I KNOW WHAT YOU DID... in the last exam (advanced)

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 watching rugby to playing 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.

As

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 

You really have to work hard on this issue. Please read this entry carefully.