Vt-1. The English verb-tense system 31
1. Vt-1a. The simple tenses 33
2. Vt-1b. The perfect tenses 38
3. Vt-1c. The progressive tenses 44
4. Vt-1d. The perfect progressive tenses 47
Vt-2. Problems with tense 50
5. Vt-2a. Mixing tenses inappropriately 50
6. Vt-2b. Inappropriate contractions 51
7. Vt-2c. Misusing the present for the future or the past 52
8. Vt-2d. Misusing the present for the present progressive 53
9. Vt-2e. The past tense related to poder, conocer, and saber 54
10. Vt-2f. Misusing the simple future for speculation 55
11. Vt-2g. Present perfect problems 55
12. Vt-2h. Past perfect problems 55
13. Vt-2i. The present progressive and “do” questions 55
14. Vt-2j. The progressive tenses and verbs of emotion/intellect 56
15. Vt-2k. Omitting helping verbs from compound tenses 57
Vt-3. Irregular verbs and common related problems 57
16. Vt-3a. Regular and irregular verb differences 57
17. Vt-3b. Misusing the past participle of irregular verbs 57
18. Vt-3c. Irregular verb formation problems 63
19. Vt-3d. Regularizing irregular verbs and vice versa 63
20. Vt-3e. Mismatching the verb form in compound verbs 66
Chapter 2. Verbs: The Helpers 69
Vh-1. The “to do” helper 69
21. Vh-1a. Asking questions 70
22. Vh-1b. Adding emphasis 71
23. Vh-1c. Making negative statements 72
24. Vh-1d. Referring to a previous verb in an abbreviated way 73
25. Vh-1e. Using the wrong verb form after “did” 74
26. Vh-1f. Using the wrong verb form after “does” 74
Vh-2. The modal helpers 75
27. Vh-2a. General errors with modal verb phrases 75
28. Vh-2b. Misusing “of” instead of “have” after modals 80
29. Vh-2c. “Can” and “could” 81
30. Vh-2d. “May” and “might” 84
31. Vh-2e. “Shall” and “should” 85
32. Vh-2f. “Will” and “would” 87
33. Vh-2g. Overusing “would” to indicate past actions 88
34. Vh-2h. “Must” and “ought to” 89
Vh-3. Other helping verb problems 91
35. Vh-3a. Omitting helping verbs in verb phrases 91
36. Vh-3b. Mismatching verb forms in compound verb phrases 92
37. Vh-3c. Mismatching helper forms in questions and follow-up structures 93
Chapter 3. Verbs: Voice and Subjunctive Mood 97
Vm-1. Voice 97
38. Vm-1a. Overusing the passive voice 99
39. Vm-1b. Proper uses of the passive voice 100
Vm-2. Subjunctive mood 102
40. Vm-2a. With “wish” 103
41. Vm-2b. In “if,” “had,” and “unless” clauses 106
42. Vm-2c. Misuse of “would” in subjunctive “if” and “unless” clauses 110
43. Vm-2d. Subjunctive with verbs that suggest or demand action 111
44. Vm-2e. In necessity clauses using “it is…” 112
45. Vm-2f. Subjunctive “need not” 114
Chapter 4. Verbs: Endings & Attachments 117
Va-1. Verb endings 117
46. Va-1a. The problem of the “-ed bug” 117
47. Va-1b. Confusing “-en” and “-ing” in verb endings 119
Va-2. Two-word verbs 120
Va-3. Transitive/intransitive confusions 126
Va-4. Infinitives and gerunds 130
48. Va-4a. Ungrammatical infinitive formation 131
49. Va-4b. Infinitives without “to” 133
50. Va-4c. Elliptical infinitives 133
51. Va-4d. Confusing regular and perfect infinitives 134
52. Va-4e. Splitting infinitives unnecessarily 135
53. Va-4f. Verbs followed by infinitives but not gerunds 136
54. Va-4g. Verbs followed by gerunds but not infinitives 137
55. Va-4h. Verbs that cannot be followed by a “that” clause 138
56. Va-4i. Different meanings of a gerund and infinitive with some verbs 140
Va-5. “Making,” “doing,” and “having” 141
57. Va-5a. Using “make” for things, outcomes, and results 142
58. Va-5b. Using “do” for performing activities 144
59. Va-5c. “Do” and “make” in otherwise identical situations 145
60. Va-5d. Misuses of “make” for hacer and “have” for tener 146
Chapter 5. Verbs: S-V Agreement & Other Confusions 151
SV-1. Subject-verb agreement 151
61. SV-1a. Basic subject-verb agreement 152
62. SV-1b. Making the verb agree with the wrong noun 152
63. SV-1c. Compound subjects 154
64. SV-1d. Verb errors with “there is”/“was” and “there are”/“were” 155
65. SV-1e. Inverted sentences 156
66. SV-1f. English vs. Spanish linking verb agreement 157
67. SV-1g. Verb number for pronouns in relative clauses 158
68. SV-1h. Number variation with indefinite pronouns 159
69. SV-1i. Noun clauses, gerunds, and infinitives as singular 161
70. SV-1j. Adjectives and past participles as nouns 162
SV-2. Other plurality issues 163
71. SV-2a. “People,” “news,” and “police” 163
72. SV-2b. Diseases and fields of study 163
73. SV-2c. Collective nouns 164
74. SV-2d. Household items 165
75. SV-2e. Nouns with Irregular plurals 165
76. SV-2f. Nouns ending with “-sis” 166
77. SV-2g. Latinate plurals 167
78. SV-2h. “The number,” “a number,” and “a/the amount” 168
79. SV-2i. Money and measurements 169
Chapter 6. Nouns & Articles 171
N-1. Errors with “the” 172
80. N-1a. Specific references 172
81. N-1b. General references with singular count nouns 172
82. N-1c. General references with plurals 173
83. N-1d. General references with noncount nouns 174
84. N-1e. Abstract nouns 175
85. N-1f. Numbered items 176
86. N-1g. Misapplying Spanish rules to “the” 176
N-2. Errors with “a” and “an” 177
87. N-2a. Abstract concepts 177
88. N-2b. Specific references with noncount nouns 178
89. N-2c. Plurals 179
90. N-2d. Vowel and consonant sounds 180
91. N-2e. The initial letter “u” or “h” 180
92. N-2f. Compound expressions 181
N-3. Omitting “the,” “a,” or “an” where needed 181
93. N-3a. Omitting “the” 181
94. N-3b. Omitting “a” or “an” 182
95. N-3c. Ambiguity created by omitting articles 182
N-4. Special problems with noun forms 183
96. N-4a. Spanish models for pluralizing 184
97. N-4b. Other parts of speech used as nouns 184
N-5. Infinitives and gerunds as nouns 186
98. N-5a. Misuse of gerunds and infinitives in general 188
99. N-5b. Infinitives without “to” 188
100. N-5c. Misusing infinitives after prepositions 188
Chapter 7. Pronouns 191
Pn-1. Pronoun gender and number 191
101.Pn-1a. Gender 192
102. Pn-1b. Sexist issues 193
103. Pn-1c. Number 194
104. Pn-1d. Singular/plural or plural/singular shifts 195
Pn-2. Pronoun reference and point of view 195
105. Pn-2a. Ambiguous pronouns 196
106. Pn-2b. Misusing pronouns to refer to whole ideas 197
107. Pn-2c. “You,” “it,” and “they” without specific references 199
Pn-3. Pronoun case and “-self” pronouns 200
108. Pn-3a. Subjects and objects 200
109. Pn-3b. After linking verbs and in appositives 202
110. Pn-3c. Misusing the objective case to modify gerunds 203
111. Pn-3d. Inappropriate use of intensive or reflexive pronouns 204
Pn-4. Pronoun redundancy 206
112. Pn-4a. The “it” and other pronoun redundancy problems 206
113. Pn-4b. Redundant use of “it” with “which” 207
Pn-5. Relative pronouns 209
114. Pn-5a. “Which” vs. “who/whom” 209
115. Pn-5b. “Who” vs. “whom” 210
116. Pn-5c. “That,” “which,” “who”: nonrestrictive and restrictive 213
117. Pn-5d. Misusing “which”: switching grammatical strategies 215
118. Pn-5e. Confusing “which” and “in which” 216
Pn-6. Special mix-ups 217
119. Pn-6a. Misusing “ones” to translate unos/unas 217
120. Pn-6b. Problems with some indefinite pronouns 217
Chapter 8. Adjectives & Adverbs 221
A-1. Adjective issues 221
121. A-1a. Confusing “-ed” and “-ing” endings on modifiers 222
122. A-1b. Using nouns or alternative forms as adjectives 224
123. A-1c. Adjectives with count and non-count nouns 226
124. A-1d. Size and quantity 227
125. A-1e. Compound adjectives measuring time or space 228
126. A-1f. Problems with “other” and “another” 229
127. A-1g. Sequence 230
A-2. Confusing adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions 230
128. A-2a. Adjectives for adverbs 230
129. A-2b. Adverbs for adjectives 232
130. A-2c. Adjectives and adverbs with prepositions 233
A-3. Confusions in adjective/adverb pairs 233
131. A-3a. “Barely” and “just” 233
132. A-3b. “Specially” and “especially” 234
133. A-3c. “Most” and “mostly” 235
134. A-3d. “Too”/“either” and “too”/“so” 235
135. A-3e. “Much” and “very much” 236
136. A-3f. Proximity: “near”/“nearby” and “far”/“faraway” 236
A-4. Comparative/superlative adjectives and adverbs 237
137. A-4a. Confusing “-er”/“-est” and “more”/“most” 237
138. A-4b. “Better”/“best” and “worse”/“worst” 239
139. A-4c. “Farther”/“farthest” and “further”/“furthest” 239
140. A-4d. Misusing “that” for “than” 240
141. A-4e. Misusing “than” after “different” 240
Chapter 9. Prepositions 243
Pe-1. Problems with the preposition “of” 248
142. Pe-1a. Translations of de not related to possession 248
143. Pe-1b. Misusing “of” after certain words 249
Pe-2. Translating por and para 250
Pe-3. Basic uses of “in,” “on,” and “into” 253
144. Pe-3a. Errors with “in” and “on” 253
145. Pe-3b. Confusions between "in"(“at”), "into," and “inside” 256
146. Pe-3c. “In the other hand”/“on the other hand” 257
Pe-4. Prepositional contexts related to location, destination, and travel 258
147. Pe-4a. Street references: “in,” “at,” or “on” 258
148. Pe-4b. Astronomical and geographical locations: “in”/“on” 259
149. Pe-4c. Arrival: “at” or “in” 260
150. Pe-4d. Going “to” a place associated with a person 261
151. Pe-4e. Being “at” a place associated with a person 262
152. Pe-4f. Transportation: “by,” “in,” “out of,” and “on”/“off” 263
153. Pe-4g. Preposition errors with “home” and “house” 265
154. Pe-4h. “Besides” and “beside” 266
Pe-5. Prepositions and time 267
155. Pe-5a. Time expressions: “at,” “in,” and “on” 267
156. Pe-5b. “Since” and “until” 269
Pe-6. Prepositions and interactions 272
157. Pe-6a. Misusing “with” for “to” in interpersonal contexts 272
158. Pe-6b. Confusing “to” and “at” in exchanges 272
159. Pe-6c. “Among” and “between” 273
Pe-7. Other prepositional issues 274
160. Pe-7a. Using “to be from” illogically 274
161. Pe-7b. Unneeded prepositions based on Spanish patterns 275
162. Pe-7c. Omitting prepositions based on Spanish patterns 275
163. Pe-7d. Spanish prepositional patterns after adjectives 276
164. Pe-7e. Other unneeded prepositions 277
165. Pe-7f. Other missing prepositions 278
166. Pe-7g. Repeating prepositions unnecessarily 279
167. Pe-7h. Miscellaneous preposition errors 281
Chapter 10. Special Functions 287
F1. Making connections 287
169. F-1a. Misusing “for” as a conjunction 290
170. F-1b. Problems related to “like (if)" and "as (if) " 291
171. F-1c. “Since” confusions 293
172. F-1d. “Until” confusions 294
173. F-1e. Confusions when “since” can mean “because” 295
174. F-1f. Misusing “ago” with the incorrect tense 295
175. F-1g. Confusing “after” and “afterwards” 296
176. F-1h. “So … that …” and related expressions 298
177. F-1i. Mistranslating Spanish transitional devices 300
178. F-1j. Mistranslating Spanish expressions that show contrast 301
F-2. Negation 303
179. F-2a. Double negatives in general 303
180. F-2b. Hypercorrecting double negatives 305
181. F-2c. Negative issues related to “neither”/“nor” 306
182. F-2d. Restrictions: with certain adverbs/indefinite pronouns 308
F-3. Possession 310
183. F-3a. Problems with "from," "of," and apostrophe forms 310
184. F-3b. Redundancy in the use of possessive pronouns 314
185. F-3c. Possessive nouns after “of” and before gerunds 314
186. F-3d. Failure to use possessive pronouns with “of” 315
Chapter 11. Diction: Getting the Words Right 319
D-1 Verbs: direct translations 320
187. D-1a. Conocer/saber: “visit,” “know,” “learn,” and “meet” 322
188. D-1b. Decir: “tell,” “say,” and “ask” 323
189. D-1c. Ganar: “win,” “beat,” and “earn” 326
190. D-1d. Oir: “hear” and “listen” 326
191. D-1e. Pasar/gastar: “spending,” “passing,” and “wasting” 327
192. D-1f. Poner: “make”and “get” 328
193. D-1g. Poner atención: “pay attention” 328
194. D-1h. Quedar: “keep” and “stay” 329
195. D-1i. Recordar: “remember” and “remind” 332
196. D-1j. Tomar medicina: “taking medicine” 332
197. D-1k. Ver: “see” and “watch” 332
198. D-1l. Ver(se)/sentir(se): “see”/“look”/“feel” 334
D-2. Verbs: false cognates 335
199. D-2a. Asesinar: “assassinate”/“murder” 336
200. D-2b. Atender/asistir: “attend”/“assist” 336
201. D-2c. Contar: “count” and related words 337
202. D-2d. Discutir: “discuss”/“argue” 338
203. D-2e. Divertir: “divert” and words for “having fun” 339
204. D-2f. Expender: “Expend”/“spend” 339
205. D-2g. Invertir: “invert”/“invest” 340
206. D-2h. Organizar: “organize”/“plan” 341
207. D-2i. Revisar: “revise”/“review” 342
D-3. Nouns: Direct translations and false cognates 343
208. D-3a. Direct translations 343
209. D-3b. False cognates 344
210. D-3c. Avoiding sexist nouns 346
D-4. Adjectives and adverbs: false cognates 347
211. D-4a. Adjectives 347
212. D-4b. Adverbs 352
D-5. Miscellaneous diction concerns 354
213. D-5a. Misusing question words 354
214. D-5b. Agreeing and disagreeing 357
215. D-5c. Thanking and making other references to the deity 358
D-6. Levels of diction 359
216. D-6a. Level of diction too low 360
217. D-6b. Level of diction too high 361
218. D-6c. Issues of connotation 362
219. D-6d. Awkward forms of address 363
Chapter 12. Word Order 367
WO-1. Sentence beginnings 367
220. WO-1a. Not stating the subject in a declarative sentence 368
221. WO-1b. Not placing the subject before the verb or not using the expletive “there” or “it” 369
WO-2. Questions 372
222. WO-2a. Direct questions 373
223. WO-2b. Indirect questions 375
WO-3. Adverb placement 377
224. WO-3a. Adverbs between verbs and objects 377
225. WO-3b. Adverbs between a verb and a prepositional phrase or infinitive 379
226. WO-3c. Adverbial phrases between the subject and verb 380
227. WO-3d. The adverbs “still,” “even,” and “already” 381
WO-4. Adjective placement 382
228. WO-4a. Complex adjectival elements with a comparative or superlative focus 382
229. WO-4b. Noncomparative adjective phrases 385
230. WO-4c. “As ... as” adjectival elements 386
231. WO-4d. Issues with “present,” “similar,” and “different” 386
WO-5. Inversions 387
232. WO-5a. With certain adverbs 387
233. WO-5b. With “not only” 389
234. WO-5c. With “not”-plus-adverb structures (except “not only”) 391
235. WO-5d. With “neither”/“nor” 392
WO-6. Object complements and indirect objects 394
236. WO-6a. Placement: object complements 394
237. WO-6b. Placement: indirect objects and alternative phrases 396
238. WO-6c. Incorrectly using indirect objects with some verbs 398
Chapter 13. Sentence Structure 401
Ss-1. Sentence Boundaries 401
239. Ss-1a. The fused sentence 403
240. Ss-1b. Comma splice 403
241. Ss-1c. The fragment 404
242. Ss-1d. Conjunctive adverbs 406
Ss-2. Structural Integrity 408
243. Ss-2a. Misplaced modifiers 408
244. Ss-2b. Dangling modifiers 409
245. Ss-2c. Failure to makes lists and pairs parallel 410
246. Ss-2d. Mismatching nouns and verbals in comparisons 410
Ss-3. Logic 411
247. Ss-3a. Mixed constructions and illogical statements 412
248. Ss-3b. Mismatching verb action with subjects and objects 416
249. Ss-3c. Coordinating objects logically with the verb 417
250. Ss-3d. Illogical use of “because” 418
Ss-4. Related Concerns 418
251. Ss-4a. Redundancy in the use of “in my opinion...” 418
252. Ss-4b. Misuse of the expression “the reason being...” 419
Chapter 14. Spelling Issues 423
Sp-1. Creating “logical nonwords” 425
253. Sp-1a. Verbs 427
254. Sp-1b. Nouns 429
255. Sp-1c. Adjectives 430
Sp-2. The problem of homonyms 432
256. Sp-2a. Homonyms with contractions 433
257. Sp-2b. Other homonyms 435
Sp-3. The problem of “false homonyms” 438
258. Sp-3a. General false homonyms 439
259. Sp-3b. Forms involving “f” and “v” and “b” confusions 447
260. Sp-3c. Forms involving “t,” “d,” and “th” confusions 449
261. Sp-3d. Forms involving “-st”/“-sts” and “-sk”/“-sks” endings 452
262. Sp-3e. Errors in words with “-le” and “-ly” endings 453
263. Sp-3f. English errors based on Spanish sounds or spelling 454
264. Sp-3g. Using Spanish spelling for similar English words 455
Sp-4. Other spelling problems 456
265. Sp-4a. Failing to distinguish “affect” from “effect” 456
266. Sp-4b. The “double letter” problem in spelling short words 457
267. Sp-4c. The “y” to “i” problem 459
268. Sp-4d. Spelling oddities: “gh,” “k,” “ph,” etc. 460
269. Sp-4e. Confusing “-ei” and “-ie” in some words 461
270. Sp-4f. Homographs: one spelling, two pronunciations 462
Sp-5. Errors in compound expressions 463
271. Sp-5a. False compounds 464
272. Sp-5b. Split compounds 464
Chapter 15. Mechanics & Punctuation 467
Mp-1. Commas 468
274. Mp-1a. With coordinating conjunctions to connect independent clauses 468
275. Mp-1b. No comma after “but” to indicate a pause 468
276. Mp-1c. A comma after opening subordinate clause 469
277. Mp-1d. A comma after introductory word group 470
278. Mp-1e. No comma to separate the subject and verb 470
279. Mp-1f. Comma omissions in parenthetical expressions 470
280. Mp-1g. Comma errors in nonrestrictive expressions 471
281. Mp-1h. Put commas (and periods) inside quotation marks 473
282. Mp-1i. Commas use in a series 473
283. Mp-1j. Commas with “he said,” “she said,” etc. 473
284. Mp-1k. Commas in dates and addresses 474
Mp-2. Full-stop punctuation marks 475
285. Mp-2a. The period 475
286. Mp-2b. The semicolon 476
287. Mp-2c. The colon 477
288. Mp-2d. The question mark 477
289. Mp-2e. The exclamation point 478
Mp-3. Apostrophe problems 479
290. Mp-3a. Use apostrophes in contractions 479
291. Mp-3b. Apostrophes: failing to distinguish between ’s and s’ 479
292. Mp-3c. Misusing apostrophes with simple plurals 481
293. Mp-3d. Misusing apostrophes in third-person singular verbs 482
Mp-4. Other punctuation issues 483
294. Mp-4a. Failure to use proper quotation marks 483
295. Mp-4b. Failure to close quotations 483
296. Mp-4c. Misplacing quotation marks 484
297. Mp-4d. The hyphen and the dash 485
298. Mp-4e. Parentheses, brackets, and braces 486
Mp-5. Miscellaneous mechanics 487
299. Mp-5a. Spelling 487
300. Mp-5b. Capitalizing English proper nouns properly 489
301. Mp-5c. Numbers 489
302. Mp-5d. Handling titles 490
