<p>Lets make a collection of the most difficult improving sentences and usage error questions! Try to make format readible. </p>
<p>Here's mine: </p>
<p>If Holmes would have arrived a few minutes sooner, the murderer would not have escaped. </p>
<p>Find the error!</p>
<p>This is tough! Should it read If Holmes had arrived a few minutes sooner, the murderer would not have escaped? Im not positive, but it does sound better. So, do I at least have the right idea?</p>
<p>it's "if holmes HAD arrived" because in an "if" clause you use imperfect subjunctive, not conditional</p>
<p>"Would have for had ...<br>
In spoken English, there is a growing tendency to use would have in place of the subjunctive had in contrary-to-fact clauses, such as If she would have (instead of if she had) only listened to me, this would never have happened. But this usage is still widely considered an error in writing. Only 14 percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the previously cited sentence, and a similar amountbut 16 percentaccepts it in the sentence I wish you would have told me about this sooner."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/061.html</a></p>
<p>you guys are all right. Basically there's a rule that (for formal english) you shouldn't have "would have" in an "if" clause. In otherwords, "would have" should never precede "would have".</p>
<p>If people decide to do this, remember to use the underline tags ([ u]underlined text[ /u] and remove the spaces)</p>
<p>If you (were, had been) more careful, you would not have dented the fender of the car. <---- not an official SAT question, but still good.</p>
<p>The only thing that sounds wrong is the firt 'would have'.</p>
<p>For the 2nd prob. I think the 2nd option is the best.</p>
<p>quitejaded. correct on both!</p>
<p>If you (were, had been) more careful, you WOULD NOT HAVE dented the fender of the car. </p>
<p>similarly...</p>
<p>If you (were, had been) more careful, you WOULD NOT make that many mistakes.</p>
<p>Yay. Atleast the good scores on verbal will make up for my math scores. Hehe.</p>
<p>each man, woman, and child HAS a right to be heard.
the man, woman, and child each HAVE a right to be heard. </p>
<p>the above two sentences are grammatically correct. interesting?
just another english language oddity.</p>
<p>wow.. it must be tough to learn this language
Is the first one in the above post correct because "each" is singular, and "has" refers to a singular subject? </p>
<p>I give tremendous credit to the non-native speakers who score 750+ on CR/WR.</p>
<p>Yes, I feel sorry for non-native speakers and those who grow up in a place where people speak in double negatives all the time. THey need to memorize all of this stuff while we can go by ear some times.</p>
<p>this one is from princeton review: </p>
<p>When it debute, the show was criticized by the press for being sophomoric; by the time the show reached its third season, however, some critics came to appreciate the redeeming features of this witty comedy. no error.</p>
<p>the answer key says B is the error and it should be "as"
It also mentions that "for being" is usually wrong.
What's wrong with for being!?</p>
<p>this one is from Princeton Review:</p>
<p>When it debute, the show was criticized by the press for being sophomoric; by the time the show reached its third season, however, some critics came to appreciate the redeeming features of this witty comedy. no error.</p>
<p>I marked the MOST GLARING ERROR. Seriously, discussing questions written by non-ETS outfits is an exercise in futility and is often misleading.</p>
<p>Let me see if I remember this one from my May SAT. I think it went a lottle something like this: (find the error-I don't remember exactly what parts were underlined)</p>
<p>Not expecting Billy to come by with his friends, Jane has gone out to the grocery store over an hour ago.</p>
<p>has gone --> went or had gone?</p>
<p>Now we know why English is the hardest language to learn! :p</p>
<p>Yes that's what I put, evanescenteuphoria. But I am not sure if I got it right. It is possible I got it wrong because overall on the writing MC I got 1 wrong/0 omit.</p>
<p>I agree. "Has gone" is incorrect. Because the action took place "over an hour ago" it must be expressed in the past tense.</p>