How to Fix 20 Common English Mistakes
I've been a professional English teacher for over 5 years, teaching students from around the world, many from Europe, South America and Asia. I've compiled this list of recurring mistakes my students make, these are problems that I've encountered frequently but don't worry! They are simple to fix.
English is everywhere and super useful, for studying abroad, career opportunities and travel! If you've got the basics covered but want to improve your sentence accuracy and pronunciation, this post is for you! Read through the examples, play the audio and practice saying each phrase a few times, can you spot an error you've made before? Let us know in the comments!
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10 common grammar mistakes
X I have 22 years.
✓ I am 22 years-old.
In English use the verb is/are | was/were to talk about someone’s age past or present. Use am to talk about your age in the present. Some languages directly translate this sentence from ‘have’, but it’s not correct to say you ‘have’ an age in English.
X The dog barks every five-five minutes
✓ The dog barks every five minutes
In English, don’t repeat the time interval twice to explain how regularly something happens. Using ‘every + time’ already shows that the action repeats.
X I have more five minutes of class left.
✓ I have five more minutes of class left.
In some languages the number goes after the word ‘more’, but remember that in English the number goes before!
X I am learning to swim since I was six years old.
✓ I have been learning to swim since I was six years old.
When talking about an action in the past that is still ongoing, use ‘have been + (verb + ing) to form the present perfect continuous tense.