5 Common English Learner Mistakes

Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "5 Common New

English Learner Mistakes". So in this lesson, I'll be looking at mistakes that I have heard

in my time as a teacher from students from various parts of the world. So these are mistakes

that are made by Spanish speakers, Portuguese speakers, German speakers, Korean speakers,

and they might apply to you as well. These are mistakes that kind of cross over and that

are very common. So let's start with the first one. Let's look at No. 1.

Okay, so this is, actually, a double mistake that I commonly hear when you're discussing

a subject and you want someone to give you an opinion on something. So for example, "Do

you prefer Coke or Pepsi?" Or "Do you prefer this or that?" And some people will say, "Well,

it's depend." Or "Hmm, it depends of (...)" So "It depends of the season." "It depends of

the person." "It depends of the society or the country" or something like this. So what

is wrong with this? Well, we don't say, "it's depend". We say "it depends", "it depends".

Okay? So we don't say, "it's depend". The correct form is: "it depends". And for this,

this is okay: "it depends", right? The only problem is the preposition that you're using.

We don't say "of" in English; we say "it depends on", okay? So "it depends on the person."

"It depends on the country." "It depends on the time of day." Whatever topic you're discussing.

Okay, guys, let's move on to No. 2. So for the second one, this is, actually,

a verb choice error, and maybe languages, when you talk about eating, you use the verb

"take". So you can "take a Coke", or "take your coffee in the morning", or you "take

breakfast", "take dinner". In English, it's a little different. So here, we have two sentences.

The first one says: "I took a coffee this morning." Now, when you look at it, maybe

you went to a coffee shop, and you say, "Yeah, I will take a coffee." Okay. Not too much

wrong with that. That's okay. However, when you're talking about the act of drinking the

coffee, we use the verb "have" in English. Okay? So you didn't "take" a coffee; you say

"I had" in the past, right? "I had a coffee this morning." Same thing for the second one.

So this one says: "I take dinner around six." Well, in English, we don't really say, "I

take dinner around six." We say, "I have dinner", okay? So when you're talking about food, you

"have breakfast", "have lunch", "have dinner", "have coffee". You "have pizza". You "have

a sandwich". Anything to do with food, use the verb "have". Now, let's move on to No.3.

Okay, so this one is, actually, a preposition

error, and it's when people use "for" when they mean to use an infinitive. So for example,

"I use it for go to work." Imagine you have a car, and people and you, "What do you use

your car for?" You know, do you drive around a lot, or you say, "No, no. I only use it

to go to work", right? So we don't say "for go", we use "to go". Now, why do we do this?

Well, when you have a verb and you follow that verb with either a pronoun or an object

of some kind, the verb afterwards has to be an infinitive, okay? So also, if you look

down here, "I need glasses for read." Well, we know it's "to read". And: "She ran for

catch the bus." "She ran to catch the bus." Again, there are some verbs, as you know,

which are only followed by gerunds, some verbs which are only followed by infinitives. So

here, if you want to have a verb and you want to use another verb, another action after

that verb -- so "she ran to catch the bus" -- it has to be a gerund or infinitive. An

"infinitive" is "to" plus the base verb, okay? So don't say, "I use it for do", "for do something."

"I use it to do something." "I need glasses to read", not "for read". Okay? So if you

ever have, you know, the desire to have a verb plus another action, either use a gerund

or in this case, it's not "for do something", it's "to do" something. All right, guys. Let's

look at No. 4. So this one is, actually, an adjective choice

error, and it's the difference between -ing and -ed adjectives. So when you feel something

internally, inside -- it's a personal feeling -- you should be using an -ed adjective, not

an -ing adjective. So all three examples on the board here are, actually, incorrect. So

the first one says, "I am exciting about that." So if you have, like, high interest in something

that's coming up, like a concert, you are not exciting about it; you are excited,

all right? You say, "I am excited." It's an internal feeling, okay? The second one, "He is interesting

in music." You want to say that he has interest in music. So "He is interested"; "he is personally

interested"; "he has an internal interest." And finally, "I feel so boring." This means

that you are a boring person, and other people think you are boring, you are not interesting,

which is not a good thing to say about yourself. So you say, "Oh, my goodness, I feel so bored."

Okay? "I'm bored." That's it. Okay, guys, so again, if it's internal, it's an -ed adjective.

If it's external, it's -ing. So you say, "I am excited because the class is exciting."

"I am interested because the movie is interesting." So let's move on to the last one, No. 5.

This final one is, actually, the difference between "it is" and "is". Now, I know in many

languages, you can start a sentence, a statement, with "is". In English, you can start a question

with "is", a yes/no question, no problem. "Is it cold today?" "Is he here?" "Is it easy?

Like, is it an easy test?" Okay? However, when you make a statement, you cannot say

"is good", "is easy", "is not a problem". You have to say "it is". In English, you need

the subject, okay? So for these, we don't say "is good"; we say "It's good!" "It's easy!"

"It's not a problem!" Okay? And all of these mean "it is", "it is", "it is". So not "is

good"; "It's good". Not "is easy"; "It's easy". Not "is not a problem"; "It's not a problem".

All right, guys, so let's review these five common new English learner mistakes.

Okay, so No. 1: We say, "it depends" or "it depends on". We don't say "it's depend" or

"it depends of". No. 2: We say, "I'm having sushi for dinner"; not "I'm taking sushi",

okay? So anything with food, use the verb "have". No. 3: "I visit EngVid to improve

my English". Not "for improve", but "to improve". And No. 4: "I am excited about that"; not

"I am exciting for that." If it's internal, you are "excited"; you are "interested"; you

are "bored"; you are "horrified". Okay? And finally: "It's fantastic", not "is fantastic".

If you'd like to test your understanding of these five very common new English learner

mistakes, as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And don't forget to

subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks, guys.