OK. Now in an earlier module, we look briefly at how to correct a
sentence. You remember it depends on the weather.
Well. Now we're going to look at another sentence in more detail.
Ruth wrote.
I work in a big company, but yesterday I decided to
have a day free.
Now again. When Ruth wrote that sentence, she thought it was
correct. She wasn't going to make mistakes on purpose.
But once you've written it.
She took the view that it might contain mistakes.
He might well contain mistakes.
After all, as she said to me.
I often make mistakes when I write in English.
Well, first she checked the spelling.
About 16% of mistakes in essays are spelling mistakes.
So that's a good place to start.
She put the sentence with the spell checker
on her word processor.
No problems. All clear.
If she had not a spell checker, she would have looked
the words up in a dictionary.
Next she checked the verbs.
It's easy to find the verb groups in a sentence.
Here there are two. I work in a big company, but yesterday I
decided to have.
A day free.
The first thing that Ruth asked herself is.
Do both these verbs have a subject?
And the answer is yes.
The subject is I.
Honey, it appears immediately before each verb.
Good.
The second thing that Ruth has to self is.
Is each verb in the right tense?
The first verb is in the present simple tense.
We use our tents to talk about regular activities and routines.
Well. Working is a regular
activity. Unfortunately.
The other verb decide.
He's also in the present simple form.
But it doesn't refer to a regular activity or routine.
He refers to something Ruth did
once. Yesterday.
So it should be in the past
simple. It should be decided.
Next move looked at the prepositions.
Prepositions are a big problem.
Nearly 10% of mistakes in essays are mistakes with prepositions.
There are two prepositions in this sentence.
I work in a big company, but yesterday I decided to.
Have a day free.
So.
I work in a big company.
In a big company, is that correct?
Yes or no?
Now Ruth could say, oh, I think it's OK.
When she's driving, she could go over the traffic lights on red.
A crash isn't inevitable.
Just probable.
OK, prepositions don't kill people.
But Ruth is careful and she stops it in.
She looks up, work in the Cambridge Advanced
Learner's Dictionary.
Notice she doesn't look up in.
She looks up work.
That's the big word.
The word with semantic content.
Which determines the preposition.
If you want to know if you say in Christmas or at Christmas.
Then it's better to look up
Christmas. Then in and out.
In the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Ruth finds
these examples sentences.
He works at the local hospital.
And Mike works for a computer company.
So we have work at and work for.
That doesn't mean working is
wrong. But there's no evidence here that it's right.
And notice that Mike works for
computer company. He's very close to Mike, works for a big
company. And Mike works for big company is very close to.
I work for a big company.
At this point, we could probably opt for. I
work for a big company.
But she is very conscientious and she wants to learn.
So she looks up company in the Cambridge Advanced
Learner's Dictionary.
She finds these examples.
He works for a software company and I work for
Duggan and Company.
Well. That really settles it, doesn't it?
Ruth hasn't found that work in a company is wrong.
It's always difficult to prove a negative.
But she hasn't found that it is right either.
Meanwhile, she has found the work for companies, right?
And it's writing just the sort of context in which
Ruth wants to use it.
So she could simply change her sentence too. I work for now.
But because she's very
conscientious. She goes to the British National Corpus and puts
work in a company.
In the search box.
No hits.
The phrase doesn't appear in the 100 million word corpus.
Then she puts works for company.
And gets eight hits.
Eight different writers who write correct English have
used it in the way she wants to use it.
A sure sign that it is correct.
Next, she checks, decide to in her dictionary.
She finds this example.
In the end, we decided to go to the theater.
And the dictionary also makes clear that decide to plus verb
is a basic English structure.
OK.
Next, Ruth wants to check the adjectives. There are two I work
for a big company, but yesterday I decided to have a day free.
A normal position for an adjective is in front of
the noun it modifies.
We say a nice teacher.
Not a teacher, nice.
Well, big is in front of
company. But free comes after day.
Bruce looks up free in the Cambridge Advanced
Learner's Dictionary.
She finds the phrases free time and free evening.
A free evening is correct.
And surely so is free day.
She looks up free free day in the British National Corpus.
And there are 25 examples.
Examples like. We have a free day tomorrow.
She looks up day free.
And find 7.
But the examples with free day were much more like what
Ruth wants to say.
So she changes day free to free day.
Now the sentence looks like this.
I work for a big company.
But yesterday I decided to have a free day.
Next, Ruth checks conjunctions.
There's only one. But
this is not a complicated word.
Bruce knows what it means.
And she knows how and where to
use it. And she knows she knows.
And she sure it's right.
Finally, she checks on yesterday. She looks in the
British National Corpus and finds examples with yesterday at
the end of the clause.
And also examples where it has a
little more emphasis. At the beginning of the clause.
She decides to leave it where it is.
So a sentence now reads.
I work for a big company.
But yesterday I decided to have a free day.
Ruth has made three changes.
And now she is sure it is correct.
And she's right.
OK.
Right about 100 words about something you did yesterday.
Check what you've written in the way Ruth checked her sentence.
Make sure it is correct.
All the data here is from the British National Corpus
managed by Oxford University Computing Services.
All rights in the text cited are reserved.