So. When you write in English, you naturally think that what
you're writing is correct.
Otherwise, of course.
You wouldn't write it.
Nobody makes mistakes on purpose.
However, once you've finished, you need to check what you've
written with scrupulous care.
Now you should take the view that what you've written is
probably incorrect.
So when you're writing it, you
think it's correct. But when you check it, you assume that
it's not correct.
Let's say Pablo wrote this
sentence. It depends on the weather.
Now, obviously Pablo thinks that is correct.
He isn't going to make a mistake on purpose.
But is it correct?
Popular things so.
But he also knows that he sometimes makes mistakes
when he writes in English.
So now he assumes that there may
be a mistake. Or mistakes.
First, Pablo asks himself.
Other words all correctly written English words.
Are there any spelling mistakes?
He uses the Spell Checker on his word processor.
All clear.
Now a bit more complicated. All the words correctly combined.
All the word combinations correct.
Pablo breaks the sentence into pairs of words.
That's four combinations.
It depends.
Depends off.
Of the.
The weather
Pablo wants positive evidence to prove that each
combination is correct.
The first combination is, it depends.
Paul looked up depending his
dictionary. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's
dictionary. Yes, it means what he thinks it means.
The definition and example sentences confirm that.
Good.
And yes, good in fact, excellent. There is a sentence,
an example sentence in the dictionary with it depends.
So the first combination it
depends. Seems to be perfectly correct English.
But public cannot find any sentence that includes the
combination depends of.
The second combination in his sentence.
And there are sentences which campaign contain depend on.
For example, it depends on the cost.
And then he finds an error box
which says. Common mistake deepend.
Remember, the most usual preposition to use after
depend is on.
Don't say depend of so depend on.
Ha ha.
So Pablo changes of two on.
Then he continues in the same
way. And he finds positive evidence to confirm that the
other combinations are correct.
So now his sentence reads.
It depends on the weather.
And there are two changes, not 1 two.
The first changes on for of.
And the second is now Pablo knows his sentence is correct.
Before we thought it was.
And he hoped it was.
But now it is and he knows it is.
Now you may say yes, but it took him a long time.
And that's true.
But it's also true that he learned something.
The word depend.
Is a word that Pablo likes to
use. It's part of his active vocabulary.
And in future he will use it correctly.
Pablo hasn't only corrected one mistake.
He's corrected, one mistake.
And avoided lots more in the future.
So unless you are absolutely certain that what you've
written is correct.
Use your dictionary to help you check.
Above all. Remember.
The wildest correction procedure is very time consuming.
It also means that your writing is much more likely
to be correct.
And most important of all that you will learn
a great deal of English.
Which is of course. The main objective.
You can spend a lot of time
correcting like this. But all the time you spend correcting
like this is time well spent.
Because you are evaluating your own English.
Making sure that the phrases and expressions that you tend to
use. Really are correct.
So in future you will be able to use them with much
more confidence.
In future you will know that they are right.
And you won't need to check them again.
That's one reason why self
correction. Is the best correction.
Now it's time for you to do some practice. Here are
four sentences.
Despite it being tired, they were happy.
We studied a series of interesting articles.
John knows the recipe for this pizza.
Always she goes in Sundays.
Are they correct?
It may be they are all correct.
It may be they are all incorrect.
It may be that some are correct and some are not.
Is for you to decide.
And I want you to use the Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary, which is online.
At this address.
Use a dictionary in the way I have shown you.
Check in the dictionary to see if you can find evidence the
sentences are correct. Or in Kuwait?
If you decide a sentence is incorrect, then write
down the correct version.