THEME: ERROR IDENTIFICATION

TEST 1
* Identify 10 errors in the following passage and correct them
THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE
This week we celebrated Valentine's Day or rather incurable romances→ romantics and those of us
who are a bit soft in the head did! The fourteenth of February always gives everyone who's anyone a
chance to cast a few pearls of wisdom before their fellow sufferers about the nature of 'the universal
migraine' - love.
Francis Farnsworth is the→a case in point. I'm sure the poor old fellow has a heart of gold but he really
does talk a load of rubbish sometimes! His appearance last night on BBC 1's 'Let's Talk It Over' was not
→no exception. He started out →off by having what I will politely call a difference of opinion with Tania
Di Monte,
author of 'Tell me the Truth about love'. Ms. Di Monte always expresses the most extraordinary views
without any apparent fear of contradiction. Last night she was boldly set →setting out her rules for a
perfect relationship when poor old Farnsworth accidentally called her Tina. Tina is of course the name of
her ex-
husband Darren's second wife and we all know that any mention him - or her –is like a red rag to a bull to
Tania. Farnsworth kept apologizing and saying that it had been a slip of the tongue brought about by a
momentary loss →lapse of concentration, but it took all presenter Greg Lazarre's skills to calm our Tania
down again. Francis then started calling her 'darling', which only succeeded in making her even more
furious. 'Term of endearing →endearment ', he stammered as she glared at him. She had been vehemently
denying that there was even a grain of truth in rumors about her forthcoming engagement with →to football
star Nick
Perez. Nevertheless, I'm sure it is only a question of time before we see Tania and Nick on the cover of 'Hi
There!' celebrating 'the wedding of the century'. If marrying someone like Tania is what happens to you if
you're incredibly successful, like →as Perez undoubtedly is, I shudder thinking→to think what the price of
failure might be!
Your answer:
1.and→that 2.before→on
3.point→question 4.load→lot
5.not→no√ 6.with→to
7.set→setting√ 8.mention→mentioning
9.before→until 10.if→when

TEST 2
There are 10 mistakes in the following passage. Find and correct them.
Jazz, from its early roots in slave spirits→ spirituals and the marching bands of New Orleans, had
developed into the predominantly√ American musical style by the 1930s. In this era, jazz musicians
played a lush, orchestrated style known as swing. Played in large assembly→assembles, also called big
bands, swing filled the dance halls and nightclubs. Jazz, once considered risqué, was made more
accessible to masses → the masses with the vibrant, swinging sounds of these big bands. Then came
bebop in the mid-1940s, jazz musicians strayed away from → from the swing style and developed a more
improvisational method of playing known as bebop. Jazz was
transformed from popular music to elite → an elite art form.
The soloists in the big bands improvised from the melody. The young musicians who ushered in
bebop, notable →notably trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker,
expanding→expanded on the improvisational elements of the big bands. They played with advanced
harmonies, charged chord structures, and made chord substitutes→substitutions. These young musicians
got their starts with the leading big bands of the day, but during World War Il-as older musicians were
drafted and dance halls made cutback→cutbacks-they started to play together in smaller groups.
Your answer:
1.in→of 2.predominantly→predominant√
3.assembly→assemblies 4.considered→called
5. masses→match 6. to→into
7. notable→notably√ 8.with→in
9.starts→startups 10.made→were made
 TEST 3
Identify 10 mistakes in the following passage and correct them.
If there is one characteristic of British work in the arts that seems to stand out is its shortage →lack
of identification with wider intellectual trends. Playwrights and directors can be left-wing in their political
look-out→outlook, but the plays they produce rarely convey a straightforward message. The same is
largely true of British novelists and poets. Their writing is naturalistic and is not connected to →with
particular intellectual movements. The theatre had →has always been very strong in Britain, especially in
London. The country's most successful playwrights are those who explore the darker side of the personality
and of personal relationships. In contrast, the cinema in Britain is often regarded as not quite part of the arts
in all→at all, it is simply entertainment. Britain is unique between →among the large European countries
in giving mostly →almost no financial help to their →its film industry. Classical music is also a minority
interest. British seem disinterested →uninterested in high education, they watch lots of television, but are
enthusiastic readers. The vast majority of books reading →read in Britain are not classified as serious
literature.
Your answer:
1.with→of 2.of→for
3.had→has√ 4.in→at√
5.simply→simple 6.between→among√
7.mostly→almost√ 8.minority→minor
9.enthusiastic→unenthusiastic 10.reading→read√

TEST 4
There are ten mistakes in this passage which you have to find and correct
The potential of computers for increasing the control in organisations or society over their members
and for invading the privacy of those members has caused considerable concern.
The privacy issue has been raised most insistently to →with respect to the creation and maintenance
of data files that assemble information about persons from a multitude of sources. Files of this kind would
be high→highly valuable for many kinds of economic and social search→research, but they are bought at
too high a price if they endanger human freedom or seriously enhance the opportunities of blackmailers.
with→while such dangers should not be ignored, it should be noted that the lack of comprehensive data
files has never before been the limiting barrier for →to the suppression of human freedom.
Making the computer the villa in the invasion of privacy or encroachment on civil liberties simply
divert →diverts attention from the real dangers. Computer data banks can and must be given the highest
degree of protection from abuse. But we must be careful, also, that we do not employ such rude →crude
methods of protection on to →as to deprive our society of important data it needs to understand its own
social processes and to analyse its problems.
Perhaps the most important question of all about the computer is when →what it has been done and
will do to man's view of himself and his place in the universe.
Your answer:
1.in→of√ 2. to→in
3.persons→people 4.high→highly√
5. search→research√ 6.with→while√
7.can→should 8.also→though
9.of→from 10.when→what√

TEST 5
The passage below contains 10 errors. Identify and correct them.
Whatever may be said massive circulation magazines and newspapers, it can't →can hardly be
argued that they are out of touch with their readers' daydreams, and therefore, the inducements they hold
out to them must be a near accurate reflection of their unfulfilled wants and aspirations. Study this →these
and you will assuredly understand a good deal of what it is that making→makes society tick. Looking
back, for example, to the twenties and thirties, we can see what →that circulation managers unerringly
diagnosed the twin obsessions which dominated that era of mass unemployment - economical →economic
insecurity and a passionate concern for the next generation.
 Thus, it was that readers were recruited with offers of free insurance policies for the one, and free
instant education for the other. The family with →whose breadwinner lost an eye in a double railway
derailment, and →or an arm in a flood, could confidently expect to collect several hundred pounds from
the Daily This or the Evening That. The family who could not afford to send their son to grammatical
→grammar school could find consolation in equipment →equipping him with the complete work →works
of Shakespeare in one magnificent, easy to read volume.

Your answer:
1. can’t→can√ 2. them→themselves
3. near→nearly 4. making→make
5. what→how 6. lost→losing
7. and→or√ 8. collect→recieve
9. equipment→equipping√ 10. easy to read→easy-to-read

To be continued…