10 Common Grammar Mistakes In English | Do You Say These?

What’s up guys? My name is Shane. Today we are talking about common grammar mistakes in English. Why is it wrong to say ‘I like a dog’? Why is it wrong to say ‘The government are good’? Why is it wrong to say ‘I will give it to you when we will see each other’? Let’s find out.

Grammar mistake #1

Ooh! Its a cold day today. Grammar mistake number one. Using ‘its’ instead of ‘it’s’. ‘It’s’ with an apostrophe means ‘it is’. What’s an apostrophe? That’s a good question! An apostrophe is this little symbol that you can see right here.

It’s a cold day today. This sentence is saying it is a cold day today. Now ‘its’ with no apostrophe is used to show ownership. To show who owns something. The frog is too small for its aquarium. The frog is the owner of the aquarium so we use ‘its’ with no apostrophe to show who owns it. If you’re not sure which one to use, just ask yourself ‘Am I trying to say “it is” or am I trying to show ownership?’

Grammar mistake #2

Could you to suggest me some good restaurants? I’m hungry! Um, excuse me Mr. Frog. You speak English well but your grammar is wrong. Grammar mistake number two. Could you to suggest me some good restaurants? This one is easy to fix. Just remove the ‘to’ and remove the ‘me’. Could you suggest some good restaurants?

But if you want to use the word ‘me’, you can add it after the ‘some’ plus the noun. Could you suggest some good restaurants for me? Could you suggest some good books for me? Could you suggest some good travel destinations for me?

Grammar mistake #3

Yeah I’m at the airport now. Okay well I need that report as soon as possible. I can’t do it now because I don’t have my laptop. Well when can you do it? I will give it to you when we will see each other. Okay no worries.

Grammar mistake number three. I will give it to you when we will see each other. This one is also easy to fix. Just remove the second ‘will’. We don’t need to say ‘will’ twice. We’ve already said ‘will’ once so we’ve shown that this sentence is talking about the future.

This sentence is not a conditional. We are not saying if this happens, then this will happen. We are saying that this thing will happen 100%. I will give it to you when we see each other. I will apply for a new job when I finish making my CV.

Grammar mistake #4

I want to get a job in the government. The government are good. Grammar mistake number four. The government are good. This sentence is wrong because the government is just one thing but we are using the government with ‘are’ and ‘are’ is used for plural subjects.

Now I know what you’re thinking. There are many people in the government. You’re right. There are many people in the government. But we are not talking about all of the people in the government. We are talking about the government, the organization, the thing. This is only one thing. We are not talking about all of the people. So to correct this, we need to say ‘The government is good.’ Manchester United is a good team. McDonald’s is a big company.

Grammar mistake #5

Fred is walking to his job interview with the government. He is so nervous. He doesn’t think he can do it. Before he had time to think he jumped into the lake. Grammar mistake number five. Before he had time to think he jumped into the lake. This sentence is wrong because we are missing one little thing. We are missing this comma here. That’s better.

We need a comma here because if you read this sentence really quickly, it could have many different meanings. Before he had time to think he jumped into the lake. Maybe we are saying ‘Before, he had time to think he jumped into the lake. This means he didn’t jump into the lake. He just thought about it in the past. But we are saying that he did jump into the lake. That’s why commas are so important.

If you’re not sure where to put a comma, think about which words need to be together. For example, with our sentence, he jumped into the lake. We know that happened. That means these words should probably stay together. So put a comma before these words because you know they go together. Another example. When Fred found his dog, he was so happy.

Grammar mistake #6

Wait. Who was happy? Mistake number six. When Fred found his dog, he was happy. The grammar here in this sentence is correct but the problem is it’s not clear. Who was happy? Was the dog happy or was Fred happy?

In this sentence, it’s very confusing because we have said ‘he’. ‘He’ could mean the dog. ‘He’ could mean Fred. We don’t know. It’s not clear. When you have two or more things in a sentence, it’s better not to use a pronoun. For example, ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’ because it might not be clear what you are talking about.

When Fred found his dog, Fred was happy. Now we know the person who was happy was Fred. When Leo talked his friend, his friend smiled. When Fred spoke to the news presenter, the news presenter was confused.

Grammar mistake #7

You just found your dog today. How are you feeling right now? Oh I am so happy I found my little dog. I like a dog. You like a dog? Which dog? Grammar mistake number seven. I like a dog. If you say ‘I like a dog’, that you means you are only talking about one dog and that dog is not specific. It could be this dog. This dog. This dog or any other dog.

If you like all dogs or you like the animal, you need to say ‘I like dogs.’ Remove the ‘a’ and add an S. I like dogs.

If you are talking about your own dog, then add the word ‘my’. I like my dog. I like my cat. I like my bird.

Grammar mistake #8

That is a beautiful bird you’ve got there. Yes he is, isn’t he? Whose bird is it? It’s my. Your what? It’s my. Your what? Grammar mistake number eight. It’s my. If you just say ‘It’s my’, the sentence is not finished. You need to say what is yours. It’s my bird. It’s my phone. It’s my bike.

Or if you don’t want to say what you’re talking about, you can just say ‘It’s mine.’ ‘It’s mine bird’? No. ‘It’s mine phone’? No. ‘It’s mine’? Yes.

Grammar mistake #9

Wow! It’s the best thing I ever see. Grammar mistake number nine. It’s the best thing I ever see. Normally when we use the word ‘ever’ in a sentence like this, we need to use the word ‘have’ and we need to use a verb 3 or a past participle. For example, ‘see’, ‘saw’, ‘seen’. Have, had, had. Talk, talked, talked.

So to correct this sentence, we need to say ‘It’s the best thing I have ever seen.’ It’s the most delicious food I have ever eaten. He is the meanest boss we have ever had.

Grammar mistake #10

So how’s the report going? Mm. Not that well. I haven’t started it yet. Oh that’s not good. Do you need some help? No that’s fine. The boss told Fred and I to do it. Grammar mistake number ten. The boss told Fred and I to do it. This sentence is wrong because if you take out the word ‘Fred’, the sentence would be ‘The boss told I to do it.’ Is this correct? No it’s not.

So to correct this, we need to change ‘I’ to ‘me’. The boss told Fred and me to do it. If I say ‘The boss told me to do it’, is that correct? Yes it is. So that’s how you know whether to use ‘I’ or ‘me’ in sentences like this. Remove the first part of the sentence and see which word makes sense. ‘I’ or ‘me’.

Now let’s look at this example. It’s the best place Fred and __ have worked in. Let’s remove ‘Fred’ and see what happens. It’s the best place me have worked in. No. It’s the best place I have worked in. Yes looks good. It’s the best place Fred and I have worked in.

You see guys? English is easy when you know how. Thank you so much for watching today. Leave a comment down below and I will see you in the next lesson.