One useful skill is the skill of knowing when we don't know.
It's very important to distinguish between what we
know. And what we don't know.
Now I don't want to get philosophical about this, I just
want to be practical.
I'm not very good at French.
But I do know a bit.
And I find basically that I can divide phrases in French into
three categories. 1.
Phrases that I'm sure are correct.
2.
Phrases that I'm sure are incorrect.
3. Phrases that I'm not sure about.
I expect that is the case with your English too.
For example, her name is Ruth.
She was born in London.
I'm sure those are correct.
And I expect you are too.
In the case of, he studied two books. Very interesting.
I'm sure you know that is incorrect.
In English, how do tips go
before nouns? And they don't have plural forms.
It should be. He studied two very interesting books.
But you know that.
What about this one?
She asked me whether they would do the dishes or not.
Is that correct or incorrect?
Are you sure?
Or would you say that you aren't
sure? Correct, incorrect.
Or you don't know.
Let me put the question another way.
Would you be happy to have that
sentence? In one of your essays.
I'll give you 5 seconds to make up your mind.
Well. If you decided that it is
correct. You're right.
But if you decided that you didn't know and so would not
include it. Then that's good too.
Don't include anything.
Unless you know it is correct.
So my point is very simple.
And very obvious.
Only include in your essays.
Phrases which you know are correct.
The problem is it's very easy to include phrases which really
you're not sure about.
Shakespeare said. The wish is father to the thought.
Hoping that a sentence is correct.
Might sometimes cause us to think that it is great.
The scale is to know what you know and to know what you don't
know. And to limit yourself.
Do what you do now.
Some students are very good at
this. And some aren't.
If you are good.
If you aren't. Then this is a skill you can acquire.
I'm going to give you a list of eight phrases.
The sentences the sentences are in the attached document.
In the transcription of these videos.
Some are correct and some are incorrect.
When I say some are incorrect, I mean that they
contain at least one mistake.
You have to decide.
Which is the ETA, correct?
And which are incorrect.
If you say a phrase is correct and it is correct, you get one
point. If you say a phrase is incorrect and it is incorrect,
then you get one point.
So the maximum number of points is 8.
If you're right about every
sentence. You will get eight points.
If you can't decide, then you get no points.
But if you make a mistake, you lose 3 points.
You say there's no mistake and
there is a mistake. You lose 3 points.
You said there's a mistake and there is no mistake. You
lose 3 points.
So the minimum number of points is minus 24.
If you're wrong about every sentence, you will get
minus 24 points.
Study the sentences in the transcriptions of these videos.
And use any reference tool you
like. Dictionaries, grammars,
Internet. But don't ask another person. Do it yourself.
See if you get the maximum number of points.
Good luck.
By the way. Detecting mistakes in other peoples writing.
Is a valuable professional skill.
For teachers and editors, for example.