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Microsoft Word Longman-Common Errors docx1.. LONGMAN ERRORS 1
number
the contrast between words which are singular (e.g. ‘child’) and words which are plural
(‘children’). Two words are said to ‘agree in number’ when they are both singular or both
plural. Compare: ‘The child was playing in the garden’ (singular); ‘The children were playi.ng in
the garden’ (plural).
object
The object (also ‘direct object’) of a sentence is the person or thing that is directly affected by
the action of the verb: ‘She bought a packet of envelopes’; ‘I’d already seen the film’. An
‘indirect object’ is usually the person or thing that receives the direct object: ‘She sent my
mother a postcard.’ ‘He gave her a diamond ring.’ ‘We told them the news.’
participle
See
PAST PARTICIPLE, -ING FORM
passive
When the subject of a sentence ‘performs’ the action expressed by the verb, the verb and the
sentence are said to be ‘active’: ‘Someone has stolen my watch.’ ‘The government spends a lot
of money on cancer research.’ Sometimes the subject of a sentence does not perform the
action expressed by the verb but ‘receives’ it: ‘My watch has been stolen.’ ‘A lot of money is
spent on cancer research.’ In these cases, the verb and the sentence are said to be ‘passive’.
past participle
the verb form that is used to make the present perfect and past perfect, and all passive
structures: ‘She’s lost her address book.’ ‘I hadn’t seen her before.’ ‘Have the letters been
posted yet?’
past perfect
the verb form that is made with had and the past participle: ‘After everyone had gone, we
began to tidy up.’ ‘If I’d known your address, I would’ve come to see you.’ See also
PROGRESSIVE
past progressive
See
PROGRESSIVE
past tense
The past tense of a reqular verb ends in -ed and has the same form as the past participle:
‘cooked’, ‘thanked’, ‘opened’. The past tense of an irregular verb is formed in many different
ways: ‘went’, ‘saw’, ‘thought’, ‘found’, ‘took’, ‘spoke’. See also PROGRESSIVE
person
the contrast between words which refer to ourselves (e.g. I, we = ‘first person’), words which
refer to the person we are talking to (e.g. you = ‘second person’), and words which refer to
someone or something else (e.g. he, she, Mrs Robinson, the apple trees = ‘third person’).
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