Editing: Differences between primary and secondary

Primary Secondary

There are 12 spelling and There are 12 lines in the text.

grammatical errors. The first and last lines are correct.

Express/G3: For eight of the lines,

there is one grammatical error in
each line. There are two more lines
with no errors.

N(A)/G2: For the remaining ten

lines, there is one grammatical
error in each line.

Students do not need to identify Students need to identify the

the errors. They are already errors and circle them.
underlined.

Students need to write the Students need to write the correct

correct answers in the boxes answers in the space provided.
provided. If there is NO error in a line, put
a tick in the space provided.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

1. Modal + Root verb (M + RV)

Explanation:

• Modal: A verb that is used with another verb to express possibility,

permission, intention, etc. (e.g. can, could, shall, should, will, would,
may, might, must).

• Root verb: Base form of a verb - a word or group of words that

expresses an action (such as eat), an event (such as happen) or a state
(such as exist)

Example:

• Melissa will (M) eat (RV) her breakfast every morning before she goes
to school.

2. Do/Does/Did + Root verb (DDD + RV)

Explanation:

• DDD + RV is a structure for forming questions and negative statements

using auxiliary verbs and the base form of the main verb.

Examples:

• Did (DDD) John walk (RV) to school with his friends yesterday?
John did (DDD) not walk (RV) to school with his friends yesterday.
3. Verb of perception + Root verb/Verb in continuous
tense (VOP + RV/VICT)

Explanation:

• Verb of perception: A verb that conveys the experience of one of the

physical senses - i.e. taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch.

Examples:

• She heard (VOP) the birds sing (RV) in the early morning.
• She heard (VOP) the birds singing (VICT) in the early morning.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

4. To + Root verb (To + RV)

Explanation:

• To + RV forms the infinitive, showing the base form of a verb. It is used

in various contexts, like to express purpose or as an infinitive marker in
sentences.

Examples:

• She went to the store to (To) buy (RV) groceries.

Joanne decided to (To) explore (RV) the mysterious forest after hearing
intriguing stories about it.

5. Has/Have/Had + Past participle (HHH + PP)

Past participle: Root verb Past tense Past participle

Case 1 walk walked walked

look looked looked

Case 2 drive drove driven

eat ate eaten

Case 3 set set set

cut cut cut
put put put
hit hit hit

Case 4 come came come

become became become
run ran run

Example:
They have (HHH) completed (PP) the challenging hike to the summit of
the mountain.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

6. Verb to be + Past participle (VTB + PP)

Explanation:

• Verbs to be: are, am, is, was, were, been, being

• VTB + PP forms the passive voice. It indicates that the subject receives
the action rather than performing it.

Example:

• The cake was (VTB) baked (PP) to perfection for the special occasion.

7. Articles
• a (used to refer to something not specific or for the first time)
e.g. I saw a beautiful butterfly in the garden.

• an (used to refer to something not specific or for the first time AND
before a word that starts with the AEIOU sound)
e.g. She adopted an adorable puppy from the animal shelter.

• the (used to refer to something specific or that has been mentioned

before) e.g. I am going to the store to buy some groceries.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

8. Quick Recap Tenses

Simple Form Continuous Perfect Perfect Continuous

Sub + am/is/are + Sub + have/has + Sub + have/has + been

Sub + V1 + Obj
PRESENT

Ving + Obj V3 + Obj + Ving + Obj

He has driven He has been driving

He drives a car. He is driving a car.
a car. a car.

Sub + was/were + Sub + had + Sub + had + been

Sub + V2 + Obj
Ving + Obj V3 + Obj + Ving + Obj
PAST

He was driving He had driven He had been driving

He drove a car.
a car. a car. a car.

Sub + will + V1 Sub + will be + Sub + will have + Sub + will have + been
FUTURE

+ Obj Ving + Obj V3 + Obj + Ving + Obj

He will drive He will be driving He will have He will have been

a car. a car. driven a car. driving a car.

V1 = present tense verb | V2 = past tense verb

V3 = past participle verb | Ving = continuous/progressive verb

9. Prepositions

• A preposition is a word that shows a relationship between a noun or

pronoun and other elements in a sentence, indicating location,
direction, time or other connections.

Examples of prepositions:

• on, in, behind, above, under, over, across, etc.

Note: onto & into - indicates a movement from one place to another

e.g. I am studying in the classroom.

VS
I am walking into the classroom.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

10. Conjunctions
Explanation:

• Conjunctions are words that connect words, phrases or clauses in a

sentence. They include coordinating (e.g. and, but), subordinating
(e.g. because) and correlative (e.g. either/or) conjunctions.

Examples:

• Coordinating Conjunction (and): He likes to swim and he enjoys hiking.

• Subordinating Conjunction (because): She stayed home because she

felt unwell.

• Correlative Conjunction (either/or): You can either have the

cake or the ice cream for dessert.

11. Determiners

Explanation:

• Determiners are words that introduce nouns and help specify them.
They include articles (see no. 7), demonstratives (e.g. this, those) and
quantifiers (e.g. many, some).

Note: many (countable), much (uncountable), a few (countable), a little

(uncountable), some (both), any (both), etc.

Examples:

• Demonstrative: This cat is so playful.

- In this sentence, ‘this’ is a demonstrative determiner specifying the
noun ‘cat’.

• Quantifier: Many students attended the lecture.

- In this sentence, ‘many’ is a quantifier indicating the quantity of the
noun ‘students’.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

12. Relative pronouns

Explanation:

• A relative pronoun is used to introduce a clause that gives further

information about the preceding noun or noun phrase (i.e. who, whom,
whose, where, when, which, that).

Examples:

• The apple that I ate was rotten.

• The student whom the teacher caught cheating has apologised for his
mistake.

13. Word form

Explanation:

• Word Form refers to ways the form of a word in English conveys

different meanings. The different word forms are: nouns, verbs,
adverbs and adjectives.

Examples:

• She continued to play the cheerful tune on her guitar, but her heart felt
sad (adjective) / sadly (adverb) heavy with sorrow.

• The floral arrange (verb) / arrangement (noun) on the dining table added
a touch of elegance to the room.
 Commonly-tested grammar rules

14. Singular/Plural nouns

Explanation:

• Singular nouns represent only one thing, but plural nouns represent
more than one.

Examples:

• There is a broken chair in the classroom. (Singular)

• There are many chairs in the classroom. (Plural)

15. Subject-verb agreement (SVA)

Explanation:

• A singular subject takes a singular verb.

• A plural subject takes a plural verb.

• Singular verbs should be used with: any, anyone, anybody, one,

no one, nobody, each, every, everyone, everybody, either of, neither of,
uncountable nouns, collective nouns considered as a single unit
(e.g. committee, furniture).

Examples:

• Mary (singular subject) runs (singular verb) the shop on her own.
• They (plural subject) run (plural verb) the shop everyday.