Eliminate these 3 English Mistakes to Speak Clearly (Easy Fix + Test!)

- Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to  English with Lucy. Today we're going to break  

down three of the most common speaking and  writing mistakes and I'm going to teach you  

how to never make them again. An essential part  of this lesson is the free PDF that I've made  

for you. It contains everything we're going to  go through today and a quiz. You can test your  

understanding. If you'd like to download  that, click on the link in the description  

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the PDF will arrive directly in your email inbox  and you'll then receive all of my news, updates,  

and course offers. It's a free service and you  can unsubscribe at any time. I would also like  

to remind you that we have just updated our free  online level test. You can use this level test as  

a guide to understanding which level of English  you may have from A1 all the way to C2. Now you  

can view your answers after each round and see  how many you got correct or incorrect. Again,  

it's free. The answers will be sent to you via  email. The link is in the description box. Okay,  

let's get started with the first mistake  I want to help you correct. It has to be  

subject-verb agreement. And more specifically  the difficulty with subject-verb agreement when  

using noun phrases and collective nouns.  So noun phrases are groups of words that  

function as a noun such as "the tall man  with the red hat," "my friend's mum,"  

"her dog's bone." Collective nouns refer to a  group of people, animals, or things such as team,  

family, flock. Now, one of the challenges with  noun phrases is that they can be quite long  

and complex, making it difficult to identify the  subject and the verb. For example, this sentence,  

"The bus that is full of hundreds of tourists is  due to arrive soon." Here we have a very long noun  

phrase as our subject. "The bus that is full of  hundreds of tourists." However, the subject at  

its core is the bus, which is a singular noun,  but it's easy to mistake tourists as the subject  

since it is the head of the noun phrase. In this  case, the verb is should agree with the singular  

subject bus, not the plural tourists. Similarly  with collective nouns, it can be challenging to  

determine whether the verb should be singular or  plural. In British English, collective nouns are  

often treated as singular or plural depending on  the context. While in American English, they are  

always treated as singular nouns. For example,  in British English you might hear, "The team is  

playing well" or "the team are playing well."  You can hear both. It's common to use singular  

verb like is when referring to a collective noun  as one single unit. Think about it like this, "The  

team as a whole is playing well." We often use a  plural verb like are with a collective noun when  

we want to emphasise the individuality of each  member of the collective noun. You can think of it  

like this. The members of the team are playing  well. So to help with subject-verb agreement  

with noun phrases and collective nouns, follow  these tips. First, identify the subject and verb.  

Take the time to identify the subject and verb in  the sentence, even if the sentence contains a long  

noun phrase or collective noun. This will help you  to determine the correct form of the verb to use.  

Next, pay attention to the number. Determine  whether the subject is singular or plural and  

use a verb that agrees in number. Remember that  the head of the noun phrase or collective noun may  

not always be the subject as we saw previously.  Finally, practise with examples. Use examples of  

noun phrases and collective nouns in sentences  and practise identifying the subject and verb,  

and determining the correct form of the verb to  use. Okay, let's move on to our next point of  

contention. Double negatives. The use of double  negatives is a common mistake made by English  

learners. This often occurs when they try to  translate a sentence from their native language,  

where double negatives may be okay, into English,  where they're generally not okay. Just in case,  

what is a double negative? A double negative  is when two negative words are used in the same  

sentence resulting in a positive meaning. There  are two common mistakes with double negatives.  

Let's look at the first one. "I don't know  nothing." "I don't know nothing." Here the  

two negatives, don't and nothing, cancel each  other out. They eliminate each other. Making the  

sentence mean the opposite of what was intended.  In this case, the sentence would technically mean,  

"I know something." To correct this mistake.  You need to be aware of the differences between  

positive and negative indefinite pronouns.  Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer  

to unspecified or unknown people or things.  Positive indefinite pronouns refer to people  

or things in a positive way without negating  or denying their existence. Some examples of  

positive indefinite pronouns include someone or  somebody, they refer to an unknown or unspecified  

person. Everyone or everybody referring to all  people. Something referring to an unknown or  

unspecified thing. Anything referring to any of  all things. Somewhere referring to an unknown  

or unspecified place. And anywhere referring to  any place or places. Anyone referring to any of  

all people. Negative indefinite pronouns on the  other hand indicate the absence or non-existence  

of people or things. Some examples of negative  indefinite pronouns include, nobody or no one,  

indicating the absence of any person. Nothing, the  absence of all things. Nowhere, no place. Neither,  

the absence of two options or choices.  And none, no options or choices exist.  

Practising using these indefinite pronouns  will help to avoid unintended double negatives.  

If we take our example from before, "I  don't know nothing," we now know that the  

negative indefinite pronoun nothing, refers to the  absence of all things. So we should use anything,  

any of all things. "I don't know anything," which  isn't true because you just learned a load of  

useful information. We could also change it to, "I  know nothing. I know nothing. I don't anything."  

They both mean the same thing. Okay, let's look at  the second mistake. Take a look at this sentence.  

"She doesn't not like coffee." Here we are  using the contraction doesn't along with not,  

but using doesn't, which is the contracted form of  does not, with an additional not, would mean that  

she does like coffee. To fix this common error  we need to follow specific sentence patterns for  

negative statements. The sentence pattern in the  present simple is auxiliary verb plus not plus  

base verb. It's common to use a contraction to  combine the auxiliary verb with not. One of the  

most important points to remember here is that the  main verb after the negative form of an auxiliary  

verb is always in its base form. For example, "I  don't eat meat" rather than "I don't ate meat."  

"She does not live in London" not "She does not  living in London." "They cannot speak Spanish" not  

"They cannot spoke Spanish." In the past simple,  you use the past simple form of the auxiliary verb  

with not and the base form of the main verb. For  example, "I didn't go to the party last night."  

"He could not finish his homework on time." "We  didn't watch the film yesterday." Remember that  

the verb to be has its own negative forms, am not,  is not, are not, was not, were not. For example,  

"I am not hungry." "She is not coming today."  "They were not happy with the results." Of course,  

this is just a basic overview to correct any  bad habits you may have formed previously. Now,  

back to that first sentence. "She doesn't  not like coffee." We do actually use this.  

If I say "I don't not like coffee," I'm saying  it's not that I hate it, I just don't like it.  

So don't be surprised if you hear native speakers  using it in this way. "I don't not like horror  

films. I just prefer comedies." Okay, let's move  on to mistake number three. Using comparatives  

and superlatives together. Something that I  hear and read frequently is English learners  

using two comparatives or superlatives together  in a sentence to describe a single noun or verb.  

However, this is a grammatical error known as  a double comparison. This error occurs when  

two words that are intended to modify the same  noun or verb are in conflict with each other  

resulting in a sentence that is grammatically  incorrect. Let's look at this sentence. "This  

dress is more prettier than that one." This  sentence is not correct. In this example,  

more is the comparative form of much and prettier  is the comparative form of pretty. Using both  

comparatives together is incorrect and results  in a double comparison. We should instead say,  

"This dress is prettier than that one." The  correct use of comparatives and superlatives  

is essential to ensure that a sentence is  clear and concise. Comparatives are used to  

compare two things while superlatives are used  to compare three or more things. For example,  

"The red car is faster than the blue car." That's  a comparative. And "The red car is the fastest of  

them all." Notice that comparatives often end  in E-R and superlatives are typically preceded  

by the and their construction consists of an  E-S-T ending. Although this isn't always the  

case. If you would like to know more about  superlative and comparative a objectives,  

I've left a link in the description box. I've  made a video all about them. To avoid the error  

of using two comparatives or superlatives together  in a sentence, it's important to ensure that you  

are only using one comparative or superlative to  modify the same noun or verb. This can be done by  

carefully considering the meaning of each word  and the context in which it's used. Let's do a  

quick comprehension check. Choose the correct  comparative or superlative to complete each  

sentence. I'll give you five seconds to answer.  Number one, "Brenda works much than Taylor"  

Harder, "Brenda works much harder  than Taylor." Number two, "That is the  

beautiful necklace I have ever seen."  

Most, "That is the most beautiful necklace  I have ever seen." Not the beautifulest  

'cause it has three syllables, so we don't add  "est." And the last one, number three, "Max is  

than me, but he is of his siblings."  

Younger, the oldest, "Max is younger than me,  but he is the oldest of his siblings." How many  

did you get right out of three? Let me know  in the comments section. If you enjoyed that,  

there are lots more exercise questions in the  PDF that you can download for free. The link is  

in the description box. Now, I know this topic  is a little bit challenging, but practise using  

comparatives and superlatives whenever you can and  it will start to come more naturally. If you're  

unsure whether a sentence contains a double  comparison or not. It can be helpful to read  

the sentence aloud and check for any awkward or  confusing phrasing. In addition it's always a good  

idea to proofread your writing carefully and seek  feedback from others to ensure that your writing  

is clear, concise, and grammatically correct.  Right, that's it for today's lesson. I hope  

you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.  Don't forget to download the free PDF. The link  

is in the description box. Also, if you want  to check your level of English, my Level Test,  

my newly improved Level Test, is a great guide. It  can give you an indication as to what your level  

of English might be. It doesn't take very long to  complete. The link is in the description. Don't  

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and my website englishwithlucy.com, where I've  got lots more lessons and a free interactive  

pronunciation tool where you can click on phonemes  and words containing those phonemes and here me  

pronounce them. It's lots of fun. Also, you can  check out all of my English courses. We've got our  

B1 and B2 course. And we are bringing out our C1  course on the 15th of May. The wait list is in the  

description box, or if you're watching this in the  future and it's already out, we will leave a link  

there. I will see you soon for another lesson.  Mwah! The bus that is full of hundreds of... The  

bus that is full of hundreds of students... What  is wrong with me? It's almost like I've filmed  

seven videos in a row! With collective nouns  it can be challenching... Challenching? Which,  

. Okay, right. Similarly with collective nouns  it can be challenging ta determine. Ta determine?  

That are intended to modify the same noun or  nerb. Nerb? Nerb! Nerb, I love that word, okay.