Bridging the Gap Challenge #006

<p><a href="https://deliberatespanish.com/blog/notice-mistakes">Getting better at noticing mistakes</a> is one of the best ways of <strong>taking your Spanish to the next level</strong>.</p><p>This challenge has been carefully designed to do just that.</p><p>Here is a bare-bones example in English:</p><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">Sentence with mistakes: What is you problems?</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">Reference 1: Is this your bag?</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">Reference 2: I think I know what the problem is.</span></p></div><p>As you can see, the <strong>reference sentences</strong> hint at the mistakes in a way that is neither too obvious nor too obscure. The final answer would be:</p><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">What is <strong>your</strong> (from Ref. 1) <strong>problem</strong> (from Ref. 2)?</span></p></div><h2>Now for the real challenge</h2><p>Find the mistakes in these four sentences (in red) using the reference sentences (in blue).</p><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M1: La semana pasada estaba llena de sorpresas y de sustos, pero me parece que la próxima pueda ser más tranquila.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R1: Ayer cambié todos los muebles de mi oficina de sitio.</span><br><span class="en">Yesterday I changed the location of all the (pieces of) furniture in my office.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R2: ¿No te parece que este traje me queda mucho mejor que ese?</span><br><span class="en">Don't you think that this dress fits me much better than that one?</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M2: Quiero conocer más gente de este país, pero no les entiendo cuando hablan entre sí mismos.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R3: Ya va siendo hora de que conozcamos a tu novia. ¿No crees?</span><br><span class="en">It's about time we meet your girlfriend. Don't you think?</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R4: Vuestros problemas los arregláis entre vosotros.</span><br><span class="en">Your problems (you should) fix them amongst yourselves.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M3: No sabía que tu hermana tiene los ojos del mismo color que yo. Acabo de me di cuenta ahora.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R5: Pensaba que no querías venir a mi casa.</span><br><span class="en">I thought you didn't want to come to my house.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R6: Acabo de romper el móvil de mi padre.</span><br><span class="en">I just broke my dad's phone.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M4: Tengo un amigo quien me ha dicho que en este pueblo antes veranearon muchos turistas.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R7: Quiero conocer a alguien que me enseñe a tocar la guitarra.</span><br><span class="en">I want to meet someone who will teach me to play the guitar.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R8: Cuando era pequeño mis padres me llevaban a la playa todos los domingos.</span><br><span class="en">When I was young, my parents would take me to the beach every Sunday.</span></p></div><hr /><p>To really squeeze the learning out of this exercise, do it in two steps:</p><ul><li>In the first step, <strong>go with your gut</strong> and correct whatever you think is wrong without looking at the reference sentences.</li><li>In the second step, <strong>double-check your gut</strong> to make sure that each mistake you found corresponds to one of the reference sentences. If you have more mistakes than reference sentences (or more reference sentences than mistakes), you're still missing something.</li></ul><p>If you think this exercise is too difficult, focus on the reference sentences. Treat them as <a href="https://deliberatespanish.com/blog/fix-mistakes">scaffold sentences</a> and try to recall them from memory. Once you've internalized them, it will be much easier to spot the mistakes.</p><p>You can <a href="mailto:nacho@deliberatespanish.com/blog?subject=Bridging%20the%20Gap%20Challenge"><strong>email me</strong></a> your attempt (or if you like public accountability, post it in the comments), and I'll reply back with the answer key.</p><p>Have fun!</p>