STOP Making These English Mistakes! FIX These 12 Common English Mistakes Immediately

Of course you want to speak  English fluently and confidently.

You want to learn new words, new  phrases, and advanced grammar concepts.

But what about removing phrases you commonly  use because they're grammatically incorrect?

Today you'll learn 12 English grammar  mistakes you need to stop making immediately.

And don't worry because you'll learn  how to correct these mistakes so you  

can expand your vocabulary with  12 common and advanced phrases.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

I'm going to put your English to the test.

You'll see a sentence and  there is a grammar mistake.

You need to identify and correct the mistake.

So let's say you want to impress  your boss and you say to your boss,  

I hardly worked today, what is the mistake here?

The mistake is mixing up, which  means confusing, hardly and hard.

The correction is do you know  what the correct sentence is?

Remember, this is to impress your boss.

I worked hard today.

Hard is an adverb and it  means with a lot of effort.

So if you want to impress your boss, you  should say I worked with a lot of effort.

I worked hard today.

Notice the structure is  subject plus verb plus hard.

I worked hard on the report.

I worked hard to finish the report.

Now the original sentence used hardly.

The sentence is grammatically correct.

Hardly is also an adverb,  but it means the opposite.

It means barely, almost not.

So if you say I hardly worked today,  it means you did very little work.

So that would not impress your boss.

Now notice the structure is different.

We have subject plus hardly  or you could use barely.

It's the same meaning.

And then your verb in this case worked.

I hardly worked on the report,  you did very little work.

I hardly worked to finish the report.

You did very little work.

So remember, use hard to show  you put in a lot of effort.

Don't worry about taking these notes because  I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the description  sentence #2 you need to identify the mistake.

I'm extremely hard working engineer.

Again, you want to impress your boss.

But what is the mistake here?

The mistake is missing article with job titles.

So the correction is how can  you correct this sentence?

I'm an extremely hard working engineer, so  remember singular job titles require articles.

This is a rule.

Your choice of article is AH and  the I'm an engineer of course,  

because engineer starts with a vowel sound.

But if you add great as your modifier  as your adjective, then you need ah.

I'm ah, great engineer because remember the  sentence structure is article, adjective, noun.

You can absolutely say I'm the  engineer, but what does this mean?

This means you're a specific engineer,  the one working on this specific project.

I'm the engineer on the project.

Or you're the only engineer in the company.

I'm the engineer.

It's only me.

Now you can think of student as a job title  and you can say I'm an amazing student.

That describes you, right?

So put that's me, that's me.

I'm an amazing student.

You're watching this lesson,  you're doing the work.

So put that's me, that's me.

I'm an amazing student.

Sentence three.

We are three on the project.

What's the mistake here?

The mistake is using We are instead of.

There are.

I hear this a lot from students,  

most likely in your native language  or that student's native language.

That's the structure.

But in English, the correction is  there are three people on the project.

So notice how I also added  the noun number plus noun.

In English we use their plus the  verb be conjugated to talk about  

the existence of something  or the number of things.

So the structure is there plus the verb be  conjugated, the number and then the noun.

For example, there is one engineer on the project.

There are, so now it will be plural.

There are three engineers with that  as because it's plural on the project.

Question 4.

Despite he was tired, he finished the report.

What's the mistake here?

The mistake is using a clause after despite.

So how do you correct this?

You can say despite being  tired, he finished the report.

This is an acceptable sentence  structure is despite plus gerund.

Another correction is do you know what  an alternative way of saying this?

Despite the fact that he was  tired, he finished the report.

So here notice I kept the clause.

But to do that you need to add some  additional words despite plus the fact.

And then that is optional.

And then the clause.

A clause is subject verb object.

It's a complete sentence.

Now a third correction is you could say  although he was tired, he finished the report.

So you can use although plus clause and although  has the same meaning as despite in this context.

Now there is a force correction.

Do you know what it could possibly be?

You could say despite his tiredness he finished  the report because you can use despite plus noun.

So did you get any of these corrections?

Question 5, What's the mistake?

If I have some questions, I'll let you know.

Do you know what the mistake is here?

It's using some instead of any.

So the correction is.

If I have any questions, I'll let you know.

If you have if or a negative you use any.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

I don't have any questions with a positive.

You use some.

I have some questions about the timeline.

You can also use ah or one.

I have a question, which  means I have one question.

So that's the singular because  remember some is plural.

I have a question, one  question about the timeline.

Now this isn't just for questions.

This is any noun.

So if you have any issues, problems, plans, ideas,  sentence 6, I look forward to hear from you.

What's the mistake?

You know this one, right?

It's using the infinitive instead of the gerund.

So the correction is I look  forward to hearing from you.

So it's to look forward to plus gerund.

Or you can use a noun.

You can say we are looking forward  to your visit and that's the noun.

Or you can use a gerund.

We were looking forward to watching the movie.

So remember you need to conjugate to look.

That's your verb.

And of course, to look forward to  means to anticipate with pleasure.

So I hope you're thinking, Jennifer, I  look forward to watching your next lesson.

You could also just use the noun form and say,  Jennifer, I look forward to your next lesson.

That's acceptable as well.

So does that describe you?

If it does, put that's right, that's  right, put that's right in the comments.

Sentence 7.

I'm used to work on a team.

What's the mistake here?

Do you see it?

The mistake is the infinitive instead  of the gerund, so the correction is.

I'm used to working on a team, so the expression  is to be used to notice that pronunciation.

Used to and then gerund or noun and this is for  a feeling of comfort with someone or something.

For example, I'm used to making YouTube lessons.

I have a feeling of comfort.

You can use this in the negative and say  she's not used to speaking in English yet.

She doesn't have that feeling of comfort.

Let's review the structure.

Subject plus use plus infinitive.

This is used for a routine past action.

I used to work on a team.

They used to live in New York.

Routine past action.

Now you can also use the structure  to get used to plus noun or gerund.

So this is to talk about the transition  from not comfortable to comfortable.

You can say she's not used  to speaking in English yet,  

so you can say she's getting  used to speaking in English.

So your verb is get to talk about that  transition and get is conjugated in the  

present continuous because  it's an action in progress.

Sentence 8, I need to understand  better the requirements.

What's the mistake?

It's the incorrect word order.

So what's the correction?

You can say two things.

I need to better understand the requirements or  I need to understand the requirements better.

Both placements of the  adverb better are acceptable.

So the adverb comes before the infinitive verb  or the adverb comes after the verb and object.

So at the end of the sentence, sentence 9, I  had a difficult time to contact the client.

What's the mistake here?

Again, it's an infinitive instead of a gerund.

So the correction is I had a  difficult time contacting the client.

So the structure is to have plus article  plus adjective plus time plus gerund.

Now you can use a positive adjective.

We had remember your verb is have so you conjugate  that We had an easy time contacting the client.

She always has a frustrating  time contacting the client.

Now you also use the gerund when  you use to have plus problems,  

difficulties or challenges plus gerund.

You could say I had problems  contacting the client,  

or maybe you're thinking I had challenges  learning English until I found Jennifer.

Does that describe you?

Put that's right, that's right.

Put that's right in the comments, Sentence 10.

My boss has been angry in the morning.

What's the mistake here?

The mistake is using the present perfect has  been angry with a specific past time reference.

Now in the morning is a specific  past time reference because it  

represents at 9:00 AM or at 10:30.

So the correction you can say my boss was  angry in the morning because we use the past  

simple plus specific past time  reference such as in the morning.

Another correction you could say my boss has been  

angry since the morning because we  use the present perfect with sense.

This shows that the action started  in the past and continues until now.

And remember that sense represents  a starting point in time.

So since the morning is like saying  since 9:00 AM or since 10:30 AM.

You could also say my boss has  been angry lately or recently.

We use the present perfect with  lately or recently to show the  

action started in the recent  past and continues until now.

The next sentence has two mistakes.

So this is sentence 11:00 and 12:00.

I don't know how can I boiled this report down?

Can you identify one mistake?

Can you identify 2 mistakes?

Well, let's talk about mistake one.

The first one we see is using a  question structure for a statement.

So let's review a simple statement.

I don't know how I can improve my speaking skills.

Maybe you've said this.

I don't know how I can improve my speaking skills.

So here it's I don't know plus how plus clause.

So the clause is subject, verb and then object.

Remember that was a statement to ask a question.

You would say how can I, how can  I improve my speaking skills?

So here the structure is  how plus verb plus subject.

So the correction for this sentence  would be I don't know how I can.

And then what's mistake #2 it's  the wrong verb conjugation.

And in this case after the modal.

So we want modal plus base verb.

I often hear students say you  should to bring an umbrella.

This is incorrect because you want the  base verb, you should bring an umbrella.

So in this case, the correction is I don't  know how I can boil this report down.

And if you're not sure to boil something down,  

this means to summarize the most important  information, this is a separable phrasal verb.

So there are three correct structures.

How can I boil this report down?

How can I boil down this report?

Or how can I boil it down?

Amazing job correcting all these common grammar  mistakes that I hear every day from my students.

Do you want me to make another lesson like this?

If you do, put let's go, let's  go put let's go in the comments.

And of course, make sure you like this lesson,  

share it with your friends and subscribe so  you're notified every time I post a new lesson.

And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And you can keep improving your English  with this lesson and watch it now.