Top 05 common grammar mistakes | Duolingo English Test Part 2

Here we come to the 2nd part of the Top 05 common grammar mistakes in the Duolingo English Tests. We all know how daunting all grammar points are, especially since it’s very easy to commit mistakes to some of them. 

This article shares several more mistakes to help you better understand Grammatical accuracy; thus, you will likely get higher scores on your Duolingo English Test.

Let’s begin.

1. I and Me

We apply “me” when the pronoun is the verb’s object (e.g., “My daughter walked with me to the convenient store”), and we use “I” when it’s the verb’s subject (e.g., “I took my boy to the park last weekend”).

• Correct: Jason and I participated in the country meeting last month.
• Wrong: Jason and me participated in the country meeting last month.
• Wrong: The store manager asked Jack and I to join the meeting.
• Correct: The store manager asked Jack and me to join the meeting.

2. Then and Than

Honestly speaking, this’s among the easiest mistakes to make. “then” is used to talk about time (e.g., “I will be visiting France, Spain, and then Portugal”), and we use “than” to compare things (e.g., “This restaurant’s service is better than the previous one”). 

• Correct: I will walk the dog first and then go to the supermarket.
• Wrong: I will walk the dog first and than go to the supermarket.
• Wrong: The Duolingo English Test is more convenient then the IELTS to take.
• Correct: The Duolingo English Test is more convenient than the IELTS to take.

3. Its and It’s 

This is also an easy mistake to make because people usually use apostrophes to show ownership (e.g., “That’s Mel’s house”). But it is not correct if we use “it’s”.

• Correct: The country started its campaign to support low-income families yesterday.
• Wrong: The country started it’s campaign to support low-income families yesterday.

4. Lose and Loose

It’s pretty confusable because the two words have similar pronunciations (e.g., “loose” - /luːs/, “lose” - /luːz/, and there is an extra “o” in “loose” compared to “lose”.

So when you speak or write, please pay close attention to their spelling and phonemes. 

• Correct: If you follow our strategy, you will not lose. 
• Wrong: If you follow our strategy, you will not loose.

5. Apostrophes

So many test-takers make this mistake as they use Apostrophes ( ‘ ) in unnecessary places. We use Apostrophes in a contraction (e.g., “He’s” to “he is”) or to show possession (e.g., “Jake’s dog”). Regarding possession, we don’t use it with non-living things. 

• Correct: They need to get their monthly sales up.
• Wrong: They need to get their monthly sale’s up.

It’s truly essential to learn all basic grammar points and common mistakes in order to avoid them in your test. But first of all, we need to apply them to practice as it’s the only way to ensure we master all of them. 

Whether you prepare yourself for IELTS or TOEFL Writing and Speaking, you need a massive number of questions to practice. In our DET Practice Platform, we have already uploaded thousands of questions, and we will be adding more to your library on a monthly basis. In other words, you have a massive number of practice questions to improve your writing and speaking.

On top of that, you will receive instant feedback for every Writing and Speaking practice that we evaluate your proficiency based on Fluency, Lexical sophistication, Lexical diversity, Grammatical accuracy (Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation), and Acoustic features (Pronunciation, Intonation, Pace). 

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