COMMON MISTAKES

• Adjective + noun

Adjectives go before, not after nouns. This includes comparatives and superlatives, and adjectives modified by “very”. For example:

a very interesting film, the most important thing…

• Comparatives and superlatives

In short adjectives, you add –er for comparatives and –est for superlatives:

The fastest player in Real Madrid.

She’s shorter than her sister.

With long adjectives, you use MORE for comparatives and THE MOST for superlatives:

The book is more expensive than the magazine.

This is the most exciting film I’ve ever seen.

• Some adjectives are irregular

better, the best; worse, the worst…

• Adjectives don’t have a plural form

cheap cars, good news, big problems…

• THIS / THESE / THAT / THOSE

“These” is the plural of “this” (these houses) and “those” is the plural of “that” (those people)

• PEOPLE is a plural word.

It’s the plural of “person”.

• Punctuation

The rules are more or less the same as in Spanish. Put them in practice.

• Word Order

In English, it’s far more rigid than in Spanish:

subject + (some adverbs: “only”, “also”, frequency adverbs) main verb (except “to be”) + object + adverbials (manner + place + time).

S+V+O+C

For example:

I like football very much.

I like very much football” is incorrect.

She had also written a lot of interesting novels in London before she moved to the USA.

She won the race easily last Sunday.

You can place some adverbials before the subject (especially some time and place adverbials):

In 1992, he came to live to Seville.

In London, he met some very interesting people.

• Plurals

You can avoid this mistake easily if you check your composition. This is a “stupid” and unfortunately common mistake.

Remember some irregular plurals: “women”, “men”, “children”, “teeth”, “feet”, “people”, “mice” …

• Articles

Don’t use “the” when talking about something general. For example:

Violence is found in streets all over the city.

I’m going to write about sport.

Cats are cleaner than dogs.

Use “a / an” only for singular countable nouns. For the rest, use some / any. For example:

“a book”, “a boy”, but “some / any books”, “some / any boys”, “some / any money”...

• Gerunds as subject

Don’t forget to use –ING when you use a verb as a subject. For example:

Speaking English is easy for me.

Working 14 hours a day is too much for me.

Studying Maths is very useful.

• Possessives

Use “its” when you are talking about something. “His” and “her” refer to people. For example:

Rome is beautiful. I love its museums and churches.

• Modifiers

“Very” modifies adjectives and it means “muy” (“very good”, “very intelligent”).

If we want to say “mucho /s” we can use “a lot of” .

For negatives and interrogatives, we tend to use “much” (uncountable) and “many” (countable).

• Questions and answers

When they ask you “why?” you should use a complete sentence, including “because”. For example:

Why did it happen? – It happened because he was driving too fast.

• Other / another

«Other” is used with plural nouns: “other things”

«Another” is used with singular nouns: “another thing”

• Present simple 3rd person singular

You add –s

The book tells the story of…

This influences their behaviour…

• Too / also

You use “too” at the end of the sentence (…and it is original too)

and also before the main verb (this also implies that...)

• Impersonal “you”

You use “you” when you are referring to everybody:

You should eat fruit every day (in Spanish: Hay que comer fruta todos los días).

• As / like

You use “as” + a prepositional phrase

Shakespeare dealt with racism in his plays, as in “Othello».

You use “like” + noun phrase / personal pronoun

He lives like a king.

His sister doesn’t look like him.

• Such as

It means “como”, “tales como”, por ejemplo:

Shakespare wrote great comedies, such as The Merchant of Venice.

• Contractions

DO NOT use contractions in compositions.

• Word categories

Sometimes you say “violence” (noun) when you want to say “violent” (adjective)

When you have to give a word for a definition, a synonym or opposite, make sure you give a word of the same category.

• Spelling

Don’t mix up BRITISH ENGLISH SPELLING with AMERICAN ENGLISH SPELLING (Your composition has to be written in one of these accents, but not mixing up both. Examples:

COLOUR / NEIGHBOUR – British English

COLOR / NEIGHBOR – American English.

Please, visit this website for reference.

• Modal Verbs

After every simple modal verb the following verb is ALWAYS an infinitive without to.

If it’s a compound modal, the structure is always MODAL + HAVE + past participle.

MIGHT / MUST / SHOULD / Will / Would … + infinitive without to:

I should study more.

I must go to the police.

Children, even adults might make a show. (And not: (…) might to make a show).

If the modal is compound (that is to talk about the past or to talk about something that has possibly happened), we use the structure

MODAL + HAVE + past participle:

He must have been to the dentist, because he had a tooth-ache (This structure is used to talk an event that has possibly happened, as he has a tooth-ache, he has probably gone to the dentist).

You might have lost your bag at the train station. (This time, the meaning is related to a event that happened in the past. It’s is clear that you don’t have your bag with you now, so you are thinking about where you lost it, in the past by using this past structure).

WARNING: 

(Some desperate tips for the exam)

• THINK IN ENGLISH (or try to do so).
• CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK AND DON’T STOP.
• CHECKING UNTIL THE TIME COMES WHEN YOU HAVE TO HAND OUT YOUR EXAM.
• AVOID “STUPID MISTAKES” (plurals, spelling…).
• IN COMPOSITIONS, THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE. PLEASE MAKE A LIST OF IDEAS FIRST.
• DON’T MAKE EXPERIMENTS IN AN EXAM (inventing words that sound like Spanish words…)
• USE PARAGRAPHS.
• INCLUDE A CONCLUSION.
• BE ORIGINAL (If you can)
• DON’T REPEAT IDEAS.
• EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY EVERYTHING YOU SAY.
• USE CONNECTORS.
• SOME GOOD STUDY HABITS.
• REPEAT GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES.
• VOCABULARY: LOOK FOR WORDS OF COMMON USE AND LEARN THEM FIRST.
• READ THE TEXTS IN THE BOOK AND PHOTOCOPIES OF SELECTIVIDAD TEXTS. LOOK UP DIFFICULT WORDS IN A DICTIONARY.
• WRITE DOWN YOUR MISTAKES (COMPLETE SENTENCES)
• TRY TO REMEMBER THE LYRICS OF SONGS WHERE A PARTICULAR WORD OR GRAMMAR STRUCTURE IS USED.
• PRACTICE ENGLISH EVERY DAY.
• THERE’S A LOT TO STUDY, SO DON’T LEAVE EVERYTHING FOR THE DAY BEFORE.