Performance-- a person’s actual use of language;

how a person uses his knowledge of a language

in producing and understanding sentences.

Competence-- a person’s knowledge of a language.

People may have the competence to produce a
long sentence but when they actually try to use
this knowledge, there are reasons why they
restrict it.

Tell me, I forget

Show me, I remember.

Involve me, I understand.

 MOST COMMON
MISTAKES IN ENGLISH !

NAHIDA SULTANA
CHAITY
Assitant Professor of
English
Dept of Humanities
CUET
THE PURPOSE OF GRAMMAR

• Clarity of meaning ( He is hungry

because he had an accident).

• Readability

• Credibility
• ( The doctor gave me a recipe for more
antibiotics).
TYPES OF ERRORS
• Confused words
• Misused forms
• Incorrect omissions
• Unnecessary words
• Misplaced words
 E D S
S R
F U O
N R
E R
O
C RD
O
W
COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS
• They're / Their / There
• They’re going to store together. (contraction of “they
are”)
• The managers are in their weekly meeting. (possessive)
• Place the flowers there. (adv. – indicates
location/direction)

• You're / Your
• You're going to be a great writer! (contraction of “you
are”)
• Your hair looks nice today. (possessive)

• Who's / Whose
• Who's on first base? (contraction of “who is”)
• Whose watch is this? (possession)
COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS

• It's / Its / Its’

• It’s a beautiful day! (contraction of “it is”)
• Download the program, along with its readme file.
(possessive)
• Its’ is not a word.

• Affect / Effect
• The outage shouldn't affect anyone during work hours.
(verb – to act on, influence)
• The outage shouldn't have any effect on users. (noun –
result)
COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS
• To / Too / Two
• I am going to the store. (preposition)
• She decided to go along too. (adv. – also)
• My jacket is too small. (adv. – to an excessive amount)
• I have two buttons missing. (number)

• A lot / Alot / Allot

• The workers are worrying a lot about their jobs. (adv. –
to a great degree/extent)
• Alot is not a word.
• We were each allotted twenty tickets. (verb – to
assign/distribute)
COMMONLY CONFUSED PREPOSITIONS
We come at school every morning. [to]
to-----motion from one place to another
at-----position/rest

He spent all the day into his room.[in]

He came in the room and sat down.[into]
in-----position/rest inside something
into---motion/direction towards the inside of smth

I bought a book at ten shillings.[for]

I cannot buy it for such a price.[at]
for----actual sum is mentioned
at----- isn’t mentioned
He has lived here since two years.[for]

He was standing just besides me.[beside]

We study French beside English.[besides]
beside----by the side of
besides—in addition to

The man shot the bird by a gun.[with]

with---means/instrument with which action
is done
by-----doer of the action
My birthday is __ October .
My birthday is __ October 22.
Parts of the day, month, year & season
7days, specific dates, special holidays

Peter wants to start the meeting ___ time.

In
Peter wants to finish the meeting ___ time.
In time = before its late, no fixed time, deadline,
Vs
the last moment before doing
On time = fixed time, at the arranged time, on
obligation/duty
In the morning, in the afternoon vs At noon, at
night, at sunrise
Car, truck, van, taxi vs Bus, train, plane
The criminal was standing in front of/before the
judge.
In front of------ non living objects
Before ----- living objects

He entered ____ his bedroom ____ drawing room.

He entered ____ the hall/classroom.
enter = come into

The balled jumped onto/into the box.

The ball rolled into/onto the box.
Coming inside by jumping (onto) vs Coming
inside by walking/rolling (into)
VERBS OFTEN CONFUSED
I ___ go tomorrow if it is fine.
(simple future)
I've determined that I ____ go.
(more than simple futurity)
We sit/seat at a desk.
He sits/seats the passengers. ( sit vs. seat )
They said that he was hit hardly.

Verb V1 V2 V3
Lie ( to rest) Lie Lay Lain
Lie( to tell Lie Lied Lied
untruth)
Lay (to put) Lay Laid Laid
Lay ( to Lay Laid Laid
produce eggs)
Babies grow/grow up very quickly.
( become bigger)
When I grow up/grow, I shall be a doctor.
( become a man)

This book deals __ common errors.(w)

The man deals ___ rice.

I revenged/avenged myself for the insult.(punish for

wrong done to oneself)
He avenged/revenged his son’s murder.(punish on
behalf of another)
 Listen vs. hear

Tables are usually made of wood.

bread is usually made from wheat.

Material seen or unseen.

I don’t have time to see you.(occurring habitually)

I haven’t time to see you.( particular occasion)
ADJECTIVES OFTEN CONFUSED
little vs. a little (neg pos )

Each vs. every (more individual & taken as

group)

He has been ill/sick for over a year.

The smell made me sick/ill.
( ill: bad health sick: vomit/temporary indispose)
CONFUSION OF NUMBER

Today I have many works to do.

Today I have a lot of work to do.
( works: factory or author’s writing)
The works of Tagore are many.
I visited the iron works.

Hundred, thousand, million & dozen

singular when preceded by numerals/a
plural when not preceded by
Three dozen eggs, dozens of eggs
Fifty thousand people, thousands of people
FRAGMENTS

• A complete sentence must have three components:

1. A subject (the actor in the sentence)
2. A predicate (the verb or action)
3. A complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense).

• A fragment is an incomplete sentence.

• It cannot stand alone and does not express a complete

thought.
• Some fragments lack either a subject or verb or both.
• Dependent clauses are also fragments if they stand alone.
FRAGMENT EXAMPLES

• Went out of business after Starbucks

Coffee opened.

• One of my friends who won a contest by

playing a variety of instruments.

• Since I went fishing.

RUN-ON SENTENCES

• A run-on sentence is sentence comprised

of two or more independent clauses not
properly separated.
•Lack of punctuation and/or conjunctions
•Incorrect punctuation
• A comma splice—two independent clauses
joined by a comma—is a run-on sentence.
• A run-on sentence is not simply a long sentence.
• My favorite Mediterranean spread is hummus it
is very garlicky.
• It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town
before dark.
•
RUN-ON SENTENCES

• Long sentences can be grammatically correct.

• During the 1960s, development thinking, encompassing

both ideology and strategy, prioritized economic growth and
the application of modern scientific and technical
knowledge as the route to prosperity in the underdeveloped
world and defined the "global development problem" as one
in which less developed nations needed to "catch up" with
the West and enter the modern age of capitalism and liberal
democracy, in short, to engage in a form of modernization
that was equated with westernization (and an associated
faith in the rationality of science and technology). (86
words)
DANGLING MODIFIERS

• A misplaced/dangling modifier is the

modifier that is separated from the word
it describes or the word it describes is not
present at all.

• Walking through the woods in autumn,

leaves began falling from the trees.

• Having finished the assignment, the TV

was turned on
VERB TENSE

• Verb tenses should be consistent throughout your

writing.
• Reviews of literature should be in the present
tense.
• Historical events should be in the past tense.
• Correcting tense shifts:
• Be consistent throughout your sentences and
paragraphs.
• Be familiar with verb forms and tenses.
TENSE SHIFT EXAMPLES
• About noon the sky darkened, a breeze sprang
up, and a low rumble announces the approaching
storm.
• We viewed A Caribbean Mystery and watch
intently as Joan Hickson portrays Agatha
Christie’s Miss Marple.
• I climbed out of the car, walked through the door,
and prepared to meet “the parents,” but instead a
large, honey-colored dog runs to meet me at the
door.
PRONOUN/ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
• Pronouns are words that take the place of
nouns.
• Antecedents are the words that the
pronouns refer to.
• Pronouns must agree with their
antecedents in number, gender, and
person.
• Number = singular or plural
• Gender = masculine, feminine, or neuter
• Person = 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person
PRONOUN AGREEMENT ERROR EXAMPLES
• Everyone should make their own decisions.

• Each speaker maintained their poise.

SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT
• Singular subjects must have singular verbs.

• Plural subjects must have plural verbs.

• Rule of thumb:
• Subjects ending in “s” are plural
• Verbs ending in “s” are singular

• Correcting agreement errors:

• Become familiar with irregular verb forms.
• Focus on the subject, not any additional modifiers.
SUB-VERB AGREEMENT (A VERB MUST AGREE
WITH ITS’ SUBJECT)

In any sentence,
at first you have to look for two things.

•sentence
•subject
•person
•number

•tense
•verb
S/V AGREEMENT ERROR EXAMPLES
• The box of ornaments belong in the attic.
• High levels of mercury occurs in some fish.
• What we need are more pots and pans.
The color of his eyes is/are blue.
The results of this fact is/are exposed.
RULES WITH ‘AND’
2subjects joined by ‘and’ verb plural

Rony & bony go/goes there.

The magistrate and collector is/are here.

The magistrate and the collector is/are here.

3 different persons joined by ‘and’ 231

you, Ronon and I were close friends.

Bread & butter

slow & steady V (sing)
ups & downs
 Sub1+and+no/not+sub2 = verb sub1

A friend, and not a foe, greets you.

Two books only, and no pen, are
required.
Sub1 + Or + sub2= verb sub2
either or
neither nor
Neither you nor he is/are happy.
Either the cat or the dogs has/have
been here.
sub1 + with/together with+ sub2=verb sub1
as well as
accompanied by
The teacher, as well as his students, has/have
arrived.
Rahim with his friends was/were punished.
Each/every , either, neither, many a, everyone,
someone, no one etc must be followed by a
singular verb.

Neither of the two men was/were strong.

None of the girls do/does this.
Every mother love/loves her child.
Many a man has/have done so.

If there are 2subjects before any relative

pronoun, verb will follow the nearest
I amantecedent
the man whoofhelp/helps
that relative
you. pronoun.
He is one of the best boys who go/goes to college
regularly.
Singular noun, singular verb
Info, scenery, furniture, poetry, machinery

Plural noun, plural verb

Vegetables, spectacles, scissors, spectacle, assets,
amends, trousers

Singular noun, plural verb

Cattle, deer, sheep, rich/poor, poultry, people,
nobility, clergy, aristocracy

Plural noun, singular verb

Politics, physics, civics, mathematics, news, gallows,
the United States, Gulliver’s Travels
Plural noun denoting some specific quantity or
amount considered as a whole
singular verb
Ten kilometers is/are a long walk.
Fifty thousand is/are a large sum.
When collection is thought of as one whole sing
verb
When individuals of collection are thought of plu
verb
Jury, board, staff, parliament, committee, council,
commission, government, team, navy, army, class,
fleet, public
The jury is unanimous in its opinions.
The jury are divided in their opinions.
 GOOD VS. WELL
Good adjective well
adverb. Many people, including many
native speakers, incorrectly use the
adjective form good, rather than the
adverb well.
Examples:
I did good on the test. INCORRECT!
Correct form: I did well on the test.

She played the game good.

Correct form: She played the game
well.
 Use the adjective form good when
describing something or someone. In
other words, use good when stating how
something or someone is.

She is a good tennis player.

Tom thinks he is a good listener.

Use the adverb form well when

describing how something or
someone does something.

She did extremely well on the exam.

Our parents think we speak English well.
 RY
SA
E S
EC
N N S
U R D
W O
Married with
Prefer than

Discuss about
Enter into
Reached at
Resemble to
Said to me
SPANISH PEOPLE IS VERY FRIENDLY.

Spanish people are very

friendly.
 I WILL ASK TO MY MOTHER TONIGHT.

I will ask my mother tonight.

 I KNEW PAUL AT A PARTY LAST YEAR.

I met Paul at a party last year.

 ALL THE DAYS I GO TO THE OFFICE.

I go to the office every day.

AT THE END, I WAS ABLE TO FINISH MY HOMEWORK.

In the end, I was able to finish my

homework.
MY FRIEND WHO WORKS FOR SONY HE IS AN
ENGINEER.

My friend who works for

Sony is an engineer.
 I’M LAWYER, BUT I ALSO TEACH ENGLISH
SOMETIMES.

I’m a lawyer, but I also teach

English sometimes.
 IT WAS A GOOD PARTY, NO?

It was a good party, wasn’t it?

LAST YEAR I WENT ON A TRAVEL WITH MY FRIENDS.

LAST YEAR I WENT TRAVELLING WITH MY FRIENDS.

 I BORN IN BUENOS AIRES TWENTY YEARS AGO.

I WAS BORN IN BUENOS AIRES TWENTY YEARS AGO.

I LIKE READING TOO MUCH. IT’S MY FAVOURITE HOBBY.

I like reading a lot. It’s my

favourite hobby.
 CAN YOU EXPLAIN ME THIS?

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?

 HE ASKED ME WHERE IS THE BANK.

He asked me where the bank is.

 IS IMPORTANT TO DO THIS EXERCISE.

It’s important to do this

exercise.