Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 1 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes

Finding and correcting mistakes

Exercise 1.
Read the following text. In each numbered line where is a word or phrase used wrongly. Find them and correct them .
THE BOSS FROM HELL
Before I went for my interview for the job with Cramer and Blake Services,
I talked to a few people and found out some informations about the 1.
company. This strategy worked very effective as it gave the impression that 2.
I was keen and committal and I was offered the job by the personnel 3.
manager in the spot. 4.
I was very delighted at first, but soon I discovered that my new boss, 5.
Tom, worked totally hard, spending all his time in the office and never 6.
leaving before 8 p.m. He expected the same grade of commitment from 7.
his employees – the workload he expected every and each one of us to 8.
carry was deeply unreasonable. He accused anyone who didn’t work 9.
overtime regularly of not making their fair share and letting then team 10.
down. I decided to put up to the situation without complaining for a 11.
while but lastly I fell I had to confront Tom. I told him I wasn’t prepared 12.
to work so hard for such a low salary. Tom said that I had large potential 13.
and could easily get to the top if I was prepared to have an effort. 14.
However, he thoroughly refused to reduce my workload and so in the end 15.
I decided to hand out my resignation. 16.
Just a week later I got another job in Cramer and Blake’s main competitors. 17.
Now I’m earning twice as high as my old boss, and my job’s twice as 18.
interesting. I work exactly as long hours – but I’m glad I moved. I haven’t 19.
got to the top yet – but I’m far on the way! 20.

Exercise 2.
The following paragragh has 12 mistakes. Identify the mistakes in the lines and correct them. Write
your answer in the space provided.
Who were the people responsible for collection and sending plants from one country to another? And
why did they do it? Initially they were travellers with another purpose: traders, colonists, pilgrims and
missionaries have all been important in providing new plants for English gardens. They sent back indigenous
wild plants, or sometimes, as in the cases of visitors to China and Japan, plants which have been cultivated and
improved for hundreds of years. This worked, of course, in both directions: English gardens were making in the
most unlikely places.
Travellers did not always recognise an interesting plant on seen it – interesting, that is, to the collector at
home. So in the 16th and 17th century, attempts were made to collect on a most professional basis, either by
patrons sending collections into the field, or by subscriptions to finance local enthusiasts in the most promised
areas. By 1611 John Tradescant was travelling and collecting in France and other parts of Europe. Lately, Peter
Collinson, a London merchant, who had seen the richness of
the plant material sending back by Tradescant, organised a syndicate to finance the amateur botanical John
Bartram. Before long, special collectors were being dispatched to all parts of the world by institutions such as
the Chelsea Physic Garden.

Exercise 3.
The following paragragh has 10 mistakes. Identify the mistakes and correct them. Write your answer in the space provided.
Simply be bilingual does not qualify anyone to interpreting. Interpreting does not merely a mechanical
process of converting one sentence in language A into a same sentence in language B. Rather, it is a complex
art in that thoughts and idioms which have no obvious analogues from tongue to tongue – or words which have
multiple meanings- must quickly be transformed in many a way that the message is clearly and accurately
expressing to the listener.
There was two kinds of interpreters, simultaneous and consecutive, each requires separate talents. The
former, sitting in an isolated booth, usually at a large multilingual conference, speaks to listeners wearing
headphones, interpreting that a foreign-language speaker says as he says it – actually a sentence afterwards.
Consecutive interpreters are the one most international negotiators use. They are mainly employed for smaller
meetings without sound booths, headphones, and another high-tech gear.
Exercise 4.
Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 2 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes
There are 10 errors (grammar or word usage) in the following passage. Identify, then underline and
correct them. Some lines are correct. Indicate these lines with a tick ( ). (0) has been done as an example.

Trees should only be prune when there is a good and clear reason for 0. prune  pruned
doing so and, fortunately, a number of such reasons is small. Pruning 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
involves the cutting away of overgrown and wanted branches, and the 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
inexperiened gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
damage results in doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the tree to 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
grow in its own way. 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have a desire shape 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
same time to help the growth of small side branches which will 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
may be done to help the tree healthier. You may cut out diseased or 10. . . . . . . . . . . . .
dead wood, or branches rubbing with each other and thus causing 11. . . . . . . . . . . . .
wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing 12. . . . . . . . . . . . .
branches that are blocking up the centre and so preventing the free 13. . . . . . . . . . . . .
movement of air. 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this 15. . . . . . . . . . . . .
provides an easy entry for disease, but it is a wound that will heal. 16. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Often there is a race between the healing and the disease as to when 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when a tree is at risk. 18. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce that risk of death as 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
much as possible. It is essential to make the area which has been 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
pruned smooth and clean for healing will be slow down by roughness. 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
You should allow the cutting surface to dry for a few hours and then 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
paint it with one of the substances available from garden shops 23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
produced especially for this purpose.
Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 3 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes
Exercise 5. For questions 36 -50, read the text below and look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are
correct, and some have a word which should not be there. If a line is correct, put a tick ( ) by the number. If a
line has a word which should not be there, write the word out. There are three examples at the beginning.
Hibernation syndrome
I don’t know about you, but come to the winter months, my body 0: ………to………
seems to require more sleep than in summer and I’m definitely at 0: ………………
my happiest when I’m being curled up in a hedgehog-style ball. 0: …… being…..
“Wanting to sleep more in the winter is not natural and nothing to 36:……………………
worry about, unless you are sleeping for more than 12 hours a 37:……………………
day,” says sleep expert Dr James B Maas. The reason for we 38:……………………
feel drowsy has as much to do with our biochemistry 39:……………………
as it does so with wanting to sniggle up line a couch 40: …………………..
potato indoors. “it’s all to do with 41:……………………
melatonin,” explains Dr Maas, “a hormone with which 42:……………………
is 43:……………………
secreted by the brain’s pineal gland in response to 44:……………………
darkness”. They 45:……………………
may feel more sleepy, but as many people find getting 46:……………………
to sleep 47:……………………
in winter is a problem. It’s hardly surprising. When 48:……………………
lounging 49:……………………
around indoors drinking mugs of warming up coffee 50:……………………
and snacking
on chocolate bars doesn’t always prepare you for a
good
night’s rest. If you do have trouble nodding off.
Deepak Chopra
has tip. “Try a soothing mix of the sweet and sour
essential oils, such as orange, geranium and clove are
mixed with
almond oil and rubbed it on to your forehead just
before bedtime.”
Exercise 1.
Read the following text. In each numbered line where is a word or phrase used wrongly. Find them and correct them .
THE BOSS FROM HELL
Before I went for my interview for the job with Cramer and Blake Services,
I talked to a few people and found out some informations about the company. This 1.
strategy worked very effective as it gave the impression that I was keen and committal 2.
and I was offered the job by the personnel manager in the spot. 3.
I was very delighted at first, but soon I discovered that my new boss, Tom, worked 4.
totally hard, spending all his time in the office and never leaving before 8 p.m. He 5.
expected the same grade of commitment from his employees – the workload he 6.
expected every and each one of us to carry was deeply unreasonable. He accused 7.
anyone who didn’t work overtime regularly of not making their fair share and letting 8.
then team down. 9.
I decided to put up to the situation without complaining for a while but lastly I fell I had 10.
to confront Tom. I told him I wasn’t prepared to work so hard for such a low salary. Tom 11.
said that I had large potential and could easily get to the top if I was prepared to have an 12.
effort. 13.
However, he thoroughly refused to reduce my workload and so in the end I decided to 14.
hand out my resignation. 15.
Just a week later I got another job in Cramer and Blake’s main competitors. Now I’m 16.
Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 4 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes
earning twice as high as my old boss, and my job’s twice as interesting. I work exactly 17.
as long hours – but I’m glad I moved. I haven’t got to the top yet – but I’m far on the 18.
way! 19.
20.

Exercise 2.
The following paragragh has 12 mistakes. Identify the mistakes in the lines and correct them. Write your
answer in the space provided.
Who were the people responsible for collection and sending plants from one country to another? And
why did they do it? Initially they were travellers with another purpose: traders, colonists, pilgrims and
missionaries have all been important in providing new plants for English gardens. They sent back indigenous
wild plants, or sometimes, as in the cases of visitors to China and Japan, plants which have been cultivated and
improved for hundreds of years. This worked, of course, in both directions: English gardens were making in
the most unlikely places.
Travellers did not always recognise an interesting plant on seen it – interesting, that is, to the collector at
home. So in the 16th and 17th century, attempts were made to collect on a most professional basis, either by
patrons sending collections into the field, or by subscriptions to finance local enthusiasts in the most promised
areas. By 1611 John Tradescant was travelling and collecting in France and other parts of Europe. Lately, Peter
Collinson, a London merchant, who had seen the richness of
the plant material sending back by Tradescant, organised a syndicate to finance the amateur botanical John
Bartram. Before long, special collectors were being dispatched to all parts of the world by institutions such as
the Chelsea Physic Garden.
Exercise 3.
The following paragragh has 10 mistakes. Identify the mistakes and correct them. Write your answer in the
space provided.
Simply be bilingual does not qualify anyone to interpreting. Interpreting does not merely a mechanical
process of converting one sentence in language A into a same sentence in language B. Rather, it is a complex
art in that thoughts and idioms which have no obvious analogues from tongue to tongue – or words which have
multiple meanings- must quickly be transformed in many a way that the message is clearly and accurately
expressing to the listener.
There was two kinds of interpreters, simultaneous and consecutive, each requires separate talents. The
former, sitting in an isolated booth, usually at a large multilingual conference, speaks to listeners wearing
headphones, interpreting that a foreign-language speaker says as he says it – actually a sentence afterwards.
Consecutive interpreters are the one most international negotiators use. They are mainly employed for smaller
meetings without sound booths, headphones, and another high-tech gear.
EX 4

Line 1: a  the Line 11: with  against

Line 2: wanted  unwanted Line 17: when  whether
Line 4: in  from Line 18: a  the
Line 6: desire  desired Line 21: slow  slowed
Line 10: help  make Line 22: cutting  cut
Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 5 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes
Trees should only be prune when there is a good and clear reason for 0. prune  pruned
doing so and, fortunately, a number of such reasons is small. Pruning 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
involves the cutting away of overgrown and wanted branches, and 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the inexperiened gardener can be encouraged by the thought that 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
more damage results in doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
tree to grow in its own way. 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have a desire 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
at the same time to help the growth of small side branches which will 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
may be done to help the tree healthier. You may cut out diseased or 10. . . . . . . . . . . . .
dead wood, or branches rubbing with each other and thus causing 11. . . . . . . . . . . . .
wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing 12. . . . . . . . . . . . .
branches that are blocking up the centre and so preventing the free 13. . . . . . . . . . . . .
movement of air. 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this 15. . . . . . . . . . . . .
provides an easy entry for disease, but it is a wound that will heal. 16. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Often there is a race between the healing and the disease as to when 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when a tree is at risk. 18. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce that risk of death as 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
much as possible. It is essential to make the area which has been 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
pruned smooth and clean for healing will be slow down by roughness. 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
You should allow the cutting surface to dry for a few hours and then 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
paint it with one of the substances available from garden shops 23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
produced especially for this purpose.

Exercise 5. For questions 36 -50, read the text below and look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are
correct, and some have a word which should not be there. If a line is correct, put a tick ( ) by the number. If a
line has a word which should not be there, write the word out. There are three examples at the beginning.
Hibernation syndrome
I don’t know about you, but come to the winter months, my body 0: ………to………
seems to require more sleep than in summer and I’m definitely at 0: ………………
my happiest when I’m being curled up in a hedgehog-style ball. 0: …… being…..
“Wanting to sleep more in the winter is not natural and nothing to 36:……………………
worry about, unless you are sleeping for more than 12 hours a 37:……………………
day,” says sleep expert Dr James B Maas. The reason for we 38:……………………
feel drowsy has as much to do with our biochemistry 39:……………………
as it does so with wanting to sniggle up line a couch 40: …………………..
potato indoors. “it’s all to do with 41:……………………
melatonin,” explains Dr Maas, “a hormone with which 42:……………………
is 43:……………………
secreted by the brain’s pineal gland in response to 44:……………………
darkness”. They 45:……………………
may feel more sleepy, but as many people find getting 46:……………………
to sleep 47:……………………
in winter is a problem. It’s hardly surprising. When 48:……………………
lounging 49:……………………
around indoors drinking mugs of warming up coffee 50:……………………
and snacking
on chocolate bars doesn’t always prepare you for a
good
night’s rest. If you do have trouble nodding off.
Teacher: Nguyễn Ngọc An 6 Materials for Gifted students 2013- Find the mistakes
Deepak Chopra
has tip. “Try a soothing mix of the sweet and sour
essential oils, such as orange, geranium and clove are
mixed with
almond oil and rubbed it on to your forehead just
before bedtime.”
36. NOT 37.  38. FOR 39. SO 40. 
41. WITH 42.  43. AS 44. WHEN 45. UP
46.  47.  48. THE 49. ARE 50. IT

EX 6: The passage below contains 10 mistakes. Find them and correct them. (10 pts) (1 point for one correct
answer = 10 points)

Exercise 6. The passage below contains 10 mistakes. Find them and correct them. Write your answers in the
space provided below the passage. (10 pts)
As we feel tired at bed-time, it is natural to assume that we sleep because we are tired. The point seems so
obviously that hardly anyone has ever sought to question it. Nevertheless, we must ask “tired of what?” People
certainly feel tired in the end of a hard day’s manual work, but it is also true that office workers feel equally
tired when bed-time come. Even invalids, confined to beds or wheelchairs, become tired as the evening wears
on. Moreover, the manual workers will still feel tired even after an evening spent relaxing in front of the
television or read a book, activities which ought to have a refreshing effect. There is no proof connection
between physical exertion and the need for sleep. People want to sleep, however little exercises they have had.
Nor is the desire for sleep relating to mental fatigue. In fact, sleep comes more slowly to people who have had
an intellectual stimulating day, just because their minds are still full in thoughts when they retire. Ironically, one
way of sending someone to sleep is to put him or her into boring situation where the intellectual effort is
minimal.

1. obviously → obvious 6. exercises → exercise

2. in → at 7. relating → related
3. come → comes 8. intellectual → intellectually
4. read → reading 9. in → of
5. proof → proven 10. boring situation → a boring situation