December 2017 - Verb Practice for IELTS Letters

by IELTS buddy

In this writing clinic there is an IELTS letter which has 12 grammar errors in it. You have to find and correct the errors.

The errors are in the verbs and verb tenses.

Letters are for General Training IELTS, but it doesn’t matter if you are doing Academic. It’s still a useful exercise for you as it is grammar practice which is important whichever module you are taking.

The answers have now been posted below.

***

A family member is coming to stay with you. He/she will be arriving by train in the morning, but you won’t be home until the evening.

Write a letter to your relative. In your letter:

- Explain arrangements you have made for them to have keys and get into the house
- Tell your relative how to get from the train station to your house
- Say when you will be home and suggest what you could do together that evening

Dear Susan,

It’s so exciting to know that you were coming to stay with us for a few days. All the family are really looking forward to see you.

As you know we will not be in when you arrive as we will still be at work, so I will explain how to get the key. I’ve check with my neighbours at number 47 next door and fortunately they are going to be at home. They told me they are happy to kept the key and so I’ve told them you will be there to pick it up at about 3.30 pm.

You could have got a taxi from the train station, but if you want to saving some money you can take a bus. If you turned right when you come out of the station, then cross the road you’ll see Peter Street. If you walk down that street for about 100 yards you’ll see a bus stop. Take the number 53 to Orton. It stop at the end of our street.

I’ll get home at about 5.30 pm. It would lovely to do something in the evening. Maybe rather than eating in we could go to a new Thai restaurant that has just opened not too far from our house. I was going there last week and it was nice.

Anyway, just give me a call if you will have any problems on the day, and I’ll seeing you soon.

All the best,

Davina

***

Answers

Dear Susan,

I’m so glad to hear that you 1. will be / are coming to stay with us for a few days. All the family are really looking forward to 2. seeing you.

As you know we will not be in when you arrive as we will still be at work, so I just wanted to explain how to get the key. 3. I’ve checked / I checked with my neighbours at number 47 next door and fortunately they are going to be at home then. They told me they are happy to 4. keep the key and so I’ve told them you will be there to pick it up at about 3.30pm.

You 5. could/can get a taxi from the train station, but if you want 6. to save some money you can take a bus. If you 7. turn right when you come out of the station, then cross the road you’ll see Peter Street. If you walk down that street for about 100 yards you’ll see a bus stop. Take the number 53 to Orton. It 8. stops at the end of our street.

I’ll get home at about 5.30pm. It would 9. be lovely to do something in the evening. Maybe rather than eating in we could go to a new Thai restaurant that has just opened not too far from our house. I 10. went there last week and it was nice.

Anyway, just give me a call if you 11. have any problems on the day, and I’ll 12. see you soon.

All the best,

Davina

Explanations

1. ‘were’ is past simple, but she is talking about the future (the present simple is also used to talk about the future so ‘are’ can be used as well as ‘will be’).

2. When ‘looking forward to’ is followed by a verb, it must be turned into a gerund / present participle i.e. verb+ing.

3. If you keep the ‘have’ this is the present prefect, which is ‘have + past participle’. This is to show something that has just been done. Or you could also use the past simple, ‘I checked’ for a completed action.

4. This is not a main verb so it can’t be given a tense. It is just an infinitive.

5. ‘Could have got’ refers to the past. It should just be ‘present simple’, used to talk about general truths.

6. If we follow the verb ‘want’ with another verb, it takes ‘to + infinitive’ (e.g. I want to go), not the gerund (I want to going).

7. This is not the past. We use the present simple to give directions.

8. ‘It’ is replacing ‘bus’ and is third person singular. So we need to add the ‘s’ to the verb.

9. ‘Would’ is followed by a verb in the bare (no ‘to’) infinitive i.e. would + be / go / take etc.

10. This is a completed action in the past so is the past simple.

11. ‘Will’ cannot go with the ‘if’ part of the clause. But in any case, this is a command (‘give me a call’) so no ‘if’ is used in that part either.

12. ‘Will’ is followed by the infinitive.

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