S.6 English
Common Mistakes
Composition 1
Title
OUTLINE!
• Why didn’t you follow the outline
exercise????????????
• No counter-argument
Contents: not specific enough
• Good to have work experience…
• But is it timely for sixth formers to have
such experience in view of the heavy
workload?
• Age? School work?
codes
• Grammatical Mistakes
• Big grammatical mistakes
• Stylish mistakes

• Good points
• Can not  cannot
Redundant
• Many jobs require a good working
experience, although high educational
background is equally important. For
example, we find in the classified-ads that
many jobs require someone with a good
working experience like one or two years of
experience but not a high educational
background.
Re-write
• Many jobs require a good working
experience, although high educational
background is equally important. For
example, we find in the classified-ads that
many jobs require someone with a good
working experience at least one or two
years of experience but not a high
educational background. do not specify on
academic qualifications.
Not enough substance….
• We need money to study.
• We need much money to study. (wrong)
• We need a large amount of money for our
tuition fees and reference books.
• Quite a hefty sum is needed every year to
pay for the tuition fees and to buy reference
books.
Sentence structure
• They take part time jobs. They have a
variety of skills.
• As they take part-time jobs, they learn to
have a variety of skills.
• Because they take part-time jobs, they
(learn to) have a variety of skills.
• By taking part-time jobs, they (learn to)
have a variety of skills.
Vocab
•
•
•
•
•
To learn skills
To master knowledge
To acquire knowledge
To attain qualification
To be qualified in ….
Vocab
•
•
•
•
I want to get experience.
I want to gain experience.
I want to gather experience.
I want to acquire experience.
Vocab
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Do part-time jobs
Engaged in part-time jobs
Take up part-time jobs
Work part-time (adv)
Involved in part-time jobs
Part-time employment / occupation
Do part-time (wrong)
vocab
•
•
•
•
No time left for studying.
Time-consuming
Time-wasting.
Much time is wasted.
Same subjects
• They will have no time to review their
textbooks. They have no time to meet with
their friends. They spend little time to go to
church or to do sports.
• Their time to review their textbooks will
decrease drastically. They have no time to
meet with their friends. Furthermore, not
much time can be spent on going to church
or sports.
Wrong subject
• Doing part time jobs can learn many things.
• Doing part time jobs can help them learn many
things.
• Doing part time jobs is an excellent way for
students to learn many things.
• Doing part time jobs is a good means for students
to learn many things.
• Doing part time jobs is a good opportunity for
students to learn many things.
• Doing part time jobs can give the students
many experiences.
• Doing part time jobs can allow them learn
many things
Wrong subject
• Students who do part time jobs affect their
own studies.
• Students who do part time jobs have their
studies affected.
• I cut my hair. (I did it myself.)
• I have my hair cut. (Somebody else did it
for me.)
So???
• I should study hard so I can get into university.
(hopeful result)
• I am studying hard so that I can get into university.
(my purpose)
• I studied hard so I got into HKU.
• I studied hard so that I got into HKU.
• It rains so I bring my umbrella.
• It rains so that I bring my umbrella.
• I bring my umbrella so that I won’t get wet.
• I brought my umbrella so I did not get wet.
So???
• I should study hard so I can get into university.
(hopeful result)
• I am studying hard so that I can get into university.
(my purpose)
• I studied hard so I got into HKU. correct
• I studied hard so that I got into HKU. wrong
• It rains so I bring my umbrella. correct
• It rains so that I bring my umbrella. wrong
• I bring my umbrella so that I won’t get wet. correct
• I brought my umbrella so I did not get wet. correct
Cannot learn
• Cause: Doing part time jobs
• Effect: One cannot concentrate at class
• Doing part time jobs makes one cannot
concentrate at class the next day.
• Doing part time jobs makes one unable to
concentrate at class the next day.
By doing
• He hurt himself by cutting down a tree.
• He hurt himself while cutting down a tree.
• He learnt his English by listening to BBC
every night. (He did it on purpose.)
• He learnt his English while listening to
BBC. (He didn’t do it on purpose.)
• Let’s consider how they use the salary by
doing part-time jobs.
• Let’s consider how they use the salary from
doing part-time jobs.
• Let’s consider how they use the salary by
examining the following case study.
Comma and full stops
Pay attention: The line on the page is too short
. What is that full stop doing there? Never, never
, start a line with a punctuation.
“Except quotation marks!”
Don’t don’t
Do not use short forms in essays.