7 Commonest English Mistakes That Can Be Avoided Easily

Every day we all are prone to make mistakes while speaking and writing English. Check the commonest mistakes and get to know how you can avoid them further.

Article Posted in: English How To and Tips

English appears a tricky subject for a number of students, especially to those whose primary language is not English. Students make different types of mistakes in English – not just the weak students, but the advanced candidates are prone to make common mistakes. This reduces their score in academics. We have fins out 7 commonest mistakes that almost everyone makes and ways of avoiding these:

Lack of Subject-Verb Agreement

Sentence-Verb-Agreement

Even the advanced candidates struggle here – the rule is any singular subject takes a singular verb form (main verb + does). Similarly, a plural subject takes a plural verb. 
But, problems occur when the subject of the sentence contains each, every, all, people, information, hair, etc. these subjects appear singular but sound plural, as a result, students find it difficult to choose the verb forms. 

How to Avoid This Mistake?

  • Use a table for these unnatural subject forms 
  • List the verb form that agrees with the particular subject

Too Much Use of Adverbs

The function of adverbs is to intensify the meaning of verbs in a sentence. Some candidates are too prone that they use adverbs almost at the end of each sentence. This offers a weird structure and meaning to the piece of writing.

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Use adverbs only when this is necessary for the flow of a sentence
  • Make sure that the adverbs do not exaggerate the sentence
  • Try not to use adverbs in consecutive sentences

Conjunction Glitches 

The 2 commonest conjunctions are ‘and’ and ‘but’. The use of these 2 conjunctions needs a sufficient understanding of the sentence.

The conjunction ‘and’ is applied when the first part of the sentence agrees with the part next to the conjunction. The word ‘but’ is used when the part before the conjunction disagrees with the part that comes after it. 

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Develop a sense of positive and negative tones in a sentence
  • Use the conjunctions according to that

Improper Use of Apostrophe

The use of apostrophes bothers even the professionals and in many cases, apostrophes are used wrongly. Here, the factor to remember is apostrophes are meant to shorten a group of words or phrases. Putting an apostrophe after a word means ‘of someone or something’. 

For example, Bob’s = of Bob, father’s = of father.

Another problem is whether to use ‘it’s’ or ‘its’. Here ‘it’s’ means ‘of it’ and ‘its’ means ‘it is’. It is the confusion regarding the apostrophes that lead to several mistakes. 

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Before using the apostrophes, have a sense of the meaning of the sentence
  • If you are not confident enough, restructure the sentence

The Pronoun Problem 

Among all the pronouns, ‘him’, ‘his’, and ‘her’ are very much problematic. Let us understand the meaning of these pronouns first: 

  • Him = to someone (male)
  • His = of someone (male)
  • Her = to someone and of someone (female)

Clearing the meaning will clear the confusion of the students.

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Map the sentence and its meaning before using the pronoun

Too Much Use of 'The' 

In a paragraph or sentence, restricting the number of ‘the’ is essential. Too many ‘the’ in a sentence, spoils the meaning and the sentence itself sounds very weird.

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Avoiding the use of ‘the’ is a matter of practice
  • While writing beware of using ‘the’ here and there

Improper Spelling

Spelinh mistakes

Spelling mistake is one of the commonest mistakes and probably all make a few each day. With practice, it is possible to have a strong vocabulary and a stronger grip on the spellings.

How to Avoid this Mistake?

  • Proofread while writing on paper
  • Use spell-checker while writing in a word processor
  • Do not try to spell words after listening – check a dictionary instead

Final Words

Having a degree in English does not mean that the person will make fewer mistakes. These common mistakes are sometimes unavoidable both in spoken and written English. This is because, at the end of the day, English is a tricky subject where rhyming words can differ in spellings; words with similar spelling have different pronunciation, and so on. Maybe these are the reason, English appears problematic to many students.

To achieve perfection in English, it is essential to pace up the practice. To get an even better grip on English, you may practice with English tutors. They will guide the candidates and reduces the chances of mistakes. Join us to request a tutor today. Alternatively, you may enroll in online language courses

Article Posted in: English How To and Tips
Tags: English Learning English English Learning Student Tips Improve English Preparation Tips

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