5 Mistakes You Need to STOP Making

- Hey! - Hey, Cass!

So I'm going to take an English exam next week, and I recorded a few sentences.

I was wondering... Could you check them for me and give me feedbackS.

Sure.

I'd be happy to give you feedback.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I meant... I meant to say feedback.

Yeah.

I got to go.

Okay. Bye bye.

Who hasn't been there before, right?

Well, we know that mistakes can be an awkward part of learning

anything in life, especially when learning a new language.

But it's okay.

Even advanced learners make mistakes.

The important thing is to address the mistake.

Embrace it and learn from it.

In today's lesson, we'll look at five common mistakes, intermediate

and advanced learners make and how you can address them.

We'll also share tips on how you can recognize your own mistakes.

Then you end with a quiz to see if you're able to spot the mistakes.

But if you're new here, welcome.

Each week we create lessons like this to help English learners

like you go from feeling like a lost and insecure English learner

to being a confident and natural English speaker.

If this sounds like something that you want to do then

be sure to join our community of over 370,000 learners

by hitting that subscribe button and bell down below

so you never miss out on any of our new lessons.

I was wondering could you check them for me and give me feedbackS?

So the mistake Brisa just made, referring to feedback

as feedbackS is quite a common one. In terms of Brisa's sentence

the word feedback is a uncountable now,

so there's no plural and no need to add a s at the end.

It's easy to get confused between countable and uncountable nouns

because some nouns might be countable in your native language and uncountable

in English.

Some common mistakes include words like baggage, bread, work, and trouble.

Let's compare countable and uncountable nouns.

This is a common confusion

learners have. The subject of the sentence, which is the person or thing

doing something

must agree with the verb, which is the action that the subject is doing.

A singular subject.

In this case you require a singular verb in this case upload.

So the correct sentence would be "Please, could you upload the files by tomorrow?"

When there are other words between the subject and the verb it's

easy to forget which words need to agree.

Here is another example.

Whenever you're learning a new grammar rule, it helps to practice it immediately.

So you remember it when speaking.

Having a speaking partner can definitely help with that.

And this is why we've created our RealLife English app.

If we use next or last plus the day of the week,

we do not use the preposition on. The correct sentence would be

"I'm looking forward to seeing you next Saturday."

Here are some more examples.

Prepositions talking about time are often confused.

Let's look at a few more examples.

Brisa's first language is Portuguese and in Brazil it's common to wish someone

"Parabéns" or congratulations when wishing them a happy birthday.

In English, the word congratulations is used to praise someone's achievement.

And although birthdays are super special,

we don't generally congratulate people on their birthdays.

Instead, we wish them good things.

For example.

These types of mistakes are quite common

because English pronunciation can be quite tricky.

One way to remember the pronunciation is to either study

minimal pairs or to think of the spelling of the words.

If you know them.

To make the long E sound.

Imagine that you're projecting it a long way,

so it would be EEEEEE. To make the short ih sound.

You don't have to project that far at all.

So it would just be i. What Brisa meant to say is

"Let's go see some beaches this weekend."

Using the short ih sound in this word changes meaning completely

as bitches is often an offensive way of referring

to females. To learn more about these types of words

watch this lesson Ethan recently did on this exact subject.

You might be wondering "How can I recognize my own mistakes?"

Well, it's not easy to recognize mistakes when you're speaking

compared to when you're writing, but you can do it with some practice.

Here are some suggestions you can try at home alone.

We tend to make more mistakes when we talk fast. When we want to speak accurately

we need to slow down.

Take your time when you're speaking so you can notice your mistakes before

you make them.

Recording yourself speaking is one of the best speaking activities you can do.

Not only is it an effective way to measure your progress in English,

but you can also notice the mistakes you're making.

This is a good method for spotting grammar mistakes

and also practicing shadowing.

Some online platforms like Google Translate

give you the pronunciation of words.

Others like Elsa Speak will even listen to you

and tell you when your pronunciation is good or not.

It could also be helpful for accent reductions. Bear in mind

that it's impossible to reach a level of perfect pronunciation because

there's no such thing

Now, let's do a quick quiz to

see if you're able to spot the mistakes in these sentences.

In the word "fit" we have a short ih sound. In the word feet

we have a long E sound. This means that when we pronounce the word fit,

we use the short ih, fit.

If we use the word next or last, plus the day of the week,

we do not use the preposition on

A plural subject

in this case, people requires a plural verb in this case, want.

Information is uncountable, so there is no plural and no need to add a S.

Did you get all the answers correct?

If not, don't worry.

You can always watch this lesson again and retake the test.

To recap here are the mistakes we covered in today's lesson.

Also, if you have any questions about today's

lesson, head on over to our Instagram and RealLife.English.

Check out our stories every Monday and Friday.

You'll find a question box where you can share

any thoughts or questions that you have about the lesson.

Oh, and

make sure to follow us on Instagram so you can continue your learning with us.

If you enjoyed this lesson then be sure to share it with a friend

who is also learning English and why not check out this lesson next.