Top mistakes at A2 level

1: Confusing ‘bored’ and ‘boring’.

Some adjectives, like ‘bored’ and ‘boring’, have two versions.

We usually use the adjective with ‘ed’ to talk about how someone feels.

• I was really bored during the flight (NOT: I was really boring during the flight).
• She’s interested in history (NOT: She’s really interesting in history).
• John is excited about his trip. (NOT: John is exciting about his trip.)

We usually use the adjective with ‘ing’ to talk about the thing or situation that has caused the feeling.

• It was such a long, boring flight (so I was bored).

• I read a really interesting book about history (so I was interested).
• Going on a trip is exciting (so John is excited).

Make sure you don’t use the adjective that ends with ‘ing’ to talk about how you feel!

• NOT: I am boring. (This means that other people find you boring, not that you feel bored!)

Practise ‘bored’ and ‘boring’ with our Ultimate A2 Grammar Course here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com
2: Thinking that 'mustn't' and 'don't have to' are the same.

In positive sentences, ‘must’ and ‘have (got) to’ really have the same meaning. But in the negative,
their meanings are completely different.

Don’t have to / haven’t got to = you don’t need to / it’s not necessary

• You don’t have to get up early tomorrow. It’s a holiday! (Of course, if you want to get up
early, that’s not a problem. You can choose.)
• We don’t have to eat breakfast at home. We can go to a café.

Mustn’t = it’s not okay to do something / it’s a bad idea to do something

• You mustn’t smoke so much! It’s really unhealthy.

• They mustn’t swim in that lake. It’s really dangerous!
• You mustn’t drive so fast!

Practise ‘mustn’t’ and ‘don’t have to’ with our Ultimate A2 Grammar Course here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com
3: Forgetting the difference between 'will' and 'be going to'.

Promises and offers:

We use the future simple with ‘will’ to talk about promises, requests, refusals and offers.

• I’ll help you with your homework. (This is an offer.)

• Will you give me a hand? (This is a request.)
• I won’t go! (This is a refusal.)
• Don’t worry, I’ll definitely come early. (This is a promise.)
We don’t use ‘be going to’ in this case.

Predictions:
We use the future simple with 'will' to make predictions about the future.

• I think he'll be famous one day.

• She'll probably help you.

We can also use ‘be going to’ to make a prediction about the future.
Often, it’s possible to use both ‘be going to’ and ‘will’.
However, we often use ‘be going to’ if there is some evidence in the present that we can see.

• Look at those boys playing football! They’re going to break the window.
• The sky is getting darker and darker. It’s going to rain.

Practise using ‘will’ and ‘be going to’ in our Ultimate A2 Grammar Course here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com
4: Not using gerunds and infinitives correctly

Gerunds:
We always use a gerund (verb+ing) after a preposition. We don’t use ‘to + infinitive’.

• Thank you for helping me.

• He is worried about missing the train.
• She is interested in learning Swedish.

When we want to use two verbs together, the second verb is sometimes in the gerund.
Here are some verbs that are always followed by the gerund.

• Discuss: We discussed going on holiday together.

• Mind: I don't mind coming early.
• Suggest: He suggested staying at the Grand Hotel.
• Practise: I need to practise playing the piano.

Verb + to + infinitive
When we want to use two verbs together, the second verb is sometimes in the infinitive.
Here are some verbs that are always followed by ‘to + infinitive’.

• Agree: He agreed to help us.

• Decide: They decided to have lunch at home.
• Promise: David promised to arrive early.
• Expect: I expected to work hard.

We can also use ‘to + infinitive’ to say why we do something.

• I went on holiday (this is what I did) to relax (this is why I did it).
We DON’T use ‘for’ here.

• NOT: I went on holiday for relax.

Practise using gerunds and infinitives with our Ultimate A2 Grammar Course here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com
5: Not learning phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are SO important in English. We use them in every conversation. They’re tricky
because they are very similar to each other and because the meanings are not clear.
For example, the phrasal verb ‘deal with’ means ‘take action about something’.

• We need to deal with the bins. They smell!

• Could you deal with all these emails today?

Another example is the phrasal verb ‘carry out’, which means ‘do a piece of work’.

• She carried out research into heart disease.

• They will carry out a survey to see what people think.

Practise these phrasal verbs with our 30-Day Intermediate Phrasal Verbs Challenge here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com
6: Not having a proper system to remember grammar and vocabulary

It’s impossible to remember things after you’ve studied them once. That’s not how human brains
work.

Here’s what we recommend:

Make a list of all the vocabulary you learn. Add example phrases if you can. Always add prepositions
if a word needs a preposition.

Have a grammar notebook.

Review both the vocabulary and the grammar regularly. When you review, don’t just read the words
or grammar.

Instead, try to write the word down again or explain the grammar to yourself *without* looking at
your notebook.

Learn more about the Perfect English Grammar Method for remembering grammar and vocabulary
here.

www.perfect-english-grammar.com