Collocation and conditional forms in a gap-fill
A vocabulary and grammar section has eight three-option items. Four are: (2) 'The council decided to ______ a survey of residents.' carry on / carry out / carry off. (5) 'The new timetable will ______ all students equally.' effect / affect / afflict. (7) 'She is not ______ getting up early.' used to / use to / used. (8) 'If I ______ more time, I would check the figures.' had / would have / have. Javier scores 4/8. His answers are: 2 carry on, 5 effect, 7 used, 8 would have. His notebook lists 'carry on = continue' and 'effect = result', but no collocations or conditional patterns. He says he translates each option into Spanish and chooses the one that 'sounds natural'. The class has covered second conditionals but not 'be used to'. The PAU is in nine days and he wants to prioritise.
1. Diagnose Javier's error pattern using his four answers. Which knowledge gap does each answer reveal?
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His errors are not random; they cluster around word partnerships and grammatical form.
- Item 2 ('carry on'): he knows the meaning of 'carry on = continue' but not the collocation 'carry out a survey'. Translation gives meaning, not partnership.
- Item 5 ('effect'): he has learned 'effect = result' as a noun, but the gap needs the verb 'affect'. The modal 'will' signals a base verb, so a noun cannot fit.
- Item 7 ('used'): 'She is not used' is incomplete. The pattern is 'be used to + -ing' ('used to getting up'). 'Use to' belongs to past habits ('used to get up'), not after 'is not'.
- Item 8 ('would have'): he has mixed the second and third conditional. 'If I would have more time' is not standard; the second conditional needs 'if + past simple, would + base verb'.
The underlying strategy is the problem: translating options and choosing what 'sounds natural' fails precisely where English is idiomatic or structural.
2. Explain items 2 and 8 to Javier as two short rules he can apply under exam pressure.
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Item 2 - learn the whole chunk, not the verb. 'Carry out' means perform or conduct and collocates with 'a survey', 'an experiment', 'a plan' and 'research'. 'Carry on' means continue and does not take 'a survey'; 'carry off' means succeed in doing something difficult. Javier should memorise 'carry out a survey' as one unit and test it by asking: is the object something you perform?
Item 8 - check the two halves of the conditional. In a second conditional, the if-clause takes the past simple ('If I had more time') and the result clause takes 'would + base verb' ('I would check'). 'Would have' belongs in the result clause of a third conditional ('If I had had time, I would have checked') or after 'if' only in mixed/third patterns with 'had + past participle'. A quick check: can I replace 'would have' with 'had' and keep the meaning hypothetical about now? If yes, choose 'had'.
3. Design a 20-minute revision priority for the nine days that targets his actual weaknesses.
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A realistic plan should be narrow and retrieval-based, not a full grammar review.
Days 1–4 (10 minutes each): learn 12 high-frequency collocations as whole phrases, including 'carry out a survey', 'make a decision', 'take responsibility', 'pay attention' and 'do research'. Test by covering the noun and recalling the verb, then the reverse.
Days 5–7 (10 minutes each): contrast three structures in pairs: 'affect' (verb) vs 'effect' (noun); 'be used to + -ing' vs 'used to + infinitive'; second vs third conditional. Write one personalised sentence for each.
Days 8–9 (20 minutes total): do a timed eight-item mixed gap-fill, then correct it using a one-line reason for each answer. Track whether errors are meaning-based or form-based. His translation strategy should be replaced by a form check: what follows the gap, and what grammatical slot is missing?