Would you like to test your English? Beware of some common mistakes!
Just in case some of our most helpful Spanish speakers are getting a bit sick of teaching us all how to speak their language and they fancy a little English practice - here's a little test for those learning or who have learnt English.
This isn't too hard and if any one would like something a bit harder I can up the ante next time but this one does include some common errors that you may not realize you even make - so beware 
Please do give me some feedback if this one's not much use and you'd like something harder or if you have any suggestions at all.
Try not to look at each others and if anyone's keen I'll be back to add corrections in a day or so
Where is Tom? Has he _____ to the bank? gone been
I've _____ to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store ______ come home. than then
Auckland is larger ______ Kaeo. than then
I sent the package _____ Don. to two too
I think you should come to this meeting, _____. to two too
_____ is plenty for everyone! They're Their There
I went to _____ party last weekend. It was a lot of fun. they're their there
Let's discuss ______ we should go or not. whether if
They were wondering ______ to come or not. whether if
Do you have ______ to help me? time enough enough time
I don't think she's _____ to pass that test. smart enough enough smart
He's lived in Kerikeri ______ he was a young man. since for
I've been thinking about you ______ the past few hours. since for
She goes to school _____. every day everyday
Peter has an ______ meeting at ten. everyday every day
_____ wants to have some fun some of the time! Everyone Every one
I'll hand out the sheet to _____. everyone every one
17 Answers
Thanks MC for posting this!!
Where is Tom? Has he gone to the bank?
I've been to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store. Then come home.
Let's to to the store then come home. - *the 'then' is perfect, 'then come home' is a dependent clause and can't be separated - if you like you can use a comma but using commas to offset certain adverbs is optional: then, so, yet.
Auckland is larger than Kaeo
I sent the package to Don.
I think you should come to this meeting, too.
There is plenty for everyone!
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun.
Let's discuss whether we should go or not.
They were wondering whether to come or not.
Do you have enough time to help me?
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test.
He's lived in Kerikeri since he was a young man.
I've been thinking about you for the past few hours.
She goes to school every day.
Peter has an everyday meeting at ten.
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time!
I'll hand out the sheet to every one.
There were a couple near the end that made me doubt a little, I don't know
Where is Tom? Has he gone to the bank? gone been
I've been to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store then come home. than then
Auckland is larger than Kaeo. than then
I sent the package to Don. to two too
I think you should come to this meeting, too to two too
There is plenty for everyone! They're Their There
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun. they're their there
Let's discuss whether we should go or not. whether if
They were wondering whether to come or not. whether if
Do you have enough time to help me? time enough enough time
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test. smart enough enough smart
He's lived in Kerikeri since he was a young man. since for
I've been thinking about you for the past few hours. since for
She goes to school every day every day everyday
Peter has an everyday meeting at ten. everyday every day
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time! Everyone Every one
I'll hand out the sheet to every one. everyone every one
- Where is Tom? Has he _____ to the bank? gone been
In my experience, either word can be used, depending on what you mean: "gone": Tom was about to leave for the bank, has he already done so? "been": Tom was supposed to stop at the bank some time today and make a deposit. Has he done so already?
Re your - "about to go, has he already done so" it can only be 'gone' - 'been' refers to the going and coming back from a mission, 'gone' refers only to the leaving on the mission
Huh? But that's what I said! We don't know from the contextless question whether Tom has gone or been to the bank!
I've been to Venezuela twice.
Let's go to the store then come home. (Puleeeze!)
Auckland is larger than Kaeo (Puleeeze!!).
I sent the package to Don.
I think you should come to this meeting, too.
7.There is plenty for everyone!
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun.
Let's discuss if we should go or not.
The verb 'discuss' generally takes whether rather than if.
Sez who? 
They were wondering whether to come or not. (USAGE: If and whether are more or less interchangeable in sentences like : I'll see if he left an address and : I'll see whether he left an address, although whether is generally regarded as more formal and suitable for written use. But, although if and whether are often interchangeable, a distinction worth noting is that if is also used in conditional constructions and whether in expressing an alternative or possibility. Thus, : tell me if you’re going to be in town next week could be strictly interpreted as 'you need not reply if you are not going to be in town,' whereas : tell me whether you’re going to be in town next week clearly means 'a reply is desired one way or the other.')
Do you have enough time to help me? This lends itself to a certain amount of ambiguity and discussion.
Adjective / Adverb + Enough
When 'enough' modifies an adjective or an adverb place it after the adjective / adverb (before for nouns only):
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test.
She's lived in Kerikeri since she was a young woman.
I've been thinking about you forthe past few hours.
She goes to school every day. (USAGE The adjective everyday, 'pertaining to every day, ordinary,' is correctly spelled as one word ( : carrying out their everyday activities), but the adverbial phrase every day, meaning 'each day,' is always spelled as two words ( : it rained every day))
Peter has an everyday meeting at ten. (Eugh! I'd use "daily")
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time!
I'll hand out the sheet to every one. Somewhat awkward sentence, I think. Technically it is impossible to hand the same single sheet to every one; so it ought to be "one sheet" to every one.
ppsshca!
has/have gone to ... refers to someone who has gone to a place but has not yet returned.
Nonsense. e.g. "Have you ever been to Mexico?" - "Yes. I've gone there every summer for the last five years. " (Of course "Yes, I've been there many times." would also be possible but "Yes. I've been there every summer for the last five years. " would be quite odd.).
When enough modifies a noun, place enough before the noun:
Certainly the more common construction but there's nothing wrong with noun+"enough" e.g. Andrew Marvell's "Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, lady, were no crime."
Peter has an ______ meeting at ten. everyday every day
While one of these is technically correct, saying or writing either one will immediately identify you as a non-native speaker.
Where is Tom? Has he gone to the bank? gone been
I've been to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store then come home. than then
Auckland is larger than Kaeo. than then
I sent the package to Don. to two too
I think you should come to this meeting, too. to two too
There is plenty for everyone! They're Their There
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun. they're their there
Let's discuss whether we should go or not. whether if
They were wondering whether to come or not. whether if
Do you have enough time to help me? time enough enough time
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test. smart enough enough smart
He's lived in Kerikeri since he was a young man. since for
I've been thinking about you for the past few hours. since for
She goes to school everyday everyday
Peter has a meeting at ten. every day everyday
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time! Everyone Every one
I'll hand out the sheet to every one
Poetry doesn't have to follow the rules of grammar because it has, well, poetic license. However, you are correct on both points.
I was certain that someone would bring up "poetic license" . However, the fact that some poetry takes liberties with the language does not mean that all poetry does. Even poetry that does violate the norms of speech does so in parts. An ungrammatical construction/phrase in a poem does not automatically invalidate all the constructions therein. In this particular case, the more "natural" (prosaic, if I may be permitted that pun) would be "If we had world and time enough (or, equally, "time and world enough") and the "license" lies in separating the nouns (obviously so as to be able to get the "time"/"crime" rhyme.
I chose to quote Marvell because 1) the line immediately popped into my mind (or from the depths to the surface of my mind), 2) I would expect anyone with a serious interest in English to have, at least, a passing familiarity with the poem (it is, after all rather famous) and 3) it's the only example from a widely published source that I can think of. The OED has "a. with n. in sing., which it usually follows." The citations contain a mix of n+a and a+n constructions with the a+n constructions predominating (as one might expect).
I have no argument with anyone who says that the a+n is more common. It is only the assertion that the n+a is wrong that I find objectionable.
I suspect that we all have a tendency to to promote our language preferences to the status of rules; to want to substitute "this is what you should say" for "this is what I (and, perhaps, (all/most) of my friends) say." However natural the tendency, language is a matter of convention. We must agree on certain things if we are to communicate. As with all agreements, this implies a certain degree of "give and take" (a tolerance for alternatives).
The sentence "There will be time enough for that, later." sounds, to me, at least as natural (and in some ways better, though the emphasis is slightly different) than "There will be enough time for that, later"
Bien hecho a todos
As we know some of our native Spanish speakers have a legendary grasp of the English language which can been seen from their responses - very impressive! Although, of course, we would expect no less from them je je
If however you may have made a couple of mistakes don't feel at all bad I'm sure if a group of native English speakers sat the same test they would also make a number of mistakes between them! Also the upside is that now you've been able to isolate some errors and that's the first step to fixing them - onwards and upwards!
If you got caught with a few here's the reasons why things are the way the are
(Please don't shoot the messenger as all of the following is sourced (although condensed) from published material):
Waiver - although these answers have all been sourced from published material, written by people who you would expect to know what they're talking about, obviously most rules have exceptions and some of them will be wide open for debate (as verified by the plethora of comments found in and around the thread )
I am now quietly skulking away to my corner and it is very doubtful that I will come out for quite some time - as far as English quizes go at least, one good thing about Spanish is that everyone expects me to make lots of mistakes and when I do no one gets cranky!
NOTES: including edits in bold & brackets
Has gone to vs. Has been to (there will be exceptions to this but generally this rule works)
... has/have gone to ... refers to someone who has gone to a place but has not yet returned.
... has/have been to ... refers to a place which someone has visited sometime in his life. In other words, "has been to" refers to an experience.
Then vs. Than
Then is used as a time expression. Than is used for comparisons.
Too vs. Two vs. To
Too means "also" and is generally used at the end of a sentence. "Too" also indicates too much of a particular quality.
Two is the written form of the number 2.
To is generally used as a preposition. It is also used as part of the infinitive form of verbs.
They're vs. There vs. Their
They're is the contracted form of They are. This form is used in sentences using "they" as the subject of the sentence with the verb "to be" used as either the helping verb (e.g. They're going ..., They're playing ...) or the principal verb of the sentence.
There is used as an introductory subject is sentences with "There is" and "There are". It is also used as an adverb of place meaning "in that place". (eg over there)
Their is the possessive pronoun form. This form is used to express that "they" have a specific quality, or that something belongs to "them".
Whether / If
Both whether and if are used to introduce a yes/no question:
The verb 'discuss' generally takes whether rather than if. (Yes you will get away with using 'if' and many consider it perfectly acceptable.)
Use only whether after prepositions: Use only whether before infinitives:
Generally, whether is considered more formal than if.
Enough
Adjective / Adverb + Enough
When enough modifies an adjective or an adverb place enough after the adjective / adverb:
Enough + Noun
When enough modifies a noun, place enough before the noun: (- this is the normal structure but you will come across exceptions, some used frequently.)
Since vs. For with Present Perfect
Since is used with the present perfect to express that something has happened since a point in time.
For is used with the present perfect to express that something has happened for a period of time.
Everyday Use everyday as an adjective to mean 'daily'.
Every day Use every day as a time expression to mean 'each day'.
Everyone Use everyone as a pronoun to mean all the people in a group.
Every one Use every one as a noun to indicate each person.
(Obviously there was some ambiguity in the sample I gave for 'every one' but the rule stands.)
Thank you to everyone who participated and to everyone who left their comments.
Although I'm always keen to give back to the 'hablohispante' part of this forum who I feel work so hard on our behalf I was kind of dreading the comeback from those who would take issue with some of the answers.
Basically I had two paths to choose from - give sentences which reflect common every day speech but may not be technically and grammatically correct or give sentences and have their answers backed up by a grammatical rule. As you can see I chose the latter as it at least gave me some leg to stand on.
Please don't get me wrong I agree very much that language evolves and to some extent what the people are speaking is going to be correct, sometimes the grammarians are just going to have to catch up and revise their books. But at the end of the day I will stick by my decision to post a quiz based on grammatical rules & notes to hand - I'm sure I would have copped a lot more flack if my answers reflected the English that we Kiwi's speak or my own reasonings as to why things should be a particular way.
Just one comment with the first sentence - Pesta did try to save me from myself suggesting that I either move that one further down the list or ditch it completely lol and it certainly seems to have generated the biggest controversy.
For the record, regarding this sentence, I do agree that if you want to force the issue you could make 'been' fit if you're expecting Tom to be where you are - but if you just take it on face value that Tom isn't there (that's why the first bit of the sentence asks where he is) then the logical answer would be 'gone. Also the following question may add to the logic by showing the other choice. But, as with most things that allow for the slightest ambiguity it is up for debate :p
I hope that those who participated at least enjoyed and and at best learnt something from the quiz and when I've bathed my wounds I may be back with another
PS sorry Dogwood I'm going to have to stick with my learnt - your learned sounds just as strange to me as mine does to you - unless I'm using it in the 'learned old man' kind of way, and then I'd be saying it differently anyway, lol English language can be such a funny old thing!
Where is Tom? Has he _____ to the bank? gone been.
I've _____ to Venezuela twice. gone been
Both could be correct, depending on meaning.
Let's go to the store ______ come home. then
Auckland is larger ______ Kaeo. than
I sent the package _____ Don. to
I think you should come to this meeting, _____. too
_____ is plenty for everyone! There
I went to _____ party last weekend. It was a lot of fun. their
Let's discuss ______ we should go. [or not] omit. whether
They were wondering ______ to come. whether
Do you have ______ to help me? enough time
I don't think she's _____ to pass that test. smart enough
He's lived in Kerikeri ______ he was a young man. since
I've been thinking about you ______ the past few hours. for
She goes to school _____. every day
Peter has an ______ meeting at ten. everyday
_____ wants to have some fun some of the time! Everyone
I'll hand out the sheet to _____. everyone
Where is Tom? Has he gone to the bank? gone been
I've been to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store then come home. than then
Auckland is larger than Kaeo. than then
I sent the package to Don. to two too
I think you should come to this meeting, too. to two too
There is plenty for everyone! They're Their There
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun. they're their there
Let's discuss whether we should go or not. whether if
They were wondering whether to come or not. whether if
Do you have enough time to help me? time enough enough time
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test. smart enough enough smart
He's lived in Kerikeri since he was a young man. since for
I've been thinking about you for the past few hours. since for
She goes to school every day. every day everyday
Peter has an everyday meeting at ten. everyday every day
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time! Everyone Every one
I'll hand out the sheet to every one. everyone every one
Responses From the Heart of Dixie:
'Round here 
The first two sentences could have either word without a problem. But then again, we are sloppy with our grammar.
Has he been/gone to the bank?
I've been/gone to Venezuela twice.
Also, if you were to say "Let's discuss ______ we should go or not." You would most likely say "if", but if you wanted to sound "highfalutin" you would say "whether". We don't care, either is acceptable, but we prefer you to not be highfalutin.
This sentence doesn't exist in our world.
Peter has an ______ meeting at ten. everyday every day
In our world, Peter has a meeting _____ at ten everyday, every day
Just so you know, around here, we don't care whether or not Peter's meeting is everyday or every day, all we care is that that word come after the word meeting.
Where is Tom? Has he gone to the bank?
I've been to Venezuela twice. gone been
Let's go to the store. Then come home.
Auckland is larger than Kaeo
I sent the package to Don.
I think you should come to this meeting, too.
There is plenty for everyone!
I went to their party last weekend. It was a lot of fun.
Let's discuss whether we should go or not.
They were wondering whether to come or not.
Do you have enough time to help me?
I don't think she's smart enough to pass that test.
He's lived in Kerikeri since he was a young man.
I've been thinking about you for the past few hours.
She goes to school every day.
Peter has an everyday meeting at ten.
Everyone wants to have some fun some of the time!
I'll hand out the sheet to every one.
There are a lot of errors in the "correct" answers:
"Has Tom been to the bank?" does not mean "Has Tom ever been to the bank in his life?", it means "Has Tom been to the bank since some implied time?". It does ask if the trip to the bank has been completed, but it doesn't ask if he has returned.
A few further points to ponder:
If you get in your car and start driving to a party, but get in an accident before you arrive and have to go to the hospital, did you go to the party?
If you went to the location of the party, but arrived after it was over, did you go to the party?
If you had just entered the party and suddenly collapsed and did not regain consciousness until the next day, did you go to the party?
"Everyday" is an adjective with many meanings, but it is less commonly applied to the noun "meeting" than the adjective "logarithmic" is applied to "sunset."
"I'll hand out the sheet to everyone." is correct.
"I'll hand out the sheet to every one of the students." is correct.
"I'll hand out the sheet to every one." is incorrect and begs the question "Every one of what?" The non-compound modified pronoun "every one" is almost always followed by a prepositional phrase except in set phrases like "each and every one" at the end of a sentence.
There are minor grammatical distinctions between whether and if, but "discuss if" is grammatically correct. Adding a superfluous "or not" doesn't even trigger the usual selection of options. The comments on prepositions and infinitives were correct.
Response to "Bien Hecho":
I think this is a good illustration of the contrast of "English by the book" vs. "English as it's used" (or any language, for that matter). Yes, it is good to learn the rules and do some formal studying, but then if one wishes to "blend" within a group of native speakers, one has to throw the book overboard and start listening.
As someone else pointed out, words like "whether" tend to be considered "uppity" in some circles, so they are never used. Likewise words like "been" and "gone" may have rules defined for them, but many native speakers ignore them. In England, for example, my experience was that people hardly ever used "gone", preferring "been" instead.
It is also worth noticing that English grammar and dictionaries are far more dependent on usage and custom, than on strict rules. (In contrast to Spanish, for example, where the Real Academia may eventually agree to modify some rules after a different usage has been observed for decades).
So I learned English by reading and by listening to regular folk speak, and thus I have never really had much use for "grammar rules", as such. I rely on spell checkers for my grammar and spelling. When speaking, people always understand me.
