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?
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.
Clic here to see more
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
7. PRONUNCIATION
You really have to work hard on this issue.
Please read this entry carefully.
