Portfolio 6

In writing, mistakes are often made without being noticed. However, it is the lesson learnt that is important. In my writing assignments, I have made several mistakes in areas of tenses, prepositions and modals.

Firstly, tense is one of the more difficult portion of the language. The tense of a particular word depends on many factors, including time given, two separate events and more. For example, for past progressive, it is to show that an activity was in progress when another happened at a specific time. A wrong use would be, "The workers moved the crates when the bridge collapse". In such a case, the event of the workers moving crates was ongoing while the bridge collapse. The correct use should be "The workers were moving the crates when the bridge collapse".

Another common mistake is the use of prepositions. They are often misused as there are often too many and different ways of using prepositions. For example, a wrong use of preposition would be, "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice to the world's poor?" The correct way should be "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice on the world's poor?". The word "on" is to show the action which affects other people.

Moreover, the use of modals is another difficult hurdle for many people. As most of the use of modal depend on the context of the passage, a good understanding of the passage will be required. A wrong example would be, "He can have finished his work by now." The correct sentence should be, "He should have finished his work by now."

In conclusion, many of the mistakes without notice during writing, it is therefore important to read through the passage to spot the mistakes.