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Originally Posted by forum_mail Hi there,
Here is a letter which I was given to check. I've spotted several mistakes (I've marked them with numbers) but I'm not sure whether I'm right and whether there are more. Could you please have a look at it ?
Dear Sara,
How are you? I'm sorry I haven't written for so long (1)because I (2)hadn't got time. (3)Whole last month I (4)was learning for my driving test which (5)I have on next Friday.
I'm writting to you because unfortunetly I brought one of your (6)pullover (7)with me to my home. I (8)must packed it with my clothes. It's (9)blue pullover with white sleeves and a white (10)writing on the back.
Could you check if you have my favourite blue pullover, maybe you (11)take it to Denmark. It was (12)very similar one but my haven't got white writing on the back. If you found it would you sent it to me and I will send you (13)yours pullover.
1. is "becasue" ok here ?
2. is the usage of past perfect necessary here ?
3. hmm... I don't think that "whole last month" is ok... shouldn't it be like "For the whole last month" ?
4. is past continuous necessary here ? is it ok ?
5. "I'm having" instead of "I have" ? Because it's planned ?
6. pulloverS ?
7. hmm... "to my home with me" ? any option doesn't sound right...
8. shouldn't there be "I must have packed..." ?
9. /A/ blue pullover
10. is it ok to say "a white writing on the back" ?
11. you TOOK it... or you have taken - which one ?
12. /A/ very similiar one
13. your
Please, comment on the mistakes I've noticed. Tell me if any of them are ok or not and why. And the last thing, are there any more mistakes in this text ?
Thank you so much! |
1. "Because" is not OK because it is tied to "I'm sorry" not the subclause "(that) I haven't written for so long". You should say "I'm sorry I haven't written for so long BUT I haven't had time."
2. The past perfect tense (of "to get") is not just unnecessary here, but wrong. The tense should agree with the present perfect in "I haven't written for so long". The sentence is a paraphrasing of the two sentences "I'm sorry. I haven't written for so long because I haven't had time."
3. It should be "For the whole OF the last month". You can say "For the whole month", or "For the last whole month", but not "For the whole last month". The strength of the adjective "whole" is greater than the strength of the adjective "last". You need to be very fluent to get such distinctions correct, so it is much safer to use "the whole of".
4. "I was learning for my driving test" sounds unnatural like this in the intransitive form. It is better to use "studying". You are correct - it should be in the present perfect progressive tense - "I've been studying for my driving test."
5. No. "I have" is correct. But there is no "on" in the sentence.
6. and 7. "I brought one of your pullovers home with me." You have almost misspelt "writing" and "unfortunately".
8. Yes. "Must" is an auxiliary for "have" here. You can't omit the "have".
9. Correct.
10. No. It must "with white writing on the back."
11. "You took it" is correct. It is in the past - you are not still taking it, so the present perfect tense is incorrect. You also need separate sentences and to make them questions:
"Could you check if you have my favourite blue pullover? Maybe you took it to Denmark?"
12. "It was a very similar one, but MINE HASN'T GOT white writing on the back." Or you could write "...but MY PULLOVER HASN'T GOT white writing on the back." The verb is in the third person, not the first person.
"If you FIND it", not "If you found it."
13. Correct. It should be "your pullover", or simply "yours" without the word "pullover".