Tuesday 10 August 2010

Common Mistakes/Common Mistakes10



Academic English structures - common mistakes.




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

 
1) Students choose if to do engineering course or computing course. (Three... or two)
Please write your answer here:[ANSWER]

2) The computing course offering is in three parts, such as; graphic design, web design and animation. (three) [ANSWER]

3) Weather is one of the factors effect British food styles. (three) [ANSWER]

4) It is necessary to analysis the results, and they are as showed below: [ANSWER]

5) This skirt appears feminine and elegant by most of the questionaire's respondants.  (three) [ANSWER]










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






[ADVERT]










Hints and clues:



1) The students choose if to do engineering course or computing course. (three)
 

1) "If" + infinitive is not a suitable structure here. "If" is used more usually to describe a single condition ("I'll tell him if I see him"). Here you need to describe a choice between two alternatives. And there are two different words you can use to do so. Whether you choose to use the first, which is followed by a full infinitive, or the second, which is followed by a gerund, you do need to make a choice between using one or the other. If you need more help, well, I've just used both of them here!

Also:
 
You need to add one or (preferably) two articles (a, an, some, the) that are missing. [ANSWER]

.





2) The computing course offering is in three parts, such as; graphic design, web design and animation. (three)


2) "Offering" is a present participle which could replace an active verb structure such as "which is offering". Here a past participle is needed to replace "which is offered", which is a passive verb structure.


Also:


"Such as" is used to give examples from a wider range. Here all the available range is actually named, so another word must be used. There's a clue in that last sentence!
 

Also
 

There is a punctuation problem. Do you know which punctuation mark can be used to mean "as follows"? [ANSWER]









3) Weather is one of the factors effect the British food styles. (three)


3) "Effect" is not the right verb for "to cause change in". A very small change is needed here. (English people make this mistake too.)


Also:


This same verb needs a subject, namely "which". Alternatively you might use a present participle to replace "which + verb". See the first note for number 2) for more information. 


Also:


"Food styles" is not a very good collocation. ("Collocation" - words which are commonly used together.) [ANSWER]








4) It is necessary to analysis the results, and they are as showed below: (two)
 
4) A noun has been used as a verb.

Also:

A past participle is in the wrong form. [ANSWER]



5) This skirt appears feminine and elegant by most of the questionaire's respondants. (three)
 
5) Change the word "by" to another common (two word) expression, and it makes sense! These two words can be used to introduce quotations too, and mean "they said it". 

Also:

There are two spelling mistakes.[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) The students choose if to do engineering course or computing course.
 
1) The students choose whether to do an engineering course or a computing course.

 

Or:


The students choose between doing an engineering course or a computing course.





2) The computing course offering is in three parts, such as; graphic design, web design and animation. (three).


2) The computing course offered is in three parts, namely: graphic design, web design and animation. 

 


3) Weather is one of the factors effect British food styles. (three) 


3) Weather is one of the factors affecting British food tastes.


Or (preferably): 

Weather is one of the factors affecting British tastes in food.


Or:
 
Weather is one of the factors which affects British tastes in food.




4) It is necessary to analysis the results, and they are as showed below: (two)


4) It is necessary to analyse the results, and they are as shown below:




5) This skirt appears feminine and elegant by most of the questionaire's respondants. (three)

 

5) This skirt appears feminine and elegant according to most of the questionnaire's respondents.

Note:

There is no rule for whether word endings are spelled "ent" or "ant". You can't tell from the spoken word, because suffixes (word endings) are unstressed, so they both sound the same. To find some common nouns and adjectives of this type, just search on the computer for "words ending in -ant or -ent".







Photo Album:







When taking pictures of a butterfly you must move towards it very slowly. If you move too fast, you will scare it. And, of course, if you scare it, it will fly away. But this magnificent specimen was a very cool customer.


Grammar note:
These are examples of "first conditional" type sentences, which use the word "if" together with the present tense...

If you move too fast,

... in combination with the simple future tense:

you will scare it.
However, other combinations of present and future tense are possible:

If you are moving too fast, you are going to scare it.
"Modal" verbs might also be used, as in this example:

If you should scare it, it might fly away.




Vocabulary note
: "Cool customer" - a colloquial (street English) term for someone who stays calm in a difficult situation.






Photos: Swallowtail butterfly, Menorca island, Spain.







Do you get it?









Vocabulary:

polar bear - a white bear found in the icy regions of the north

fur - the hairy coat of bears (and dogs, cats, lions, etc.)

paws -
the feet of bears (and dogs, cats, lions, etc.)

claws - the sharp nails on the feet of bears (and dogs, cats, lions, etc.)

to wander - to walk, with no particular direction or destination

bloody (adjective) - a bad word (swear word) but not really a very strong one.




A little baby polar bear turns to his big sister and says, "Big sister - am I really a little baby polar bear?"

"Well," says his big sister, "you've got lots of white fur, a little black nose, little white paws and little black claws. So yes - of course you're a little baby polar bear. Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing," says the little baby polar bear, and he wanders off into the snow. The next day, he goes to his father and says, "Dad - am I really a little baby polar bear?"
"Well son," says his father, "you've got lots of white fur, a little black nose, little white paws and little black claws. So yes - of course you're a little baby polar bear. Why do you ask?"
"Oh nothing," says the little baby polar bear, and he wanders off into the snow. The next day, he goes to his mother and says, "Mum - am I really a little baby polar bear?"
"Well son," says his mother, "you've got lots of white fur, a little black nose, little white paws and little black claws. So yes - of course you're a little baby polar bear. Why do you ask?"

"Because," says the little baby polar bear, "I'm bloody freezing."



Note

Have you noticed the structure of most English (and other) jokes yet? They generally have a three part build up (baby polar bear talks to sister, then father, then mother). The third section ends with the punch line (the joke).