The Majority of English Learners Make these Mistakes - Do You?

(upbeat music)

(whooshing)

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

And welcome to this lesson where you are going

to see some of the most common mistakes in English.

And these mistakes are generally made by English learners,

but some of them are also made by native speakers too.

So, the lesson is going to work like this.

I'm going to show a sentence on the screen,

and the sentence is going to contain one mistake.

It is your job to try and spot this mistake,

which means to notice the mistake.

Now, you might not notice any mistake and that's okay,

but I am then going to give you the correct answer,

and also some more examples.

So, this lesson is really going to benefit you,

and it's going to help you speak with more accuracy.

Now, at the end of the lesson,

I'll have a question for you,

so stick around until the end.

Okay, let's get started with number one.

Number one is this,

I have been in England six times.

Spot the mistake.

(ticking)

The correct answer is, I have been to England six times.

So, we need to change the preposition in to to.

And this again, is a very common mistake

that I see people make.

So, you need to say, I've been to England six times.

I've never been to Vietnam.

Okay?

Or, I haven't been to the cinema for a long time.

We tend to use in when we are still in that country.

So, I can say, for example,

I've been in the US for nearly nine years now.

I've been in the US for nearly nine years now.

Number two, I love listening music.

(ticking)

The correct sentence is, I love listening to music.

So, when we use listen and music,

we need a preposition, and that preposition is to.

I love listening to music.

What type of music do you like listening to?

Leave your examples below.

Number three, I wish I pass the test tomorrow.

(ticking)

I hope I pass the test tomorrow.

So, this highlights the difference between hope and wish.

Now, wish is generally used when

we want a change of situation.

For example, it's raining outside now,

I can say, ugh, I want to play soccer.

I wish it wasn't raining.

I wish it wasn't raining.

Or, I don't have enough time,

I wish I had enough time to go play soccer.

Whereas, hope is used to talk about a specific outcome,

I hope I pass the test tomorrow.

This is something specific and this is your desired outcome.

K?

Another example is, I hope to see you soon.

Or, I hope you enjoy this lesson.

Number four is a good one.

I was so boring.

(ticking)

The correct sentence is, I was so bored.

And this just highlights the difference

between boring and bored.

And there are other adjectives here too.

But just to focus on this one.

If you say, I was so boring,

it's talking about the way you were acting,

and your personality.

So, to say that someone is boring,

is to describe them as a person.

And it's not a nice thing to say about someone.

But if you were bored, it talks about how you felt.

So, I can say, I was so bored during that class.

Or, I was so bored when I went to that lecture.

And it talks about how you felt not your personality.

So, this is a really good difference to know.

I was so bored the other day.

Number five is, I will go out tonight.

But you already have plans.

(ticking)

The correct answer is, either I'm going out tonight,

or, I'm going to go out tonight.

So, when you have plans for the future,

don't use will, it's not common.

And a lot of students want to use will

because they know will as the future tense.

So, they think, okay, let's use will

to talk about the future.

But if you have plans then use either

the present continuous, or the going to verb.

K, for example, I'm playing football on Sunday.

I'm going to see some friends tonight.

I'm going to some housework tomorrow, et cetera.

I'm going to make some more videos this week.

It's a plan I already have, or an intention for the future.

We tend to use will when we decide

to do something in that moment.

Okay, I'll make another lesson after this one.

I decided to do that in the moment and I used will.

Number six, if he will do it, I will do it too.

(ticking)

If he does it, I will do it too.

So, this is an example of the first conditional,

where we use the present simple and then will.

So, this is another way to use will

to talk about future actions.

But the sentence structure is the if or the when clause,

uses the present simple and then

the second clause uses will.

So, looking at this example again.

If he does it, I'll do it.

If he does it, I'll do it.

If it rains later, we'll stay inside.

Number seven, there were less goals scored last year.

(ticking)

There were fewer goals scored last year.

There were fewer.

Now, this is a mistake that a lot

of native speakers make as well.

And you constantly see this being used in the wrong way.

So, the rule here, is to use fewer with countable nouns,

and less with uncountable nouns.

And because goals are countable then we use fewer,

there were fewer goals scored last year.

An example with less is,

John drinks less beer than he used to.

Because beer in this sense isn't countable.

And another example with fewer,

people are buying fewer physical books these days.

Number eight, I finished to work a few hours ago.

(ticking)

The correct answer is, I finished working a few hours ago.

Now, some of you might have also said,

I finished work a few hours ago.

Which is correct too.

But in this case, I'm trying to highlight

the difference between the gerund and the infinitive.

And this is an example of verb patterns.

I have made many lessons on verb patterns.

And you can get a link to those lessons

in the description below.

But in this case, when we use finish,

we use the gerund, okay?

I finished playing soccer a few minutes ago.

I finished working on this project hours ago, et cetera.

So, when we use finish, we then use the gerund.

Now, I did say that we can say,

I finished work a few hours ago.

And in this case, we're using work

not as the verb, but as the noun.

Number nine, he made me to do it.

(ticking)

He made me do it.

So, in this case, this is where we use

the bare infinitive with verbs such as make and let.

And a good example I like to give is that,

my parents made me make my bed when I was younger.

My parents made me make my bed when I was younger.

But they let me stay out late.

They let me stay out late.

So, we don't need to use the to as the infinitive,

instead we use the bare infinitive.

And the last one, can you make our picture?

(ticking)

It's, can you take our picture?

Can you take our picture?

To take your picture, to take a photo,

we use the verb take.

And a lot of the time, people get confused

with verbs like, have, take and make.

And we're talking about collocations here.

Things like, have a bath, take your time,

make your bed, et cetera.

And this last one is, can you take our picture?

Now, in America, you might also hear people say,

can you take take our picture real quick?

Real quick.

This is something that always used to make me laugh.

I am used to it now.

But it just means, can you take our picture,

it's not going to take you a long time,

it doesn't mean that you have to do things really quickly.

So, can you take our picture real quick?

So, how did you do?

Did you spot those mistakes?

Did you realize that they were mistakes

when you saw those sentences?

Again, these are some of the

most common mistakes in English.

So, don't worry if you saw these mistakes.

And also, don't worry if you make these types of mistakes,

because on the whole, people will be able to understand you.

But it's a good idea to increase your accuracy.

And you can do that by using methods

such as the LRRC Method.

And I'll leave a link to that method

in the description below.

Now, another thing I want you to do,

it to leave a comment below and tell me

some more common mistakes in English.

Think about the mistakes that you used to make,

and what the actual answer is now.

And then, I'll make another video,

and test your ability to spot

these mistakes in the future.

If you have enjoyed this lesson then

please like and share it, and I'll speak to you soon.

Okay, buh-bye for now.

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