Fix Your Mistakes: 3 Common English Errors with Adjectives

In this lesson, I'll show you how to correct three very common mistakes made

in English grammar, and those are to do with adjectives. Okay? Now, what are

"adjectives"? "Adjectives" are the words that we use to describe a noun or a

pronoun. What is a "noun"? A "noun" is usually a person, a place, or a thing.

Okay? And "adjectives" are words like these, for example: "good" or "bad".

Right? You could have a good day or a bad day, or they're... You could talk

about a "short" person, a "tall" person. Right? "Happy" or "sad" — a "happy"

event, a "sad" event; a "fast" car or a "slow" car; "hot" weather or "cold"

weather. Right? In all these cases, all these words are adjectives. And there

are some very common mistakes that occur when people of different language

backgrounds use adjectives in English because English adjectives behave

differently than the adjectives in their language. In particular, if you speak

Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, or Vietnamese, you will

especially benefit from this lesson because in your languages, the situation

is different. Okay? So, let's see what these mistakes are and how to correct

them. Here we go.

So, the first mistake that sometimes happens when we're using adjectives is

in the order— okay? — the order of the adjective in the sentence. For example,

this is the common mistake that is made: "They have a house big." So, what was

wrong here? The order; the placement of the adjective. So, in English, we never

say: "They have a house big", we say: "They have a big house", "He has a red

car". So, in all of these cases, "big" was the adjective, "red" was the

adjective. And all of these adjectives in English have to come before the noun,

and not after, as in many other languages. All right? So, be especially

careful of that if your language has the reverse order. Okay? Keep the order this

way — with the adjective, generally speaking, before the noun.

Next, another mistake that sometimes happens, again, because of language

influences, is with agreement. What does that mean? Let's look at the example.

The mistake is: "Those houses are very bigs." So, here, the person tried to

make the adjective match the word "houses". But in English, we don't do

that. We don't need to do that. In English, the adjective doesn't change.

That's all. For example: "Those houses are very big." So, in this sentence,

even though we're talking about many houses, we don't have to make it plural.

If... Also, in English, it doesn't have to agree in terms of singular and

plural. It also doesn't have to agree in terms of gender; male or female. Okay?

In English, things don't have any gender. Okay? Chairs, tables — it's not

that something is masculine or feminine, as in many other languages. In English,

things have no gender, so you don't have to match it in that way. Not because

it's singular or plural, not because it's male or female, or masculine or

feminine — it doesn't matter. The adjective stays the same. Okay? So, we

say: "Those houses are very big", "Those cars are red". Right? We don't need to

change that word, just because what we were referring to was something plural.

Okay? So, that's another point to keep in mind.

The third point is to do with comparison. When do adjectives change?

When we use them to compare something. So, for example, this is a mistake:

"This house is more big than that one." In English, that's not the rule that we

follow for all adjectives. Now, there is a separate lesson on... that I have made

on comparison adjectives and how to use them. If you make mistakes of this kind

— here, I'm just going to review it very basically — but you should watch the

entire lesson on comparative adjectives to understand this... this rules and how

they work. Okay? So, let's look at some quick examples. So, this is incorrect in

English. What it should be is: "This house is bigger than that one." Or:

"That test was harder"; not "more hard" — "harder".

So, how do you know when to say the... add the "er" or when to say "more"?

Well, again very quickly, the rule is something like this: If your adjective —

the original word, the adjective, like this — is a very short one with one

syllable, like "big", then when we want to make it comparative, we just add

"er", or sometimes we double the letter, but the sound is basically: "big",

"bigger". Okay? "Hot", "hotter"; "cold", "colder". Got it? Now, if the original

adjective is one or two syllables, but ends with a "y", then, for example,

"easy" — right? — two syllables: "easy" or "busy", two syllables ending with

"y", then we cancel the "y" and we add "ier", so: "easy", "easier". "This test

is easy. That test was easier." Okay? "This week, I'm busy. Last week, I was

busier." Okay? And if the original adjective is two or more syllables, but

no "y" or anything like that, then we have to use the word "more" before that

to make it comparative. "That house is modern, but this house is more modern."

Okay? So, that's the basic rule. But again, if you make any of these kind of

mistakes, then I suggest you do watch the fuller video, so you really

understand this part very well and you don't keep making these mistakes

forever. Because I have seen that many students struggle with this particular

point. They do usually get this point, they usually get this; but this

sometimes takes a little more practice, so make sure you do that. Okay? Now,

let's practice these and see if you can master them right now. Okay? Let's do

that.

All right. So, now, I've written eight sentences on the board. And just for you

to know, they all have mistakes, and you're going to help me correct them.

Okay? So, let's get started. We'll correct them and then we will say the

right one. Okay? So, number one: "Today is more hot than yesterday." That

student made a mistake. Can you check it and correct it? What should it be?

"Today is hotter... hotter than yesterday". Okay? Say it after me:

"Today is hotter than yesterday." Good. Okay. Number two: "I'd like a coffee

large, please." So, this friend of ours also made a mistake. Can you correct it?

It should be: "I'd like a... I'd like a large coffee, please. I'd like a large

coffee, please." So, what happened here? Here, the order was wrong. Here, it was

comparison. Okay? So, say this one after me: "I'd like a large coffee, please."

All right? Also, when you're learning English, or any language, say what

you're learning out loud; it helps you, not only when you write your exercises,

but when your ears can hear it. Correct? Then you can... you can learn much

faster because you will... after a while, your ear will tell you: "No, that

doesn't sound right." And that's a great stage to reach. Okay?

Number three: "Those flowers are beautifuls." That's wrong. It should be:

"Those flowers are beautiful." Say it after me: "Those flowers are beautiful."

In this case, the student mistakenly thought that because this was plural

that they had to make that plural, but no. In English, the adjective always

stays the same in terms of agreement. Okay? That was a mistake of agreement.

Number four: "She works in a company high tech." That's wrong. What should it

be? "She works in a... in a high-tech company". "High-tech" is the adjective

here and "company" is the noun. So, say it after me: "She works in a high-tech

company." Okay? So, this was also a mistake of order. Okay? Remember, the

adjective goes where? Before the noun. That's it. All right. Number five:

"Laptops are more cheap now." That's wrong. It should be what? Think about

it. "Laptops are cheaper now." Say it after me: "Laptops are cheaper now."

Okay? Good. Good. You're getting it.

Number six, also a mistake: "Many differents shirts are on sale." That's

incorrect. It should be: "Many different shirts... Many different shirts are on

sale." That was a mistake of agreement. Say it after me: "Many different shirts

are on sale." Good. Number seven: "The malls are more busy after six pm."

That's incorrect. Let's say it correctly now: "The malls are busier" — good.

Let's say the whole sentence: "The malls are busier after six pm." Good. And

number eight. Sorry. So, that one was a mistake of what? Of comparison. Right?

And number eight: "She gave me some advice good." That's incorrect. You know

by now. It should be what? "She gave me some good advice." So, this was a

mistake in the order. Okay? So, as you can see, these are three very common

areas in which students sometimes make mistakes. In case you are making any of

these mistakes, this is the chance to stop doing that once you realize that in

English, it doesn't quite work that way. So, really practice that. Okay?

And also what you can do: Go to our website at www.engvid.com. There, you

can do a test on this; a little quiz just to review it, make sure you've

really got it so that these kind of mistakes are gone. And one step at a

time, one mistake at a time, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it — and

your English will improve every single day. All right? So, to get more lessons

like this, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. And don't forget to

ring the bell so that you know whenever I have a new lesson that is out. Okay?

Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now. All the best with your English.