Julie Moore CAMBRIDGEPe is Ss: Common ~— mistakes at — | | | [IELTS Advance ' -.. and how to avoid theeavailable from the British Library sno responsibilty forthe persistence or third-party internet websites referred to in got guarantee that any content on such websites Is, ‘information regarding prices, travel given in this work are correct at {Cambridge University Press does not guarantee n thereafter. | 1 Articles: the before general 2 Articles: alan before ndun Testi 8 4 When douse when, ifand whether? 19 5 Punctuation: commas with dlscourie markers 6 Punctuation: using apostrophes 12 Test2 13 7 Common spelling mistakes 15 ” 8 Spelling: one word or two? 16 9 Adjectiveforms 47 Yest3 18 400° “Weing prepositions: with notte amraet ‘141. Using prepositions: after verbs 21 12 _ Using prepositions: describing trends and changes _ Test4 23 13 Describing statistics: using prepositions 25 14 Describing statistics: nouns 26 15 Describing statistics: verbs 27 Test5 28 16 Numberandamount 30 17 Making comparisons: a 18 Expressing co &“Articles: the before general 41. Tick the correet sentence in each pat. 11a Mary people ave worvied about thea fects Of mo Mony people are worried abput the bad eects of mo 2a Wensed to look at Factors sich os the 1 Weneed folok ot oclors sch x ral Betta We use the before nouns which deseribe a general type of t example of that thing: ‘These are problems for students living away from the family. We don't know the effects of such chemicals on the body. The role ofthe student at university level varies greatly from country to ot ‘Most of our business is carried out over the telephone. ‘Theis also used before abstract nouns which describe a situation, a qu ora change, These words are often followed by of something: There is a problem with the availability of clean water in some villages, The distribution of income is uneven in most countries (On the whole, the standard of living is better in urban areas. ‘Many residents complained about the frequency of bus services This advance was brought about by the development of antibiotics. He made a number of recommendations for the improvement of staff oe We use the developmentiimprovement, etc. of something wo describe a| process of change, but developments/improvements, etc in something 0 specific changes: We try to keep up-to-date with new developments in information technology. 2 Correct the mistake below. 0% eer Doctors always stress... A diet high in cholesterol is bad for heart The introduction of computerised systems led to an in cre ‘We all benefit from development of new technologies. — ‘We were unhappy about quality of the food ay Last year the airline saw a 20% Iaptores rt ‘There have been changes in the r Rates vary depending on stand She focused on the role: “3| ‘When do | use capital letters? | 4. Tick the correct sentence in each pale. | 1 Sheexploined that Thal food on recpines ot of i ynrases: (very, really, quite, etc.) in these p ‘of women working in senior government posts. phrases to be careful with: gree: Lagree with you to a certain degree. ‘We have a wide range of books to choose from. ‘numberlamount: an equal number of men and wornen proportionipercentage: a small proportion of patients She exploined that thai Food often neqpines alot of ngrecient| 2.8 Sixty percent of students erroled at the rhersty ore ma b Sixty percent of students exoled atthe Unversy are mee. Capital letters are always used for nouns in the folowing groups: countries: Germany, the United States, Britain, the Czech towns, cities, states and regions: Tokyo, Paris, Texas, New Sa nationalities, ethnic groups and religions ~ referring to people from a country region or eulture: Can you speak Chinese? a Buddhist temple months and days of the week: October, th April, Tuesday 4 Capital letters are not used for the seasons: spring, summer. + names of organisations and institutions: he United Nations, ‘Where a word like museum, university station ox hospital's institution, it has a capital letter: Harvard Universing Karachi However, when these words are not part ofa name, they do not haw They built anew 100-bed hospital in the provincial capital He first joined the company in 2003 vz Also remember: the Earth (but not she World), the Third country, AIDS, CDIDVD (plural CDs/DVDs}. 2 Correct the mistake below. visitors to china should remember not to give a dod these customs are common in muslim countries she started work for microsoft in july 2005 {went to university in geneva in switzerland ‘we took a taxi from york station to the royal this is a photo of me on wall street whencle: alan, | theor— (20 article). ‘ofacid in athe! stomach. bly longtime forthe results to be announced. gi improvements in a/the- quality as well as anithel- of businesses fil inthe fist year. significant number of homes had two cars p decline in athe. proportion of aid allocated to health Ihel- extended family in caring for older people. ms have succeeded to althel- certain extent. pould receive althe-basic education. -with a/the/- recruitment of new staff. nce of these figures? ent communication skills. a number of mistakes with articles (the, a/an) and capital ‘and correct them. my unnen ssioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on ‘was set up to protect refugees throughout World ‘problems. It has its headquarters in tion has a staff of around 6,540 in sfeguard rights and well-being of if th } milion people: which UNHCR cially in counties in afica and asia. More ge are in europe and united cores Me it in ental tele ta punctuation and extra words (such as articles or 1 odile is french she was born lyon 21 september 1968 she moved britain 20 years ago and now has british citizenship she speaks english fluently but she still has quite strong french accent corinne lives with her husband steve near melbourne australia steve is australian but corinne has german ‘mother and american father she was born united states and met steve while they were both working europe andre is travel photographer he lives switzerland but he spends large part of the year travelling around world last, summer he went on long trip south america to photograph ancient inca temples Y Rewrite the sentences below using the word given and making necessary to keep the meaning the same, The council wants to encourage new businesses to develop, development . . His main role isto assess how good the service for customers ‘ quality ‘There has been ai increase in the amount of transportation . Whether mothers return to work often depends on whethes availability ‘Many of the changes are due to the fact that to growthPunctuation: commas with discourse I | 1 Tick the correct sentence in each pair, ; 1 @.Tneonclision the world popations expanding ten ag th cor po tronaport wos better bb Inconesion the werd popuationis expanding a an shou chonge tation fees 2. a welook for exanple. at sport nschools bf velook for example ot sport in schools. Discourse markers are words or phrases which show how ideas ‘They are often separated from the rest of the text by commas, an event or situation that we believe will happen: en I finish my studies. (I expect to finish.) ‘arrive atthe airport, (We expect the person to arrive.) On the other hand, the unemployment rate has fallen. Finally, local councils need to consider the cost of recyeling schemes. Unfortunately, there were no more tickets available. Similarly, animals kept outdoors are also vulnerable to infection. \We also tse commas around certain words and phrases in the middle This problem can‘, however, be solved quite so simply. There are more jobs in the city, but, of course, the cost of living is higher. Which option you choose depends, to a certain extent, on your budget. Water is particularly scarce in arid regions, for examplelfor instance i ‘certain verbs (and nouns) which involve considering two options: People who live in cold countries, such asilike Norway, have to spend -10 discuss whether they should take further action. e is whether immigrants should adopt local customs. } sare any problems. (Problems are only a possibility) tain polite requests: itif would be grateful ifyou could call me back. fasked you a few questions about the accident? -t0 get part-time jobs whether or not they want to. ‘te Where an adverb describes an adjective, commas are not needed: ‘This was matched by a similarly dramatic increase in May. However careful you are, accidents can always happen. 2 Correct the mistake below. Tnetably there's anays something you forge. 3. Add commas in the sentences below where needed. What happens if for example you forget your password? ‘To sum up Ta like to recap the main advantages and d Statistics can however be misleading. the children leave home, the weather's bette? its useful oF just a waste of money. ‘could give us a breakdown of the marks. sronnivns OFOthE had the disease, Contact sports like rugby will inevitably i ‘Asimilarly priced house in the city centre) ‘We will of course reimburse any travel - You were able to come,{becatze tts easier than preparing Fresh cishes. (becaose i's easier than preparing fresh shes, in contractions - where a leter or letters have been missed out. d in informal writing or to represent spoken language. s) got nwo sisters, hasn't she? send the goods by first class post. sgone through passport control, so I couldn't go back: ld) like to change the booking. @ has) been invited to the party? is this? (whose = belonging to who) verb + nor: ] f have not) been announced yet. gw theanswer or Ido not know the answer. (not tdenotknewthe answer) | when their children behave badly. free for Poets we mend to conten the eotts fr the nergy, We col Looe for exonale Ways 2 “uch 25 rof inculation and doutle-glazing Moreover manny poor people tive tw ol i newer buildings. .. Stoondlyy iss much easier for governments of r reguintions for industry without thebr econo country whigh is trying to expan its use in the future. However ineportant this ai Some will inevitably need Welp to achieve a & i =e I would be grateful when/iflwhether you could confirm the b What’ the best way to deal with a patient who's/uhaselwho b Its important to start saving towards a pension now so that yo secure iffas/when you retire. 4 Please dont hesitate to contact me ifthathuhether you! don't know yet ifithat/whether ot not be able to come, Cheap airlines have brought benefits. Such as/For exam longer only for the rich. ‘The bank has announced that it will close 50 of it’ MPs will debate ifabouthohether to changeto surgery for some patients. (however) S _ for some patients, ‘bins are not feasible. (such as those in flats) : - not feasible Sof precautions we would recommend. (therefore) recommend, for cutting emissions. (toa certain extent) _ cutting emissions, Fyulnerable to such infections. for instance) .». uch infections. nidable. (unfortunately) unavoidable, 3. Correct any spelling errors in the sentences below. n spelling mistakes sk the correct sentence In each pair. 1 a Whave becone very deperdnt on computers } Weave becone very dependent on computers 9 2 You need tohave a dear idea of what you want fo achieve. fb You reed to have a clear idea of what you want fo acheive Nouns which are commonly misspelt include: i seommodation, benefit, country, environment, government, percentage, proportions sn British English, the noun programme has two main meanings: ar yaining programme = a series of sessions; a TV programme = a TV"broadeast put: a computer program = computer software . Words containing the ieor i vowel combination often cause problems British Children learn a rhyme to help them remember: “Thefore E except after 7 tchievelachievement, believelbelief, hygiene/hygienic retrievelretrieval But: receivelreceipt, deceiveldecet, ceiling tn British English, practice the spelling of the noun and practiseis the verb forms ‘Now they can put into practice what they have learnt. {rll bea good opportunity to practise speaking English. ‘The adjectives dependent and independent are spelt with -entat the end: ‘The degree of influence is dependent on a number of factors. Zz Dependant is a noun referring to a person who depends on someone else financiallf= ‘The company provides private healthcare for workers and their dependants. {beleive that successful companies need an experienced workfores: We need to look at goverment expenditure on enviromental projects: Food hygine is a major concern for restaurant owners Many farmers are dependent on foreign investors ‘This money should be spent to benifit the poorest countaries. Strong health and educational programes are vital for develo ‘The propotion of women who acheive first class “Everyone has the right to practise thelrreligion, 15engin thant nas on¢ word include miespan fesse, website, dif, workforce, workplace outside, overall, overcome hing someone, sometimes nowadays, throughout whereas rtten with a hyphen include: ete, en as separate words include: spend a lot of money on clothes. lution have decreased in the past five years ‘even though she knows irs bad for her health. plane has been delayed. (= an adverb meaning perhaps) reason for the change may be financial. (= a verb phrase) Nobody seems to talk e compounds and phrases in the sentences below. re satisfied, where as only 60% of men were happy. every thing was neatly arranged. sare due to changes in lifestyle, ‘the health and well being ofall our residents. the outbreak of the civil war. -span of people living in the country side, ool should be compulsory. [through out the country, 1 a Mary university students have a part-time job. face-to-face now-2-days. 2 Correct the mistake below. 3 Underline the correct word. the correct sentence in each pair. 1b Nary anveraity students have apart tine jb 12 These Jobs cornot be done by unexperienced young people 'b- These jobs connat be done by inexperienced voong people ‘There are many compound adjectives in English which are w yphen + good-looking, good-natured, well-known, well-educated, well-pald, welleeg + badly-behaved, bad-tempered,il-equipped, hard-working: easy-going + short-lived, short-tempered, short-term, long-term, long-lasting + fully-qualifed, full-scale, full-size fulltime, part-time, time-consuming Many phrases describing the age, size or length of something are formed in i ‘way. When they are used before a noun, they are hyphenated: : ‘astx-year-old boy Hes six years old. a ‘three-month training course ‘The course lasts three months, a two-bedroom flat a flat with two bedrooms Adjectives are also formed using prefixes, especially to deseribe opposites: ais- dissatisfied, disorganised ‘over- overcrowded, overpriced — {n- inexpensive, inexperienced, inappropriate post- post school, postgraduate tea- immoral, immature, impolite pre- pre-school, prearranged non-nonexistent, non-smoking un- unaware, unsuitable unemp ‘Some of these adjectives are spelt with a hyphen and some as one word} dictionary for the correct spelling. Don't you think thats «bit unappropriate for 2 job interview? Don't you think. 1 The figure rose steadily over a 30 year/30-year period. ‘The stalls sella variety of non-expensivelinexpensive snack He was a polite, well-educated/good-edueated man. ‘The family live in a simple, single-storeyisingle storeys house. She is punctual, conscientious and hard work/hard-working. Everyone needs a healthy, well-balanced/well balanced diet. All supervisors must attend a week-longlone week long Many tourists go into the mountains wearing insuitable/ a‘2. Underline the correct words inthe text belong, : staytt MBE 5 cton usth both the | The Stayfit Health Club offers a wide range of fitness (1) ‘suit your (2) life-style/lifestyle. Choose from @ + of i ‘one of our (3) fully-trained/full-rained instructors or join | sandking doubleroom For two rights from 15th (4) twenty-five/twenty five different exercise classes we n X arrived, I was tod by a rather unpaite you can brush up on your serves or (5) practice/pra t there was oly 2. srdle room avaiable. I thon | (©) full-size/full size indoor tennis courts. ‘a. Fifty Foo room and. the Ft was gh T had a number oF heavy bags, ro body Apply now for a 20% discount* (7) 12 months/12-month membership | ZX armed at my room, I realised that I had * vallablty (8) dependent/dependant on demand, ‘uncaract key and had to retum to the reception a I rally Faurd, some ove to exchange the key and get into my room, 1 Found that it was camped 1th ro phone a tdlevson as advertised on your fhe sever I receved durng 4 ‘Tho printer has forgotten to add spaces and punctuation to the owrlze them with appropriate spaces between words and any nes unctuation. goodlookingeasygoing ‘S0yearoldmanseekswell educatedyoungwoman 2 attractivenellequippednwobedroo. mholidaycottagesetinbreathrakinge ‘ountrysiclenonsmokersonlypleasejing prepositions: after verbs 11 Tick the correct sentence in each pair. | 1m compere nha apr! ad dryer ane 'Conparies in the US spend noe none for research ond dewopment 2a retorts lanier ea Weave to provide doctor the rescnees they ned fo do thal ob 1 There are a number of common verb + object + preposition com | You can check the patterns used with a particular verb in @ good + spend + timelmoney + on something ‘The average person spends £100 a month on transport. ‘so: Expenditure on’Spending on education has risen. invest + money + in something a 1s up to local government to Invest money tn improved leisure flies. = preposition for with the noun reason: Also: The protesters want more state eves ape ‘No one explained the reason for the dela 5 : sting: No ¥ provide + something + for someone something: Tere are many reasons fo chosing a small car Th elect il preside eripley ent forcing cee at ier meee nary for felly reasons. | Also: There has been progress in the proviston of facilities for the disabled. fused to introduce a reason for something. Due to already contains the | + provide + someone + with something on, so we do not use due +a reason: We aim to provide the children with an opportunity to experience a help + someone + (out) + with something She visits twice a week to help her grandmother out with the housework. ‘Also: Some students need extra help with reading and writing. Imusic and store it on your computer. every night on the TV news. is available on the university website. | | 2 Correct the mistake below, eorng 0» satement his website, be left the club On average, how much.. sbelow (in the same order) to create sentences, Add any necessary 3. There is one incorrect or missing preposition in each sentence! sand put the verbs in an appropriate form. | changes or additions necessary to correct the sentences. | 1 Some companies spend huge sums in advertising. ‘The new labels provide customers better information about! have a problem I think you can help me. ‘The party promised to increase investment for education, We are pressing for the provision more special lanes for cyclists ‘There are no facilities provided to passengers with oe Spending for photographic film has dropped dramatically. 8 There's a porter in reception to help guests their bags, atthe rarber of people aged over ely of the ninben of people aged over eighty there was a drop 15%. cuts in the level of spending on the elderly. jation, etc. in something ifcant improvements in health care. changes in people’ lifestyles. ‘change or the result of a change + of+ a number showing luctiontrise, et. of + number .of 20% in energy costs as a result of the measures. experienced a fall of 36,000 listeners to a total audience of 2.1 million. estotal, etc, of + number la peak of 45,000 in early March. et preposition in each sentence. slight rise in/ofto the number of men employed. to be a fall byofin approximately 30% over the next decade, tion hhas ed to a decline ofinto video sales ban increase by/ofin only 0.5% during the past year. ed oftolin educational levels, TEST 4 ‘The number of births in Scotland has risen to its highest level since 1999, according to the Registrar General, Figures suggest that more than $4,000 babies were born in 2005, a rise ( smn 420 births on the previous year ~ that’s an increase (2). than 196. The increase (3) is lower than the inerease (4) usu almost 3% between 2003 and 2004, The Registrar General for Scotland said: "The Fecent upturn (5) souuu the bith rate is encouraging but it may be easing oft” deaths in 2005, with a drop (7) the incidence of strokes and heart disease, two of Scotland's top three causes of death. There was also a fall (8) the number of both marriages and divorces. ‘There are 10 mistakes with prepositions in the paragraph below either: or missing prepositions. Find the mistakes and correct them. In the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase of the number: airlines which offer cheap flights throughout Europe. Ifyou look in the in will find some amazing deals at their websites, These ‘no frills’ airlines few facilities their passengers, but when they're only spending afew most people are happy with a basic service. This reduction of the cost. {ravel has, inevitably, led to an explosion of the number of people who take foreign holidays. The growth to air travel and changes to patterns: within Europe have had both positive and negative impacts. Ithas| investment for many regional airports and boosted local economies; 1 ‘environmental impact of those extra air miles?ent Varies a great deal from one region to another. can peak at around 30°C in summer. ‘to improve computer access for students. from five people who have chosen to give up their cars, but the incorrect order. Rewrite them to form correct sentences. ronmental for My car main reason up my was. scribing statistics: using pr ‘Tick the correct sentence in each pale. 1a The chart shows that only 18% men work les than 1 The chart shows that ony 18% of men work ess than 2. a welook atthe igores For people bet ween 0. bf we look atthe figares for people between 200 20 ‘There are several key prepositions which are used when + X% of something Only 28% of customers said that they were satisfied with + between XandY . ‘The rate rose dramatically between July 2005 and February 2006, the figurelpercentageltotal, etc. for a group or category Looking at the figures for winter and summer .. If we compare the percentages for skilled and unskilled workers .. ‘The average income for government employees is... ata levelrate Inflation has remained at roughly the same level over a number of ‘They can obtain loans at cheaper rates. 4 be highest / come top / rank second, etc. with X Football scored highest with 68% of the vote. aris is second in the table with 76 million passengers per year 2 Corset the mistake below. 80% dogs sald they preferred 80% 3 Are these sentences right or wrong? Correct those with mi 1 France has the greatest number at 12 million, followed by ‘The percentage fluctuated between 3.5 to 4%. ‘The total value is approximately 18,000 yen fro Data is only available of the UK. The drop-out rate reached a peak of 18% in 2001, ‘The table shows the annual usage for families Africa was the least popular destination by only 6 12% interviewees had consulted a aya total, expressed as parts of 100: fafhouseholds with more than one car. dito describe part of a total: ‘highest proportion of people living in poverty? how often or how fast something happens, and some other measures: sslower in developing countries. intlerime rate, the birthideath rate, the exchange/interest rate e5 (the vertical axis and the horizontal axis) and a line or curve showing a trend. graph #) oras sections ofa circle (a pie chart). ‘usually numbers, organised within a across ++) and columns (going down f). ‘a general word for something represented in 2 for example, showing how something works, ‘achat The ple chart shows proportion of an average dy 2 student spends on different activities. --~-@ student spends on different activities. ord to complete each sentence. fe ratelpercentage of flights delayed by more than 60 minut suniemploymentlunemployed rates in six European countries, illustrates the planned layout of the buildings. ate of people aged 65 and over. films increase the criminal/crime rate. who own a mobile phoned has increased, 2 Correct the mistake below. jescribing statistics: verbs ‘Tick the correct sentence in each pair, 1 a Thebieth rate has reduced over the past fen years. 'b The bisth rate has chopped over tha past ten years. 2. a The graph shows arise inthe ranber of acoidents 1b The graph represents arisen the nanlser of aooid Common verbs used to describe graphs, charts and diagrams The chardgraph shows levels of post-school education in four ‘The diagram illustrates/represents the structure of the political system. ‘The chartlgraph compares average working hours in the UKand the US, We can see from the chartigraph that the numberof visitors peaks ‘Common verbs used to describe figures and statistics include: ‘The statstcsfigures suggest that people in rural areas are healthier ‘The figure will increase further, reaching 6 million in 2020. (not ‘Demand rose by 45% in just 2 years. (not raised by 4895) Time spent with the family dropped from 21% to just 6%. (not 4 Verbs such as rise, drop, decline and fall describe a change which’ Aperson or organisation can raise or reduce something: The Bank of England has raised interest rates. ‘ The Government has introduced measures to reduce traffic in the capital — The number of visitors... Complete the sentences using an appropriate verb. ‘The population of the city From the chart, we can ‘The inflation rate Mas wer The chart... . the amount of water consumed pet Diagram 2.4 the life cycle of a butterfly. ‘The results of the survey . public transport, ‘The percentage of households without & Phone wsuam ‘To combat global warming, we all need to . consume,‘water slide = least popular ide - only 2 “The wir lide was te eat paride chart shows % employees work late aprox. 4 figures show average no, days holiday skilled rate tooth decay dropped 10% 1960-1990 wwe can see 3 children watch more than 4hrsTViday — Zurich = 2° in table most expensive European cities 1st graph compares % single-parent families different Vocabulary extension, There are many different words significantly for “Caycentte— Suburbs xchange rate 7 1.0 dramatically Ls: 170. downturn, pia pany ia boost sol “TFMAMTTAS OND » around a third ‘Average daily water [Words to describe a | Words to describe a consumptonperperton | movement or trend | movement or trend _of our water usage Stet yards A downwards \ ngand cleaning. Then showering ‘ieaning20% | (nouns and verbs) _| (nouns and verbs) ‘next, accounting for around siowwcing22e of ourdaily consumption. Momntigund ‘oflanguage teachers in all levels, the average rates of pay in workers in four key industries, ‘only 6% senior posts in the banking sector -eame top in the survey at a 75% approval rating,0 & growing anount of people. aceessble fo « Growing nunber oF people er of people who visited the gollery each do. oF people who visited the gallery each day er 0 a plural countable noun: s the number of hours/passengers/peoplelschools/times, etc ‘of before an uncountable noun: ‘of enersylfoodiinformationimoneyitimefwaste, etc ‘offamount ofto talk generally about a quantity: engers-carried each year has risen gradually. the amount of water we waste. adjective + number oflamount oft cant amount of money on travel. (not ai an large number of people. (not Ss emaheoreh) jare used to describe the actual quantities frpeople. Percentage, proportion, rave, ete. are used measurements as part ofa total: ge of students with blue eyes is 25%. rof students with blue eyes is 6 ve definitely noticed an increase | In the amount of butterflies this year thas lowest people living in poverty? asked about rime they spend doing different activities, 'who were attracted into the shop by special offers, leisure time spent with friends and with family members, generate large money for the tourism industry, ow total overseas students at UK universities has risen, times an employee checks their email per hour. ere vorin shorter hours, 4 compare something (to/with something) The graph compares the crime rates in Japan and the US. Many have compared her voice to Aretha Franklins. (= they “compared tolwith something "Women’s income rose by 31% compared to only 13% for men. incomparison (tolwith something) Se area ie ola There is no comparison between my life here and the way of life in m {e's impossible to draw a direct comparison between the two conflicts. + something is bigger/higher/lower'more important, ete. than something else 2 Sague has more churches than any other European city. smething is double/half, etc. that of something else Fifi really quite big as compare with my last dog. Fifi really quite big, 4 Are the sentences right or wrong? Correct those which are wrong. 1 66.6 million people travelled abroad in 2007, comparing to 64.6) 2 Non-smokers' risk of heart attacks is roughly half that of people who 3. In comparative with other writers, she uses very simple, everyday! 4 There is no comparison to watching a band on DVD and seeing 5 The pass rate was over 70% in 2005, compare to 62% in 1990, 6 Many more crimes were committed by males compared to fer