret having married an old man”, “having married” is a perfect gerund.

True. The gerund is "marrying", and the perfect gerund is "having + past participle". It would be perfectly acceptable to write, "I regret marrying and old man", but the example with the perfect gerund is a bit "posher" (high class English) and maybe suggests the action was further back in the past (?)











Photo album:
.
View from "our" balcony in Spain.









Here's the text of my postcard:
This is a view from the villa we rented in southern Spain this Easter. It overlooks the coastal plain which runs down to the sea at Mijas Costa. You can see the sea in the background, and on a clear day you can see as far as the coast of North Africa. Birds of prey swoop down in front of you as you sit drinking a cool beer on the balcony. It's heaven! Hope you're all enjoying yourselves at work back there in the U.K....... See you soon.




Vocabulary
overlooks - "looks over"
coastal - adjective from "coast", where the land meets the sea.
plain - area of flat land
background - part of the picture which is "in the distance".
birds of prey - birds which eat other birds, mice, etc.
swoop - to fly downwards suddenly
balcony - what you can see in the "foreground" of the picture





Do you get it?







vocabulary: nostril - your nose is divided into two nostrils, one on either side.


A man goes to the doctor's with an egg on his head, a piece of bacon in either ear and a sausage stuck up each nostril.
"The problem's obvious," says the doctor. "You're not eating properly!"



Note:

Much English humour depends on a "play on words". This is possible because so many words in English have "double meanings". Thus "you're not eating properly" could mean, "you're not eating a good, healthy, balanced diet." But it could also mean, "you're not eating in the correct way." Maybe putting things in your ears instead of your mouth?

Photo:


A so-called "full English breakfast". It's usually served with toast, and maybe also with mushrooms and black pudding, made from pig's blood. But not many people eat this these days. At least not at breakfast time. It's quite common today to see cafes and motorway service stations offering "Full English Breakfast Served All Day"(!)