Common Grammar Mistakes in English

Common Grammar Mistakes in English

Common Grammar Mistakes in English

The Outline of This Lesson on Common Grammar Mistakes

Today morning, I woke up late. ➡ This morning, I woke up late. 

“This morning” makes a common collocation in English, while “today morning” is not a collocation at all.

What’s the different? ➡ What’s the difference?

We need a noun in this question. You can say:

What’s the different point of view?

I met John two years before. ➡ I met John two years ago.

You cannot use “before” at the end of the sentence. Instead, it should be followed by a clause:

I met John before I arrived home.

You can also say:

I had met John before I arrived home. 

The reason for using past perfect tense in the above sentence is that the act of “meeting John” has happened before another action in the past (arriving home).

This is a six-months course. ➡ This is a six-month course.

In the example above, “six-month” is a compound adjective with numbers for “course”, and in English, you cannot pluralize adjectives. The following sentences are some other examples:

This is a 150-page book. 

Each student should give a 10-minute presentation during the semester.

Thank you. I really enjoyed. ➡ Thank you. I really enjoyed myself.

“Enjoy” is a reflexive verb and also a transitive verb. In a reflexive verb, the direct object is the same as the subject. The following sentence is another example:

I cut / burnt / hurt myself in the kitchen.

Did you loose your cellphone? ➡ Did you lose your cellphone?

This case is a spelling mistake. Keep in mind that “loose” is an adjective, which is the opposite of “tight”, whereas “lose” is a verb, which is the opposite of “find”. What’s more, the pronunciations of these two words are not exactly the same:

• loose: /luːs/
• lose: /luːz/

This is an academic /əˈkædem.ɪk/ course. ➡ This is an academic /ˌæk.əˈdem.ɪk/ course.

This case is a typical mispronunciation as elaborated above.

I have a free time. ➡ I have free time.

“Free time” is an uncountable noun. That is to say, you cannot pluralize or count it. Here is another example:

I felt a jealousy when I saw them together. ➡ I felt a pang of jealousy when I saw them together.

Instructions

• Source: embedded videos, selected texts, or assigned coursebooks
• Study the assigned source and write down the English grammar points that are mentioned or explained in this lesson in the interactive comment form below.
• You can make any examples of the discussed grammar points and leave them as comments.
• You are also encouraged to add further explanations or examples about the current topic as long as they are related.