Common errorsVerb Errors - Part 2/4This section of our course will review those errors most commonly presented in the CPE and teachyou what to look for. We will not review here the basic rules of grammar, such as the formationand use of the different tenses and the passive voice, the subjective and objective cases ofpronouns, the position of adjectives and adverbs, and the like. We assume that a candidate for theCPE is familiar with basic grammar, and we will concentrate on error recognition based on thatknowledge.

4. Errors in conditional sentences

In conditional sentences, the word if will NEVER be followed by the words will or would. Hereare the correct conditional forms:

FUTURE If I have time, I will do it tomorrow.PRESENT If I had time, I would do it now.PAST If I had had time, I would have done it yesterday.

Sentences using the wordswhen, as soon as, the moment, etc., are formed like futureconditionals:

I will tell him if I see him.I will tell him when I see him.

The verb to be will ALWAYS appear as were in the present conditional:If I were you, I wouldn't do that.She wouldn't say so if she weren't sure.

NOTE: Not all sentences containing if are conditionals. When if appears in the meaning ofwhether, it may take the future:

I don't know if hewill be there. (I don't know whether he will be there.)

ExamplesINCORRECT If I would have known, I wouldn't have gone.CORRECT If I had known, I wouldn't have gone.

INCORRECT You wouldn't be so tired if you weren't going to bed so late.CORRECT You wouldn't be so tired if you didn't go to bed so late.INCORRECT Call me the moment you will get home.CORRECT Call me the moment you get home.INCORRECT We could go to the beach if it wasn't so hot.CORRECT We could go to the beach if it weren't so hot.

5. Errors in expressions of desireUnfulfilled desires are expressed by the form:

"___ had hoped that ___ would (or could, or might) do ___."

Example:I had hoped that I would pass the exam.

Expressions withwish are formed as follows:PRESENT I wish I knew him.FUTUR I wish you could (would) come.PAST I wish he had come. (or could have come, would have come, might have come)

NOTE: As in conditionals, the verb to be will ALWAYS appear as were in the present:Iwish shewere here.

INCORRECT I wish I heard that story about him before I met him.CORRECT I wish I had heard (or could have heard or would have heard) that story

about him before I met him.

INCORRECT Shewishes you will be on time.CORRECT Shewishes you could (or would) be on time.

This revision will be continued in Lesson 9.