If you have seen this post on our Facebook Page, you should be here because you want to know what is the right error. This is a good sign! It shows that you are still keen to find out if your understanding of English grammar is correct. :) An open and curious mind is the best learning tool!
Alright, back to the question - what is the correct error?
In the picture, Little Mary, the student was confused over the meaning of 'toast', which is in fact a homonym (word that is spelt and pronounced the same way, but has different meaning). 'Toast' as a noun (name) can mean:
- 'sliced bread browned on both sides by exposure to radiant heat, such as a grill or fire.'
- 'a call to a gathering of people to raise their glasses and drink together in honour of a person or thing, or an instance of drinking in this way.'
If we take the first meaning, we should eat the 'toast', since it is a bread.
If we take the second meaning, we should drink the 'toast', since it a drink.
In this case, the teacher is using the second meaning of toast - a drink - so there is no need to change drank to ate.
If so, what is the error?
The error is still the word 'drank', but we need to change the tense of the word, and not the meaning.
A verb (action word) has many forms, depending on when we are doing the action. The table below summarizes the different forms of 'drink'.
| Present (Singular) |
Present (Plural) |
Present Participle |
Past | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Drinks
| Drink |
Drinking
| Drank |
Drunk
|
Habit/fact
|
- Habit/fact - Infinitive | - Continuous action - Planned/predicted action |
Past action
|
- Completed action - Passive voice |
When there is a was in front of the verb, we should use either
- Past Continuous Tense -- was + present participle (i.e. was drinking) to show that the action was still continuing at a point in the past
- Past tense in Passive Voice -- was + past participle (i.e. was drunk) to show that something was done to the subject* in the past
*A subject is usually the noun (person/thing) doing the action and is found before the verb (action).
Here, the subject is "The toast".
Here, the subject is "The toast".
- When the subject did the action, we can use the Active Voice (He drank the toast.)
- When the subject was not doing the action, or rather, when the action was done to the subject i.e. the subject is passive, we use the Passive Voice (The toast was drunk.)
In this case, 'the toast' is passive ('The toast drank with happiness' cannot happen because the toast is not a living thing), so we should use the Past Tense in Passive Voice. Therefore the answer should be:
