Microsoft Word Longman-Common Errors docx

 
number 
the contrast between words which are singular (e.g. ‘child’) and words which are plural 
(‘children’). Two words are said to ‘agree in number’ when they are both singular or both 
plural. Compare: ‘The child was playing in the garden’ (singular); ‘The children were playi.ng in 
the garden’ (plural).
 
object 
The object (also ‘direct object’) of a sentence is the person or thing that is directly affected by 
the action of the verb: ‘She bought a packet of envelopes’; ‘I’d already seen the film’. An 
‘indirect object’ is usually the person or thing that receives the direct object: ‘She sent my 
mother a postcard.’ ‘He gave her a diamond ring.’ ‘We told them the news.’
 
participle 
See
 PAST PARTICIPLE, -ING FORM 
passive 
When the subject of a sentence ‘performs’ the action expressed by the verb, the verb and the 
sentence are said to be ‘active’: ‘Someone has stolen my watch.’ ‘The government spends a lot 
of money on cancer research.’ Sometimes the subject of a sentence does not perform the 
action expressed by the verb but ‘receives’ it: ‘My watch has been stolen.’ ‘A lot of money is 
spent on cancer research.’ In these cases, the verb and the sentence are said to be ‘passive’.
 
past participle 
the verb form that is used to make the present perfect and past perfect, and all passive 
structures: ‘She’s lost her address book.’ ‘I hadn’t seen her before.’ ‘Have the letters been 
posted yet?’
 
past perfect 
the verb form that is made with had and the past participle: ‘After everyone had gone, we 
began to tidy up.’ ‘If I’d known your address, I would’ve come to see you.’ See also 
PROGRESSIVE 
past progressive 
See
 PROGRESSIVE 
past tense 
The past tense of a reqular verb ends in -ed and has the same form as the past participle: 
‘cooked’, ‘thanked’, ‘opened’. The past tense of an irregular verb is formed in many different 
ways: ‘went’, ‘saw’, ‘thought’, ‘found’, ‘took’, ‘spoke’. See also PROGRESSIVE 
person 
the contrast between words which refer to ourselves (e.g. I, we = ‘first person’), words which 
refer to the person we are talking to (e.g. you = ‘second person’), and words which refer to 
someone or something else (e.g. he, she, Mrs Robinson, the apple trees = ‘third person’).