English Within Reach: Grammar

Eight Common Grammatical Mistakes in English ( part 1)

In this lesson we’ll have a chance to review 8 common English errors, so let’s see how you do.

Number one:

Today morning I woke up late.

It should be.

This morning I woke up late.

Number two:

what’s the different?

This sentence is wrong because different is an adjective. What we want to use here is the noun. And the noun is difference. The correct sentence is:

What’s the difference?

Number three:

I met John two years before.

We can’t say “I met John two years before”. We say:

I met John two years ago.

If we use the word before then we have to say before something. For example, we can say “I met John before I got married.” But we can’t use before by itself. So the proper word here is ago.

Number four:

This is a six months course.

That sounds almost OK, but it’s not OK. So the mistake here is. With the plural of the word months. When we use this expression, the entire expression becomes an adjective for the noun course. So, we should say :

This is a six month course.

Number five:

Thank you. I really enjoyed.

The problem is here is enjoy is a reflexive verb, so you would need to say:

I really enjoyed myself.

number six

did you loose your cell phone?

The error is with the word loose. It is an adjective that means not tight. So, here we have a spelling mistake, and the correct sentence should be:

Did you lose your cell phone?

Loose is an adjective, which means not tight and lose is the opposite of find.

Number seven:

This is an academic course.

What was wrong was the pronunciation of academic. The stress should be on the middle of the word academic.

Number eight:

I have a free time.

We don’t need to say a free time, we need to say:

I have free time.

The word time is an uncountable noun.

COMMON CORE: SUBJECT PRONOUNS

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SUBJECT PRONOUNS

What are the subject pronouns in English?

We use these subject pronouns in English

Subject Pronoun	Singular or Plural - Who?	Masculine or Feminine
I	Singular - first person	Masculine or feminine
You	Singular - second person	Masculine or feminine
He	Singular - third person	Only masculine
She	Singular - third person	Only feminine
It	Singular - third person	Object / thing / animal
We	Plural - first person	Masculine or feminine
You	Plural - second person	Masculine or feminine
They	Plural - third person	Masculine or feminine

When do you use IT?

IT is normally used when we refer to objects, things, animals or ideas (and not normally people).

o The dog is big. It is also hairy. (It = the dog)

o My bed is small but it is comfortable. (It = my bed)

Sometimes when we do not know the sex of a baby (we do not know if it is a boy or girl), then we can use IT .

o Their baby is very small. It only weighs 2 kilos. (It = the baby.)

We use IT we when talk about the time, weather or temperature.

o It is five o'clock (= the time is five o'clock)

o It is cold today. (= the weather is cold today.)

o It is 30º outside right now. (= the temperature is 30º outside right now)

He	Mr. Ken Jake Nicholas My Father	She	Mrs. Flintstone Miss Jackson Cynthia My Mother	It	The book The cat The school The weather
They		Lily and Marshall The cat and the dog Jill and James She and Barnie

Examples:
a. Tony and Timothy are basketball players. ===> They are basketball players.
b. Miss White is very clever. ===> She is very clever.
c. Richy is an English teacher. ===> He is an English teacher.
d. Lion is the king of the jungle. ===> It is the king of the jungle.
EXERCISE
Use the appropriate subject pronouns to rewrite the following sentences.

1. Mrs. Chart is very beautiful. She is very beautiful

2. Dr. Phil is a famous person. He is a famous person

3. Fred and Barnie are good friends.

4. Is James good at basketball?

5. Maria plays tennis.

6. Andy and I are cousins.

7. Wendy and Robin are good at math.

8. Mount Everest is very high.

9. Mrs. Rogala has 23 students.

10. Is the TV too loud?

11. How are Jessie and James ?

12. The weather is very hot today.

13. Bruce , Arnold and I are good friends.

14. Are you and Mr. Parker related?

15. The cat looks very friendly.

COMMON CORE: THE SIMPLE PRESENT OF THE VERB "TO BE"

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THE SIMPLE PRESENT OF THE VERB "TO BE"

FORM:

Affirmative form

I am your English teacher.

You are Ali.

He is my uncle.

She is my sister.

It is my school bag.

We are Moroccan.

You are my students.

They are hard working.

Negative form

I am not your Arabic teacher.

You are not Brahim.

He is not my father.

She is not my cousin.

It is not my suitcase.

We are not my Algerian.

You are not my children.

They are not lazy.

Interrogative form

Am I your brother?

Are you Ali?

Who is your father?

Where is your sister?

Is this your handbag ?

What nationality are we?

Whose students are you?

What are they like?

CONTRACTED FORMS

I am =====> I’m

You are =====> You’re

We are =====> We’re

He is =====> He’s

It is =====> It’s

You are =====> You’re

he is =====> She’s

They are =====> They’re

I am not =====> I’m not

It is not =====> It isn’t

You are not =====> You aren’t

We are not =====> We aren’t

He is not =====> He isn’t

You are not =====> You aren’t

She is not =====> She isn’t

They are not =====> They aren’t

EXERCISE

Fill in the blanks with : am, is, are

1. Tom ……….a carpenter.

2. Terry and Linda ………from Armenia.

3. Jack ……… a famous movie star.

4. ………Derek and Peter police officers?

5. BMW ………an expensive car brand.

6. Alan's friends ………..doctors.

7. We ………….at home.

8. I ……….a diligent student.

9. They …………my friend's cousins.

10. Mr Jackson ……….a pianist.

11. Dan and Ryan …………. engineers.

12. …………they soldiers?

13. His shoes ………….new.

14. …………..you the boss?

15. ………Judy beautiful?

MODAL VERBS

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MODAL AUXILIARIES

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Which verbs belong to this group?

CAN WILL SHALL MAY MUST NEED

COULD WOULD SHOULD MIGHT OUGHT TO DARE

What is their principal function?

Modal verbs are used with other verbs to express a variety of concepts, moods and attitudes (permission, obligation, etc)

What makes these verbs grammatically different from other verbs?

-Modal verbs have only one form:

I, you, he, she, it, they, we can/ must/ etc.

-They have no infinitive or imperative form.

-There can be only one modal auxiliary in each verbal group.

-They are followed by bare infinitive forms of the verbs (verbs without ‘to’):

I should go. NOT I should to go.

You can swim NOT you can to swim.

-The negative form is formed by adding NOT:

I should not go. NOT I do not should go.

-The +interrogative is formed by inverting the subject and the modal auxiliary:

Should I go……? NOT Do I should go……..?

-Modal auxiliary verbs are used in short answers:

Should I go to cinema?

Yes, you should. NOT yes, you do.

Modal auxiliaries are used in two constructions:

-Modal verb + base of the main verb to refer to a present or future context:

I should go now/ later/ tomorrow.

-Modal verb + have + past participle

of the main verb to refer to a past situation:

I should have gone yesterday.

What are the meanings and functions of each modal auxiliary?

MODAL VERB	FUNCTION	PRESENT/ FUTURE CONTEXT
CAN + BASE	INTELLECTUAL ABILITY	He can speak three languages.
	PHYSICAL ABILITY	The athletes can run the mile in under four minutes.
	POSSIBILITY= be able to / in position to / be possible to	I can lend you some money if you haven’t enough. Can you attend the conference next week? It can be very cold in winter.
	PERMISSION= be allowed to	Daddy says we can go swimming. Can I go to the birthday party?
	ABILITY TO PERCIEVE= with hear, smell, feel, taste, see)	I can smell something burning. Can you see anyone in the garden?
CAN’T + BASE	PHYSICAL/ INTELECTUAL INABILITY (=be unable to/ not be able to / not know how to)	Women can’t run as fast as men. He can’t remember all the irregular verbs. I can’t swim.
	IMPOSSIBILITY	I can’t buy a new car this year. He can’t come to the meeting.
	DEDUCTION	It can’t be true. They can’t be home yet; it is only four o’clock.
	INTERDICTION/ PROHIBITION= not be allowed to	You can’t borrow more than three books at a time. People can’t smoke inside the cinema. You were not allowed to use the swimming pool yesterday. She has never been allowed to travel alone.
CAN’T + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE	IMPROBABILITY IN A PAST CONTEXT	He can’t have taken his father car. He doesn’t know how to drive. They can’t have given him the result. They haven’t finished marking the exam papers.
COULD + BASE	ABILITY IN THE PAST	When I was young, I could swim for hours. But now I can’t. When he lived in France, he could speak French very well. (But he can’tnow.) To refer to a specific action in the past, be able to or managed toreplace could: He was able to mend the garage door alone. They managed to get a good seat for the show.
	POSSIBILITY (present and future)	It’s late, but the shop could still beopen. Look at the clouds. It could rain later on. That noise could be the neighbor’s motorbike.
	SUGGESTION (present and future)	If you miss the train, you could get a taxi. We need a ladder. We could ask the neighbor to lend us his.
	A POLITE REQUEST (present context)	Could you open the door for me, please? Could I borrow your newspaper?
	ABILITY TO PERCIEVE (past context) with see, smell, taste, hear)	We could hear them coming down the road. I could smell the lunch cooking.
	REPOROACH (present context) =expressing disapproval	You could do better than this, you know.
COULDN’T + BASE	INABILITY IN THE PAST	I couldn’t walk until I was a year old. We couldn’t visit our grandfather when we were young. He lived too far away.
	INABILITY ON A SPECIFIC OCCASION IN THE PAST	He couldn’t remember my address. She couldn’t mend the lamp.
	A SUGGESTION (present or future context)	If you need a ladder, couldn’t you borrow your neighbor’s? Couldn’t you repair the chair instead of throwing it away?
	INABILITY TO PRECIEVE (past context)	It was so dark that we couldn’t seeanything. I couldn’t taste the lemon in the cake. Could you?
COULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE	POSSIBILITY (in past context)	I could have finished the exercises if I had had more time. She’s lucky to be alive. She could have killed herself.
COULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE	REPROACH AND REGRET (past context)	She could have told us she wasn’t coming! (Why didn’t she?). You could have made more effort! (Why didn’t you?)
EXERCISE
SHALL + BASE	AN OFFER= would you like me/ us to... .?	Shall I get you another cup of tea? Shall we do the shopping for you?
SHALL + BASE	A SUGGESTION= I suggest….	Shall we invite our neighbor in for a drink? Let’s invite our neighbors in for a drink, shall we? Shall we try and get tickets for the cup Final? Let’s try and get tickets for the Cup Final, shall we?
SHOULD + BASE	ADVISE/ DESIRABILITY (present or future context)	You should try to understand his point of view. He is too fat. He should lose weight.
SHOULD + BASE	PROBABILITY (future context	They have trained hard for the match. They should win. She has had good marks all the year. She should pass the exam.
OUGHT TO + BASE	DESIRABILITY/ MORAL OBLIGATION (present or future context)	He ought to apologize for what he said. She ought to visit her sick grandmother.
	PROBABILITY	He left early this morning, so he ought to be there by now. Monica Seles ought to beat the unknown English girl in tomorrow’s match.
SHOULDN’T / OUGHTN’T TO + BASE	ADVICE / UNDESIRABILITY (present context)	Parents shouldn’t/ oughtn’t to lettheir children watch TV all day. He shouldn’t/ oughtn’t to be so cruel to the cat.
SHOULDN’T / OUGHTN’T TO + BASE	PROBABILITY	I don’t know where he is, but he shouldn’t be far away. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding his house.
HAD BETTER (NOT) + BASE	ADVICE / UNDESIRABILITY (present or future context)	You had better leave now if you want to catch the early bus. You’d better not to forget your umbrella. It’s going to rain again.
SHOULD / OUGHT TO + HAVE + PAST PARTICPLE	A PAST OBLIGATTION THAT WAS NOT FULFILLED / REGRET	I should / ought to have apologizedto them. But I didn’t. We should / ought to have gone to the meeting. But we didn’t.
SHOULD / OUGHT TO + HAVE + PAST PARTICPLE	DISAPPROVAL / REPROACH (PAST CONTEXT)	You should/ ought to have offeredher something to drink. (Why didn’t you? You should/ ought to have told us you were coming. Why didn’t you?
SHOULDN’T / OUGHTN’T TO + HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE	DISAPPROVAL/ REPROACH/ REGRET (past context)	You shouldn’t have been so cruel to the cat. (but he was). You oughtn’t to have been so cruel to the cat. (but he was). They shouldn’t have left the gate open. (Why did you?) They oughtn’t to have left the gate open. (Why did you?) I shouldn’t have said that. (But I did) I oughtn’t to have said that. (But I did)
SHOULDN’T / OUGHTN’T TO + HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE	PROBABILITY	I expect they have already arrived. It shouldn’t have taken long to get there.
EXERCISE
WILL + BASE	STRONG PROBABILITY/ ASSUMPTION (present or future context).	The phone rings. “That’ll be Jan. She said she’d phone this evening.” I’m going to ask the secretary. She will know where the manager is
	OFFER	Will you have a cup of coffee? Will you help yourself to another cake?
	REQUEST /INVITATION	Will you lend me your book, please? Lend me you book, will you? Will you come to the theatre with me tomorrow?
	DETERMINATION	I will never go to that restaurant again! We will go, whether our parents like or not!
	PROMISE	I’ll give it back to you tomorrow. (I promise) Don’t worry. I will help you.
WON’T + BASE	STRONG PROBABILITY (present or future	It’s no use phoning Mary now. She won’t be home from work yet. Don’t buy Tom that shirt. He won’t wear it.
	REFUSAL	I won’t marry that awful man! He won’t do anything for me.
	PROMISE	I won’t be rude to you again. (I promise) We won’t get into any more mischief.
WOULD + BASE	REQUEST	Would you lend me your pen, please? Lend me your pen, would you? Would you open the door, please? Open the door, would you?
	DETERMINATION	We tried to stop him, but he would go there. (He insisted on going) I told her the peach wasn’t ripe, but she would eat it.
	HABIT OR REPEATED ACTION (past context)	When he was a child, he would often stand on the bridge and watch the trains go by. Her grandfather would often take her to the cinema when she was young.
WOULDN’T + BASE	REFUSAL (past context)	I invited her to the party, but she wouldn’t come. I wanted to have a ride on his motorbike, but he wouldn’t let me.
WOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

WOULDN’T + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

MAY (NOT) + BASE	PERMISSION	May I borrow your ruler? You may come in now.
	PROHIBITION	Students may not take reference books out of the library. Learners may not use the swimming pool after 7 p.m.
	POSSIBILITY/ UNCERTAINTY (present or future context)	I’m not sure what to do on Sunday. I may go to the country. He doesn’t know where his wife is. She may be in the garden. You may or you may not be right.
MAY + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE	POSSIBILITY (deduction about the past)	Betty didn’t come to our party yesterday. She may have forgotten about it. She may not have arrived home from work early enough. She may have had something urgent to do. (We don’t know the reason yet.)
MIGHT + BASE	UNCERTAINTY (present or future context)	I might go to the country on Sunday. (But I doubt it) She might be in the garden. but I doubt it)
	RISK	Don’t touch that dog. It might biteyou! Don’t stay too long. You might missthe last train.
	REPROACH	You might ask me when you want to borrow the car! You might tell me when you know you’re going to be late!
MIGHT + HAVE+PAST PARTICIPLE	UNCERTAINTY (past context)	He might have arrived by now, but I doubt it. She might have phoned earlier, but I doubt it.
	POSSIBILITY IN THE PAST WHICH DIDN’T MATERIALIZE	He was lucky to escape unharmed. He might have killed himself. He might have won, but he didn’t play as well as usual.
	REPROACH	You might at least have told me you were leaving! You might have asked him what he wanted for his birthday instead of wasting your money on that awful tie!
EXERCISE
MUST + BASE	OBLIGATION/ NECESSITY (=have to)	Candidates must obtain an average mark of 10/20 to pass. You must write your name clearly. Must I finish this exercise now?
	CERTAINTY/ DEDUCTION (present context)	The phone is ringing. It must beSusan. She usually phones at this time. You must be tired after such a long journey!
	Have to replaces must in other tenses	I will have to go to the doctor’s if I don’t feel better tomorrow. I’ve had to buy a new watch. Somebody stole my other one. He’d (would) have to borrow money from his parents if he didn’t have enough.
MUSTN’T + BASE	PROHIBITION/ INTERDICTION (=not be allowed to/ be forbidden to) (present and future context)	You mustn’t drive on the right-hand side of the road in England. You mustn’t park your car in a no-parking zone.
MUSTN’T + BASE	Not be allowed to replace mustn’t in other tenses	They weren’t allowed to park in front of the theatre. You won’t be allowed to visit him until he’s better.
NEEDN’T + BASE	ABSENCE OF OBLIGATION OR NECESSITY (present or future context)	You needn’t attend this meeting if you don’t want to. We needn’t take our coats. It isn’t cold. Must we finish the work today? Yes, you must OR No, you needn’t. Need we finish the work today? Yes, you must OR No, you needn’t.
NEEDN’T + BASE	Doesn’t/ don’t have to may be used in place of needn’t	You don’t have to attend this meeting if you don’t want to. He doesn’t have to work in the evening if he doesn’t want to.
EXERCISE
MUST+ HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE	PROBABILITY / DEDUCTION (past context)	He must have been very tired after his long journey yesterday. They must have finished by now; it’s midnight!
MUST+ HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE	Had to + base is used to denote obligation in the past	He must have gone to the doctors. (I’m almost certain he has gone to the doctor’s). He had to go to the doctor’s. (He went to the doctor’s because he was ill- it was necessary). She must have paid a lot of money for this vase. (It looks expensive, so I suppose she paid a lot for it). She had to pay a lot of money for this vase. (It was, in fact, expensive, so she paid a lot for it).
NEEDN’T + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE	ACTIONS PEROFRMED UNNECESSARILY IN THE PAST	The train was late, so he needn’t have run to the station this morning. (But he did). We have got plenty of milk. She needn’t have bought this bottle. (But she did).
	Didn’t need to denote an action that wasn’t performed because it wasn’t necessary.	He had some cash, so he needn’t have gone to the bank. (But he did). He had some cash, so he didn’t need to go to the bank. (And he didn’t go). I have solved the problem, so I needn’t have bothered you. (But I did). I have solved the problem, so I didn’t need to bother you. (And I didn’t).
DARE + BASE	= HAVE THE COURAGE TO It is used mainly in the interrogative and negative forms	I daren’t dive from this board. It is too high! He daren’t disobey his father. Dare we borrow the care without permission? How dare he speak to me like that? No one dare ask what really happened. (The verb is affirmative, but the implication is negative.)