Tieng Anh THPT - Le Thi Lan Anh - THPT Mai Anh Tuan - Nga Son

Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 “Some Skills in solving Error Identification Questions in English Tests and Examinations” ☼☼☼☼☼☼ PART I: INTRODUCTION I Rationale for selecting the topic of the study: Error Identification Questions constantly appear in English tests and examinations in the upper secondary education, and have become an important part in the general structure of these tests and examinations Commonly, there are from to questions of error identification in regular or periodical tests in each academic school-year, and at least questions in entrance examinations into university or examinations for gifted students at the school level or the provincial level Consequently, the correct answers to the questions of error identification part greatly contribute to the students’s total exam results, which may decide their success or fairlure in these tests or examinations, even these results can open or close doors of opportunities for candidates into their pomising world! Through my own practical teaching in the recent years, I notice that in order to identify errors correctly, the students are required to have a general and thorough knowledge of almost all the aspects of the English language such as grammatical structures, written expressions, verb tenses and forms, parts of speech, genders and numbers, subject and verb agreement, etc… However, most of the students at Mai Anh Tuan High School come from poor rural communes where the local people have not really paid much attention to their children’s learning English Meanwhile, there is the lack of synchronization in teaching and learning English at primary and lower secondary schools in our district As a result, the students’knowledge of English is rather limited, even they lack basic knowledge Thus, error identification questions have become a big challenge that may make the students confused and nervous Moreover, the English textbooks in the upper secondary education have very few exercises of this type designed in the form of the exam questions, so that there is little chance for the students to practise and get familiar with these exercise What is more, there are not many useful references to skills in solving error identification questions in English Tests and Examinations for teachers to use and to apply in teaching, Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 which leads to certain difficulties in improving the quality of teaching and learning English in general, as well as the sudents’s results in tests and examinations From the reasons mentioned above, I have made a decision to select the topic “Some Skills in solving Error Identification Questions in English Tests and Examinations” to study in my teaching experience initiative II Purposes of the study: With this study, I wish to help my students be aware of the importance of error identification questions in tests and examinations and useful skills in doing these exercises effectively On that basis, the students will be helped to raise their awareness of training their skills in doing such exercises Besides, I would like to provide the students with typical skills to solve questions of error identification in a detailed and logical system that is easy for them to learn, to use and to apply in practice rappidly and productively Furthermore, through this experience initiative, I hope to contribute some ideas on issues related to error identification to the teaching experience sources for my teacher colleagues to use as a reference in their teaching English III Objects of the study: In this experience initiative, researching a system of typical skills in solving error identification questions in English tests and examinations, and supplementary exercises based on these certain skills for further practice has been specially focused IV Scope of the study: The topic was studied in the English programme at high school level at Mai Anh Tuan High School in the school-year 2013-2014, and in tests, exam preparation tests, entrance exams into university or college designed by the Ministry of Education and Training, English exams for gifted students in Thanh Hoa and other provinces V Bases of the study: The experience inititative has been studied based on my own practical teaching experiences, referring to documents related to the research topic, observing other teachers’ lessons, and consulting my colleagues PART II: DEVELOPMENT Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 Identifying errors in sentences is, in fact, finding out problematic parts which need correcting in the sentences The following skills will probably help students in solving this type of exercises I Problems with nouns: Different types of problems with nouns appearing in English tests and examinations may make trouble for students Thus, they should be familiar with these problems so that they will recognize them easily Students should be able to the following skills: Skill 1: Use the correct singular or plural noun The most common mistake in the error identification part of tests and examinations is a singular noun used in the place of a plural one, or a plural noun used where a singular one should be used Ex: A large number of traffic accident are happening all over the country each day Every students will have to complete five activities in the competition In the 1st example, “a large number of” indicates that the plural noun “accidents” is needed Conversely, “every” shows that the singular noun “student” is needed in the 2nd When answering this type of questions, students should watch very carefully for key words that indicate that a noun should be singular or plural Below are some key words standing before a noun that help indicate whether a noun should be singular or plural  Key words for singular nouns: each, every, one, a/an, single  Key words for plural nouns: both, two/ three…, some, many (a), one of, several, dozen, various, a great/large number of, plenty of, a lot of, lots of, … Skill 2: Distinguish countable and uncountable nouns In English, nouns are classified as countable or uncountable For certain questions in tests and examinations, it is necessary to distinguish countable and uncountable nouns so that students can use the correct modifiers with them Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted and come in quantities of one, two, three or a hundred/ thousand… For example, the noun “pencil” is countable you can have one pencil, two or a dozen pencils Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted and they come in some indeterminate quantity or mass These nouns refer to materials, liquids, or abstract ideas and concepts such as leather, water, wine, happiness, peace… The most common errors with these nouns are incorrectly using quantifiers before them, or using uncountable nouns instead of countable ones or vice versa Ex: We can get many information from the Internet There are so much people waiting at the gate She really needs a friendship, but money A great deal of books will be given to disadvantaged children next time In the 1st example, “many” is not right as the noun “information” is uncountable Conversely, the noun “people” is countable, so “much” is incorrect in the 2nd example In the 3rd example, “friendship” is incorrect because it is uncountable while “a” should be accompanied by a countable one In the 4th example, “a great deal of” must be followed by an uncountable noun, but “books” is a countable one Here are some key words that will help students recognize whether a noun should be countable or uncountable  Key words for countable nouns: many, a large/ great number of, few, a few, fewer, a dozen, a /an, one/two…  Key words for uncountable nouns: much, a large amount of, a great deal of, little, a little, less,… Skill 3: Recognize nouns with irregular plural forms In English, many nouns have irregular plural forms that not end in “(e)s”, and they are probably the most problematic to candidates Ex: Bacteria exists in large numbers in air, water and oil, and also in living and dead creatures In the example, the plural noun “”bacteria” appears singular as it does not end in “(e)s” In fact, it is a plural noun, so the verb “exists” is not correct The verb should be in the plural form “exist” To avoid confusion when solving problems with the irregular plural forms of nouns, candidates should be familiar with the following lists of the common irregular plurals: Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative Vowel change School-year: 2013-2014 IRREGULAR PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS man-men tooth-teeth mouse-mice foot-feet woman- women person-people louse-lice goose- calf-calves elf-elves geese half-halves knife-knives leaf-leaves life-lives loaf-loaves self-selves sheaf-sheaves shelf-shelves aircraft/craft thief-thieves crossroads wife-wives, wolf-wolves headquaters series Same as barracks carp species squid Singular means fish salmon trout Add -en Swiss deer child-children bacterium-bacteria works (=factory) plaice grouse ox-oxen criterioncurriculum-curricula datum-data criteria dictum-dicta medium-media analysis-analyses axis-axes hypothesis-hypotheses diagnosis-diagnoses crisis-crises parenthesis-parentheses basis-bases alumnus-alumni thesis-theses cactus-cacti synthesis-syntheses stimulus-stimuli bacillus-bacilli nucleus-nuclei fungus-fungi/funguses -f(e) → -ves -on/um → -a -is → -es -us → -i/-uses -a→ -ae/-as focus-foci/focuses radius-radii formula-fomulae/formulas vertebra-vertebrae/vertebras Add -ta dogma-dogmata Only plurals, no police cattle singulars phenomenon-phenomena scissors clothes syllabus-syllabi alumna-alumnae /-alumnas stigma-stigmata poultry scales pants trousers stairs savings surroundings Skill 4: Distinguish the person from the thing binoculars glasses jeans spectackles In English, nouns can refer to persons or things Commonly, in English tests and examintanions, the person is used in the place of the thing, or vice versa Ex: After having retired, he moved to live in the countryside and wrote many poets Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 At the festival, I met a famous music who played wonderful tunes In the 1st example, the noun “poets” is inappropriate because it refers to persons while the sentence needs a noun referring to things-“poems” to modify the verb “wrote” In the nd example, the sentence needs a noun to refer to a person, not a thing, so “musician” should be used instead of the wrong noun “music” Skill 5: Be careful with nouns modifying other nouns In English, nouns are modified by different modifiers including other nouns A noun used as a modifier before a main noun should be in the singular form, even this modifier is plural in meaning Ex: Last week, we went on a two-days excursion to Huong pagoda In the above example, “two-days” is incorrect Although it is plural in meaning, it should be in the singular form “two-day” to modify the noun “excursion” Exercise (Skills 1-5): Choose the underlined part that is not correct The American frontiersman (A), politician, and soldier Davy Crockett is one of the most (B) popular of (C) American hero (D) (Test 1, Collection of University Entrance Examination Preparation Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) Bats rely on (A) their hearings (B) to navigate and to find (C) food at (D) night (Test 7, Collection of University Entrance Examination Preparation Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) Many successful (A) film directions (B) are former (C) actors who desire to expand (D) their experience in the film industry (University Entrance Examination by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2007) Chemical engineering is based on (A) the principles (B) of physics, chemists (C), and mathematics (D) ( Practice Test for University Entrance Examination by Mai Anh Tuan High School, in 2014) Unlike many writings (A) of her time (B), she was not preoccupied (C) with morality (D) (University Entrance Examination by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2008) A (A) five-thousand-dollars (B) reward was offered (C) for the capture of (D) the escaped criminals (Test 1, Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) The mystery bookstore was (A) largely (B) a phenomena (C) of the last decade (D) (from the internet) Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative II Problems with verbs: School-year: 2013-2014 Various problems in using verbs are possible in English In questions of error identification, there are some specific problems that sudents should remember as follows: Skill 6: Correctly use the verb tenses In Eglish, there are so many tenses of verbs that students are often confused about how to use them correctly Based on specific situations, contexts or time expressions, an English sentence has a certain tense of verb, however, it is possible for a logical sentence in English to have mixed tenses of verbs Thus, the most common mistake with the verb tenses is that a verb is put into the wrong tense in error identification questions of this type Ex: Last summer, she reads ten novels and took a lot of photos It was not until the early 19th century that the history of cinema has started The students are participating in any volunteer activities lately It was certain that Micheal will come to the meeting In the 1st example, the time expression “last summer” indicates that the verbs showing the subject’s actions should be in the past simple, so the verb “reads” in the present simple is incorrect It should be “read” In the 2nd example, the phrase “the early 19th century” indicates that the action of the verb was in the past only, but the verb “has started” indicates the period of time from the past until the present, so the verb tense is not correct It should be “started” In the 3rd example, the adverb “lately” is usually used with the present perfect, so the verb “participate” in the present continuous is inappropriate It should be “have participated” In the 4th example, the past, “was” is illogical with “will”, so “will come” should be changed into “would come” Skill 7: Correctly use the verb forms In English, there are different verb forms such as the base form, the simple present tense form, the present participle form, the simple past tense form, and the past participle form To recognize the problematic situations with the verb forms, candidates should the following: - check what comes after “be”; check what comes after “have”; check what comes after “will/would…, or other modals” 7.1 The verb “be” in any of its forms (am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being), can be followed by another verb in the present participle form (Ving) or the past participle Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 form(Vpp) Here, mistakes appear when “be” is put in the wrong form or omitted, or “be” is not followed by the form “Ving” or “Vpp” Ex: They playing footbal at the moment → “be” is omitted, it should be are playing She were studying when it started to rain → wrong form of “be”, it should be was The picture was take when he was in Paris → “be” doesn’t go with the base form of the verb, it should be taken While my parents were worked yesterday, I was on the way to Hanoi → “be” doesn’t go with the past simple tense form of verb, it should be were 7.2 The verb “have” in any of its forms (have, has, having, had), can be followed by another verb in the past participle form (Vpp) Here, mistakes appear when “have” is used in the wrong form or omitted, or “have” is followed by the other verb forms but “Vpp” Ex: After he has read all the insrtuctions, he started to run the machine → wrong form of “have”, it should be had to form the main verb in the past perfect Up to now, the baby slept for five hours → “have” is omitted, it should be has slept-the full verb form in the present perfect Since I was a little girl, I have knew how to knit a wool scarf → “have” doesn’t go with the past simple tense form of verb, it should be known 7.3 Will/ would…, or other modals can be followed by another verb in the base form Sudents should be familiar with this rule to quickly regognize errors of this type Ex: She will coming in minutes → the main verb is in the present participle form, it should be come Don’t worry too much The doctor may arrives soon → the main verb is in the present simple form, it should be arrive You mustn’t driven a motorbike when you are under 18 years old → the main verb is in the past participle form, it should be drive Peter needn’t gave any money to such a lazy man any more → the main verb is in the past simple form, it should be give Skill 8: Distinguish the passive from the active Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 The difference between an active sentence and a passive one is that the subject in an active sentence does the action of the verb, and the subject in a passive sentence does not do, but receives the action of the verb To convert a sentence from active to passive, students can make the following changes: S + S + V + be + Vpp + O (Active) (by + O) (Passive) Note: “be” in the passive sentence is put in the same tense with the verb in the active Ex: Mary (S) helped (V) an old lady (O) with her heavy bag An old lady (S) was helped (be + Vpp) with her heavy bag by Mary (by + O) In English tests and examinations, sentences in which the error is in an incorrect passive form are very common Thus, candidates should be able to recognize the correct forn of the passive and determine when a passive verb rather than an active verb is needed in a sentence by carefully studying the meaning of the subject and the verb Ex: The car that was damaged in the accident yesterday is being repairing now Because of his unusual actions, he investigated by the police In the 1st example, the passive form is not correct because “repaired”-the past participle form of the verb should be used in the place of the present participle form In the 2nd example, the subject “he” does not the action “investigate”, but he receives the action from “the police” To correct the error, the active verb should be changed to the passive “was insetigated” Skill 9: Be careful with the wrong choice of verb In English tests and examinations, there are commonly sentences in which the error is an inappropaiate verb with the meaning of the sentence This type of error is so confusing, so candidates should become familiar with such errors by carefully studying the meaning and uses of a verb they may encounter as well as the meaning of the whole sentence which consists of that verb Ex: Slightly over half of the population of El Paso, Texas, says both English and Spanish In the above example, the verb “says” is the wrong verb because in English “say” is not used with (a) language(s) In this case, “speak” is the best choice Le Thi Lan Anh Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 Exercise (Skills 6-9): Choose the underlined part that needs correcting It was not until the end (A) of prehistoric (B) times that the first (C) wheeled vehicles appearing (D) (UE Examination by Ministry of Education-A1 and Training, in 2013) The amounts (A) of oxygen and nitrogen in the air almost always (B) remain stable, but the amount (C) of water vapor vary (D) considerably (Test 1, Collection of Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) Electric (A) streetlights have been (B) first used (C) in 1879 and soon (D) replaced gasburning lamps (Test 4, Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) Until (A) the project completed (B), the effects (C) of the new measures will not be known, especially in rural areas (D) (Test 7, Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) A warning printed on a makeshift lifebuoy says: “This is not a life-saving (A) device Children (B) should be accompany (C) by their parents (D).” (UE Examination-D by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2013) The value of the dollar (A) declines (B) as (C) the rate of inflation raises (D) (Test 13 , Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) III Problems with adjectives and adverbs: Many different problems involving adjectives and adverbs appear in English tests and examinations To identify these mistakes, candidates must first be able to recognize adjectives and adverbs Commonly, adverbs are formed by adding –ly to adjectives, however, there are many adverbs that not end in –ly and lots of adjectives end in –ly Thus, to recognize adjectives and adverbs, it is necessary to study not only their forms but also their meanings To avoid confusion when identifying errors involving ajectives and adverbs in tests and examinations, students should the following: Skill 10: Use basic adjectives and adverbs correctly In English, adjectives are used to describe nouns or pronouns, and adverbs are used to describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs In this type of exam questions, errors often appear when ajectives are used in the place of adverbs, or vice versa Ex: John is an intelligently boy After writing Van Cao’s first song in 1939, he was famously all over the country Le Thi Lan Anh 10 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative We are experiencing an extreme hot summer School-year: 2013-2014 Did both of you meet and talk happy at the party last night? In the 1st and 2nd examples, the adverbs “intelligently” and “famously” are incorrect because the adjectives “intelligent” and “famous” are needed to modify the noun “boy” and the pronoun “he” In the 3rd and 4th examples, the adjectives “extreme” and “happy” are inappropriate because the adverbs “extremely” and “happily” are needed to describe the adjective “hot” and the verb “talk” Skill 11: Use adjectives rather than adverbs after linking verbs Generally, adverbs rather than adjectives are used after verbs to modify these verbs However, after linking verbs, adjectives rather than adverbs are needed Only when an adverb describes an adjective that follows, this adverb can directly follow the linking verb Errors appear where adjectives are used after regular verbs and adverbs are used after linking verbs without adjectives that follow Ex: A serious problem is how to communicate reliable with a submerged submarine Heart attacks are fatally in 75 percent of occurences In the 1st example, the adjective “reliable” should be replaced with the advrb “reliably” to describe the regular verb “communicate” In the 2nd example, without an adjective that follows the adverb “fatally”, it should be changed into the adjective “fatal” to describe the linking verb “be” Here are linking verbs that students should try to remember when solving the problems related to ajectives and adverbs with linking verbs: appear, be, become, feel, look, prove, seem, smell, sound, taste Skill 12: Position adjectives and adverbs correctly In English tests and examinations, adjectives and adverbs can appear in incorrect positions It is correct to place an ajective in front of a noun or after an indefinite pronoun it describes Adverbs can be flexible in positions, however, an adverb can not be used between a verb and its object Thus, the most common errors of this type are using an adjective after a noun or in front of an indefinite pronoun, and using an adverb between a verb and its object Ex: I read some books wonderful last week Le Thi Lan Anh 11 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative He hopes to see nice someone next time School-year: 2013-2014 The woman has selected carefully a new handbag In the 1st and 2nd examples, the adjectives “wonderful” and “nice” are not in their right places, “wonderful” should come before the noun “books” and “nice” after the pronoun “someone” In the last example, the adverb “carefully” is in the wrong position because it comes between the verb “has selected” and the object “a new handbag” To correct this senetnce, the adverb “carefully” should be placed at the beginning of the sentence, between “has” and “selected”, or at the end of the sentence Skill 13: Use –ed and –ing adjectives correctly Verb forms ending in –ed and –ing can be used as adjectives An –ing adjective means that the noun it describes is doing the action, it also describes the subject’s inherent feature or nature without any effect of the action from outside (active meaning) An –ed adjective indicates that the noun it describes is receiving the action from the verb, and it describes a feature the subject has with the effect of the action from outside (passive meaning) Here, errors often appear in sentences where an –ing adjective is used in the place of an –ed adjective, or vice versa Ex: There is a fascinated film at the cinema tonight The shoppers were impressing by the reduced prices In the first example, the –ed adjective is not appropriate because the adjective here should be the one describing the inherent feature of the noun, so it should be replaced with “fascinating” In the 2nd example, it is the reduced prices that impressed the shoppers, not the shoppers that impressed themselves, so the –ing adjective should be changed innto the – ed adjective “impressed” Exercise (Skills 10-13): Choose the underlined part that needs correcting Calcium, the most abundantly (A) mineral in the body (B), works with (C) phosphorus in maintaining (D) bones and teeth ( Practice Test for University Entrance Examination by Ba Dinh High School, in 2012) Telegraph service (A) across (B) the Atlantic was successful (C) established (D) in 1866 ( from the internet) Le Thi Lan Anh 12 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 The parents (A) seem angrily (B) about the child’s (C) school report (D) (from a reference for English exam preparation) Lately, the (A) university has offered (B) a course useful (C) for graduates (D) (from the internet) The student had attended (A) regularly (B) all (C) the lectures in (D) the series (from a reference for English exam preparation) Signing (A) at the outset (B) of a business deal, a contract offers the participants a certain (C) degree of legal protection from costly (D) mistakes (from the internet) IV Problems with articles: In English, articles are difficult to learn because there are many rules, many exceptions and many special cases Therefore, problems with articles may cause much confusion to students Nouns in English are classified as countable or uncountable If a noun is countable, it is either singular or plural In addition to these general types of nouns, there are two types of articles: definite (specific) and indefinite (general) To use articles correctly and to quickly recognize mistakes related to articles, it should be better to remember the following: Skill 14: Use indefinite articles with countable singular general nouns only In English, with all countable singular general nouns, an indefinite article (a or an) must be used unless there is another determiner (such as my, your,…, each) before these nouns Here, mistakes appears in sentences where an indefinite article in front of a countable singular general noun is omitted or used when there is another determiner right before the noun, or an indefinite article is used with a countable plural noun or an uncountable noun Ex: There is car outside the garden The boy gave back a my book to me They have just bought a new furniture She was eating an apples when I came In the 1st example, the necessary article is omitted, “a” should be added before “car” to correct the sentence In the 2nd example, with the appearance of “my”, “a” is not Le Thi Lan Anh 13 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 necessary, so it should be omitted to make the sentence correct In the rd and 4th examples, “a” and “an” should be omitted because they can not be used with the uncountable noun “furniture” and the countable plural noun “apples” Skill 15: Distinguish indefinite articles a and an The basic difference between a and an is that a is used in front of a countable singular noun with a consonant sound and an is used in front of a countable singular noun with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u) However, there are two exceptions to this rule: u and h When u is pronounced as /ju:/, it is preceded by the article a rather than an When h is not pronounced, it is preceded by the article an rather than a Here, errors appear when a is used in the place of an, or vice versa Ex: The baby-sitter quit her job because she was making only two dollars a hour She has managed an university in the countryside for years In the 1st example, h in “hour” is not pronounced, so the noun should be preceded by “an” In the 2nd example, u in “university” is pronounced as /ju:/, so “a” should be used in the place of “an” Skill 16: Use the definite article with specific nouns or ideas In English, the definite article “the” is used to refer to one specific noun or idea, which is the only one, or which one it is has already been clear in case there are many unless there is another determiner before the noun or idea Here, the most common mistakes are that the definite article is omitted, or used when there is another determiner before the noun or idea, or the indefinite articles are used instead of the definite article Ex: Peter, here are keys you have been looking for The her trip that she took last summer was so exciting “Gone with the wind” is a most interesting novel I have ever read In the 1st example, both the speaker and the listener know which keys are mentioned, so “the” should be used in this case In the nd example, there is the determiner “her” before the noun, so “the” should not be there In the rd example, the superlative is used to refer to a specific novel “Gone with the wind”, so “a” there is not correct It should be “the” Exercise (Skills 14-16): Choose the underlined part that needs correcting Le Thi Lan Anh 14 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 The earliest (A) steam-driven vehicles (B) produced (C) great (D) amount of noise (Test 14 , Collection of UEEP Tests by Vinh Ba, 2014) The scholarship (A) that Wilson received to study history (B) at Cambridge (C) presented an (D) unique opportunity ( an English reference) In the human body (A) , blood flows from a (B) heart through the arteries (C), and it returns through the veins (D) ( an English reference) U.S cencus figures indicate (A) that people with only an (B) elementary education can earn just half (C) as much as college graduations (D) (from the internet) His absence from (A) the board meeting was a (B) strong indications of (C) his desire to leave (D) the company ( an English reference) V Problems with pronouns: Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns When seeing a pronoun, students should check whether it serves the correct function in the sentence and it agrees with the noun it is replacing or not Skill 17: Use pronouns correctly Each type of pronouns has its own form and function(s) The following table will help students recognize the types of pronouns and remember their functions Subject Forms Object Reflexive pronouns Possessive Possessive pronouns pronouns I Me Myself pronouns Mine adjectives My We Us Ourselves Ours Our You You Yourself/yourselves Yours Your They Them Themselves Theirs Their He Him Himself His His She Her Herself Hers Her It It Itself _ - used as - used as - used as an object of - used a subject an object the verb subject’s when Its to - the replace the before action phrase formed used a noun to show who Functions influences the subject Le Thi Lan Anh - used to emphasize a from or what 15 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 “possessive owns this noun or pronoun - used after “by” = + noun” noun “alone/ without help” In English tests and examinations, mistakes often appears where a pronoun is used in the place of another type of pronouns, or another type of words is in the place of a pronoun/ possessive adjective, or a pronoun/ possessive adjective does not agree with the noun it refers to Ex: They saw Steve and I at the cinema last night after class The people I admire most are those who manage to solve theirs own problems If a person really wants to succeed, they must always work hard In the 1st example, “I” isn’t correct because in the place of “I”, its object “me” is needed to modify the verb “saw” In the 2nd example, “theirs” is incorrect because it isn’t followed by a noun It should be the possessive adjective “their” In the 3rd example, “they” does not agree with the noun “a person” that it refers to, “he/ she” should be used Exercise (Skill 17): Choose the underlined part that needs correcting Robert Frost was not well known as (A) a poet (B) until he reached (C) the (D) forties Commercial letter of credit are often used (A) to finance export (B) trade, but them (C) can have other uses (D) A baby learns the meanings of words as they (A) are spoken by others (B) and later (C) uses him (D) in sentences When children experience (A) too much (B) frustration, its (C) behavior ceases (D) to be integrated The worker was fired by the chemical company because (A) his (B) refused to work with (C) certain dangerous chemicals (D) VI Problems with the inversions: In English tests and examinations, the inversions appear so often and make a lot of confusion for students To avoid such confusion, they should better the following skills: Skill 18: Invert the subject and verb with question words There is some confusion about when to invert the subject and verb after question words Question words have two very different functions in a sentence First, they can Le Thi Lan Anh 16 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 introduce a question, and in this case, the subject and verb are inverted Second, these words can join together two clauses, and in this case, the subject and verb are not inverted Here, errors are recognized in sentences where the subject and verb are unnecessarily inverted, or they are not inverted when the inversion is needed Ex: I not understand why have you changed incredibly What you said when you were at Peter’s party last night? In the 1st example, “why” is used to join two clauses in the sentence, so it is incorrect to invert the subject and verb To correct the sentence, “have you changed” should be changed into “you have changed” In the 2nd example, “what” is used to introduce a question, so the subject and verb should be inverted To correct the sentence, “you said” should be replaced with “did you say” Skill 19: Invert the subject and verb with place expressions After place expressions, the subject and verb sometimes are inverted in English Below are some sentence patterns used with place expressions that can help students to avoid confusion when doing their tests and examinations: When a place expression at the front of the sentence is necessary to complete the sentence, the subject and verb are inverted: Place (necessary) + Auxiliary Verb + S When a place expression at the front of the sentencecontains extra information that is not needed to complete the sentence, the subject and verb are not inverted: Place (extra), S + V… Here, errors appear when the inversion is done where it is not needed, or it is not done where it is needed Ex: On the table, does she put some dishes On the table some dishes are In the 1st example, the inversion is not needed because the place expression is only extra information, not necessary to complete the sentence In the nd example, the place expression is necessary to complete the sentence, so the inversion should be done Skill 20: Invert the subject and verb with negatives Le Thi Lan Anh 17 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 The subject and verb can also be inverted after certain negatives and related expressions The following table will help students recognize the negative expressions and remember the sentence pattern used with them: Inverted subjects and verbs with negatives Negative expressions no not never neither nor barely hardly only rarely scarcely seldom When a negative expression such as no, not, or never… come at Guideline the beginning of a sentence, or a negative expression such as neither or nor in front of the subject and verb in the middle of a sentence, the subject and verb are inverted Structure Negative expression + Auxiliary verb + S +… Here, errors also appear when the inversion is done where it is not needed or it is not done where it is needed Ex: Have I gone to London only once in my life Sheila did not arrive late for work, nor she left early In the 1st example, the inversion is not needed because the negative expression is at the end of the sentence, so “have I gone” should be changed into “I have gone” In the 2nd example, with the negative word “nor”in the middle of the sentence, the inversion is necessary, so “she left” should be changed into “did she leave” Skill 21: Invert the subject and verb with conditionals In certain conditional structures, the subject and verb can be inverted This can occur when the connector if is omitted and the auxiliary verb in the conditional clause is should/were/had The following table will help remember the sentence patterns of inverting the subject and verb with conditionals: With “should” With “were” With “had” Le Thi Lan Anh Conditional sentence patterns with inverted subjects and verbs (omitted If) Should + S + Vinf …, Main clause or Main clause + should + S + Vinf … Were + S + (to Vinf)/ …, Main clause or Main clause + were + S + (to Vinf)/ … Had + S + Vpp …, Main clause or Main clause + had + S + Vpp … (omitted If) (omitted If) 18 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 Here, errors also occur when the inversion is done when if is included or it is not done when if is omitted Ex: If should your friends come to visit your hometown,will they stay at your house? Do you think that she would give the speech she were asked to so? In the 1st example, the inversion is not needed because the connector if is included, so “should your friends come” should be changed into “your friends come” In the 2nd example, the connector if is omitted, the inversion is necessary, so “she were asked” should be changed into “were she asked” Exercise (Skills 18-21): Choose the underlined part that needs correcting Not until he got (A) home he realised (B) he had forgotten to give her (C) the present (D) (UE Examination-D by Ministry of Education and Training, in 2012) Rarely she has (A) travelled more than (B) fifty miles from (C) her (D) village There are (A) plenty of (B) blankets in the closet if should you (C) get cold during (D) the night Under (A) the tree a (B) very beautiful (C) cat was (D) Linda did not (A) know how much (B) did (C) her friend’s brand new (D) computer cost PART III: CONCLUSION I Study results: In teaching English at Mai Anh Tuan High School, I have gradually provided the students a system of knowledge of English and useful skills that help them in solving error identification questions in English tests and examinations Different goals have been set for different students based on their own levels of English After applying the method to teaching for some time, I notice that most of the students have had a thorough grasp of basic knowledge and certain skills to solve error identification questions that they often encounter in English tests and examinations However, it is quite difficult for weak students to understand and to apply these skills in practice because to practise well with these skills, the students must have a wide range of knowledge covering various contents in English Thus, through my lessons, I constantly help the students revise and consolidate the knowledge that they have learnt as well as improve their practical skills day by day Le Thi Lan Anh 19 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 Below are the results of the study after being applied to teaching English in the classes 12B and 10K at Mai Anh Tuan High School in the school-year 2013-2014 (The error identification part including multiple choice questions in the 90 minute test, 0,125 point/ question): Test results of error identification questions at the beginning of the school-year: Clas No of Number of correct answers to error identification questions s student 10K 12B s 46 40 16 15 12 11 1 Test results of error identification questions at the end of the 1st semester: Clas No of Number of correct answers to error identification questions s student 10K 12B s 46 40 12 11 15 14 3 Test results of error identification questions at the end of the 2nd semester: Clas No of Number of correct answers to error identification questions s student 10K 12B s 46 40 0 9 18 17 The results mentioned above have indicated that the number of students who have had more correct answers to the error identification questions has been gradually increasing and the number of students who have had a few correct answers has been declining Although the initial results have not been very impressive, I would like to share this initiative in the hope that it could help contribute a little to improving the quality of teaching English at the upper secondary education Moreover, I does hope that the study Le Thi Lan Anh 20 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative School-year: 2013-2014 would be of some value to both teachers and students in their English teaching and learning process II Suggestions: It is certain that the study still has certain limitations Thus, it would be my pleasure to get as many constructive ideas or suggestions as possible to better the study and to help it become more productive in the English teaching and learning process at high schools in the future I would like to express my sincere thanks! Nga Son, May 31st 2014 The author, Le Thi Lan Anh TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION 01 I Rationale for selecting the topic of the study 01 II Purposes of the study 02 III Objects of the study 02 IV Scope of the study 02 V Bases of the study 03 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 03 I Problems with nouns 03 Skill 1: Use the correct singular or plural noun 03 Skill 2: Distinguish countable and uncountable nouns 03 Skill 3: Recognize nouns with irregular plural forms 04 Skill 4: Distinguish the person from the thing 06 Skill 5: Be careful with nouns modifying other nouns 06 Exercise (Skills 1-5) 06 Le Thi Lan Anh 21 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative II Problems with verbs School-year: 2013-2014 07 Skill 6: Correctly use the verb tenses 07 Skill 7: Correctly use the verb forms 07 Skill 8: Distinguish the passive from the active 09 Skill 9: Be careful with the wrong choice of verb 10 Exercise (Skills 6-9) 10 III Problems with adjectives and adverbs 10 Skill 10: Use basic adjectives and adverbs correctly 11 Skill 11: Use adjectives rather than adverbs after linking verbs 11 Skill 12: Position adjectives and adverbs correctly 12 Skill 13: Use –ed and –ing adjectives correctly 12 Exercise (Skills 10-13) 13 IV Problems with articles 13 Skill 14: Use indefinite articles with countable singular general nouns only 13 Skill 15: Distinguish indefinite articles a and an 14 Skill 16: Use the definite article with specific nouns or ideas 14 Exercise (Skills 14-16) 15 V Problems with pronouns 15 Skill 17: Use pronouns correctly 15 Exercise (Skill 17) 16 VI Problems with the inversions 17 Skill 18: Invert the subject and verb with question words 17 Skill 19: Invert the subject and verb with place expressions 17 Skill 20: Invert the subject and verb with negatives 18 Skill 21: Invert the subject and verb with conditionals 19 Exercise (Skills 18-21) 19 PART III: CONCLUSION I Study results Le Thi Lan Anh 20 20 22 Mai Anh Tuan High School Experience Initiative II Suggestions School-year: 2013-2014 21 REFERENCES The website violet.vn The website hocmai.vn The website English123.com Collection of University Entrance Examination Preparation Tests, Vinh Ba, 2014 Oxford guide to English grammar, John Eastwood Practical English Usage, Michael Swan Understanding and using English grammar, Betty Schrampfer Azar Test questions designed by the Ministry of Education and Training, and high schools all over the country English grammar explanations, Mai Lan Huong and Ha Thanh Uyen Le Thi Lan Anh 23 Mai Anh Tuan High School ... nucleus-nuclei fungus-fungi/funguses -f(e) → -ves -on/um → -a -is → -es -us → -i/-uses -a→ -ae/-as focus-foci/focuses radius-radii formula-fomulae/formulas vertebra-vertebrae/vertebras Add -ta dogma-dogmata... School-year: 201 3-2 014 IRREGULAR PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS man-men tooth-teeth mouse-mice foot-feet woman- women person-people louse-lice goose- calf-calves elf-elves geese half-halves knife-knives leaf-leaves... hypothesis-hypotheses diagnosis-diagnoses crisis-crises parenthesis-parentheses basis-bases alumnus-alumni thesis-theses cactus-cacti synthesis-syntheses stimulus-stimuli bacillus-bacilli nucleus-nuclei