ESL Blogs

Dear friends! I am returning to the idea of your finding mistakes in my sentences. If you took part in all my blogs or, at least, read them you are supposed to have improved your grammar a little as we have already considered the most complicated parts of grammar: verbals, Subjunctive mood, prepositions, problem verbs, inversion, sequence of tenses and many other moments. So, in this test you should find all possible mistakes and correct them. Please, remember that you can’t change the general structure of a sentence. Besides, you shouldn’t change vocabulary unless it is a preposition, article, so/such, many/much, etc. On the other hand, you should correct the forms of pronouns, verbals, tenses, use inversion if necessary and so on. You can also change the place of an adverb if it is wrong. There may be only one or a few mistakes in each sentence and the mistakes I made are unpredictable. Of course, I will try to lead you to the correct answers and will explain all mistakes when you all are done.

So, here is the test.

1. He is not used to drive on so bad roads.
2. Never saw I such the beauty.
3. I heard his say that.
4.  It is no reason in refusing him.
5. Finishing the experiment a scholar published the article with the results obtained.
6. The fence surrounded the house was painted just.
7. She complained to him snoring in his sleep.
8. Hardly he entered than the phone rang.
9. If  she was only here!
10. This town is considered being founded over the Middle Ages.
11. Only when coming home he noticed he lost his wallet.
12. I would like he is much careful when drive.
13. If I knew when he came, I would meet him.
14. He got the perfect score. He should have studied hard.
15. Everything was covered by the snow and I thought it might snow all night long.

Well, such tests are not easy at all, they are very tricky and tough enough, but I believe you will give it a try and succeed. We never know what we are capable of until we try it out!

The dead line is May 30, but we can always change it if there is an interest, OK?

So, good luck and have a great weekend!

Here are the crrect answers and my explanations.

1. He is not used to driving on such bad roads.
2. Never have I seen such (a) beauty.
3. I heard him say/saying that.
4. There is no reason for refusing him.
5. Having finished/After finishing the experiment, a scholar had the article with the obtained results published.
6. The fence surrounding the house was just painted.
7. She complained of his snoring in __sleep.
8. Hardly had he entered when the phone rang.
9. If only she were here!
10. This town is considered to have been founded in/during the Middle Ages.
11. Only after coming/when he came home did he notice_ he had lost his wallet.
12. I would like him to be more careful (while) driving.
13. If I knew when he is coming/going to come, I would meet him.
14. He got a perfect score. He must have studied hard.
15. Everything was covered with (the) snow and I thought it must have been snowing/must have snowed all night long.

And now, let me explain all the mistakes in this test.

No1. A) “to be used to” (a habit in the past and present) must be followed by a gerund. B) We should use SUCH before nouns, while SO must be followed by an adjective/adverb.

No2. A) If we start a sentence with some adverbs, there must be partial inversion of the predicate.

You can read about the inversion here:

http://www.myenglishclub.com/forum/topics/daily-practice?groupUrl=improving-grammar-with-tanya-and-dan&groupId=2524315%3AGroup%3A5604024&id=2524315%3ATopic%3A5604055&page=5#comments

There is also an exercise for those who would like to train a little.

B) The correct tense is Present Perfect.

C) After SUCH should be either an article “a” or nothing as BEAUTY may me a countable noun if we mean a beautiful woman or an uncountable one if we mean something else, nature, architecture, etc.

No3. The verbs describing our ability to see, hear, feel and a few others must be followed by the Complex Object Infinitive without “to”. But those who replaced the infinitive with the present participle (saying) are also right. Such a construction also exists. Contrary to the infinitive describing a fact, the present participle describes a progressive process.

No4. A) I have already explained this mistake in my first test and you all seem to have corrected it. But let me tell you once again: in general, IT IS must be followed by an adjective.

B) The rules of Standard Written English require that we use a gerund in this sentence. So, the correct preposition after REASON is FOR.

No5. A) In the given sentence there is the present participle I and it is wrong because, first, the scholar finished his experiment and some later, he wrote an article. So, we may start this sentence either with the perfect participle I (Having finished) or with a gerund preceded by the preposition (after finishing).

B) First of all, let me explain my correction as no one tried to make it! As I have just said in A), the scholar wrote his article where he described the results of the experiment. In fact, he didn’t publish it himself. He had sent it to some publishing house where the article was published. So, to show this passive action, we should use the construction

                        Have + a noun + the past participle passive.

For example:

I want to have this stain removed (in the Cleaner’s).

I had my car fixed (It was not me who fixed it).

I have to say, we didn’t react to those who left the second part of this sentence without any corrections because it is not so principle in this sentence. It is obvious and the active voice is often used by native speakers in this situation. But in any service, we should use the construction I have just explained.

No6. I have already explained how to use participles and adverbs correctly. Just read the appropriate blogs.

http://www.myenglishclub.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-use-the-participles-correctly

http://www.myenglishclub.com/profiles/blogs/place-the-adverbs-correctly

No7. The verb COMPLAIN must be followed by a gerund and the correct preposition after this verb is OF.

No8. It is the same as No2 A). However, I have to add a few words. If we start with HARDLY the junction must be WHEN. But if we start with NO SOONER, it must be THEN (Both sentences have the same meaning).

No9. If we start a sentence with IF ONLY, a predicate in the subordinate clause must be in the Subjunctive mood. The sentence:

If only she were here!

Is an exclamation expressing our sorrow for her not being here.

No10.  All of you corrected the preposition. As to the construction of this sentence, its name is the Complex Subject Infinitive. In our sentence the infinitive describes an action that took place many centuries ago while the predicate is in the present tense. In this case we should use the perfect infinitive form.

No11. You all have corrected the wrong tense in the last clause. So, let me explain the rest.

A)This sentence starts with ONLY that must be followed by either a clause(when he came) or a preposition and gerund (after coming).

B) If we start with ONLY, there must be inversion of a predicate in the main clause.

No12. A) WOULD LIKE must be followed by the infinitive, in our case, it is the Complex Object Infinitive, so, a pronoun must be in an Object form (him).

B) It is obvious, in this sentence we need comparative MORE.

C) Again, it is obvious that WHEN DRIVE is wrong. The best way is to replace it with the present participle (driving) like CAREFUL DRIVING. However, this form of a participle may be preceded by WHILE. Your correction WHEN HE DRIVES is acceptable, but is not the best.

NO13. It is the present unreal condition. If I had meant the past, I would have left at least one correct predicate to demonstrate my idea.

No14. A) Most of you corrected the article and that is right as I didn’t say it was the best/highest/excellent mark. But this mistake is not that principle. B) I think the first sentence makes things clear: that guy studied hard to get a perfect score. So, the correct modal verb is MUST. It expresses our certainty about some past action, while MIGHT expresses our doubts.

No15. A) The correct preposition is WITH. We cover something/somebody with something other. The article THE is not a mistake, in fact. We may mean the snow we see in our yard/street, for example. B) It is a principle mistake. First, it is a past action. Besides, we are sure it was snowing at night. So, the correct modal verb is MUST and, of course, it must be followed by the perfect form of the infinitive. Both forms (perfect simple/perfect progressive) are correct. But, if we use the perfect progressive form, we will emphasize the time modifier (all night long).

My friends! If you have any questions about my explanations, feel free asking them!

Thanks each of you and all of you for participation!