Grammar

Traps in Grammar

• Wrong verb form
  A sentence needs a finite verb that shows tense and agrees with the subject. "Be" and "having" alone cannot do that job here.
• Verb agrees with the nearest noun
  Find the head subject: cross out phrases that start with of/with/along with. "The box (of pens) is." "Each (of the boys) has."
• Over-applies "neither is singular"
  Neither/either ALONE is singular. But with neither…nor / either…or, the verb agrees with the NEARER subject: "Neither the teacher nor the students were…"
• Over-applies a grammar rule
  Learn the exceptions with the rule: long adjectives take 'most'; 'look forward to' + -ing; only auxiliaries invert in modern English.
• Uses the wrong form of the verb or word
  Identify the structure the frame demands (past perfect after 'by the time … arrived'; passive 'will be + past participle'; 'refuse to + verb') and check the option fills it exactly.
• Accepts an informal or local usage as standard
  WASSCE marks standard British English. When an option 'sounds normal' in speech, check it against the formal rule before choosing it.
• Breaks sequence of tenses
  Past reporting verb → backshift (is → was). Unreal conditions: If I were…, I would…
• Wrong question tag
  Repeat the auxiliary from the statement and flip polarity: You have… → haven't you? Special: Let's… → shall we?
• Uses the wrong type of pronoun
  Match the pronoun to its job: subject (I/who), object (me/whom), possessive (mine/whose), reflexive (myself, only when the subject is the same person).
• Uses the wrong pronoun case
  Subject pronouns: I, we, he. Object pronouns: me, us, him (after prepositions like between). Test by removing the other person: "shared with me".
• Over-corrects to a 'polite' form
  Remove the other person and test: 'asked … me' → 'asked Tunde and me'; 'between … me'. Prepositions and verbs take object pronouns.
• Confuses word classes
  Decide what class the gap needs (after 'the' → noun; modifying a verb → adverb) and pick the option of that class.
• Picks a near neighbour of the right form
  Name the exact category the stem needs (third conditional; /əʊ/; 'call off' = cancel; clause of concession) and check each option against that name, not against how close it looks.
• Mixes countable and uncountable quantifiers
  Countable (people, books): many, fewer. Uncountable (information, water): much, less. "Information" and "equipment" are always uncountable.
• Goes by a surface cue instead of the grammar
  Ask what the word is DOING in this sentence (subject? modifier? object?) and what the rule says, not what its ending or look suggests.
• Judges a sound by its spelling
  English spelling is a poor guide to sound. Say each word aloud (or think of its phonemic symbol) and compare sounds, not letters: 'blood' /ʌ/, 'food' /uː/, 'foot' /ʊ/.
• Chooses a/an by spelling, not sound
  Use "an" before a vowel SOUND: an honest man, an hour; "a" before a consonant sound: a university, a European.
• Wrong preposition in a fixed expression
  Many prepositions are fixed: good AT, congratulate ON, since + point in time, for + duration. Learn them in pairs, not alone.
• Makes only part of the required change
  List every change the transformation needs (pronoun, tense, time word, word order) and tick each one in the option.
• Copies the preposition of a similar word
  Learn fixed collocations as whole chunks: congratulate ON, accuse OF, charge WITH, comply WITH, insist ON, absent FROM.
• Marks the same thing twice
  Mark comparison, negation and plurality once. 'Unless' already means 'if not'; '-er' already means 'more'.
• Confuses similar words (affect/effect, principal/principle)
  Affect = verb (to influence); effect = noun (result). Principal = head person/main; principle = rule/belief ("a principLE is a ruLE").
• Conditional sentence errors
  Type 1: If + present, will + base. Type 2: If + past, would + base. Type 3: If + past perfect, would have + past participle.
• Passive voice errors
  Passive = form of BE + past participle: 'The letter was written'. Keep the original tense in the BE form.
• Infinitive vs gerund errors
  After 'look forward to', 'object to', 'used to (be accustomed)', 'enjoy', 'avoid', 'mind' use -ing: 'I look forward to meeting you'.
• Comparative/superlative errors
  Two items → comparative (better, more careful); three or more → superlative (best). Never 'more better'.
• Misidentifies word class/function
  Ask what the word does in the sentence: describes a noun (adjective), modifies a verb/adjective (adverb), -ing as a noun (gerund), -ing describing (participle).
• Picks a meaning that fits the context but not the words
  Test the option by substitution: does it mean the same as the underlined words, not just make sense in the story?
• Confuses tense/aspect forms
  Present perfect links past to now (since 2019, already, yet, for three years); simple past goes with finished time (yesterday, in 2010, last week).
• Picks the opposite meaning
  Paraphrase the expression in your own words first, then look for the option with the same direction of meaning.
• Fails to backshift in reported speech
  With a past reporting verb, shift tenses back (will→would, am→was, have done→had done), change pronouns and time/place words (tomorrow→the next day, here→there).
• Misreads phrasal verbs
  Phrasal verbs are idiomatic: 'put up with' = tolerate, 'call off' = cancel, 'turn down' = reject, 'look into' = investigate. Learn them as single vocabulary items.
• Misspells commonly confused words
  Learn the rule families: double the final consonant after a short stressed vowel (beginning, occurred); 'i before e except after c' (receive, believe) with exceptions; memorise -ance/-ence words (maintenance, existence, occurrence, accommodation).
• Misidentifies clause types
  Ask what the clause does: replaces a noun (subject/object) → noun clause; describes a noun → adjectival (relative) clause; tells when/why/how/if about the verb → adverbial clause.
• Redundant words
  Return = go/give back. Revert, reply, repeat already contain "back/again". Cut the extra word.