Made in Maite: marzo 2014

Below you will find some of your most remarkable mistakes at the exam. Have a look at them and let´s do our best in order not to make them again, ok?

1. PREFER + TO OR -ING?

[+ -ing verb] He prefers watch ing rugby to play ing it.

[+ to infinitive] I'd prefer not to discuss this issue.

Formal: I'd prefer you not to smoke (= I would like it better if you did not smoke), please.

Definition of prefer verb (CHOOSE) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

2. INFINITIVE OR GERUND?

The verbs hate, love, like, prefer are usually followed by a gerund when the meaning is general, and by a to-infinitive when they refer to a particular time or situation. You must always use the to-infinitive with the expressions 'would love to', 'would hate to', etc.

Compare:

I hate to tell you, but Uncle Jim is coming this weekend.
I hate looking after elderly relatives!
I love dancing.
I would love to dance with you.

3. AS/IF

As and like are often confused since they are both used to compare actions or situations. There are, however, important differences.

We use as to talk about job or function.

I worked as a shop assistant for 2 years when I was a student.
He used his shoe as a hammer to hang the picture up.

In comparisons, the structure ‘as adjective as’ is often used.

He’s not as tall as his brother
She ran as fast as she could.

In the following comparisons as is a conjunction – it’s followed by a clause with a subject and a verb.

He went to Cambridge University, as his father had before him.
She’s a talented writer, as most of her family are.

Like

In the following comparisons, like is a preposition and it’s followed by a noun or a pronoun.

I’ve been working like a dog all afternoon.
None of my brothers are much like me.
She looks just like her mother.

Like and As if/As though

Like, as if and as though can all be used to make comparisons. There is no difference in meaning among the 3 forms.

You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.
You talk as though we’re never going to see each other again.
It looks like it’s going to rain.

Expressions with ‘as’

The following expressions all use as.

As you know, classes restart on January 15th.
I tried using salt as you suggested but the stain still didn’t come out.
As we agreed the company will be split 50/50 between us.
Their house is the same as ours.

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4. MEDIA (the media) [treated as singular or plural] The main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively: their demands were publicized by the media. The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. The traditional view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English and be used with a plural rather than a singular verb: the media have not followed the reports (rather than ‘has’). In practice, in the sense ‘television, radio, and the press collectively’, it behaves as a collective noun (like staff or clergy, for example), which means that it is now acceptable in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist’: there were great efforts made by the medias of the involved countries about 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for review

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5. For or to?

6. For/since/ago

7. PRONUNCIATION