Top 50 Grammar Mistakes
Adrian Wallwork, 2018, Springer
Table of Contents
1 Advise, Recommend, Suggest
2 Allow, Enable, Permit, Let
3 Already, Just, Still, Yet
4 Articles: A, An
5 Articles: A / An vs One vs It vs Genitive
6 Articles: The vs Zero Article (Ø)
7 Be Able, Manage vs Can / Could
8 Be Born, Die
9 Be Going To
10 Be vs Have
11 Be vs Have as Auxiliary Verbs
12 Been vs Gone
13 Can vs May
14 Cannot vs May Not
15 Collective Nouns
16 Comparisons
17 Conditionals: Zero and First (If vs When)
18 Conditionals: Second and Third
19 Continuous Forms
20 Countable and Uncountable Nouns
21 Each, Every, All, None
22 Few, Little, A Few, A Little
23 (This Is The) First Time, Second Time
24 Genitive: The Possessive Form of Nouns
25 Have, Have Got
26 Have Something Done
I am not going to make cut my hair by my mum.
I am not going to have my hair cut by my mum.
She is having her house to paint next week.
She is having her house painted next week.
Do you make clean your house by an outside service?
Do you have your house cleaned by an outside service?
I am having done my nails tomorrow.
I am having my nails done tomorrow.
I am getting a lifting to my face.
I am going to get a facelift.
- They are having their house renovated.
- I had / I got my hair cut yesterday.
- We are having someone paint the living room for us.
- She is having her tonsils removed.
- I finally got her to tell the truth.
Guidelines
- to have / get something done (have / get + service + past participle) means to
have a service carried out for you by someone else - to have someone do something (have + person + infinitive + service) is
another way of saying to have something done - to get someone to do something means the same as to have someone do
something, but note that to get requires the infinitive with to - don’t confuse to have someone do something with to make someone do something. to make means to force / oblige. Thus, I made him clean the house means that I forced him to clean the house against probably against his will
Choose the correct form
- She is having an online service to write / write an essay for her.
- She’s getting / letting someone do / to do the gardening for her - she’s so lazy.
- I am having my car to fix / fixed next week.
- She is having dyed her hair / her hair dyed at the hairdresser’s.
- The company are having built / building a new office.
- They are having the office built / building by a construction company.
- They get all their printing to do / done externally.
- I’ll get / have my secretary do the photocopies.
- I’ll get / have my husband to give you a call.
- Are you doing the painting yourself or are you having done the painting / the
painting done for you?
27 How Long, How Much Time, How Many Times
How long time do you live here?
How long have you been living here?
From how much time have you been working for yourself?
How long have you been working for yourself?
How much time have you seen this movie?
How many times have you seen this movie?
How time do we have to do this exercise?
How much time do we have to do this exercise?
Who knows how long she is crying.
Who knows how long she has been crying.
How long have you been living in London?
How long will you be staying here?
How many times have you been to New York? I have been to New York six times.
How much time do we have available? Just a couple of hours.
Guidelines
- Use how long to find out the duration of a particular activity. Note: how long is found with the present perfect (continuous) when it refers to an action that began in the past and is still true today. Example: How long have you been studying / have you studied English? (implies that you are still studying English now). When used with the simple past, how long refers to a completed action. Example: How long did your first marriage last? (implies that your first marriage is over / finished).
- how long can also be used with reference to the future. In any case, the form how long time does not exist.
- how many times is used to find out the number of times someone has done a particular activity. Note the concordance in the use of the plural forms - many + -s (times).
- the word time in how much time, refers to minutes, hours, days, etc.
Choose the correct form
- How time / much time are you planning to stay here?
- How many times / much time do you have to ring the bell before they answer?
- How long do you work / have you been working here?
- How long time / long are you here for? I am leaving the day after tomorrow.
- How many times / much time do you think it will take to complete this
exercise? - How many times / much time do you think you will need to practise this piece
before you can do it perfectly?
28 -ing Form vs the Infinitive
29 Languages and Nationalities
English is a relatively easy language.
For some people, the English spoken in the UK is more pure than the English
spoken in the US.(这群人)
The English are a conservative race.(这群人)
He comes from Wales, he is Welsh, he speaks Welsh. The Welsh are very
patriotic.
I met an Italian, two Americans, many Albanians and several Chinese people.
Nationalities that end in -ese, -ss and -h do not have a plural form. So instead
of saying two ‘Chineses’ you have to say two Chinese people (or two Chinese
men / women / children etc). Likewise, although you can say Italians /
Americans love pasta you cannot say English love pasta, instead say The
English / The Swiss / The Portuguese love pasta or alternatively English people
/ Swiss people / Portuguese people love pasta.
30 Like, Love, Prefer
31 Make vs Let
32 Much, Many, A Lot of, Lots of
33 Must vs Have To
Must is used much less frequently than to have to. It is used when an authority gives a ‘subordinate’/sə’bɔːdɪnət/(下属) an order (e.g. police officer to citizen, parent to child) - such situations are rare. It is also used to give a very strong recommendation or when there is a real emergency / urgency. Examples: You must go and see that movie – you would love it. Doctor, you must come immediately. I really must answer her email otherwise I might lose a great opportunity.
