Mark Lester - Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners

for ESL Learners

Copyright 2017 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN 978-1-260-01086-2
MHID 1-260-01086-4

e-ISBN 978-1-260-01087-9
e-MHID 1-260-01087-2

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Practice Makes Perfect: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners is designed to help advanced-level learners gain control over difficult areas of English grammar. This book is not a systematic treatment of all areas of English grammar. Instead, it deals in depth with selected grammar topics that pose special problems for nonnative speakers. These topics fall into two areas: (1) areas of grammar that are the source of persistent error and (2) areas of grammar that are so complex that even advanced nonnative speakers almost always avoid them.

Examples of the first type of persistent error would be using wrong articles, misusing the present and present progressive tenses, confusing present and past participles of verbs used as adjectives, and using the wrong relative pronoun in adjective clauses.

Examples of the second type of constructions that are avoided because of their complexity would be gerunds and infinitives used as nouns, participial phrases, and wh- infinitive phrases.

Each topic is explained in detail, often going far beyond what would be found in a more general grammar book. My hope is that by fully understanding the technical grammatical issues involved, you will feel much more confident in using these difficult constructions. Each bit of grammatical analysis is supported by a series of practice exercises that will help you gain practical control over the issues covered in the analysis.

New to this second edition, each of the three parts of the book begins with a set of diagnostic exercises. These exercises cover the main topics in each chapter, with answers to all questions given at the end of the exercises. Use any wrong answers to identify topics that you need to pay special attention to.

for ESL Learners

I

These exercises cover the main topics in ; the answers to all questions are given at the end of the exercises. Use any wrong answers to identify topics that you need to pay special attention to.

Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

1. It took me three trys to get the program to run.

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2. You can never have enough informations

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3. The companys gradual accumulations of bad debts led to disaster.

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4. The school is having a fund raiser to buy arts by local artists.

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5. Please write down the ages of all your childrens.

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6. We have to raise more monies.

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Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

1. I couldnt find my fathers new telephone number.

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2. All of the students were given new ipads.

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3. In general, womens shoes are more expensive than mens.

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4. Sarahs commute is longer than yours.

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5. Its going to be a nice day for their picnic.

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6. The doctor is concerned about its possible side effects.

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7. I always try to put the key back in its place.

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8. Its got to be a big problem for them.

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9. This is not my phone. I think I took theirs by mistake.

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10. We cannot meet our deadline with a two months delay.

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Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

1. We should have some answer by the end of the day.

   ___________________________________________________

2. I dont think there is some easy way to say this.

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3. Fortunately, there was not some problem installing the new software

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4. The athletic records are made to be broken.

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5. The Asian food often contains a lot of salt.

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6. Im afraid I have some problem with the assignment.

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7. There was few love lost between them.

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Draw a line through the incorrect words or phrases and write the corrected form below the incorrect one. If there is no error, write OK.

1. We are more busy during the school year.

   ___________________________________________________

2. The police warned of an escaping criminal.