I think you are ready for a challenge… therefore I am raising the bar by inviting you to correct a text! This time, no multiple choices are offered to you and the 10 mistakes are not pointed out!
Those mistakes can be almost anything… regular spelling mistakes, but also agreement errors (verbs, adjectives, past participles, etc.)
Do not worry though! I did not pick a Bernard Pivot’s dictation and it is not as difficult and tricky as “La Dictée des Amériques”… Consequently you should be able to do it without too much trouble…
As usual, I took the test myself and I scored 50/50… I am still waiting for someone out there to get the same score, so… we will have a tie! Perhaps this time!…
I have to admit though… there is something I do not agree with in this text, but since I had already found 10 obvious mistakes I thought I should leave it alone (and I was right)… Apparently, the author made a mistake that was not intended! I have an issue with that though… would it mean that the expert is not aware of certain grammar rules?
Just in case you would be tempted to change the following sentence “Le premier jour que je t’ai…” for “Le premier jour où je t’ai…” DO NOT!!! Although in the correct form, it should indeed read “OÙ”… Well… what do you think???… Isabelle, what is in use in France… Diane, as a FSL teacher, what do you teach?… Lisa, what is in use in Belgium? I am old you see… maybe now using que instead of où following an expression of time is standard! I tend to stick to my good old grammar rules like a dinosaur!
Are you ready?
Since there is no more direct link to the text I picked, you will have to go through the back door… first CLICK here, then under “Dictées” CLICK on 12 février 2004 – Charles et Charlotte! It should take you right where I want you to go!
Et… un conseil : ne vous risquez pas à corriger les autres dictées, car elles sont remplies de pièges!
Bonne chance!
Let us know how you did by sharing your scores and comments!
6 Comments
Lyne, je l’avoue avec beaucoup de honte, mais j’ai laissé passer 3 fautes. Je suis dégoûtée, car l’orthographe est mon point fort ! Je n’ai pas fait attention à vente, d’avantage et vu.
Par contre je suis d’accord avec toi, “le premier jour que je t’ai vu” ne me semble pas correct, mais, bon, vu le niveau d’orthographe et de grammaire en France, tout est possible !
Isabelle!
En effet, ce n’est pas toujours évident de repérer toutes les erreurs! Elles ne sautent pas nécessairement aux yeux!
Et merci de ton commentaire au sujet du “que”… en revanche, comme tu l’as si bien exprimé, étant donné que le niveau de langue écrite est comme qui dirait en chute libre; je ne serais pas surprise que maintenant l’on accepte le “que” en remplacement du “où”… Toutefois, je dois avouer que cela m’écorche les oreilles et me fait grincer des dents!
À la prochaine!
Oh la la!!!!
J’ai pensé que ce test était très difficile pour moi parce que ma grammaire est très pauvre.
Mais, Seema, j’ai obtenu 35/50!
James
James mon ami!
Pas mal, pas mal… cela aurait pu être pire! Tu feras mieux la prochaine fois!… Je te fais confiance…
À demain!
So James… devine quoi! j’ai obtenu 50…though with some help (Lyne + Dictionary). When I knew what to look for, then my brain was working OK e.g., for “vu”, the correct form was “vue” (Rule #2) ou la règle du 2me verbe: il doit être à l’infinitif (e.g., mener)…
J’ai encore du chemin à faire!!!!
Seema
Hey Seema!…
The only help I provided you with was to tell you what to look for… it was the first time you were doing such an exercise, therefore you needed some basic explanations. Other than that, you did it on your own, only with the help of an old good French dictionary!
Once you know what it is about, everything becomes much simpler and quite easy!
À vendredi!