A selection of English ESL error finding printables

Students are learning to proofread, especially for past simple tense.  There are not any pictures in this document.  It is simply for reading and finding the errors.  Answers are included.

Find the "Tense" mistakes in Cinderella

Find all of the text about going on safari in the maze. Each word follows straight after the last one. If you get stuck, you can always check the solution. My students really enjoy this alternative to traditional word searches. Please check the answers because there was an error in the first file uploaded.

Fortnite Fever Text Maze

I find that students learn much more by correcting their own mistakes, using my proofreading symbols on their papers. Correcting assignments goes much faster for me, and the students have to think about their errors, without my "spoon-feeding" them the corrections, especially  repetitious ones. The symbols can be used to remind even the lowest levels, with just the grammar rules they know so far (like spelling and capitals.) Naturally, the list is expanded to more symbols as students learn more rules--this is an abbreviated list. I couldn't show it here, but for the "change the order" symbol, just wrap it around the mistaken words.

Proofreading Symbols for Correcting Student Papers

Students are learning to proofread, especially for past simple tense. There are not any pictures in this document. It is simply for reading and finding the errors. Answers are included.

Find the past simple mistakes in The Three Little Pigs

This lesson focuses on helping students distinguish between the Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses. It is suitable for intermediate-level students who are developing their ability to use tenses correctly in various contexts. Through engaging activities, students will learn how to use the Present Simple to describe habits, routines, and general truths, as well as the Present Continuous for actions happening now, temporary situations, and future arrangements.


The lesson begins with a reading text featuring different people describing their holiday plans, allowing students to see the tenses in context. Students will then complete a series of practice activities, including gap-fills, error correction, and dialogue creation. These activities encourage students to notice the differences between the tenses and apply the rules independently. Additionally, open-ended questions are included to stimulate conversation and personal reflection on students' own habits and plans, providing opportunities for both written and spoken practice.


This lesson is ideal for reinforcing understanding of both tenses, as well as practicing speaking and writing skills. Students will leave with a stronger grasp of when to use each tense and avoid common mistakes.

Holidays Around the World: Present simple vs continuous

A BETTER VERSION NO ERRORS!!! PLUS IPA CHART AND SONG



what it says on the tin.



Its a crossword with clues in IPA. students read the IPA asnd then fill in the missing words. Obviously they will need an IPA sheet for reference. There are many on the internet i am sure you can find one. :)

phonetic crossword

A series of listening, reading and grammar tasks to introduce and practice some sports and games using the verb 'play' in present simple.  
Double click on the audio file at the top of the first page to play.
1.  Listening comprehension.
2. Gap fill (listening).
3. Picture task - write the sports words from the text.
4. Find the words that go together from the text
5. Word order task, tell students to find key words in the text to find the correct word order.
6. Verb forms 
7. Error correction - the correct sentences are in the text - can the learners find the problems?
8. Free practice - Students write own sentences.  Teacher can add more.



Sports and games listening and grammar

Students will listen to some song fragments (all are available on YouTube without lyrics) and complete the exercises for each song fragment. Types of exercises include gap filling, choosing the option and finding the error.

Subject Verb Agreement

here you can find some pictures of vocabulary for ESP business, basically related to work and some exercises about the vocabulary, an error correction and a reading, all related to the world of business English

Vocabulary + exercises ESP business

Find the Errors in each sentence.



1. Main Objective:

The learn how to write English without any errors



2. Type of Worksheet Attached:

Basic Simple Sentences with an Error



3.Type of Activity:

Reading Skill and Writing Skill



4. Level:

Beginner





Error Recognition 

Body Part Idioms

This a worksheet for SS about people who you call out to your home when there is a problem.

The last page requires you to cut out an advertisement from a Yellow Pages and then add your own questions.

I followed this up by getting the SS to find these people in a Yellow Pages.

Please check for spelling errors before using :)

Home call outs

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

42 Error finding English ESL worksheets pdf & doc