rob versus steal

[Victorya]

Dear teacher,

I would be very grateful if you could please have a look to the task below and let me know if my answers are correct. I think most of them are correct, but is the question number 2 I am not sure if my explanation is correct. Many thanks in advance.


Task: Dealing With Errors

Imagine you are correcting your students’ written homework and you come across these errors. What is the mistake in each one? What could you tell the students to help them understand?


1) If I would win the lottery, I would buy a big house.

Explanation: This is a conditional sentence. This student is trying to use type II of conditional sentences. Type II is used to talk about a present or future improbable case, as in this sentence ‘to win the lottery’. But he or she has used the incorrect structure. The correct structure is as follows:

If clause – past tense- main close (would + an infinitive verb or base verb)

Correct: If I won the lottery, I would buy a house.

2) He hit the old woman and then robbed her handbag.

Explanation: You rob someone, and you steal something.

Correct. He hit the old woman and then stole her handbag.

3) You don’t have to drive on the right in Britain, it’s illegal.

Explanation: If something is illegal it means it is a prohibition. To express prohibition we use the modal verbs ‘can or must’. In this sentence the correct modal verb is the negative form of ‘can not’ or ‘can’t ‘contracted.

The sentence is incorrect because by using ‘don’t have to’, the sentence expresses ‘no obligation’, so you can choose to do so, and that case you would be driving on the right, which is forbidden.

Correct: You can’t drive on the right in Britain. It’s illegal.

[bhaisahab]

Dear teacher,

I would be very grateful if you could please have a look to the task below and let me know if my answers are correct. I think most of them are correct, but is the question number 2 I am not sure how to answer it. Many thanks in advance.


Task: Dealing With Errors

Imagine you are correcting your students’ written homework and you come across these errors. What is the mistake in each one? What could you tell the students to help them understand?


1) If I would win the lottery, I would buy a big house.

Explanation: This is a conditional sentence. This student is trying to use type II of conditional sentences. Type II is used to talk about a present or future improbable case, as in this sentence ‘to win the lottery’. But he or she has used the incorrect structure. The correct structure is as follows:

If clause – past tense- main close (would + an infinitive verb or base verb)

Correct: If I won the lottery, I would buy a house.

2) He hit the old woman and then robbed her handbag.

Explanation: The passive voice structure is incorrect as ‘was’ is missing. This is not a passive sentence.

Correct. The old woman was hit and her handbag robbed by him.


3) You don’t have to drive on the right in Britain, it’s illegal.

Explanation: If something is illegal it means it is a prohibition. To express prohibition we use the modal verbs ‘can or must’. In this sentence the correct modal verb is the negative form of ‘can not’ or ‘can’t ‘contracted.

The sentence is incorrect because by using ‘don’t have to’, the sentence expresses ‘no obligation’, so you can choose to do so, and that case you would be driving on the right, which is forbidden.

Correct: You can’t drive on the right in Britain. It’s illegal.

Bhai.