English Test Unit 1: common mistakes

Here are some of the most common mistakes from the exam.

Man:

Men:

   


"Men" is plural and takes a plural verb form.

While the men were carrying the box, they dropped it.


Adverbs

Almost everyone was able to correctly convert the adjectives into adverbs by changing y --> i  and adding -ly.

But, many people were not able to choose which form to use (adjective or adverb) to complete a sentence.

Remember, an adjective tells us something about a noun. The girl was angry. The man was greedy. The box was heavy.

An adverb tells us something about a verb. We walked slowly. He shouted angrily.  They ate all the sandwiches greedily.

Here is a game to practice.  And, a harder quiz.


Verbs

Verb errors included:
-- Irregular forms: find--found; build--built; wear--wore; fall--fell; dig--dug
--Spelling: carrying, buying, dropped, digging

Used to.  
Remember to use the verb infinitive after "used to".  "But now"...takes the present simple form-- don't forget the "s" for 3rd person (he/she/it).

used to be... but now he is....
used to have...but now she has...
used to play...but now they play...

While + past continuous,  then past simple.
We use this for a continuous action in the past that was interrupted by a different action or event.

While we were waiting for the bus, a car splashed us.
 While Jimmy was travelling on the bus, he looked out of the window.
While Mr. Brown was digging in his garden, he found some money.