Common Mistakes/Common Mistakes 3

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) I found form my survey that the questions lacks of properly meaning. (three)

Please write your answer here:[ANSWER]

2) Fans as me consider this service is useful. (two) (or three?) [ANSWER]


3) According to Rosenberg in 1995 emphasised that there are two principle questions. (two) [ANSWER]

4) After we were used computer long term, it cause shoulder problems. (three) [ANSWER]


5) We can do a survey to know the operational behaviour of computer user.(two) [ANSWER]

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

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Hints and clues:

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1) I found form my survey that the question lacks of properly meaning. (three)

1) There is a common spelling mistake (or typo?).

Also

There is a problem with the way "lack" is used. What word follows it? What word should follow it (if any)?

Also

There is a problem with word form. In these days of "spell-check" students must be very careful to check whether a word needs to be in the form of an adjective, adverb, noun or verb. Which word in this sentence could be in the wrong form? [ANSWER]

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2) Fans as me consider this service is useful. (two) (or three?)

2) "Fan" is maybe too informal?

Also

There is a problem with "as" used to give examples. There are two ways to correct it, one using "as" + another word and the other way is to use a different word.

Also

"consider" is more appropriately used with an infinitive structure. [ANSWER]

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3) According to Rosenberg in 1995 emphasised that there are two principle questions. (two)

3) There are two expressions here to tell us the author's words of "saying". You should never use more than one.

Also

There is a spelling (or wrong word?) mistake. A word here has been used as an adjective when it's actually a noun. Also it has a slightly different meaning to the one intended. [ANSWER]

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4) After we were used computer long term, it cause shoulder problems. (three)

4) There is a problem with the first verb in terms of tense and voice (active or passive). There is a problem with the second in terms of form (it needs another letter). As an alternative for the first verb, you could use "preposition + gerund".

Also

There is a problem associated with "computer". It needs to be used either with an article (a, an, the, etc.) or in the plural. [ANSWER]

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5) We can do a survey to know the operational behaviour of computer user.(two)

5) There is a problem with the verb "know".

Also

There is a problem with "computer user" (see 4) above). [ANSWER]

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

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Answers:

1) I found form my survey that the question lacks of properly meaning.

1) I found from my survey that the question lacks (-) proper meaning.

2) Fans as me consider this service is useful.

2) Supporters such as me consider this service to be useful.

3) According to Rosenberg in 1995 emphasised that there are two principle questions.

3) According to Rozenberg in 1995, (-) there are two principal questions.

Or

(-) Rosenberg, in 1995, emphasised that there are two principal questions.

4) After we were used computer long term, it cause shoulder problems.

4) After we have used the computer (or “computers”) long term, it causes shoulder problems.

Or

After using the computer....

5) We can do a survey to know the operational behaviour of computer user.

5) We can do a survey to discover the operational behaviour of the computer user (or “computer users”).

Photo Album

Inside an ice c--- (underground space). The Canadian Tourist Board warns you not to go into these because l---- (big pieces) of ice or rock can fall from the r--- (top) and hit you on the head.

Answers:

cave - lumps - roof.

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Photo: Ice cave in Icefields Parkway, Alberta, Canada. The glaciers (icefields) are retreating (getting smaller and moving backwards) rapidly in the modern age.

Do you get it?

A Chinese friend of mine went out to a restaurant one evening with a young Englishman. When she told him that she hadn't eaten since breakfast time, he remarked, "Wow, I bet you could eat a horse!"

"I don't know," she answered, "I've never tried."

Language note:

"I could eat a horse" means "I'm very hungry". This is its idiomatic meaning. She responded to it as if he had used it literally (REALLY eating a horse).

(Thanks Lily - you always made me laugh!)

(Photo: Restaurant in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Eastern Europe.)