Barron’s TOEIC Test 4th Edition

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Be careful when learning only from a text book as you might come upon a printing mistake.

Question 155, answer (B) Send a short from and payment. on page 468 of Barron’s TOEIC Test 4th Edition (ISBN 978-0-7641-7951-8) , should be

Send a short form and payment.

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Nov

18

a vs. the

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There seems to be no end to the number of text books available to learn English as a second language. One book I recommend is English Grammar in Use 3rd Edition by Raymond Murphy (ISBN 0-521-5289-2). The same book can be purchased with a CD-ROM (ISBN 0-521-53762-2). However, be careful if just using a book without a native English speaker because a book can contain errors and a non-native English speaker may not be able to pick up on this mistake. Well, I found one in this book.

On page 33, exercise 16.2, problem 3 of English Grammar in Use, the original text as printed in the book is

Sarah got a job in factory. Five years later the factory closed down.

can you spot the error? It should be

Sarah got a job in a factory. Five years later the factory closed down.

When using articles, remember that if you are mentioning something for the first time you use a and then you use the in subsequent sentences to refer to the item. That is why a is used in the first sentence “Sarah got a job in a factory.” and the is used in the second sentence “Five years later the factory closed down“.

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