Word Order and Extra Words Errors for Turkish Speakers
Avoiding Extra Words: Prepositions, Pronouns, and Subjects
In English, adding unnecessary words is a common grammar trap that can make your sentences sound unnatural. For example, we say discuss the plan instead of discuss about the plan, and the car I bought instead of the car I bought it.
This challenge focuses on eliminating these clunky extra words. You will practice using transitive verbs without unnecessary prepositions (like contact, call, and approach), dropping extra resumptive pronouns in relative clauses, and avoiding double subjects (e.g., The manager expects, not The manager, she expects). You'll also correct common mistakes involving extra to be verbs (such as saying I am agree) and directional adverbs like home and downtown that don't need prepositions.
You'll work through 14 questions in a mix of single-choice, multi-choice, drop-down, and drag-and-drop formats.
Try the quiz to check your knowledge!
Auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb (or "helping verb") is a verb that combines with a main verb to add grammatical meaning — questions, negation, tense, aspect, voice, or modality. The English auxiliaries are forms of be, have, do, plus the modal verbs (can, could, will, would, should, may, might, must).
Auxiliaries are what let you build past tense (have gone), continuous aspect (is going), passive voice (was eaten), and questions (Do you know?). Without them, you can't form most of the structures you need beyond the simple present and past — they're the engine that powers half the tense system.
Clause
A clause is a grammatical unit built around a verb — typically a subject plus a predicate (She laughed; The manager approved the budget). Clauses come in two types: independent clauses stand alone as complete sentences; dependent clauses need an independent clause to make sense (Because I overslept — incomplete on its own).
Spotting clause boundaries is the foundation of correct punctuation. Once you can see where one clause ends and another begins, comma rules, run-on sentences, and complex sentence structure stop being mysteries.
Complex sentence
A complex sentence combines an independent clause with at least one dependent (subordinate) clause: I missed the bus because I overslept. The dependent clause adds extra information — usually about time, reason, condition, or which thing is meant — but can't stand alone. It's introduced by a subordinating conjunction (because, although, if, when, while) or a relative pronoun (who, which, that).
Mastering complex sentences is the move from simple, choppy writing to prose that links ideas. It's also where comma decisions get interesting — placement depends on which clause comes first.
Conjunction
A conjunction is a word that connects other words, phrases, or clauses. English has two main types: coordinating conjunctions join units of equal weight (and, but, or, so, yet, for, nor — the FANBOYS), while subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses (because, although, if, when, while, since, unless).
Conjunctions are how you build compound and complex sentences instead of stacking short ones. The choice of conjunction signals the relationship between the ideas — addition, contrast, cause, condition, time — so picking the right one shapes the whole meaning.
Infinitive
The infinitive is the basic, unmarked form of a verb, used when no tense or subject agreement is needed. English has two flavours: the to-infinitive (to swim, to read) and the bare infinitive (swim, read). The to-infinitive follows verbs like want, decide, hope, plan (I want to swim); the bare infinitive follows modal verbs (I can swim) and certain causative verbs (Let him go).
Knowing which form to use after which verb is one of the trickiest distinctions in English — closely tied to the parallel choice of gerund (-ing form). I want to swim but I enjoy swimming aren't interchangeable.
Noun
A noun is a word that names something — a person, place, thing, idea, action, or quality. Nouns are one of the open word classes in English, alongside verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. They typically appear as the subject or object of a clause, after articles or adjectives, and as the head of a noun phrase.
Recognising nouns reliably is the foundation for nearly every other grammar topic — agreement, articles, plurals, possessives, and prepositions all depend on it. Get this right and the rest of English grammar starts to fall into place.
Object
In grammar, an object is the entity a verb acts on. Tom studies grammar — grammar is the object. English distinguishes three types: a direct object (the thing acted on: Sam fed the dogs), an indirect object (the recipient: She sent him a present), and a prepositional object (introduced by a preposition: She is waiting for Lucy).
Knowing whether a verb takes an object — and which kind — is built into transitive and intransitive verb patterns. Pick the wrong pattern and the sentence either dangles or doubles up.
Past tense
The past tense is how English talks about events finished before now. It comes in four flavours: simple past (I walked) for completed events, past progressive (I was walking) for actions ongoing at a past time, past perfect (I had walked) for events before another past event, and past perfect progressive (I had been walking) for ongoing events leading up to a past point.
Choosing the right one is what makes past narratives clear instead of murky. When I arrived, she ate dinner is technically grammatical but means something different than had eaten (already done) or was eating (in progress when you arrived).
Phrase
In grammar, a phrase is a group of words (sometimes a single word) that functions as a single unit in a sentence — but doesn't include a subject + verb pair the way a clause does. Common types: noun phrase (the old red car), verb phrase (has been running), prepositional phrase (on the table), adjective phrase (incredibly tired), adverb phrase (very quickly).
Phrases are the building blocks between individual words and full clauses. Recognising them helps you see how sentences hold together — and where you can break, expand, or rearrange them without losing meaning.
Preposition
A preposition is a small word that links a noun or noun phrase to other parts of the sentence — usually marking time, place, or relationship: in, on, at, to, from, with, over, under, between, during. The book on the table, We met at noon, She lives in Berlin.
Prepositions are deceptively small. Their meaning shifts dramatically by collocation (depend on, good at, afraid of), and their choice rarely translates directly between languages. Picking the right preposition is one of the trickiest, most idiomatic-sounding parts of English.
Present tense
The present tense in English has four forms: simple present (I work) for habits, general truths, and stative descriptions; present progressive (I am working) for actions happening right now or temporary situations; present perfect (I have worked) for past actions with present relevance; and present perfect progressive (I have been working) for ongoing actions continuing into the present.
The simple/progressive distinction is one of the trickiest jumps for learners — I work in Paris (habitual) and I'm working in Paris (temporary, right now) feel almost identical but signal different things. Pick wrong and your meaning subtly shifts.
Pronoun
A pronoun is a small, closed class of words that stands in for a noun or noun phrase. The main types: personal (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) plus their object (me, him) and possessive (my, mine) forms; demonstrative (this, that); relative (who, which, that); interrogative (who, what); and reflexive (myself, yourself).
Pronouns are how English avoids endlessly repeating names. The catch: their meaning depends entirely on context, so unclear pronoun reference (Tom told Mike that he was wrong — who's he?) is one of the most common writing problems.
Relative clause
A relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun, typically introduced by a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that) or relative adverb (where, when, why). The man who lives in this house has not been seen for days. They split into restrictive (essential to the meaning, no commas) and non-restrictive (extra information, set off by commas).
The split matters because the comma changes the meaning: My brother who lives in Paris (one of several brothers) vs. My brother, who lives in Paris, (my only brother). Getting comma placement right is one of the highest-leverage moves at B2+.
Sentence
A sentence is the largest grammatical unit in writing — one or more clauses expressing a complete thought, ending with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. English sentences come in four structural types: simple (one independent clause), compound (two or more independent clauses joined), complex (independent + dependent clause), and compound-complex (multiple independent + dependent clauses).
Mastering sentence types is what lets you vary rhythm in writing. All-simple sentences read as choppy; all-complex sentences read as dense. Mixing them is what makes prose breathe.
Subject
The subject is the part of a sentence or clause that tells you who or what the sentence is about. It's typically a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that comes before the verb and controls the verb's form: She works (singular) vs They work (plural).
The subject isn't always the doer of the action — in passive sentences, it receives the action (The window was broken). English also uses dummy subjects like it and there that hold the subject slot without carrying real meaning (It is raining; There are problems). Spotting the real subject is what makes subject-verb agreement automatic.
Verb
A verb is a word that expresses an action, a state, or an occurrence — the engine of every English sentence. Most verbs have five forms: base (go), -s form (goes), past tense (went), past participle (gone), and -ing form (going). The verb be is the major exception with eight forms; modal verbs like can and must have fewer.
Verbs carry tense (when), aspect (how it unfolds), mood (the speaker's attitude), and voice (active vs passive). Mastering them is foundational — virtually every other grammar topic depends on getting verbs right.
Simple tense
The simple aspect is the unmarked verb form — no progressive -ing, no have + past participle. I go, I went, I will go are simple; I am going, I have gone, I had gone are not. The simple aspect typically marks a single completed action (Brutus killed Caesar), a repeated/habitual action (I go to school every day), or a permanent state (We live in Dallas).
The simple aspect is the foundation everything else builds on. Once it's automatic, switching into progressive (ongoing) or perfect (completed-relative-to-now) becomes a small adjustment rather than a fresh decision.
Word Order
Word order is the sequence in which words appear in a sentence. English is fundamentally an SVO language — subject, verb, object (Kate loves Mark). The order of adjectives, adverbs, and modifiers within a noun phrase also follows fixed patterns (a small red wooden box, not a wooden red small box).
In English, word order carries grammatical meaning — change the order and you change the sentence. The dog bit the man and The man bit the dog differ only in word order, but the meaning flips entirely.
Collocations
Collocations are combinations of words that habitually occur together in a fixed order — make a decision (not do a decision), strong coffee (not powerful coffee), heavy rain (not thick rain). The grammar would allow either pairing, but native speakers consistently pick one and reject the other. Common patterns include verb + noun, adjective + noun, adverb + adjective, and adverb + verb.
Learning vocabulary as collocations rather than isolated words is the single fastest way to sound natural in English. It's the difference between I made a big mistake and I did a big mistake — small, but immediately noticeable.
B1 | Intermediate
B1 is the intermediate level in the CEFR framework — the point where you stop relying on memorised phrases and start handling everyday English independently. At B1 you can describe experiences, explain opinions, and follow most clear standard speech on familiar topics like work, travel, and hobbies.
Grammatically, B1 means combining tenses with precision, building complex sentences, and starting to use passive voice, modal verbs for necessity and possibility, and verb patterns (gerund vs. infinitive). Knowing your level shapes what you study next: pushing too far ahead frustrates you; staying below your level wastes time.
B2 | Upper Intermediate
B2 is the upper-intermediate level in the CEFR framework, sitting between B1 and C1. At B2 you can read editorials, follow most TED talks without subtitles, and hold extended conversations on abstract topics — including topics outside your everyday life.
Grammatically, B2 means flexible control of mixed conditionals, passive voice across tenses, reported speech with proper backshifting, and participle clauses. B2 is the standard target for university entrance exams (IELTS 5.5–6.5, TOEFL 87–109) and most skilled-migration thresholds — knowing whether you're there shapes your study plan.
Difficulty: Medium
The Medium difficulty tag marks questions and challenges in the middle of the difficulty range — typically suitable for A2 to B1 learners. Expect a single rule with realistic distractors, longer sentences, and contexts where you have to think before answering rather than reading off the obvious choice.
Filter by Medium when you're past the absolute basics and ready to consolidate. It's the level where most lasting progress happens — easy enough that you can finish without exhausting concentration, hard enough that getting it right means you've actually understood.