Identify and correct the common grammar errors tested in editing, including prepositions, articles, plurals and word forms, working through a text line by line

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to find and fix the common grammar errors the Editing section of Paper 1 tests. Beyond subject-verb agreement and tense, the section regularly tests prepositions (good at, not good in), articles (a, an, the), plurals and countable nouns (information has no plural), and word forms (adjective versus adverb). The errors come from a predictable list, so once you know them you can work through the text line by line and catch them. This dot point gives you that checklist and the method to apply it.

The answer

Prepositions

Prepositions are small words like at, in, on, of, to, for, and English pairs particular verbs and adjectives with particular prepositions. Common errors: "good at" (not good in), "interested in" (not interested on), "depends on" (not depends of), "listen to" (not listen). Some verbs take no preposition: "discuss the problem" (not discuss about), "enter the room" (not enter into). Learn the common pairs.

Articles

The articles are a, an and the. Use a before a consonant sound (a book) and an before a vowel sound (an apple, an hour). Use the for something specific or already known. Common errors: "a apple" (should be an), or a missing "the" ("She is best student" should be "the best student").

Plurals and countable nouns

Some nouns are uncountable and have no plural: information, homework, advice, furniture, equipment. "Informations" and "homeworks" are wrong. Other nouns have irregular plurals: child to children, man to men, foot to feet. Check that countable nouns are plural where needed and uncountable ones are not made plural.

Word forms

Use the right form of a word. An adjective describes a noun (a quick runner), but an adverb describes a verb (he runs quickly). "He runs quick" should be "quickly". Watch also for noun-versus-verb forms ("advice" the noun versus "advise" the verb).

Work line by line

The Editing section gives you a short text. Work through it slowly, line by line, checking each verb, each small word, and each noun against the checklist above. Errors are often one per line. Reading too fast is the main reason students miss them.

Examples in context

Example 1. A preposition and an article. "He is one of the most talented player in a school." Two errors: "player" should be plural ("players") after "one of the most talented", and "a school" should be "the school" (a specific school). Corrected: "He is one of the most talented players in the school."

Example 2. An uncountable noun and a word form. "The teacher gave us many informations and explained it clear." "Informations" should be "information" (uncountable, no plural and no "many" with the s), and "clear" should be "clearly" (an adverb). Corrected: "The teacher gave us a lot of information and explained it clearly."

Try this

• Cue. Correct the preposition: "She is married with a doctor." The correct preposition is "to": "She is married to a doctor."

• Cue. Fix the article: "I saw a elephant at the zoo." "Elephant" starts with a vowel sound, so it should be "an elephant".

• Cue. Explain why "He drives careful" is wrong. "Careful" is an adjective, but an adverb is needed to describe the verb "drives": "He drives carefully."