Professional Documents
Culture Documents
25 Common English Mistakes That Even Advanced Learners Make - Get More Vocab
25 Common English Mistakes That Even Advanced Learners Make - Get More Vocab
25 Common English Mistakes That Even Advanced Learners Make - Get More Vocab
Here are 25 English mistakes that even advanced learners make. How many
of them are you guilty of?
The correct way: “My friend recommended that I buy this car.”
After these verbs and expressions, we use an optional that followed by the
base form of the second verb.
Notice that the second verb is in the base form even if the first verb is in
the past tense.
Practice: Try this mini tutorial from englishpage.com and the practice
exercise that goes with it.
But not all verbs follow this pattern. We cannot follow the verbs explain,
describe, and recommend with an indirect object and then a direct object.
Instead we follow this word order:
7/14/2022 25 Common English Mistakes That Even Advanced Learners Make - Get More Vocab.
Note that with explain, we can also explain to SOMEONE SOMETHING. (“I
explained the situation to my supervisor,” for example.)
https://getmorevocab.com/common-english-mistakes-that-even-advanced-learners-make/ 4/41
Do you need someone to explain these equations to you? (Photo by
athree23 from Pixabay)
The correct way: “The ground is all wet. It must have rained last night.”
We use must have + past participle to draw a conclusion about the past.
“You should have called me if you knew you were going to be a half an
hour late.”
“Karen must not have gotten a good night’s sleep. She looks
exhausted.”
“I can’t believe you took a cruise to Antarctica. That must have been
incredible!”
https://getmorevocab.com/common-english-mistakes-that-even-advanced-learners-make/ 6/41
She must have been really tired. (Photo by Min An from Pexels)
“I hate crowded places. I’d much rather stay home and read.”
“I love coffee, but I’d rather have tea today because my stomach doesn’t
feel good.”
“We can meet the deadline, but we’d prefer to have a little more time.”
“I got you a gift receipt in case you’d rather get the shirt in a different
color.”
When the weather is like this, you’d probably rather drive than ride your
bike. (Photo by Genaro Servin from Pexels)
5. Adding the preposition on before
expressions like next Sunday, last
Thursday, etc.
The mistake: “I’ll see you in class on next Saturday.”
Explanation: If we use next or last plus a day of the week, we do not use
the preposition on.
The correct way: “There are 21 million residents in the state of Florida.”
“Thank God it’s Friday! I thought this week would never end.”
Thank God for libraries. Without them, many people wouldn’t be able to
afford to read books. (Photo by mentatdgt from Pexels)
“Are you looking forward to seeing your family over the holidays?”
“Marlene is looking forward to starting her new job and meeting her
new coworkers.”
Are you looking forward to your next vacation? (Photo by Ricardo Bresciani
from Pixabay)
9. Not using the second conditional to
communicate that something is
hypothetical or unlikely
The mistake: “I would never choose to live in another country, but if I do
move to another country, it will be Spain.”
The correct way: “I would never choose to live in another country, but if I
did move to another country, it would be Spain.”
“Mark will buy a new car if he gets the job he applied for.”
The correct way: “I’m not sure what the weather is going to be today.”
Explanation: We don’t use not before pretty sure. Instead, we say “I’m not
sure,” or “I’m not quite sure.”
We can also say “I’m not so sure,” which means “I’m not convinced.”
“Kate says she’s not sure it’s a good idea to leave a twelve‑year‑old kid
home alone.”
“I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to help you with that.”
“My financial adviser says it’s a great time to invest, but I’m not so
sure.”
This woman looks like she isn’t sure about something. (Photo by 1899441
from Pixabay)
11. Using much instead of a lot of in
positive sentences with non‑count nouns
The mistake: “I have much experience with children.”
Explanation: Many students learn that we use much with non‑count nouns,
which is true. We use much with non‑count nouns in negative expressions
(“I don’t have much time”) and questions (“Have you had much luck finding
a car?”). We also use much with non‑count nouns in expressions with too
much, so much, as much, and how much.
“We need someone who has a lot of experience with this technology.”
“I’m not used to running in the heat, so I’m going to take it easy today.”
“My wife isn’t used to eating spicy food, so please don’t make the chili
too hot.”
“I don’t want to drive a lot because I’m not used to my new car yet.”
“When Emily started working nights, it took her a long time to get used
to staying up all night and sleeping all day.”
“We should have the gardener plant some bushes on that side of the
house.”
After the verb help, we can use an object followed by either the base form
or infinitive form of the second verb.
Good personal trainers make their clients work hard. (Photo by 5132824
from Pixabay)
The correct way: “I had to think about it for a while, but finally I was able
to remember the name of my first grade teacher.”
Note that if both could and was/were able to are possible, we tend to use
could.
“Despite the traffic this morning, I was able to get to work on time.”
This person worked hard and was able to graduate. (Photo by Brandi Ama
Doyal from Pexels)
The correct way: “Today I’m supposed to babysit my little brother. I told
my mom I would.”
“You were supposed to call me when you got home. What happened?”
You’re probably supposed to put these away during English class. (Photo by
Terje Sollie from Pexels)
The correct way: “We won’t cancel the meeting even if it snows later.”
“I don’t think I could learn Arabic even if I had the best teacher in the
world.”
“On her road trip, Beverly stopped to take some pictures of the famous
landmarks along the way.”
It’s really hard to stop smoking. (Photo by bruce mars from Pexels)
Explanation: Some non‑count nouns can be tricky because the nouns are
count nouns in other languages.
“First time home buyers often ask their parents for help and advice.”
“In your country, do young children have to do a lot of homework?”
“The partners at the law firm have a lot more legal knowledge than
everyone else.”
“How much furniture do you need to buy for the new house?”
The correct way: “Did you hear the news about the Kardashians?”
“Many older Americans remember where they were and what they were
doing when they heard the news that John F. Kennedy had been
assassinated.”
The way people get their news has drastically changed in the last few
decades. (Photo by mali maeder from Pexels)
The correct way: “Due to the holiday, there weren’t many cars on the
road./Because of the holiday, there weren’t many cars on the road.”
“Many people in Beijing get sick because of all the air pollution.”
This man is wearing a mask because of the air pollution. (Photo by Respro
Polska from Pixabay)
The correct way: “Could you please tell me where the restrooms are?”
For more on indirect questions, see this excellent guide from perfect‑
english‑grammar.com.
The correct way: “I like living in the United States because I can practice
my English with Native speakers.”
“Just because you hear a native speaker say it, doesn’t mean it’s
correct.”
“How would a native speaker from the United States pronounce this?”
A picture of a Native American from 1910.
(Public domain image from Wikimedia
Commons)
If you think you make some of these mistakes, try the practice activities in
the links above.
Also, note that most of the mistakes on this list are grammar mistakes. For
word usage mistakes, see these words that English learners often misuse
and this word usage mistakes practice exercise.