Common English Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even advanced English learners make mistakes. As language teachers at AbboTalk, we've observed patterns in the errors that students from different language backgrounds tend to make. Understanding these common pitfalls can help you become more aware of them in your own speaking and writing. In this article, we'll explore the most frequent English mistakes and provide practical strategies to overcome them.

1. Article Confusion (a, an, the)

Articles are particularly challenging for speakers of languages that don't have them (like Russian, Japanese, or Korean).

Common Mistakes:

Rules to Remember:

• Use "a/an" for non-specific singular nouns (first mention)
• Use "the" for specific nouns (already mentioned or known)
• Use "a" before consonant sounds, "an" before vowel sounds
• Some nouns don't need articles (generalizations, abstract concepts)

Practice Tip:

When reading in English, highlight every article and note why it's used. Keep a journal of article mistakes you make and review it regularly.

2. Verb Tense Confusion

English has 12 major tenses, which can be overwhelming even for intermediate learners.

Common Mistakes:

Problem Areas:

• Present Perfect vs. Simple Past
• Past Continuous vs. Simple Past
• Present Perfect Continuous for ongoing situations
• Correct use of future forms

3. Preposition Errors

Prepositions in English often don't follow logical rules and must be memorized as part of phrases.

Common Mistakes:

Frequently Confused Prepositions:

• in/on/at (for time and place)
• to/for (purpose or direction)
• by/with (method or instrument)
• about/of (topic or relation)

Learning Strategy:

Instead of learning isolated prepositions, learn prepositional phrases as complete units. For example, memorize "depend on," "afraid of," "interested in," etc.

4. Subject-Verb Agreement

Making sure subjects and verbs match in number (singular/plural) can be tricky, especially with complex subjects.

Common Mistakes:

Tricky Situations:

• Subjects with prepositional phrases (agree with the main subject, not the object of the preposition)
• Collective nouns (team, family, jury) - can be singular or plural depending on context
• Indefinite pronouns (everyone, nobody, each) - usually singular
• Compound subjects joined by "and" (plural) vs. "or/nor" (agrees with closer subject)

5. Word Order Confusion

English has a relatively strict word order that differs from many other languages.

Common Mistakes:

Word Order Rules:

• Statements follow Subject-Verb-Object pattern
• Questions invert subject and auxiliary verb
• Adjectives usually come before nouns
• Adverbs have flexible position but follow patterns

6. False Friends and False Cognates

Words that look similar to words in your native language but have different meanings in English.

Examples:

• Actual - does not mean "current" (as in Spanish "actual"), but means "real" or "existing in fact"
• Embarrassed - does not mean "pregnant" (as in Spanish "embarazada"), but means "feeling ashamed or awkward"
• Library - does not mean "bookstore" (as in French "librairie"), but a place to borrow books
• Sensible - does not mean "sensitive" (as in many Romance languages), but means "reasonable" or "practical"

Solution:

Create a personal dictionary of false friends between English and your native language. When in doubt, verify meanings in a reliable English dictionary.

7. Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

English distinguishes between countable nouns (can be plural) and uncountable nouns (mass nouns that don't take plural forms).

Common Mistakes:

Common Uncountable Nouns:

• Abstract concepts: advice, information, news, knowledge
• Materials and substances: water, rice, coffee, sugar
• Collective items: furniture, jewelry, equipment, luggage

Expressing Quantity:

With uncountable nouns, use quantifiers like "some," "a lot of," "a little," or specific containers/units ("a piece of advice," "two cups of coffee").

8. Overusing Direct Translations

Directly translating phrases from your native language often leads to unnatural expressions in English.

Examples:

Overcoming Translation Habits:

• Learn common collocations (word pairs that naturally go together)
• Use English-to-English dictionaries rather than bilingual ones
• Read and listen to authentic materials to absorb natural expressions
• Think in English rather than translating from your native language

9. Pronunciation Challenges

English pronunciation can be difficult due to its irregular spelling system and sounds that may not exist in your native language.

Common Difficulties:

• Th sounds (/θ/ as in "think" and /ð/ as in "this")
• Vowel distinctions (e.g., ship/sheep, pull/pool)
• Consonant clusters (strengths, sixths)
• Word stress (important for intelligibility)
• Sentence rhythm and intonation

Improvement Strategies:

• Focus on sounds that most affect comprehensibility
• Record yourself speaking and compare with native speakers
• Use minimal pairs practice (ship/sheep, thin/sin)
• Learn phonetic symbols to understand pronunciation guides
• Observe how mouth position affects sound production

10. Forgetting Irregular Forms

English has many irregular verbs, plurals, and comparative forms that don't follow standard patterns.

Common Mistakes:

Learning Approach:

Group irregular forms by patterns and practice them in meaningful contexts. For example, group verbs with similar past tense patterns:

• think/thought, bring/brought, buy/bought
• swim/swam, begin/began, ring/rang
• feel/felt, keep/kept, sleep/slept