Original BandLadder material
It teaches a 3-step method: find the head, swap and match. Along the way you get worked examples with the key words marked, before-and-after fixes that show why the first version loses marks, a one-page visual summary, a quick check to test yourself and a recap of the rules to remember. Each card holds one idea, so you can read it on a phone between practice sessions.
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The first 3 of 9 cards
who is really the subject?
The verb belongs to the real subject, and that is often not the noun standing right beside it.
The cost of the new tickets aresubject 'cost': use 'is' rising, and one of the routes have'one' is single: use 'has' fewer trains. Nobody know'nobody' is one: 'knows' why.
Fixed: is · has · knows
the three-move check
six subjects that trip people up
| Subject | Swap | Verb |
|---|---|---|
| The cost of tickets | it | is rising |
| The figures for trains | they | are stable |
| Each of the routes | it | has a delay |
| Someone at the desk | he or she | needs help |
| A tutor and a friend | they | are late |
| There … two reasons | they | are |
'A lot of' and 'a number of' follow the noun after 'of': 'A number of tickets are'. But 'The number of tickets is'.
Card 4 of 9 onwards
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