Most Common
Mistakes in English An English learner’s guide by
Jakub Marian First Edition, September 2014 The PDF version doesn’t have any associated ISBN
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Before you start reading Y ou are reading the sample of this book, "hich contains only t"o sections from the book #the full book treats $% additional topics& 'ou can get the full book at(
http://jakubmarian.om/books/ 'ou can also get a !on"er samp!e by subscribing to my mailing list(
http://jakubmarian.om/mai!in"#!ist/ )ote that the $ab!e o% &ontents orresponds to the %u!! book, not *ust to the sample, so that you can see "hich topics you "ill learn from the full book
Table of Contents Fore'ord .....................................................................................
9
(ntrodution ............................................................................. 10 Mistakes 'ith arti!es, nouns, and pronouns ................
11
)ouns "ith identical singular and plural forms
11
+rregular plural patterns
13
ingular nouns ending in ‘s’
14
)ouns that only e-ist in the plural
16
Are things he, she, or it.
18
/nited tates is0are
19
everal thousand#s& of
20
1ot, period, full stop, point
21
A couple #of&
22
+n0on #the& +0internet
23
ub#s&tract
24
'ou and +0me
25
All0anything0everything but
26
+nformation#s& is0are
27
)ames of numbers above 2333
28
Collective nouns
29
A couple of are0is
30
4eople are0is
31
A lot of 5 are0is
32
Many, much, a lot of, and lots of
33
+s a doctor he or she.
35
Each other’s or each others’
37
Matter06uestion of time
37
+n #the& case of
38
7on or tonne
39
On #the& one hand
39
Advice#s& is0are
40
Money is0are
40
7he person "ho0that
41
Economics or economy
42
23 dollars is0are
42
Mistakes 'ith )erbs and tenses ..........................................
44
8ord order in subordinate clauses
44
4resent perfect "ith specific time
45
Aren’t +, amn’t +
47
/se to do
48
9aven’t01on’t have
49
:end or borro"
50
;oring or bored
51
Make someone #to& do something
52
:earn someone to do something
53
‘8ill’ in time clauses
53
9e "ants that + do
55
4resent sub*unctive
56
e6uence of tenses in indirect speech
57
7he conditional
61
8ish < "ould
66
Could0couldn’t care less
67
Continue doing0to do
67
:earnt or learned
68
Effect or affect
69
+ cut, you cut, he cut
70
8ould of
72
+ already0never0*ust have done
73
9o"0"hat does it look like
74
9o"0"hat is it called
75
=uestions about the sub*ect
75
:ook for"ard to hear#ing& from you
76
tay or stand
77
o don’t +0)either do +
77
4ut0take off one’s hat
78
tay0be left
79
Mistakes 'ith adjeti)es, ad)erbs, and determiners .. 80 >ast, fastly, but not furiously
80
#A& little, #a& fe"
81
econd or other
82
All that, all "hat, all "hich
83
;oth and either
84
>reeer or freer
85
Classic or classical
86
?ympathic@
87
Many0some0fe" #of&
88
o0as fast as
90
:ike more0better0most0best
90
:ook0smell0feel good0"ell
91
A lot of0much0long time ago
93
More better
93
'et or already
94
Mistakes 'ith prepositions ................................................. 96 et off, get out of, take off, e-it
96
Arrive at0in0to
97
7o be good at0in
98
1ifferent from0than0to
99
On0in the photo
99
uited for0to
100
Married to0"ith
101
7ime prepositions
101
Call #to& someone
103
+’ve been here for0since0during time
103
Mistakes 'ith ommas ....................................................... 105 Comma before a dependent clause
105
Comma before con*unctions bet"een independent clauses
106
Comma bet"een independent clauses
108
Comma after introductory phrase
109
Comma and ‘if’
111
Comma before ‘because’
112
erial #O-ford& comma
113
Comma around ‘etc’
114
*n!ine too!s ............................................................................ 116 Fina! remarks ......................................................................... 120 +!phabetia! (nde ...............................................................
121
Foreword -nlike >rench "ith its (cad7mie 8ran9aise or Bussian "ith the ussian anguage Institute, English has no central regulatory body 7here is no single ?standard English@ ?tandard@ English grammar, spelling, and pronunciation are governed by influential dictionaries, gram mar books, style guides, and by recommended standards used in schools in various Englishspeaking countries )evertheless, there are many rules you should follo" if you "ant to sound naturalD for e-ample, if you say ?he taked@ instead of ?he took@, you are guaranteed to be perceived as not using proper Eng lish by virtually all native speakers +n this book, "e shall e-plore common mistakes English learners make "hich break such essential rules, ie "hich truly make you sound nonnative or "hich can cause misunderstanding ince the "hole book is "ritten in English, + assume the reader is already an intermediate or advanced English learner #other"ise he or she "ouldn’t be able to read it&, and the mistakes mentioned in the book "ere selected accordingly + believe any intermediate or advanced English learner can profit from reading this book Of course, it is impossible to include all mista0es English learners make in a single book, but if you kno" the ba sics and learn all the topics presented in this book, you should be able to e-press yourself #in terms of grammar and synta-& like a nat ive speaker most of the time +t should be also noted that American and ;ritish English are given a completely e6ual treatment, and "henever there are important dif ferences bet"een the t"o variants, the book e-plains them appropri ately
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Introduction efore "e move on to the mistakes, there’s one important thing you should realie( Each language is different, and "hat may be readily e-pressible in your mother tongue may be hard to e-press in English and vice versa 8hen you read about the mistakes, do not try to un derstand the English construction through translation into your mother tongue +f you make a mistake subconsciously, the corres ponding construction in your mother tongue probably doesn’t agree "ith the English one, and trying to understand it using translation may only confuse you further 'ou should develop an intuition for "hat sounds natural, and "hat does not >or e-ample, as "e "ill see later in the book, "e never use the present perfect "ith a specific time in the past #eg ?+ have done it yesterday@&, "hich may be surprising because such usage "ould be correct in most European languages 'ou should *ust try to remem ber that ?+ have done it yesterday@ does not sound natural in English, "hile ?+ did it yesterday@ does, "ithout any need for translation ( little note about the order o8 the mista0es in the boo0: 7opics are divided into five categories, "hich could be summaried as things, verbs, ad ;ectives, &re&ositions, and commas 8ithin each category, topics are ordered so that the "hole book is logically coherentD if one topic fol lo"s logically after another, it comes after it in the book as "ell 9o"ever, apart from that, the ordering doesn’t follo" any particular scheme + tried to make the topics varied enough to make reading of the book en*oyable #"ithout having to read about similar topics over and over again& +f you need to find a particular topic, you should be able to do so using the table of contents at the beginning of the book
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Mistakes with articles, nouns, and pronouns *-S ($ (E$(&+3 S(-3+5 + 63-5+3 F*5MS
hen "e mention irregular plural forms in English, ?children@, ?men@, and ?"omen@ are three e-amples that spring to mind, but there are many more nouns "hose plural is not formed by adding s or es Among these, some of the most perple-ing are those that do not change at all to form the plural :et’s go through some of the most important ones #a fe" more "ill be treated later "hen "e speak about nouns that end in s in their singular form&, al"ays "ith an e-ample sentence to help you re member the correct form( •
airra%t, ho)erra%t, spaera%t, and other ?craft@ vehicles There are t2o aircra8t &re&ared 8or landing<
•
bison( The bison 2ere gra=ing in the distance<
•
od( The cod are 0no2n to migrate in large numbers<
•
deer( Deer are an easy &rey 8or 2olves<
•
%ish( Three 8ish s2im in the 8ish tan0<
•
moose( 1oose actually belong to the deer 8amily<
•
o%%sprin" ( The 8o> gave birth to 8ive o88s&ring<
•
pike( The &i0e are big 8resh2ater &redatory 8ish<
•
sa!mon( Salmon are o8ten seen ;um&ing over dangerous 2ater8alls<
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•
sheep( One shee&" t2o shee&" three shee&<<<
•
shrimp( Shrim& are among the most commonly eaten animals<
•
trout( The trout are 8ish related to the salmon<
)ote that many species of fish "ere left out from the list Beferring to fish using the same singular and plural form is e-tremely com mon, but actual usage varies some"hat among different regions, so it is advisable to consult a dictionary "hen "riting about a particular species Also note that the names of animals mentioned above are sometimes used in the plural to refer to several species bearing the same name, for e-ample( The diversity o8 the ree8’s 8ishes ?8ish s&ecies@ is threatened by human activity< >urthermore, there are a fe" nouns that can take either regular or ir regular plural forms( •
boar( Ae sa2 several boarsC in the 2oods<
•
bu%%a!o( I ho&e there aren’t too many bu88aloeCsC outside<
•
s7uid( The suidsC are ama=ing creatures<
•
s'ine( 7he plural is ?s"ine@ "hen referring to pigs, eg ES2ine are reared e>tensively in %uro&e< 8hen referring to people, the plural may be also ?s"ines@, eg EThose s2ines s&illed their drin0s on my couch and no2 it’s all dirty<
Also note that many ad*ectives used to describe a nation or an ethnic group can be used as plural nouns #often "ith ?the@&, eg The British are notorious in %uro&e 8or their terrible cuisine< They could learn a lot 8rom the French< Nevertheless" most !hinese en;oy a di88erent 0ind o8 cuisine<
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Mistakes with verbs and tenses 65ESE$ 6E5FE&$ ($ S6E&(F(& $(ME $he present perfect e-presses the idea of ?an action that "as fin ished at some unspecified point in the past@ aying ?+ have done it yesterday@ is basically the same as saying ?+ finished doing it yester day at some unspecified point in the past@ +t doesn’t really "ork, does itD it’s either ?at some point@ or ?yesterday@, not both +f you "ant to include the time "hen the action took place, you must use the simple past tense #the ?ed@ form&, eg I did it yesterday< correctC I have done it yesterday< 2rongC I visited my grandmother last 2ee0end< correctC I have visited my grandmother last 2ee0end< 2rongC 9o"ever, the simple past is ambiguous ?+ did it yesterday@ can be used to e-press that you finished it yesterday as "ell as that you left the "ork unfinished and "ill continue doing it later, eg ?+ did it yes terday, and + am also going to do it tomorro"@ +f you "ant to e- press that the action is already completed, you can use verbs like ?finish@ or ?complete@ in the simple past( I 8inished my home2or0 yesterday< correctC I have 8inished my home2or0 yesterday< 2rongC
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A strong indicator that you shouldn’t use the present perfect is the presence of ?"hen@ in the sentence, since ?"hen@ al"ays refers to a specific point in time( 'hen did you 2rite the boo0G correctC 'hen did you 8inish 2riting the boo0G correctC 'hen have you 2ritten the boo0G 2rongC I don’t 0no2 2hen she did her home2or0< correctC I don’t 0no2 2hen she 8inished her home2or0< correctC I don’t 0no2 2hen she has done her home2or0< 2rongC )ote that there is one case "hen ?"hen < present perfect@ can be used( to e-press surprise or mistrust ay, a friend of yours told you ho" he en*oyed the vie" from the Eiffel 7o"er, and you "eren’t a"are of the fact that he had ever been to 4aris 'ou could ask 'hen have you been to ParisG +t is an e-pression of surprise 'ou aren’t really asking "hen he vis ited 4arisD you e-press that the fact he did surprised you 7here is another common situation in "hich the rule can be #seem ingly& broken >or e-ample, it is perfectly fine to say( Ao2 many 8ilms have you seen this 2ee0G 7he reason is that ?this "eek@ is not a point in the past #even though it includes days "hich are in the past&D it is a point #a period& in the present 7he present perfect in such a situation implies ?so far@( ?9o" many films have you seen so 8ar #u& until no2& this "eek.@ 7he present perfect can be used "ith any period "hich includes the present "ith the implied meaning of ?so far@ 7his includes the com mon adverbs students learn to use "ith the present perfect, eg ?ever@ #?from the beginning of the universe until no"@&, ?never@ #?not ever@&, ?already@0?yet@ #?from some implied point in the past until no"@&, for e-ample(
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Aave you done it yetG I have never been there<
$E F-33 **8 $his is the end of the sample of this section 7he full book treats 9 additiona! topis 'ou can get it at(
http://jakubmarian.om/books/ You can also get a !on"er samp!e by subscribing to my mailing list(
http://jakubmarian.om/mai!in"#!ist/
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