This set has ten original questions, ordered from easier to harder, covering all five lessons in vocabulary and precision. Questions 1 to 3 focus on single words and pairings, 4 to 7 on phrases, tense and emphasis, and 8 to 10 mix every skill. Every sentence was written for this page.
Write your own answer first, then open the worked answer. Several questions accept more than one good version, so judge your own by the reasoning shown, not by an exact match. You can use the writing revision compare view to put your edit beside the original, and the mistake log to record any slip you repeat.
Questions
1. Replace the weak verb: He got the parcel from the post office before it closed.
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Got could mean received, bought or collected. The action here is going to a place and taking the parcel away, so collected is exact.
He collected the parcel from the post office before it closed.
2. Choose the most exact verb and say why: The wind ______ the washing off the line. (moved / ripped / went)
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Ripped. It names a sudden, forceful action. Moved is too mild for wind that takes washing off a line, and went cannot take an object here. Tore would also work.
3. Correct two collocations: The company did a serious mistake and must take the responsible.
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Did a mistake becomes made a mistake, because mistakes are made. Take the responsible uses an adjective where a noun is needed: take responsibility.
The company made a serious mistake and must take responsibility.
4. Fill the gap and name the error type if you chose wrongly: Please ______ attention to the safety notice. (give / pay / put)
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Pay. Pay attention is the fixed pairing. The wrong choices are translation slips, because some languages use a verb meaning “give” or “put” for this idea.
5. The sentence Throughout the ages, everyone has loved football opens an essay about a school league. Rewrite it with a claim you could defend.
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Throughout the ages overclaims, because football as we know it is not ancient. Everyone overclaims too. A defensible version:
Football is the sport that fills our school field every Friday afternoon.
It is specific, checkable and leads into the essay topic.
6. Explain what is wrong: The small cut on his finger was the tip of the iceberg, and it healed by evening.
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The tip of the iceberg suggests a much larger hidden problem. A cut that healed by evening hides nothing, so the phrase creates a false picture. Plain wording is better: The small cut on his finger healed by evening.
7. Repair the tense: When the bell rang, the students pack their bags and ran for the gate.
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The base is past tense (rang, ran), so pack is the slip.
When the bell rang, the students packed their bags and ran for the gate.
8. Repair the viewpoint and the tense: I opened the letter slowly. She felt her pulse race and you can hardly breathe.
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The narrator is I in the past. She and you are viewpoint slips, and can is a tense slip.
I opened the letter slowly. I felt my pulse race and I could hardly breathe.
9. Edit the intensifiers without losing any meaning: It was a really very delicious meal and we were extremely full.
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Delete, then choose exact words or a detail. Two good versions:
It was a delicious meal and we were full. (plain)
It was a superb meal, and we left too full to move. (exact word plus detail)
Replacing very with extremely would not count as an edit.
10. Edit this paragraph for all five skills, and list each change: Last Saturday, I go to the market and get some fruit. The really strong rain made a lot of noise on the roof, and everyone in the world was very scared.
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Edited version: Last Saturday, I went to the market and bought some fruit. The heavy rain drummed on the roof, and the stallholders looked frightened.
Changes:
- go becomes went: tense consistency.
- get becomes bought: exact verb.
- strong rain becomes heavy rain: collocation.
- made a lot of noise becomes drummed: exact verb and detail.
- everyone in the world becomes the stallholders: overclaiming phrase.
- really … very scared becomes frightened: intensifiers cut.
Other wording is acceptable if it is exact and true to the scene.
If you got these wrong
| What went wrong | Questions | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Kept a vague verb or chose one that does not fit | 1, 2, 10 | Replace an imprecise verb |
| Used an unnatural pairing or a translated phrase | 3, 4, 10 | Choose a collocation natural to the context |
| Kept a stock phrase that overclaims or contradicts | 5, 6, 10 | Avoid a memorised phrase that distorts meaning |
| Missed a shift of tense or person | 7, 8, 10 | Maintain consistent tense and viewpoint |
| Swapped one intensifier for another | 9, 10 | Edit unnecessary intensifiers |
If the errors are spread across every row, go back to the module overview and work through the lessons in order, writing your own example for each.
Most students find that one or two error types account for nearly all their slips. A teacher in online one-to-one English First Language tuition can read your corrected paragraphs, name the pattern and choose the next task to match it.