Parts of CT

Traps

Examples

A 1-8

1)When a passive form in English has active meaning while translating into Russian.

Where are you headed?
 Куда Вы направляетесь?[4, p. 13]

2) The third form of the Present Simple Tense coincides with the plural form of nouns.

Offers – предложения, предлагает     books –книги, заказывает[4, p. 5]                                        

3) Present Simple of some verbs may coincide with Past Simple of other verbs.

Found – основывать, нашел  
lay –откладывать яйца, накрывать на стол, лежал[4, p. 6]

4) Past Simple of regular verbs coincides with Participle II.

Closed – закрыл, закрытый[4, p. 6]

5) Don’t  confuse «used to do – часто делал в прошлом, раньше делал» with to be (to get) used to smth., to be (to get) used to doing smth.

I used to get early in summer (я часто, бывало, вставал рано летом)
I was used to getting up early in summer (я привык вставать рано летом)[4, p. 6]

6) Future Simple may express present actions.

Boys will be boys – when they quarrel, they will fight.     
Мальчишки остаются мальчишками: когда они ссорятся, они дерутся[4, p. 6]

7) Present Simple may express a permanent action, which irritates other people.

She is always (constantly) complaining.
Она всегда жалуется.

8) The verbs with double negation are translated with a positive meaning.

They didn’t come until yesterday.
 Они приехали только вчера[4, p. 9].

A 9-16

9) Pay attention to polysemantic verbs.

Help – помогать
 but: саn’t help thinking – не могу не думать
help oneself - угощайся

10) Pay attention to phrasal verbs, they change their meaning according to prepositions

Call back (smb.) or call (smb.) back – перезвонить
 сall for (smb.) – заходить за кем-либо
 call for (smth.) – требовать
 сall in навещать 
 сall off (smth.) or call (smth.) off – отменить[5, p 185]  

11) Sometimes the same verb can be used with different postpositions depending on the following noun.

Arrive in a city (country) – прибывать в город / страну  
  arrive at the station (office) – приезжать на вокзал/ в офис     leave Moscow – уезжать из Москвы  leave for Minsk – уезжать в Минск[6, p.136]  

12) The conditional Sentences which denote wish/regret about the present can be translated with a negative meaning.

I wish he were here with us.
Жаль, что его здесь с нами нет.      
Не путать с «как бы мне хотелось»!

13) Don’t confuse a descriptive attribute with a definite attribute.

A person whose blood pressure is high may have heart problems.
whose blood pressure is high (у которого высокое кровяное давление) является описательным, а не уточняющим определением[4, p.178].

14) Sometimes a noun can be countable and uncountable at the same time.      experience – опыт –uncountable noun               experience(s) – cлучай из жизни, событие, переживание – сountable noun

Do you have any experience of working internationally?
 У Вас есть какой – либо опыт международной работы?
 My trip to Australia was an experience I’ll never forgot
Мое путешествие в Австралию оставило незабываемое впечатление.

15) We can use different articles with the same word depending on meaning.

She doesn’t drink coffee (uncountable noun).  
The coffee she brought from Germany is really good (definite attribute).
A coffee, please (one portion)[4, p.43].

16) While changing the meaning of the pronoun we change the article.

I have few friends (мало)                

 I have a few questions (несколько) 
 but: quite a few – довольно много
 the few – то немногое количество, которое…

17) The verb with a preposition in English is an indivisible unit, while in Russian a preposition can change its place.

This article is often referred to.
 На эту статью часто ссылаются.

18) Some English intransitive verbs are used with prepositions while in Russian their prepositions are omitted.

Deprive of – лишать
   provide with – обеспечивать[6, p.151]

19) A meaning of a phrase verb depends on the position of a direct or indirect object.

The plane took off at 6 a.m. 
Самолет взлетел в 6 утра.             

If you are hot, take your coat off.

Сними свое пальто, если тебе жарко.

20) There are a lot of exceptions which should be learnt by heart.

Punish for – наказывать за      experienced in – опытный в чем – либо                                           access to – доступ к[6, p.151]      

A 17-21

21) There are adjectives which have the same forms as adverbs but they are different in their meaning.

Hard – тяжелый  
They had a hard life.                                                

У них была тяжелая жизнь.
 Hard – тяжело, упорно 
They work hard.                                             

Они работали усердно[4, p.47].    

22) After linking verbs: to look, to be to, to feel…we use adjectives.

She looks very good in this dress. 
Она выглядит очень хорошо в этом платье[4, p.48].  

23) If an adjective denotes a state of the object – it is Participle II.    If it describes an object – Participle I is used.

I am excited about going to the mountains.     

Я так жду поездку в горы.     
 It is an exciting film.                                        

Это захватывающий фильм[4, p.49].

24) Born in mind! Some adverbs have the same meaning as prepositions.

Before – раньше, прежде 
I haven’t been there before.                                 

Я там раньше не был.                                            

Before – до, перед    
 Let’s meet before lunch.
 Давайте встретимся до обеда.

25) Learn by heart!

Accurate – точный, а не аккуратный      

actual – действительный, а не актуальный  
original – первоначальный, подлинный, а не оригинальный[7, p.16]

26) To intensify the comparative degree we can use:  even / much / far / a bit.

This novel is much more interesting.
 Этот роман гораздо интереснее[6, p.89].

27) Adjectives which coincide with some substantial nouns in forms are used in a direct sense, while adjectives formed from material nouns with the help of suffixes - y , - en are used in figurative sense.

Gold ring – золотое кольцо
 golden rule – золотое правило[6, p.92]

28) Some adverbs have two forms but different meaning.

I could hardly believe my eyes.
Я едва мог поверить своим глазам.
 You work hard.
Ты работаешь усердно[6, p.93].

29) «Everybody, everyone, nobody, no one» agree with the verbs in singular while they form their question tags with the auxiliary verbs + they.

Nobody likes to be laughed at, do they?  Никто не хочет, чтобы над ним смеялись, не так ли?[8, p.189]

30) «Which» is used when there is a limited choice.   It can be used with comparative and superlative degrees. It also can explains the sentence before.

Which is your favourite film star?
 Which is more comfortable a bicycle or motor-cycle?
They were late, which was unusual.
Oни опоздали, что было необычным.

31) «What» is used when there is an unlimited choice .

What kind of music do you like?

32) «Whose» refers to an animate noun.

I know the man whose car is parked over there.
 Я знаю человека, машина которого там припаркована.

33) «That» can be used instead of who, whom, which but it is never used after commas or prepositions. It is also used after the pronounces nobody, everybody…, after the superlative degree of adjectives.

She is actress who /that was awarded first prize[8, p.186].

A 22-25

34 ) Look at the words which are not underlined in the fragment, they may have a hidden mistake.

The majority of workers finds¹ it quite hard² to live on the amount of money they earn4. The mistake is in the first fragment, as the majority of workers agree with find[9, p.21].

A 33-35

35) The trap is that all replicas of stimuli have the words used in the given answer.

- Not in the least 
 1) Do you regret moving to the country.
 2) It will take you at least 20 minutes to get there.
3) It is the least possible course of events. 4) You can at least pretend you like it here[4, p.202].

36) Some words and expressions with these words may have different meaning.                               

Shame – стыд                                                                      

What a shame! – как жаль

- What a shame!                                                           

1) The flowerbed is ruined because of the heavy rain.
 2) She is very shy.
 3) She knows what she wants.
 4) A child needs love and care.

37) You should pay attention to the grammatical structure of a replica. In this sample you need to find a positive sentence in the Present Perfect Tense.

- Has he really? 
1) He hasn’t much influence.
 2) Paul  has recently been promoted.
 3) He is doing very well at school. 
4) He’s so worried about his son’s future[4, p.203]. 

38) In the following patterns: what…look like?  We ask for a description of physical appearance. In the pattern: who is he like? We ask for a description of character.

- What does Ann look like?
 –She is slim with a fare complexion. 
 –What is your new teacher like?
 –He is friendly and patient.

39) If we ask for permission and make requests we use: can I/could I, may I/might I. If we give/ refuse permission and answer requests we use: Yes of course (you can). No, you can’t. Yes, of course (you may). No, you may not. I’d rather you didn’t. I’m afraid not.

Can I/ Could I close the window? I’m freezing[8, p.191].

40) Making suggestions / invitations we use: will you/ would you / would you like to / shall we.  Answering suggestions/ invitations we use I’d like to/ I’d love to/ yes, all right / I’m afraid I can’t/ I’d love to but I can’t./ I’m sorry, I can’t.

Would you join me for dinner?[8, p.192]

41) Making offers we use: shall I/ we, Can I/ we.  Answering offers we use: yes, please/ no, thanks.

Can I help you?

42) So and not can be used in short answers after: think, hope, expect, suppose, I’m afraid, guess, it seems, say, tell smb., it appears, believe or imagine.

- Will he pass his exams.
 – I hope so.  
– Could he be lying?
 – I don’t believe so.

B 1 -12

43) Sometimes a search word has nothing in common with a given word.  Real – настоящий, realize - представлять

We didn’t ____ it would be so difficult to solve this problem. (real)    
 We didn’t realize it would be so difficult to solve this problem[4, p.200].

44) Some words are similar in pronunciation but different in meaning.

Accept – принимать 
 except – кроме, за исключением[7, p.19]

45) Be careful with set phrases!

Make yourself at home – чувствуй себя, как дома (make, но не feel)
Take advantage of – воспользуйся преимуществом (take, но не use)

46) Watch the attribute of a noun closely, sometimes it can be another noun.

Electricity bill – счет за электричество  safety rules – правила безопасности

47 ) One word can have different negative prefixes.

Inability –неспособность,                      

unable – неспособный,                          

disabled –нетрудоспособный, инвалид[10, p.53]   

48) Pay attention to the grammatical structure of a sentence!

When Carter entered the dark chamber Carnarvon asked him ____ he could see anything (if /whether).

49) Don’t miss  clues! Draw your attention to an article before the missing word, it can be a noun, or an adjective to this noun.

A ____ day (sun).                            

A sunny day

50) Some personal pronouns can change their gender when they substitute for nouns «ship», «dog», «country».

The ship was ready to leave the port.
 She had a crew of 20.
Корабль был готов покинуть порт.
 Он имел экипаж в количестве 20 человек[4, p.49].