ESL Blogs

My dear learners, dear friends, I do hope it will be the last intermediate test so that we could move off this dead point. I have explained almost all about the tenses, the voices and many other moments and if you read my explanations attentively, you shouldn't fail in this test. As usual, most of the mistakes are the tenses, the voices, the articles and the prepositions. However, this time I have added some new "mistakes" as I was asked to explain them. So, in these sentences, you can also change COME/GO, TAKE/BRING and I will see if you need the detailed explanations on this subject. 

So, here is your new task.

1. The bridge above the canal blew up many years ago, but we climbed to what was remained (7 mistakes).
2. He asked would his companions are ready follow him as they didn’t prepare to the expedition enough good (7).
3. The dark room only lighted with dying fire at the fireplace (5).
4. She thought she will deliver baby before he would go back and couldn’t see the birth of his firstborn (5).
5. I asked can she take her husband at my party I was going to have the next week (4).
6. When my dog caught cold after I brought her to swim with me on the cool water few days ago, I decided I’d better don’t take days out (6).
7. Either of us are not planning to come on vacation in Europe soon (5).
8. He didn’t know where was she. She left not say word (5).
9. Did rain stopped or is it still going?  (4).
10. If you will find this test too difficult, I am going to give you  any explanations (only 3 mistakes! I do have some mercy on you! (Hahaha!).

How do you like it? I have done my best to make as many mistakes as I could!

I think I have to explain about the number of mistakes. If a verb is in the wrong tense and wrong voice, there are two mistakes. If this verb is one of come/go,  take/bring and it is wrong, it is one more mistake. On the other hand, if I have used the inverted order instead of the direct, it is one mistake although you may have to add one more word (if/whether). You know, you can always ask me your questions if something is not clear enough.

The deadline is the next Monday, March 6.

Have a geat weekend!

MARCH 6.

Hi, my friends! Today is a deadline for this test. So, here are the answers and explanations. As usual, you can ask my your questions if something is not clear enough.

1. The bridge over/across the canal had been blown up many years before, but we climbed up to what had remained (7 mistakes).
2. He asked if/whether his companions were ready to follow him as they hadn’t prepared for the expedition well enough (7).
3. The dark room was being lighted only by the dying fire in the fireplace (5).
4. She thought she would have delivered a baby before he came back and he wouldn’t be able to see the birth of his firstborn (5).
5. I asked if/whether she would be able to bring her husband to my party I was going to have the next week (4).
6. When my dog caught (a) cold after I had taken her to swim with me in the cool water a few days ago, I decided I had better not take days off (6).
7. Neither of us is __ planning to go for a vacation to Europe soon (5).
8. He didn’t know where she was. She had left without saying a word (5).
9. Has the rain stopped or it is still coming/falling/raining?  (4).
10. If you __ find this test (to be) too difficult, I will give you some explanations (3).

And here are my explanations.

1. We usually say “the bridge over the canal but across the river”. However, ACROSS is correct in any case. The bridge can’t blow up itself, somebody should help it! Haha! So, it is the passive voice. It had been many years before we climbed up to its ruins. So, it is the past perfect tense. TO REMAIN is an intransitive verb. So, it must be in the active voice and in the past perfect tense as the ruins had remained till that moment.
2. It is a reported general question and I see you have already learned this rule. I will not explain again. Well, a man asked about readiness of his companions to follow him. The actions are simultaneous, the verb TO BE must be in the past simple tense. When he asked, they were already on their way not being well-prepared. So, they hadn’t prepared for the expedition before. Now, we do use adjectives as modifiers of action after some verbs, but TO PREPARE is not one of them. So, it must be WELL. The word ENOUGH is used before nouns, but after adjectives and adverbs.
3. It is clear that the fire was lighting the room that moment. So, this verb must be in the passive voice, in the progressive tense. I think, the other mistakes are clear.
4. I have explained such sentences many times. There must be the future in the past, perfect tense as one action was expected to before two others. We don’t use CAN describing the future ability. It must be TO BE ABLE TO.  Besides, a man was expected to COME back to the place where his wife was.
5. It is a reported general question and you all corrected that mistake. Again, we speak about the action in the future past and should use TO BE ABLE TO. She was supposed to COME to my party together with her man. So, I asked if she would be able to BRING him.
6. We can say CATCH COLD or CATCH A COLD, both are correct. Sure, my poor dog started sneezing after swimming in the cool water. Boats, ships, rafts are ON the water, but people, animals are IN the water. It was I who went to the river with her. So, I TOOK her there. And, of  course, it had been before she caught cold. Also, we say I HAD BETTER NOT DO something. And, of course, when we don’t work on some weekday, we have/take a day OFF.
7. I have already explained it. In the negative sentences we MUST use negative words as a subject. NEITHER means none of two and it is singular. Now, we do something ON a vacation, but we go somewhere FOR a vacation. Again, we stay/live IN some country, but we go TO some place.
8. It is not a question, so there must be the direct word order. If he didn’t know where she was, it is obvious that she had left before. She didn’t say anything.  So, we can say WITHOUT SAYING A WORD.
9. The second verb is in the present progressive tense. It means that I am asking if it is raining now. So, the first verb must be in the present perfect tense as I am asking if it has stopped by NOW. Also, there can be only one inversion in a question and it must be at the beginning. The rain/snow can’t GO! It falls down from the sky to the earth where we live. So, it COMES!
10. We don’t use the future tenses in the conditional clauses. I have already explained that “I am going to” sounds VERY uncertain. I mean that I promise to explain. The verb must be in the future simple tense. And, of course, I mean the proper explanations, but not ANY I like. We use SOME in most of affirmative sentences.

Thank you all for participating and learning!