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Longman WordWise Worksheets

Avoiding Mistakes

Activity 1These sentences all have mistakes in them. Can you spot the mistakes? If you need help, look upthe word in brackets in your Longman WordWise Dictionary, then write the correct sentenceunderneath. The first one has been done for you.

a) She said me she was tired. (SAY)

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b) Can you afford buying a computer? (AFFORD)

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c) He's afraid to spiders. (AFRAID)

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d) I've been here since five weeks. (AGO)

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e) He was a very alone man, with hardly any friends. (ALONE)

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f) I am very angry to you about this. (ANGRY)

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Activity 2Laura has written these sentences for her homework - but she didn't have a dictionary with her,so she's made some spelling mistakes. Can you find the ten mistakes and correct them forLaura? Put a circle around each mistake, then write the correct spellings in the spaces below.

During the Christmas holliday, we all had a lot of fun. I went with my freinds to a cottage in thecountriside, and we ate lots of good food and relaksed. It was very cold, and one day it snowed.The hils looked very beatiful covered in white snow. We all went shoping and bought prezents forour families for Christmas. I hope we can go again next yaer - I am looking forword to it already!

Activity 3Some of these sentences are right, and some have mistakes in them. Using your LongmanWordWise Dictionary, decide which ones are right and which are wrong. Put a tick (✓ ) in the boxif you think the sentence is right, and a cross (✗ ) if you think it is wrong.

a) He was a very pretty man. ❒b) A painting of a beautiful woman was hanging on the wall. ❒c) When I arrived, all the food had already been eated. ❒d) The news were very bad - ten people had been injured. ❒e) When my brother found out that I had borrowed his CD, he was furious with me. ❒f) You mustn't be late! ❒g) The airline lost all my baggages. ❒h) I stopped to smoke five years ago. ❒

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She told me she was tired.

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Longman WordWise Worksheets

Avoiding Mistakes T E A C H E R ’ S N O T E S

Activity 1Entries in the Longman WordWise Dictionary for the words given in brackets all containinformation enabling the students to spot the mistakes in these sentences. If they are not veryfamiliar with using monolingual dictionaries, you might want to do one or two of the sentenceswith them, so that they can get the hang of the different parts of the entry which may help them(e.g. grammar patterns, usage notes, example sentences).

Answersa) She told me she was tired. b) Can you afford to buy a computer? c) He's afraid of spiders.d) I've been here for five weeks. e) He was a very lonely man, with hardly any friends.f) I am very angry with you about this.

Activity 2This is just a quick spelling check game. Students will probably be familiar with these wordsalready, but the exercise will remind them that their monolingual dictionaries can also be used tocheck spellings that they're not completely sure of.

AnswersDuring the Christmas holliday, we all had a lot of fun. I went with my freinds to a cottage in the countriside,and we ate lots of good food and relaksed. It was very cold, and one day it snowed. The hils looked verybeatiful covered in white snow. We all went shoping and bought prezents for our families for Christmas. I hope we can go again next yaer - I am looking forword to it already!

Activity 3If extra time is available, you could get the students to give the correct versions of the sentencesthat are wrong - as in Activity 1.

Answersa) ✗ (He was a very good-looking man.) b) (✓ ) c) ✗ (When I arrived, all the food had already beeneaten.) d) ✗ (The news was very bad – ten people had been injured.) e) (✓ ) f) (✓ ) g) ✗ (The airline lostall my baggage.) h) ✗ (I stopped smoking five years ago.)

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Aim: To alert students to the extra help available in usage boxes, grammar notes etc,and to get them used to using their dictionary for self-correction.

Level: Lower intermediate

Time: 40 minutes

Materials: Photocopiable worksheets and the Longman WordWise Dictionary

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1) holiday

2) friends

3) countryside

4) relaxed

5) hills

6) beautiful

7) shopping

8) presents

9) year

10) forward