Take a look at these 7 sentences. How many of them have mistakes? Can you find the mistakes and do you know the reasons why?
- "I've ever been to France. I really want to go in the future."
- "An unicycle only has one wheel."
- "Have everyone finished eating?"
- "Can I lend your newspaper while you go for lunch?"
- "We should have swam when the weather was better."
- "All the people on my course were very kindly."
- "You shouldn't smoking. It's not good for you."
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They all have mistakes! What's wrong with the sentences...
- Ever should be changed to never: "I've never been to France". Ever is only used in questions "Have you ever been to France."
- Although unicycle starts with a vowel, it is pronounced as y and so we must say "a unicycle". The same rule applies with "a university".
- Everyone is always singular and needs a singular verb: "Has everyone finished eating?"
- Lend means to give for a short time. In this sentence the speaker should use borrow: "Can I borrow your newspaper...".
- Should have + past participle is the rule: "We should have swum", not swam (past simple).
- Kindly is an adverb and is a mistake because an adjective is needed: "...were very kind".
- The base verb is required here: smoke. We don't use modal verbs ("should") with -ing verbs.
