Do you make these mistakes in English? Common pronunciation and vocabulary mistakes

1: I'm going to make some exercises  before breakfast tomorrow. 

2: Oh, you mean you're going to do some exercises? 1: Right. Thanks. And after that,  

I’m going to do a quick meal. 2: Well, you make a meal, so that's incorrect! 

1: Oh okay! After eating, I'll  probably… make the cleaning in my room. 

2: Hmm, you will DO the cleaning, not make. 1: So confusing! Now I’m going to DO a phone call 

2: You make a phone call, not do! "Hello, everyone! I’m Kate and this  

is English Lessons with Kate channel. Today  we're going to talk about the most common  

mistakes in English. Let's go!" Mistake #1: 'Make' vs. 'Do' 

"Make" and "do" are both action words in English.  They can be tricky for people learning English  

because sometimes they are used in similar ways. "Do" is often used when talking about work, jobs,  

or tasks. For example. Do your homework. I need to  do the laundry. She does a lot of work every day. 

Actions that are regular  or routine often use "do." 

For example. I do the dishes every  evening. He does the shopping on Saturdays. 

"Make" is used when we  create or produce something. 

For example: She made a cake for my birthday.  They are making a documentary about wildlife. 

When an action results in a specific  outcome, we use "make". Make a  

decision. Make a mistake. Make a promise. Let’s move on to the next mistake which my  

students make all the time. Mistake #2: Hair vs Hairs 

1. Your hairs are so long! "How did you grow….?” 2. Hair, not hairs. Actually,  

you should say 'Your hair is so long.' 1. But why? You have so many hair?... 

2. You cannot say – MANY  hair. Hair is uncountable. 

What? When we talk  

about all the hair on someone's head, we just  say "hair". "Your hair is long." Short hair,  

curly hair, straight hair. BUT If we are talking  about a few pieces of hair, then we say "hairs".  

Like, "There are some hairs on your shirt." So, "Your hairs are so long!" is not right.  

It should be "Your hair is so long!" Now let’s talk about pronunciation  

mistakes. Mistake #3: Silent Letters Another common pronunciation mistake is:  

Pronouncing Silent Letters 1 - I need to cut these apples.  

Give me a knife please. 2 -Sorry, what? 

1 -A knife 2 - Oh, you mean a knife. The k is silent. 

1 -Yes, a knife 2 - Now I'm going to.... Knead the dough.

1 - What? It's correct to say nead the dough... 2 – Yeah, to knead the dough 

The letter K before N is not  pronounced. Like in such words  

as – knock, knight, knees, know and so on. What about this word? How would you read it? It’s  

not salmon, it’s salmon. Mispronouncing ‘Salmon’  is also a very popular mistake. In this case,  

we kept the silent 'l'. The same rule is  for the words – calm, almond, palm, half.

Mistake #4: Confusing ‘V’ and ‘W’ This one's tricky for many of my  

students! vent vs. went , veer vs. weer ,  vow vs. wow Can you hear the difference? The  

difference lies in the position of your teeth  and lips. When you pronounce V sound, you bite  

your bottom lip with your upper teeth. When you  pronounce W sound, you make your lips round [w]. 

It’s very important to work on your pronunciation.  And now I want to show you guys an amazing app for  

improving your pronunciation: ELSA speak,  which is the sponsor of today's video.  

Elsa Speak is a unique English app that uses  innovative artificial intelligence technology. 

This app pinpoints your mistakes in English  pronunciation. You speak into the app,  

it recognizes your voice and gives you feedback  on how to pronounce words correctly. Let me show  

you guys how it works. I chose the  advanced level. Going to the store.  

Going to the store. The best part is that it gives you a score  

based on how close you sound to a native speaker. Ice-cream or Vatermelon? Let's intentionally  

make a mistake. Ice-cream or Vatermelon? You see guys. I pronounced some sounds  

wrong. If you mispronounced any sounds,  you can click on them and listen to the  

correct way they should be pronounced. I really love this app because you  

can learn anywhere and anytime. It helps  improve your pronunciation and vocabulary,  

and you get better at speaking English. Now go  ahead and download it right now for free and get  

7 days of pro membership for free. The link is  in the description and in the pinned comment. 

ELSA Speak offers over 1,600 lessons and more  than 40 topics to practice. The app has real  

life topics that range from business topics like  Everyday Office Conversation, Job Interview,  

Business Travel, Sales meetings, to  casual everyday topics like Movies,  

Food and Drink, Education and Entertainment. I also have an exclusive discount for you guys, to  

get 40% off of one-year membership and an amazing  85% off of the lifetime membership. The link is  

in the description and in the pinned comment.  Give it a try and let me know if you like it.

Let’s move on to the next common  mistake. Pronouncing ‘Colonel’ 

‘This word’ may look like 'col-o-nel'  but surprise! It's 'KER-nel'. English  

borrowed words from various languages. The word "colonel" originates from French.  

In the word "colonel," we don't say the  "o" or the second "l". We say an "r" sound,  

even though it's not in the word.  An odd one, but now you know! 

Mistake #6: Mispronouncing 'th' Well guys, how would you read this word?  

It’s not zing and it’s not ding but THING. We put  the tongue against the upper teeth and blowing  

out. Thing. I hear that mistake very often. What about this word? It's not 'zat' or 'dat'  

but 'that', /ð/ with the tongue against the  upper teeth. We make a voiced sound /ð/.

Mistake #7: Mispronouncing ‘Comfortable’ 

While the word looks like it should be  'com-for-ta-ble', the common and more  

natural pronunciation is "kʌmf-t'-b'l" This is a very common pronunciation  

mistake. After a long day, I love  sitting in my comfortable chair to relax.

Mistake #8: ‘Dessert’ vs ‘Desert’ What do you call this? Is it a desert  

or a dessert? This is a dessert. A sweet food  that you eat after the main part of a meal. 

And this is a desert. A large, dry area of  land with very few plants and little rainfall. 

Have you ever made this mistake? If  you have, let me know in the comments.

Mistake #9: ‘Borrow’ vs ‘Lend’ English learners often confuse  

these two words. “Can I lend your book?’  This is a classic mistake! Remember,  

'borrow' means you take something,  and 'lend' means you give something." 

"Can I BORROW your book?"  - "I'll LEND you my book." 

Mistake #10: ‘Effect’ vs. ‘Affect’ They sound similar. Easy to confuse,  

but here's a clue: 'A' for action, so 'affect'  is usually the verb. On the other hand,  

'effect' is the end result or outcome." For  example, have you ever heard about domino effect? 

One domino falls, and it makes the others fall  too. That's the effect. If you take out a domino,  

it will affect how the remaining dominoes  fall, possibly stopping the chain reaction.

Mistake #11: ‘Your’ vs. ‘You’re’ This mistake deals with spelling  

and writing. 'You’re' is a contraction  of 'you are'. Apostrophes often indicate  

that something is missing. You’re a  student. You’re the smartest student. 

'Your' is all about possession. Your  goal is to write English words correctly. 

It's your choice to understand the difference. Mistake #12: 'Then' vs. 'Than'  

This is a common spelling mistake. "‘Then’ relates  to time, while ‘than’ is used for comparisons. 

She’s taller THAN her brother. We’re comparing. I’ll call you THEN. We’re talking about time.

Thank you for watching this video! I hope you  enjoyed it! If you want more enriching content,  

you can send me a Superthanks! It motivates  me a lot to create new videos for you. 

Did you make any of the mistakes I talked about  today? Please let me know in the comments below. 

Remember, everyone, even native speakers make  mistakes. So don’t be discouraged by a few errors. 

If you enjoyed this lesson, make sure  to hit the like button and subscribe for  

more videos like this! Until next  time, keep practicing! See you!