CommonMistakes

Common Mistakes: Verbs about money

Do you want to avoid making the same mistakes others have made in their IELTS test? I'm sure you do.  This blog looks at common mistakes made by students when using the following verbs related to money: buy vs spend. Common Mistakes at IELTS Intermediate… and how to avoid them, is a book which looks at the real errors made by students in actual IELTS tests and explains how to avoid them. This blog is based on page 46 of the book.  Which verb do we use to emphasise the actual thing we bought or where we bought it? If you’re shouting the word ‘buy’ at your screen, then you’re absolutely right.  Here are some example sentences: I bought a new phone last week.  (what was bought) I bought it online. (where it was bought) We use spend to talk about the money involved.  Example: I spent over one thousand rupees on it.  I’ve never spent that much before.  (This sentence doesn’t mention the money at all. When spend is used like this on its own, the idea of money is automatically understood.) Here are some sentences for you to try. Use the correct form of buy or spend to complete the gap.  She was saving up to ___ a new laptop. How much did you ___? Imran ___ his wife some flowers for her birthday. We’ve recently ___ a fortune updating our network. Listen to the answers.     More formal language If you’d like to push yourself and your band score a little more, instead of using the verb buy, you could use the more formal – purchase / acquire. A bit of fun Here are some fun idioms using the word money: (You might say this to someone who has just asked you to lend them some money. This tells them that the answer is No!) (Usually said about someone who has too much money and spends it on silly things) Which of these two expressions would you be more likely to use😉?  Liz