IELTS Grammar Tip (2)

One of the following sentences is correct. Which one?

  A.  Staying in the same job will eventually get better money.

B.  Being in the army can make friends.

C.  Studying at a single-gender school reduces distractions.

Did you get the answer? Was it obvious to you? I am told that all the sentences sound fine when translated into Chinese – which means this is a Chinese-English (‘Chinglish’). A and B are wrong; C is correct! Just remember the rule: ‘ing’ nouns are NOT people.

Looking at A, who will eventually get better money? People! Similarly, for B, who can make friends? People! But in C, it is the environment which can reduce distractions, so the sentence is correct. To fix A and B, we need to turn the subject into people. Thus, …

  A.  Employees who stay in the same job will eventually get better money.

B.  When being in the army, new recruits can make friends.

The other way is to make the verb and object something which is caused by a situation. Thus, …

A.  Staying in the same job enhances potential earnings.

B.  Being in the army allows better friendships to develop.

 

Try fixing the following three sentences.

  1.  Single-gender school can learn more things

2.  Learning a new skill has to spend much time.

3.  Students who study in a single gender school reduce the chance to fall in love

 

See the next (military?) post for the answers.

military-662863_1920.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

arrow
arrow
    文章標籤
    IELTS
    全站熱搜

    安德魯Andrew 發表在 痞客邦 留言(0) 人氣()