Spot the Grammar Mistake!

1. It was raining when I got home last night. * Use past progressive for a longer action that was interrupted by a shorter action in the past. 2. My sister is being annoying today, but usually she is nice. * Use a progressive tense (present progressive is used here) for actions and (some) adjectives that are temporary. Your sister is not annoying; she is only being annoying today. For adjectives, this generally applies to adjectives that require an action (e.g. being silly, being rude) and not states (dead, tired). 3. I have not eaten anything today. you must use a participle (e.g., “eaten”) after an auxiliary verb (e.g., “have”). Therefore, “have eaten”/“haven’t eaten”/“have not eaten” are possibilities. In this case, “have” is present tense, and “eaten” is the past participle, so “have eaten” is called the present perfect tense 4. If I were a child, I would play outside. * Second conditional = If + past tense, subject + would/could/might. The second conditional is used for unreal situations. Fact: You are not a child. But, if you were a child, you would play outside. Review conditionals here. 5. Everyone has seen that movie. This is a problem with subject-verb-agreement. Everyone refers to every single person. These subjects agree with a verb in the third-person singular form. 6. If we are late, they will be angry. * Being late is a real possibility, so you should use the first conditional. First conditional = If + subject + present simple, subject + will. Review conditionals here. 7.My father thinks I should stop smoking. * In this sentence, the verb think is a state verb. It is generally not used in the progressive (~ing) tense. See our lesson on state verbs. 8. Look! It is snowing. * Use the present progressive tense if you want to describe what is happening now. 9. I fell asleep while I was watching TV. *After while use past progressive. Again, this is a longer action (watching TV) that was interrupted by a shorter action (fell asleep). 10. I have lived in Canada for 10 months. For describes a duration. Since describes when an action began. 11. It is a warm country. / That country is warm. *In the above sentence, ‘There‘ is an adverb that indicates a place. An adverb should not be the subject of a sentence. Instead, use ‘It’ as the subject. It is a pronoun. 12. I do not have an iPhone. * People do not say “I have not (something)” anymore. This is old-fashioned English. 13. I haven’t been to Korea. / I have never been to Korea. * Ever is only used with the present perfect in questions. It is not used in statements. 14. The students are having a good time in class today. * The verb have is a state verb, so it shouldn’t be used in the progressive (~ing) tenses. However, to ‘have a good time‘ is an expression (just like have a baby, have a party). These expressions are actions, so they can be used in the progressive tense. 15.If the world ended tomorrow, I would be very sad. * This is the second conditional. It is for a present unreal condition. There is a very low chance the world will end tomorrow. The speaker does not believe it will happen. Therefore, to show that it’s not a real possibility, we use the second conditional. 16. “Every girl must bring her own lunch.” If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular. 17.My mother's cabin is next to his cabin.” Apostrophes are used to show possession. However, you do not use an apostrophe after a possessive pronoun such as my, mine, our, ours, his, hers, its, their, or theirs. 18. It's a cold day for October.” In the case of it's, the apostrophe is used only to indicate a contraction for “it is.” 19. “These recipes are good for beginning chefs.” Confusion over subject-verb agreement can be the source of many grammatical errors. When speaking or writing in the present tense, a sentence must have subjects and verbs that agree in number. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well. 20. Correct: “My hair is smoother and softer than it was a month ago.” When you use a word that has a comparative aspect, you need to compare it to something else. If the word requires a comparison, you should always provide it.

1. It is raining when I got home last night.

2. My sister is annoying today, but usually she is nice.

3. I have not ate anything today.

4. If I am a child, I would play outside.

5. Everyone have seen that movie.

6. If we will be late, they will be angry.

7. My father is thinking that I should stop smoking.

8. Look! It is snow.

9. I fell asleep while I watched TV.

10. I have lived in Canada since 10 months.

11. There is a warm country.

12. I have not an iPhone.

13. I haven’t ever been to Korea.

14. The students have a good time in class today.

15. If the world ended tomorrow, I will be very sad.

16. “Every girl must bring their own lunch.”

17. “My mothers cabin is next to his' cabin.”

18. “Its a cold day for October.”

19. These recipes is good for beginning chefs.”

20. “My hair is smoother and softer.”

Dear Jane, I was delighted to read you're letter last week. Its always a pleasure to recieve the latest news and to here that you and your family had a great summer. We spent last week at the beach and had so much fun on the sand and in the water exploring the coast we weren't prepared for the rains that came at the end of the vacation. The best parts of the trip was the opportunities to sightsee and relax. My kids are back in school to. I find their are less things to worry about now that the kids are at school all day. There is plenty of fun things to do in the summer, but by August, I've running out of ideas. I've excepted the fact that we'll have to think up brand-new activities next summer; hoping to round up some creative ideas soon. Thanks again for your letter! Sincerely, Karen

1. "You're" – The contraction "you're" means "you are." The word "your" should be used with a noun to indicate possession, as in "your letter." 2. "Its" – "Its" is a word indicating possession, as in "its wheels." "It's" is a contraction meaning "it is." This sentence should read "It's always a pleasure…" 3. "Recieve" – You'll need to use the "I before E except after C" rule to find the correct spelling of "receive" here. 4. "Here" – "Here" indicates location. The writer should have used the homonym "hear," which indicates listening. 5. The third sentence is a run-on sentence – A period or a comma and conjunction would make a big difference in the readability of the phrase. 6. Subject-verb agreement – The subject of the sentence is "parts" (which is plural) and the verb is "was" (which is singular). The sentence should read, "The best parts of the vacation were…" 7. "To" – "To" is a preposition, as in "to the beach." Here, the writer should use "too," meaning also. 8. "Their" – "Their" is possessive. "They're" means "they are." In this case, the writer should use the third homonym, "there." 9. "Less" – "Less" should be used with an amount that you can't count, as in "less money" or "less animosity." The word "fewer" should be used with amounts that you can count, as in "fewer things," "fewer items," or "fewer stores." 10. Subject-verb agreement – "Is" is a singular verb. In this sentence, the verb should be plural, as in: "There are plenty of fun things to do…" 11. "I've running" – This verb should be "I am running" or "I have run." With contractions, "I'm running" or "I've run." 12. Incorrect word usage – The writer should have used the word "accepted" instead of "excepted." 13. Incorrect semi-colon usage – A semi-colon should be used between two related complete sentences, i.e. two connected independent clauses.

Dear Jane, I was delighted to read your letter last week. It's always a pleasure to receive the latest news and to hear that you and your family had a great summer. We spent last week at the beach, and we had so much fun on the sand and in the water. We explored the coast, but we weren't prepared for the rains that came at the end of the vacation. The best parts of the trip were the opportunities to sightsee and relax. My kids are back in school too. I find there are fewer things to worry about now that the kids are at school all day. There are plenty of fun things to do in the summer, but by August, I've run out of ideas. I've accepted the fact that we'll have to think up brand-new activities next summer, though; I'm hoping to round up some creative ideas soon. Thanks again for your letter! Sincerely, Karen