Common Grammatical Mistakes

Wrong	I have visited Niagara Falls last weekend.
Right	I visited Niagara Falls last weekend.

Wrong	The woman which works here is from Japan.
Right	The woman who works here is from Japan.

Wrong	She’s married with a dentist.
Right	She’s married to a dentist.

Wrong	She was boring in the class.
Right	She was bored in the class.

Wrong	I must to call him immediately.
Right	I must call him immediately.

Wrong	Every students like the teacher.
Right	Every student likes the teacher.

Wrong	Although it was raining, but we had the picnic.
Right	Although it was raining, we had the picnic.

Wrong	I enjoyed from the movie.
Right	I enjoyed the movie.

Wrong	I look forward to meet you.
Right	I look forward to meeting you.

Wrong	I like very much ice cream.
Right	I like ice cream very much.

Wrong	She can to drive.
Right	She can drive.

Wrong	Where I can find a bank?
Right	Where can I find a bank?

Wrong	I live in United States.
Right	I live in the United States.

Wrong	When I will arrive, I will call you.
Right	When I arrive, I will call you.

Wrong	I’ve been here since three months.
Right	I’ve been here for three months.

Wrong	My boyfriend has got a new work.
Right	My boyfriend has got a new job. (or just "has a new job")

Wrong	She doesn’t listen me.
Right	She doesn’t listen to me.

Wrong	You speak English good.
Right	You speak English well.

Wrong	The police is coming.
Right	The police are coming.

Wrong	The house isn’t enough big.
Right	The house isn’t big enough.

Wrong	You should not to smoke.
Right	You should not smoke.

Wrong	Do you like a glass of wine?
Right	Would you like a glass of wine?

Wrong	There is seven girls in the class.
Right	There are seven girls in the class.

Wrong	I didn’t meet nobody.
Right	I didn’t meet anybody.

Wrong	My flight departs in 5:00 am.
Right	My flight departs at 5:00 am.

Wrong	I promise I call you next week.
Right	I promise I’ll call you next week.

Wrong	Where is post office?
Right	Where is the post office?

Wrong	Please explain me how improve my English.
Right	Please explain to me how to improve my English.

Wrong	We studied during four hours.
Right	We studied for four hours.

Wrong	Is ready my passport?
Right	Is my passport ready?

Wrong	You cannot buy all what you like!
Right	You cannot buy all that you like!

Wrong	She is success.
Right	She is successful.

Wrong	My mother wanted that I be doctor.
Right	My mother wanted me to be a doctor.

Wrong	The life is hard!
Right	Life is hard.

Wrong	How many childrens you have?
Right	How many children do you have?

Wrong	My brother has 10 years.
Right	My brother is 10 (years old).

Wrong	I want eat now.
Right	I want to eat now.

Wrong	You are very nice, as your mother.
Right	You are very nice, like your mother.

Wrong	She said me that she liked you.
Right	She told me that she liked you.

Wrong	My husband engineer.
Right	My husband is an engineer.

Wrong	I came Australia to study English.
Right	I came to Australia to study English.

Wrong	It is more hot now.
Right	It’s hotter now.

Wrong	You can give me an information?
Right	Can you give me some information?

Wrong	They cooked the dinner themself.
Right	They cooked the dinner themselves.

Wrong	Me and Johnny live here.
Right	Johnny and I live here.

Wrong	I closed very quietly the door.
Right	I closed the door very quietly.

Wrong	You like dance with me?
Right	Would you like to dance with me?

Wrong	I go always to school by subway.
Right	I always go to school by subway.

Wrong	If I will be in London, I will contact to you.
Right	If I am in London, I will contact you.

Wrong	We drive usually to home.
Right	We usually drive home.

(Source: Rebecca, http://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-common-grammar-mistakes-in-english-2/)

Most Annoying Grammar Mistakes in English

by Karen Bond

1.  Third conditional

"If I would have known about the party, I would have gone to it."

This is INCORRECT, although commonly used, especially in American English.

The correct form is:

If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle

* "If I had known about the party, I would have gone."  

This is CORRECT.

2.  Don't vs Doesn’t

"He don’t care about me anymore."

This is INCORRECT.

Doesn't, does not, or does are used with the third person singular - words like he, she, and it.

Don't, do not, or do are used for other subjects.

* "He doesn’t care about me anymore."  

This is CORRECT.

3.  Bring vs Take

"When we go to the party on Saturday, let’s bring a bottle of wine."

This is INCORRECT.

When you are viewing the movement of something from the point of arrival, use “bring”:

* "When you come to the party, please bring a bottle of wine."

This is CORRECT.

When you are viewing the movement of something from the point of departure, use “take”:

* "When we go to the party, let’s take a bottle of wine."

This is CORRECT.

4.  Fewer vs Less 

Sign at the checkout of a supermarket: “Ten items or less”.

This is INCORRECT.

You can count the items, so you need to use the number word “fewer”.  These nouns are countable.

* "Ten items or fewer."

This is CORRECT.

If you can’t count the substance, then you should use “less”.  These nouns are uncountable.

* "You should eat less meat."

This is CORRECT.

5.  However

"We were supposed to go to the dance last night, however, it was cancelled because of lack of interest."

This is INCORRECT.

A semicolon, rather than a comma, should be used to link these two complete sentences:

* "We were supposed to go to the dance last night; however, it was cancelled because of lack of interest." 

This is CORRECT.

It should be noted that there ARE situations in which you can use a comma instead of a semi-colon:

* "The match at Wimbledon, however, continued despite the bad weather."

This is CORRECT. 

There is only one complete sentence in this example.  It is not a compound sentence.

6.  Have vs Of

"I never would of thought that he’d behave like that."

This is INCORRECT.

It should be would have:

* "I never would have/would’ve thought that he’d behave like that."

This is CORRECT.

It’s the same for should and could:

"He should of come with me."

This is INCORRECT.

* "He should have/should’ve come with me."

This is CORRECT.

"She could of had anything she wanted." 

This is INCORRECT.

* "She could have had anything she wanted."

This is CORRECT.

7.  Double negative 

"I'm not speaking to nobody in this class."

This is INCORRECT.

Since 'not' is a negative, you cannot use 'nobody' in this sentence:

* "I'm not speaking to anybody in this class."

This is CORRECT.

8.  Present perfect

"He has took the train."

This is INCORRECT.

The correct form for the present perfect is:

would + have + past participle

* "He has taken the train."

This is CORRECT.

9.  Went vs Gone 

"I should have went to school yesterday."

This is INCORRECT.

The correct form is:

should + have + past participle

* "I should have gone to school yesterday."

This is CORRECT.

10.   Its vs It's

"Its going to be sunny tomorrow."

This is INCORRECT.

It’s is the contraction of It is:

* "It’s going to be sunny tomorrow."

This is CORRECT.

"What’s that?  I can’t remember it’s name."

This is INCORRECT.

Its is a possessive pronoun that modifies a noun:

* "What’s that?  I can’t remember its name."

This is CORRECT.

(Source: http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/commonerrorsinenglish.html)

GrammarErrors.com: Top English Grammar Mistakes

nauseous/nauseated

Nauseous and nauseated are often used interchangeably, with nauseous being the more common word of choice.

To many people, the following two sentences have exactly the same meaning:

Example 1: I feel nauseated when I am nervous.

Example 2: I feel nauseous when I am nervous.

In both sentences, the speaker is referring to a feeling of queasiness. It is common to hear the second example above, which uses nauseous in place of nauseated. These words can have two distinct meanings (though few seem to make the distinction): nauseous referring to something that actually causes a feeling of sickness, and nauseated referring to the actual sensation of sickness, as illustrated in the following sentences:

Example 3 (nauseous-correct usage): The smell of rotten eggs isnauseous.

Example 4 (nauseated-correct usage): The smell of rotten eggs makes me nauseated.

Example 3 illustrates the restrictive usage of the word nauseous, referring to the smell of rotten eggs, something which causes a feeling of sickness. In Example 4, nauseated, not nauseous, is used to refer to the actual feeling of sicknesscaused by the smell of the rotten eggs.

Please note that the word nauseating is synonymous with nauseous in that both refer to something that causes nausea. To say, “The smell of rotten eggs isnauseating” is the same as saying, “The smell of rotten eggs is nauseous.”

Commas with conjunctive adverbs (however, furthermore, etc.)

Note: Most people would probably agree that commas are the most confusing punctuation marks because there are so many rules dictating when and how they should be used. I will not attempt to list all the comma rules on this page (there are some excellent sites listed on the Resources page that explain all the rules of comma usage); instead–in keeping with the theme of this site–I will highlight a few of the errors that I’ve observed to be the most common.

When combining two sentences into one compound sentence, a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) are used.

Example 1: The festival was to be held today, but it was canceled because of the rainy weather. (comma and coordinating conjunction)

Sometimes writers use words such as however, furthermore, andtherefore (these are called conjunctive adverbs) in place of coordinating conjunctions to combine two sentences into one. This is where a punctuation problem often arises. The mistake writers make is to incorrectly place a comma in place of a semicolon before conjunctive adverbs, as illustrated in the sentence below:

Example 2: The festival was to be held today, however, it was canceled due to the rainy weather. (comma preceding the conjunctive adverb – INCORRECT. Note: The comma following the conjunctive adverb is perfectly correct and should be left as is.)

A semicolon, rather than a comma, should precede conjunctive adverbs when they link two complete sentences. Note the corrected form of Example 2 below:

Example 3: The festival was to be held today; however, it was canceled due to the rainy weather. (semicolon preceding the conjunctive adverb – CORRECT)

Don’t be misled–there ARE situations in which it is entirely correct to use a comma before a conjunctive adverb, as in the following sentence:

Example 4: The sporting events, however, continued despite the weather.

Note that in this sentence, in contrast to the sentence in Example 3, no semicolon is needed because it is not a compound sentence.

 Commas in direct address

Note: Most people would probably agree that commas are the most confusing punctuation marks because there are so many rules dictating when and how they should be used. I will not attempt to list all the comma rules on this page (there are some excellent sites listed on the Resources page that explain all the rules of comma usage); instead–in keeping with the theme of this site–I will highlight a few of the errors that I’ve observed to be the most common.

I often receive e-mails that begin with the following greeting: “Hi Rachel.” Although this is certainly a friendly way to begin a letter, it violates one of the many comma rules: Always use a comma when directly addressing someone/something, regardless of whether the direct address is at the beginning or end of the sentence. If the direct address is in the middle of a sentence, use a pair of commas to set off the direct address.

Note the placement of commas in the example sentences below:

Example 1: Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? (Direct address at beginning of sentence)

Example 2: It was a pleasure to meet you, Sir. (Direct address at end of sentence)

Example 3: Thank you, my fellow grammarians, for remembering to use correct English. (Direct address in middle of sentence)

So, you see, the salutation “Hi Rachel” should be “Hi, Rachel.” A comma is needed between Hi and Rachel because it is a direct address.

Keep sending the e-mails my way, but remember that I’ll be on the lookout for any missing commas.

aren’t I/am I not

The expression aren’t I is often used in place of am I not, particularly in conversational speech.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): I’m going with you on vacation, aren’t I?

Although the use of this phrase is widespread, it is atrocious English that could be considered equivalent to you is, a phrase which most educated people abhor (although for some reason, these same people have no qualms about saying aren’t I). The correct form of the sentence in Example 1 is as follows:

Example 2 (correct usage): I’m going with you on vacation, am I not?

If you read this sentence aloud, it probably sounds awkward and formal, perhaps even a bit hoity-toity. However, it is correct English. If the phrase aren’t I is converted from a question to a statement, I aren’t, it becomes obvious that it is indeed grammatically incorrect.

who/whom

These two words must be a couple of the trickiest ones in the English language. It seems as if no speakers, and only some writers, know how to use who and whomcorrectly. In fact, whom doesn’t even exist in some people’s vocabularies, and it appears to be a word that is quickly disappearing from the English language.

Who is used as the subject of the clause it introduces.
Whom is used as the object of a preposition, as a direct object, or as an indirect object.

A key to remembering which word to use is simply to substitute who or whom with a pronoun. If you can substitute he, she, we, or they in the clause, and it still sounds okay, then you know that who is the correct word to use. If, however, him, her, us, or them sounds more appropriate, then whom is the correct choice for the sentence.

The following are some example sentences that illustrate how to correctly use whoand whom.

Example 1 (who): The woman who [not whom] is standing over there is my mother.

Example 2 (whom): Whom are you going out with tonight? (Note that in formal writing, the sentence should be read: “With whom are you going out tonight?”)

Example 3 (whom): The stranded motorist whom I helped was very grateful.

If you substitute she for who in Example 1, it becomes obvious that who is the correct word: “…she [in place of who] is standing over there.” Now take a look at Example 3 above. Take the clause whom I helped and substitute him for whom. If you reverse the order of the words, the clause becomes I helped him. Him is in the place of whom. Remember that although this is a helpful way to distinguish betweenwho and whom, you have to look at just the part of the sentence that begins withwho or whom for this trick to work.

different from/different than

I read this sentence recently in a book, and it immediately struck me as awkward and incorrect.

Curiosity is different than other ways of being fulfilled…

Shouldn’t it be “different from“?

Different from, different than…what’s the difference (pardon the pun)?

The word than is a preposition that usually follows an adjective when making a comparison between people, items, or conditions. Examples include more than, less than, better than, worse than, colder than, sweeter than—you get the idea.

However, different than can also be correctly used in a sentence such as the following:

College life is different than I expected.

So, what is the distinction between this example and the first one that uses different than incorrectly?  A clause instead of a noun follows the word different.

General Guideline:

If a noun follows different, use from:
Curiosity is different from other ways of being fulfilled…

If a clause (has a subject and verb) follows different, use than:
College life is different than I expected.

good/well

When asked, “How are you doing?” many people will immediately answer, “I am doing good.” Unless they’re talking about the good they’re doing for their community, they should have answered instead with “I am doing well.”

Good and well in the context illustrated above are no doubt two very commonly confused words. Good is an adjective (and a noun in some cases); well can be an adjective or an adverb, but in most cases, it is used as an adverb. In the example sentence, well should be used because an adverb is needed to modify the verbdoing. Good is not the most appropriate word to use in this context because adjectives cannot modify verbs.

Perhaps you’ve also wondered, “What about ‘I am feeling good ‘? Is this correct, or is it ‘I am feeling well‘?” Here’s where it can get tricky. Both are correct. But isn’tfeeling a verb? Yes, but it is a linking verb. Linking verbs are different from other verbs in that they are not performing an action, but are connecting the subject with another word in the sentence. In both sentences, feeling links good and well back to the subject I. Good and well are not adverbs modifying the verb feeling; rather, they are adjectives modifying I, the subject of the sentence. Note that the meanings conveyed are different (feeling good refers to a state of mind; feeling well refers to health), but both are grammatically correct. The same is true when used with other linking verbs such as look. (You look good. You look well.) Looking good refers to attractiveness; looking well refers to health.

In a nutshell:

Good: always an adjective, never an adverb; never modifies a verb but can follow a linking verb and act as a modifier for the subject.

Well: adjective or adverb depending on context. When an action verb is involved, an adverb is needed, and well is always the choice, never good.

like/as though/as if

The word like should never be used before a clause.

Example 1 (incorrect usage): It looks like it will rain.

Like should be used before a noun only, as in the following example:

Example 2 (correct usage): The girl looks like her mother.

Take a close look at the two sentences above. Do you see the difference in how they are used? In the first sentence, like is followed by the clause it will rain. In the second sentence, like is followed by her mother. Whenever a subject and verb follow, remember to substitute like with either as though or as if, as illustrated in the final example below.

Example 3 (correct): It looks as if it will rain.

(Source: http://www.grammarerrors.com/)