Common_Mistakes_in_IELTS

M 428.0076 C967C 2007 --~, Test 6 33 Are there any special times I should use the? 22 Adjectivesandadverbs 40 23 Noun oradjective? 41 24 Verbconfusion1- coursesandstudy 42 25 Verbconfusion2- describingchartsandfigures 26 Verbconfusion3 - moneyandproblems 46 27 Noun confusion1- moneyandwork 47 19 How do I makeaverbpassive? 20 Whendo I usethepassive? 21 Whatis register? 37 Test 7 38 Test 8 43 Test 9 48 36 35 45 1 Tickthecorrectsentenceineachpair. 1 a In the USA this situation is totally different b In USA this situation is totally different 2 a The table shows numberOt people working in Britain in 1976. b The table shows the numberor people working inBritain in 1976. Weusethe • with countriesor placeswherethenamerefersto agroupof islandsor states:the UnitedStates,theMiddleEast,theUnitedArabEmirates,theUK • with superlatives:thebest,thelongest,thehighest • with cardinalnumbers:thefirst, thesecond,thethird • whenthereis onlyonein theworld: theenvironment,theinternet,thesun • to referto theonlyonein thisparticulararea:thegovernment,thepolice,theriver • in thephrase:thesameas Wedon'tusethe • with asinglecountryorplace:America,England,China • to talkaboutsomethingin general.Weusethepluralif wearetalkingabout somethingin general;weusetheto identifyonespecificexample.Compare: Peoplewith readingdifficultiesoftenhaveproblemswithnumbers. Thenumbereightisconsideredluckyin somecountries. 28 Noun confusion2- advertising,travelandyoungpeople 29 Whendo I needto useanapostrophe? 51 30 Commonspellingerrors 52 Test 10 53 50 2 Correctthe mistakebelow. Yourhairstyleis asthetotalfigurefor 1982.(same) thanin mycountry.(USA) increaseoccurredin 1999.(greatest) ata speedof3,700 Answer key 55 3 Completethesentencesbelowusingthewordsinbrackets.Decidewhetherornot tousethe,orwhethertousetheplural. 1 Themainadvantageof is thatit givesusaccessto informationfromall overtheworld. (internet) 2 My fatherhasfishedin all overAustralia.(river) 3 Life in is verydifferentfromlife in mycountry.(America) 4 Accordingto thegraph, ofpeoplemovinginto thecityeach yearhasmorethandoubled.(number) 5 Thetotalfigurefor 1976was 6 Obesityis muchmorecommonin 7 The graphshowsthat 8 travelsaround kilometresperhour.(moon,earth) 5 Singular or plural? Which nouns don't have a plural form? 'I 1 Tick thecorrectsentencein eachpair. 1 a Thereare severalproblemwith this idea, b Thereare severalproblemswith thisidea, 2 a Manycharityorganisationsprovidea greatdealof help, b Manycharityorganisationprovidesa great dealof If youuseapluralnoun,youmustuseapluralverb.Theverbmust'agree'with the noun: In mycountrythereareveryfewcarsthatuseleadedpetrol.(pluralverb+pluralnoun) I likestudyingduringthedaybutmyfriend prefersstudyingat night.(singularnoun + singularverb) Weuseapluralnounwith: • pluralverbs:are,were,have,do,play,etc.:Therearea lotofbookson thetable. • numbersgreaterthanone:30cars,100students • many:It isannoyingthatsomanybusesdrivepastbecausetheyarefull. • thenumberof Thenumberof busesonour roadshas increasedeachyear. -(:{Notethatweuseapluralnounbutasingularverbafterthenumberof Weuseasingularnounwith: • singularverbs:is,was,has,does,plays,etc.:Thereis onlyonebedroomin thefiat. • a/anor one:a car,onestudent -(:{Notethatsomenounscanlookpluralbutaresingular(news,mathematics)and somenounshaveadifferentform in theplural(children,men,women,people). 1 Tick thecorrectsentencein eachpair. 1 a I don'thavemanytimeto completemyassignment b I don'thavemuchtimeto completemyassignment 2 a WhenI dida searchonmycomputer.I couldonlyrinda few inrormationsabout the topic. b WhenI dida searchonmycomputer.I couldonlyrinda littleinrormationabout the Somenounsin Englishare'uncountable'.Thismeanstheydo nothaveapluralform. Somecommonuncountablenounsare:advice,advertising,food,furniture,garbage, information,knowledge,money,shopping,time,traffic,travel. With uncountablenouns,youmustuse: • thesingularform:food, information,money • a little / amountof / much/ some:How muchmoneydoyouhave? Theamountof trafficon theroadsis increasingeachyear. • asingularverb:Therewasalreadya littlefurniture in thefiat. If anoun is uncountable,youcannotuse: • aplural.form:-£l£lWees,furnitures,garbage-s,informatioNs,knowledges • a/an:an ad~'ice,agarbage,a knowledge • afew/ many/ numberof:afewshopping,manytraffic,thenumberofknewlcdge • anumber:threetra~'C!s,fourfurniture • apluralverb:Therewerealirtlefurniturein thefiat. -(:{If youwantto addanumberto anuncountablenoun,youcanusea pieceof / some/ afewpiecesof a pieceofadvice,threepiecesoffurniture,afewpiecesofgarbage 2 Correctthe mistakebelow. weproduceis increasing. _fLrL The dramaticallylastyear. The number of IVoman studying science increased dramaticall y last year. The numberof 2 Correctthe mistakebelow. 3 Underlinethecorrectword in eachsentence. 1 The childs/ childrenareplayingin thestreet. 2 The numberof men/ manstudyingsciencehasdecreased. 3 Therearea lotofpersons/ peoplein myclass. 4 I enjoyedstudyingmathematicsa lot;I foundit / themveryinteresting. 5 Thenewswere/ wasveryupsetting. 6 Howmanyclasses/ classdoyouhavetoday? 7 A person/ peopleI reallyadmireis myuncle. 8 My fatherwatch/ watchesa lot of sportonTV: 6 3 Correctthemistakesin thesesentences.Theremaybemorethanonemistakein eachsentence. 1 Mytutorwasveryhelpful;hegaveme oneverygoodadviceabouthowto study. 2 I wassurprisedbythenumberof timesit tookusto reachthecastle. 3 Youneedagreatdealof knowledgesto becomeadoctor. 4 Theinformationsweweregivenbythetourguidewerenotveryhelpful. 5 Whenwevisitedthepark,wewereupsetto seesomanygarbagesleftthere. 6 Wearrivedlatebecausethereweresomanytrafficon theroad. 7 I can'twaitto visitthemarketanddo afewshopping. 8 The furnituresin thehotelroomwerequiteold buttheywereverycomfortable. 1 food includedin therent? a lot oftrafficin thearea? anyothertransportnearby? doestheelectricityusuallycost? anypetsin thehouse? moneywill I needto payeachweek? peoplearelivingin thehouse? a lotof furniturein theroom? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roomfor rent in sharehousecloseto bus. Must helpto pay bills (electricity,etc.). For moredetails phone:3768900 advice bird child company house person plastic transport Fill in theblanksusingaword fromthebox.Makeanychangesnecessary. 1 Thetravelagencywashopeless;theydidn'tevengiveus oneuseful 2 The numberofnew beingbuilt in ourareahasdoubled. 3 Most large operateon aglobalscalenowadays. 4 Many believethatglobalisationhasbothadvantagesand disadvantages. 5 Today,in mycountry,school-age do notexerciseasmuchasin the past. 6 Thebladesof thefanaremadeof 7 Thereareseveralkindsof in myhometownbutmyfavouriteis the ferry. 8 Therehasbeenan increasein thenumberof native killedbycats thisyear. 5 Correctthe 14mistakesin thetextbelow. Theglobalisationhashadanenormousimpactonmanypartof theworld.Nowadays, evenin someofmostremotepartsofworld,we canconnectto internetandconduct business.However,theyis advantageanddisadvantagetothis.Onedisadvantages,for example,is thatthelocalcultureandlanguagecanbeaffected.It canalsomeanthat localbusinesseshasto reducetheirpricesto competewithbiggeroverseascompanies. However,thereareadvantages;forexample,globalisationcanbringmorebusinessto a smallarea,whichis goodforthelocaleconomy.It mayalsohelpto stopyoungperson movingawayfrommoreremotearea.If ayoungpersonhavethechanceto run a businessandbesuccessfulnomatterwhereheor shelives,thenperhapsmorepeople will chooseto stayin thesesmallercommunities.It alsomeansthatnewsfromaround theworldareavailableto everyone,andthiscanalsoreducethefeelingof isolation. 3 Look at thefollowingadvertisementandfill in thegapin eachquestionusingone of thephrasesin thebox. lHow many How much Is Are Is there Are there I largest list Malta numberone UnitedKingdom UnitedStates world FaroeIslands internet same Sweden table (1). showsthetoptencountriesin termsof internetusage. (2) countryis NewZealand,whichhas (3) numberof internetusers.(4) is atthebottomof (5) Surprisingly, (6) doesnot featurein thetoptenatall.However,alittle-knowngroup of islandscalled(7). is rankedfifthin (8) (9) . and(l0) arerankedthirdandfourth.Bothhavealmost (Il) numberofusers,with over75,500peopleper 100,000accessing (12) . 1 Underlinethecorrectword or phrasein thefollowingsentences. 1 The garbageis / arecollectedeveryTuesday. 2 Advertisingin theschoolnewsletteris / areawasteof time. 3 A lot of foodin restaurantsis / arethrownawayeveryday. 4 Many idea/ ideasfor newproductsneverreachthemanufacturingstage. 5 My sistergavemelotsofadvice/ advicesthatwas/ wereveryuseful. 6 Overthreehundredstudent/ studentssignedthepetitionfor anewstudyarea. 7 Therearea lot ofsimilarity/ similaritiesbetweenyourcountryandmine. 8 Thereis / aremorewomenon mycoursethanmen. 2 Fill in thegapsusingoneof thewordsfrom thebox.Decidewhetheryou needto add the. I 4 ~Rank Country Numberofpeopleaccessingthe 11 internetper100,000people -~--#1 NewZealand 79.306- ----_._-#2 Iceland 76.027--- _ ...._._ ..__ ......_~#3 Sweden 75.539--- ---"-----"-.--. ----~""_..#4 Malta 75.527- ._---#5 FaroeIslands 68.140.-. --------#6 Greenland 67.406-#7 Korea,South 64.925--_ .... ~#8 Australia 64.709--- ._----,#9 Finland 62.914---- ---- -.--.--'''''''-#10 UnitedKingdom 62.209 8 9 r When do I use the present simple tense? How do I write large numbers? cameto seetheroyalwedding. 2 Correct the mistake below. 3 Underlinethecorrectnumberin thesentencesbelow. 1 Theskeletonhadremainedhiddenfor a thousands/ thousandsofyears. 2 Thechartshowsthatthreehundreds/ threehundredwhaleswereseenherein 1990. 3 Threeanda halfbillion / threeanda halfofa billionwill watchtheceremony. 4 I paysixhundreddollars/ sixhundreddollarrenteachmonth. 5 Realestatein mycityis veryexpensive;a smallhousecancostthreequarterofa million / threequartersofa million dollars. 6 A million of / Millions ofdollarsarespenton spaceexplorationeachyear. 7 By2005,morethansixhundred/ sixhundredsofchildrenwereenrolledin theschool. 8 Thecompanyhassoldoneanda halfbillions/ oneanda halfbillioncomputerssofar. 11 A thousandsof people cameto see the royal wedding. 1 Tick thecorrectsentencein eachpair. 1 a Thegovernmentspenttenmillionsdollarsonedocationlastuear. b Thegovernmentspenttenmilliondollarsonedocationlastuear. 2 a Therewerethoosandsof peopleat the footballmatch, b Therewerea thoo50ndof peopleat the footballmatch, Whenwetalkaboutaspecificlargenumber,we donot addsto thenumber: 200,000=twohundredthousand(nottwo,'1ul'ldl'edthous{1l'l{is) 10,000,000=tenmillion (nott.cl'lmillions) The nounthatfollowsis alwaysplural: Theremusthavebeenat leastthreethousandstudentsat theprotest. Weusethepluralformof largenumbers+of to giveanapproximateideaofhowmany: Theremusthavebeenthousandsof studentsat theprotest. Wecanusea insteadof one.Oneis moreformal: If I wona million dollars,I wouldprobablytakeayearoffand travelaroundtheworld. Thepresidentpromisedtoincreasethehealthbudgetbyonemillion dollars. ~ Weusuallyusenumeralsfor numbersthatcannotbewrittenin oneor twowords: Morethantwomillion peopleattendedlastyear.but:2,001,967peopleattendedlastyear. Youshouldwritefractionsin words:halfa (million);a/onethirdofa (million);three quartersofa (million);oneanda quarter(million);oneand threequarter(million): Accordingtothechart,in 2004overhalf a million Ukranianswenttothecinema. My brother 2 1 Choosethecorrectsentencein eachpair. 1 a Nowadaf:Js,oor bodiesbecoming'old'mochlater than100f:Jearsago. b NowadafJs,oor bodiesbecome'old'mochlater than100f:Jearsago. 2 a Childrenlost theirfreedomif thef:Jhavetoo manuresponsibilities./ b Childrenlosetheirfreedomif theUhavetoo manuresponsibilities, Weusethepresentsimpletense: • to makegeneralstatementsaboutourworld:Theearthmovesaroundthesun. • to showa patternor generaltruth:Peoplework in ordertomeettheirbasicneeds. • with adverbsoffrequency:always,usually,often,sometimes,never:Peoplewhoare toolazytowalkoftenusetheircarsinstead. • with expressionssuchas:nowadays,thesedays,today(withageneralmeaning): Manystudentstodaydo theirresearchviacomputerratherthanthroughbooks. • for verbsshowingopinionsor feelings,e.g.believe,think,hope:I think thatwe shouldall doasmuchaswecantoimproveourenvironment. Weformthepresentsimpletensewith thebaseformof theverb.Weadds or esto formthe3rdpersonsingular: I play I watch youplay youwatch he/she/itplays he/she/itwatches weplay wewatch youplay youwatch theyplay theywatch 3 Correctthemistakesin thesentencesbelow. 1 Peopleshouldactaccordingtowhattheyarebelieving. I 2 In general,I thinkourgovernmentspenttoomuchmoneyon spacetrarel. 3 Nowadays,manypeoplein mycountryhavesenttheirchildrento single-sexschools. 4 Thesedays,moreandmorepeopletravellingtoverydistantplacesfortheirholidays. 5 I amhopingit is not toolateto savetheenvironment. 6 Thefemalehenlayingon average5 or6 eggsperweek. 7 Youngerdriversis morelikelytobe involvedin a caraccident. 8 Mostdoctorsareagreeingthattheonlywaytoloseweightis bydoingmoreexercise. 10 II11 There is / there are 12 1 $305,000 a thrity-fivedollars b threeanda halfmillion dollars2 $35 c threehundredsandfivedollar d thirtyfivethousandsdollars3 $35,000 e threemillionsandfivehundredthousandsdollars f thirty-fivedollars 4 $3,500,000 g threehundredandfivethousanddollars h thirty-fivethousanddollars5 $305 ithreehundredandfivedollars 3 Find 12mistakesin theessaybelowandcorrectthem. ~~~=;::lhr~~~~m;~~:4~~~~:~~1~ I - ..- _ ':/_ P2- - ···--t·.. ··p-W -- - - - --- - . \ r~IJ.A~~r ._.D@:4...tQiillP-Qr±..Lwh ii::bQ,J;;Q..L.cJ,I,!,.Q?Q;fiLP-ri(~..Q.f_.£~~2tLfQO~ri..i.D....tb§_;;bQP-2.l-if~ . £ ~'i1 [~~t~~5:±~~~~~~~~E~:;~~~_ I ..~- V......i::Q.\Jo..lliQD?...Y.§ry..O"j.££icl,!,.lt.Q,t.jj~2...W\JQ,.Li2...mQr~J..@,oy_£Q,.r~r2..Q,.r.'" ..lbo,.±.jb§y_4.g.XJQLr~~ly~..Q.._..£Q,.ir..p-r~(:';_fQLtb§it.....p-tQ.Md'5-'....W~..Q,r~~ .±Q.... ..gYf9~rQ...sg....fibr~r;;....±Q..'Stiby..i'O..±bi2...i,oQ,I,!,.'STIY,...NQ.@Q.Q,.Y21..RlSl ..;;I,!,.p-gtm<:l..rkd..i::hQ-iD?....-I; "'ae. . f ......t~h.~Q,._Ig,!]~....Q..~ ..±b§..pmfi±2.jb<:J..t...2bg~lQ,ilQ._tQj~£Q,.r~r2,.. ..~_~:~:Dm(:';z~1~t~~~:~r::~~2~'5it~Q,.tlQD..@4._@k~ ..2~r.L ........... _.y ..I>--_ )9 - - .." -- '7-'.." - - - - - 13 1 Fill in thegapswith thecorrectform of theverbsin brackets. Examiner: Canyoudescribeatypicalmorningatyourhouse? Candidate: Well,myfatheralways(1) (getup)firstbecausehe (2) (start)workat7o'clock.Thetraffic(3) (be) verybad in mycitysohe (4) (have)to leaveat6o'clock. Beforehe (5) (leave),he (6) (wake)my brotherandmeup. I (7) (getup)straightawaybutmy brother(8) (prefer)to sleepaslongashecan,andhe nearlyalways(9) (catch)thelastbusto school.My mother (10) (make)ourbreakfastwhileI (11) (get dressed),then1(12) (leave)for schoolatabout7.30. 2 Matcheachamount (1-5)with its correctwrittenequivalent(a-i).You'llneedto readthewordscarefully. in thehighstreet. Beforethey builtthe supermarket, therehad a lot more littleshops in the highstreet. Beforetheybuilt thesupermarket, 2 Correct the mistake below. 1 Tick thecorrectsentencein eachpair. 1 a It isa lovelyparknearmyhouse. b Thereisa lovelyparknearmyhouse. 2 a Therehaveverugoodrestaurantsandshopsonboardthe b Thereareverygoodrestaurantsandshopsonboardthe Weusethereto saythatsomethingexists.Weusethereiswitha singularsubjectand therearewith apluralsubject: Thereis an oaktreein mygarden.(notIt isan oa.letreeor Therehab'ean oa!etree) Therearesomegreatmoviesonat thecinema.(notTheyaresomegr-catmeL'ies) Weusethereis andthereareto givenewinformation.Weuseit is or theyareto talk aboutsomethingthathasalreadybeenreferredto.Compare: Thereis a presentfor youon thetable.(thefirsttimethepresenthasbeenmentioned) Mary:Whatis thatyou'recarrying? John: It'sa presentfor mysister.(it=whatJohn is carrying) Wedonot usetheauxiliaryverbdoto formquestionsandnegativeswith thereisand thereare:Are thereanycleanglassesin thecupboard?Thereisn'ta mapin thecar. {;:{Therecannotbeleftout:Thereis a panofsoupandtherearesomebowlsin the kitchen.(notThereisa pan ofsoupandaresemehowlsin thekitchen.) 3 Correctthemistakesin thesentencesbelow. 1 In developedcountriesthereis manypossiblesolutionsto thisproblem. 2 Thereno cleartrendin thedatashownin graph1. 3 Thereis no electricityandareno factoriesin thisarea. 4 Fortunately,theyarestilla lot of goodpeoplein theworld. 5 It is averysmallvillageso theredon'thaveanylargesupermarkets. 6 In thefirstchart,it is a largegapbetweenthecostof livingandsalariesearned. 7 In 1990therewas3 millionpeopleworkingin thisindustry. 8 Howmuchworkthereis to do? II III 4 Fill in theblanksin thetextwith numbersfromthetable.Threeofyour answers shouldcontainafraction. Which relative pronoun should I use? for our assemblynextmonth.I needtofind I needto find someone can playthe piano for our assemblynextmonth. 3 Correctthemistakesin thesentencesbelow. I This is oneof theproblemsthatwhatcanoccurwhenyouspendtoomuchmoney. 2 TheteacherinspiredmemostatschoolwascalledMiss Gillies. 3 Therearemanyteenagersdo notfeelcomfortabletalkingabouttheirproblems. 4 It canbeveryfrustratingforthosewhatdo nothaveanypower. 5 Peopleworkwith sickandelderlypeoplemustbeverypatientandkind. 6 Peoplewhatcontinuetoworkaftertheageof65oftenlivelonger. 7 I understandthatyoumean. 8 The chartis on theleftshowsthenumberof studentsenrolledfrom 1999to 2005. 15 Therelativepronouncanbe leftout if it refersto theobjectofaverb,butnot if it refersto thesubjectof averb.Compare: ThestudentsthatI teachall comefromoverseascountries.studentsistheobjectoftheverb teach,sotherelativepronounthatcanbeleftout:ThestudentsI teachall comefrom... ThestudentswhoarestudyingBAP shouldseemetoday.studentsis thesubjectof the verbarestudying,sotherelativepronounwhocannotbeleftout (notThestudentsarc studyingEA~TJ shouldseemeteday.). 2 Correctthe mistakebelow. 1Tick thecorrectsentencein eachpair. I a Youshoulddo that what f:j0u thinkis b Youshoulddo what f:j0u thinki:s 2 a Thereare :severalractors that are importantinachievinghappiness. b Thereare severalractors are importantinachievinghappiness. Relativepronouns(that,who,etc.)areusedto connecttwoseparateclauses: clauseI relativepronoun clause2 Thereareseveralfactors/ that / areimportantin achievinghappiness. Wheninformationis essentialto thesentenceandcannotbe leftout,weuse: • thatto referto thingsor people:Thechartthat is onpage10shows... • whoto referto people:Thenumberofwomenwho wereenrolled... • whatto referto thethingthator thethingsthat:Thegovernmentshouldshowus whatmustbedone.(=thething(s)thatmustbedone) {;:{Notethatyou shouldonlyuseonerelativepronoun (notThegovernmentmust showusthatw.1uiltneedstebedenc.). SOURCE:World ResourcesInstitute 4,800,000 2,028,000 "t'l 'W 1,750,000 1,525,000 1,306,700 1,264,000 1,030,800 905,000 885,000 755,073 Poland France 9:e!many Turkey Spain China#10 Numberof tractorsusedin agriculture:top tencountries Rank I ~ou~try j ~ount UnitedStates Japan lt~lt India 14 Thetableshowsthenumberof tractorsbeingusedbythetop ten countriesin theworld.The UnitedStateshasthegreatestnumberof tractors,with almost(I) fiV.L~.~~~.~9.~Japanhaslessthanhalf of thisamount,withjustover(2) :W!.4! f.•.•.f.~.!-:.r?f: , andItalyis hi· J f 'fin£-,;>.,I f;ll(L4tA.#.r'Jt~.(¥, v(h.., \ rankedt rd.,Wl!ha totii 0 (3),. :.t :-:../ ,. InulahasJust (4) On~ "r4/i A9"-'-" rfl1 f t!:'l'P I d F 11 dG hover : : ,-Wule 0 an , rancean ermanyeac haveover(5) g!: ~.':?:.: Of thebottomthreecountrieson thislist,Turkeyhasa littleunder(6) :!'l:.~.1-' ! : : ,Spainhas les~~~a?(7).;..;...•.'i.,.tl..; andChinahasjustover(&fl6:Yl..f:.~.:~y~'!.1;: tractors.t 5 Fill in thegapsin thefollowingsentenceswith either it, theyor there. I ~: .....areseveralreasonswhyI wantedto talktoyou.--p t 2 I haveprintedouttheletters;.L..~::.;..areon thedeskreadyforyouto sign. 3 On thenextstreetcorner:l.f:.':!":o:. is anexcellentnewrestaurant. 4 .!..:~~:,L.haveawonderfulswimmingpool in thishotel. 5 Wefiada lovelyholidayin Florence....7.:f.!:..... reallyis abeautifulcity. 6 ..T!-!:~:1::·werese