Lesson notes: Main mistakes (correction)

MAIN MISTAKES

1.       Word order

Subject: Yesterday played very well the children à The children played very well yesterday.

Adverb: Often she has helped à She has often helped.

Adjective: He has a cat very beautiful à He has a very beautiful cat.

2.       Questions

Subject: Has bought the books John? à Has John bought the books?

Verb: When Mary came? à When came Mary?

Preposition: Who killed to Kennedy? à Who killed Kennedy?

3.       Negatives

Verb: Peter not found the key à Peter didn’t find the key

Verb: I no understand à I don’t understand

Pronoun: I didn’t see nobody à I didn’t see anybody

4.       Verbs

Maria cans cook à Maria can cook (modal verbs don’t have the “-s” in the 3^rd person)

Do you can swim? à Can you swim? (modal verbs don’t need the auxiliary verb)

May you come tomorrow? à Can/could you come tomorrow? (can/could are possibility verbs)

Football likes me à I like football (“like” need an active subject and “football” is inactive)

a)      Verb / Vocabulary

They were waiting the bus à They were waiting for the bus (wait for: prepositional verb, it requires the preposition)

Have hunger à to be in hunger/ to be hungry (it is an English expression)

Have reason à to be in reason (it is an English expression)

Have heat à to be in heat (it is an English expression)

b)      Time, tense and aspect

Look! It rains à It’s raining (atmosphere verbs are in present continuous)

I see her this evening à I saw her this evening (“this” implies pass)

How long are you working in your present job? à How long have you been working in your present job? (“present job” indicates that it is a non-finish pass)

It’s a long time that I live here à It’s a long time since I have lived here (it is an action that started in the pass and it continues in the present)

When we were young we were playing a lot of tennis à When we were young we played a lot of tennis (it is an action that had already finished)

c)       The passive voice

Subject: It has been rejected this new proposal à This new proposal has been rejected

Adjective: The lecture was very bored à The lecture was very boring (things end in “-ing”)

Adjective: I’m interesting in films à I’m interested in films (people end in “-ed”)

d)      Infinitives

Before to take the sun, you should put on cream à Before taking the sun, you should put on cream (use the gerund after preposition)

It’s difficult learn English à It’s difficult to learn English (use the infinitive after adjectives)

Let us to go à Let us go (imperative)

5.       Articles

The food is more important than the art à Food is more important than art (when we talk about general things, we don’t use “the”)

Do you like the big dogs? à Do you like big dogs? (when we talk about general things, we don’t use “the”)

Her sister is dentist à Her sister is a dentist (professions always need “a”)

6.       Number

Yellows flowers à yellow flower (adjectives are never in plural)

Furnitures à furniture (adjectives are never in plural)

People is friendly à people are friendly (people imply plural)

7.       Adjectives / adverbs / Little, less, etc.

They showed me two models and I bought the small à They bought me two models and I bought the small one (the adjective needs a noun)

I am more old that my sister à I am older than my sister (comparative, adjective with one syllabus are ended in “-er + than”, with more syllabus “more + adjective + than”)

Smoke as less as possible à Smoke as little as possible (the adjective have to be a positive adjective)

8.       Personal pronouns

Rosa isn’t French, is Spanish à Rosa isn’t French, she is Spanish (it needs subject)

Was raining à It was raining (it needs subject)

That’s the man who he lives next door to me à That’s the man who lives next door to me (relatives clauses don’t need subject)

9.       Possesives

Catherine washed the hair à Catherine washed her hair (it is an English expression)

Sara and Joe had both got his shoes wet à Sara and Joe had both got their shoes wet (the possessive of “they” is “their” and not “his”)

The book of Rosa à Rosa’s book (possessive genitive with apostrophe)

10.   Relative pronouns and clauses

The man which came à The man who came (people required “who”)

The ball who is lost à The ball which/that is lost (things are used with “which” and “that”)

11.   Clause structure and complementation

I want that you stay here à I want you to stay here (want someone to do something)

He asked that we went immediately à He asked us to go immediately (to ask someone to do something)

They refuse doing it (the action takes place) / They refuse to do it (the action doesn’t take place)

I’ll never forget to hear that song (the action will take place in the future) / I’ll never forget hearing that song (the action had already happened)

12.   Prepositions

They took to their mother to the hospital à They took their mother to the hospital

For what have you come? à What have you come for?

After to see the film we went for a meal à After seeing the film we went for a meal

[in/on/into]:

-          the Wednesday à on Wednesday (weekdays are written with “on”)

-          on July à in July (months are written with “in”)

-          lying in the beach à lying on the beach (in means inside somewhere, on means on the top of something)
-          they are into the room à they are in the room              

[to/at/in]:

-          go at the beach à go to the beach

-          arrive to the station à arrive at the station

[like/as]: (“like” means similar to, the same as; “as” means in the position of, in the form of)

-          she works like a waitress à she works as a waitress

-          they seem as their mother à they seem like their mother