7 Common Grammar Mistakes In English

Lesson summary

Think English grammar is hard? In today's English lesson you will see 7 common grammar mistakes that you might be making and how to fix them.

Video transcript

What’s up guys? My name is Shane and today we are looking at 7 common grammar mistakes in English. Let’s not waste any more time.  Let’s look at the first mistake.

 

Grammar mistake #1

Number one.  He wants to lose his weight. What’s wrong here? What’s wrong with this sentence?

 

Well we don’t need to say ‘his.’  We just say ‘He wants to lose weight.’ Why? Because if we say ‘his’, that means he wants to lose all of his weight. And I don’t think he wants to do that because if he does, he’ll look like this.

 

When we use the word ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘your’, it normally means everything. For example, if I say ‘This is his book’, we are talking about the whole book.

 

So if we say ‘his weight’, we are talking about all of his weight. So we should say ‘He wants to lose weight.’

 

Now if you want to be specific about which weight you’re talking about, you could say something like ‘He wants to lose the weight that he put on over Christmas.’ This is a specific amount of weight – the weight that he put on at Christmas.

 

But if you’re not talking about specific weight, you don’t need to say words like ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘your’, ‘our.’ You can just say ‘lose weight’.

 

Grammar mistake #2

Number two.  He calls to his mum every night. What’s wrong with this one?

 

Well, we’re saying that he uses his phone to contact his mum, right? And when we use the word ‘call’ with ‘phone’, we don’t say ‘to.’

 

So we can just say ‘He calls his mum every night.’ She calls her father every night. He calls his girlfriend every night. We don’t need to say ‘to.’

 

Grammar mistake #3

Number three.  There is nothing to do.  I’m so boring. What’s wrong with this one? 

 

Well, look at the word ‘boring.’ If I say ‘I am boring’, that means I am saying I am not a fun person.  I am not an interesting person. I am not a funny person. But this is not what we’re trying to say.  We’re trying to talk about our feelings. So the correct sentence should be ‘I feel so bored.’ ‘I feel so bored.’

 

When you’re using adjectives to talk about your feelings, we normally use ED. For example, ‘I am so bored.’ ‘I am so excited.’ ‘I am so tired.’

 

We actually put out a video recently about ED and ING adjectives and you can watch it right here.

 

Grammar mistake #4

Number four.  He is loudly.  What’s wrong here?

 

Well, after we use the word ‘is’, we normally have a noun or an adjective, right? Or a verb ing. For example, ‘He is a doctor.’ ‘He is hungry.’ ‘He is eating.’

 

But the word ‘loudly’ is an adverb. So we don’t normally use an adverb after ‘is’, so the correct sentence should be ‘He is loud.’ So just remember, after is, we normally don’t use adverbs.

 

Grammar mistake #5

Number five.  They should to do it. What’s wrong with this sentence?

 

Well this one’s really easy.  After ‘should’, we don’t use ‘to.’ So the correct sentence should be ‘They should do it.’

 

Some other examples could be ‘They should eat that.’ ‘They should go to the park.’ ‘They should work harder.’

 

Just remember, after should, no ‘to.’

 

Grammar mistake #6

Number six.  Don’t doing that. What’s wrong with this one? 

 

Well, this one is really easy as well. After ‘don’t’, we do not use a verb ing. So the correct sentence should be ‘Don’t do that.’ Some other examples could be ‘Don’t go there.’ ‘Don’t run there.’ ‘Don’t eat there.’ Last one. 

 

Grammar mistake #7

Number seven.  I cannot playing football.

 

What’s wrong with this one? Well this is easy as well.  After ‘can’ or ‘cannot’, we normally use verb 1 or a present tense verb. So the correct sentence should be ‘I cannot play football.’ Some other examples could be ‘I cannot eat spicy food.’ Or ‘I cannot swim very well.’

 

Quiz

Okay we have learned 7 common grammar mistakes in English. Now let’s have a little quiz to check your understanding and I want you to get every single one right.

 

Question number one.  She wants to lose her weight because she thinks she is fat. Is this sentence correct? Yes or no? And this sentence is not correct because remember, when we’re talking about weight, we don’t have to use words like ‘her’, ‘his’, ‘their.’ So the correct sentence should be ‘She wants to lose weight because she thinks she is fat.’ We don’t need to say ‘her.’

 

Number two.  I saw that new movie last night.  It was so bored. Are these sentences okay? Yes or no? The first sentence is okay but the second sentence is not okay. We should say ‘It was so boring.’ Why? Because remember, we use adjectives with ED to talk about our feelings. I am not talking about my feelings.  I am describing, I am talking about the movie. Last question.

 

Number three.  Don’t cut the food like that. Is this sentence okay? Yes or no? Yes this sentence is okay because remember, after ‘don’t’, we normally use a present tense verb. We don’t use a verb ing.

 

Conclusion

That is the end of the lesson today.  Comment down below and let us know were you making any of these grammar mistakes before watching this video? And if you’re interested in more common grammar mistakes, check out this video right here. If you liked the video hit like.

 

If you haven’t subscribed already, make sure you subscribe right now. And if you’re not following us on Instagram, follow us right now because we have daily quizzes, weekly posts, videos, pictures, updates and much much more. And I will see you in the next video.  See you guys!

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