Consider the following student errors. After each error, state:
i) What the mistake is.
ii) Why you think it has been made.
iii) How you would explain and correct the mistake with a student.
a) I am a secretary for five years.
i)
ii)
iii)
b) I have eat breakfast.
i)
ii)
iii)
c) She’s liked him since six months.
i)
ii)
iii)
d) When you start work?
i)
ii)
iii)
e) I’ve been knowing her for three months.
i)
ii)
iii)
The errors are in the choice of tense or the way the verb conjugation was done. Here are the correct ways of conjugating those verbs. You should decide why the errors were made and how to explain the error to the student.
(a) I have been a secretary for five years.
(b) I have eaten breakfast. OR
I've eaten breakfast
(c) She's liked him for six months OR
She has liked him for six months.
(d) When do you start work? (That is, what is your shift?), OR
When did you start work? (if you asking about the current day only)
(e) I’ve known her for three months, OR I have known her for six months.
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a) I am a secretary for five years.
i) The mistake is the incorrect use of the present tense verb "am" instead of the past tense verb "have been" to indicate an action that started in the past and is still ongoing.
ii) The mistake may have been made due to confusion about the proper use of tenses or a lack of understanding of the concept of continuous actions.
iii) I would explain to the student that when talking about an action that started in the past and is still happening, we use the present perfect continuous tense. So, the correct sentence would be "I have been a secretary for five years." I would provide additional examples and exercises to help reinforce the correct usage of the present perfect continuous tense.
b) I have eat breakfast.
i) The mistake is the incorrect form of the verb "eat." It should be "eaten" in the present perfect tense.
ii) The mistake may have been made due to confusion about the correct verb forms in the present perfect tense.
iii) I would explain to the student that in the present perfect tense, we use the past participle form of the verb. So, the correct sentence would be "I have eaten breakfast." I would provide some examples of other past participles and their correct usage to help clarify the concept.
c) She’s liked him since six months.
i) The mistake is the incorrect use of the preposition "since" with a specific point of time ("six months") instead of using it with a duration of time.
ii) The mistake may have been made due to confusion about the correct usage of the preposition "since" and its context.
iii) I would explain to the student that when using "since," we use it with a starting point in time, not a specific duration. So, the correct sentence would be "She has liked him for six months." I would provide some examples and exercises to help reinforce the correct usage of the preposition "since" and its context.
d) When you start work?
i) The mistake is the missing auxiliary verb "do" to form a question in the present simple tense.
ii) The mistake may have been made due to forgetting to include the auxiliary verb when forming a question in the present simple tense.
iii) I would explain to the student that when forming a question in the present simple tense, we need to use the auxiliary verb "do." So, the correct sentence would be "When do you start work?" I would provide some examples and exercises to help reinforce the correct formation of questions in the present simple tense.
e) I’ve been knowing her for three months.
i) The mistake is the use of the verb "knowing" in the present perfect continuous tense instead of the correct verb "known" in the present perfect tense.
ii) The mistake may have been made due to a lack of understanding of the correct verb form in the present perfect tense.
iii) I would explain to the student that in the present perfect tense, we use the past participle form of the verb "know," which is "known." So, the correct sentence would be "I have known her for three months." I would provide some examples and exercises to help reinforce the correct usage of the present perfect tense.