Common Mistakes in English

In our daily conversation, we all do some common mistakes not because we are not strong in English, sometimes it is because they’re spelled so similarly . 1. DISINTERESTED/ UNINTERESTED An uninterested person is bored, unconcerned, or indifferent; a disinterested person is impartial, unbiased, or has no stake in the outcome. If you’re on trial, you want a disinterested judge. Unless you’re a lawyer, the word you’re generally looking for is “uninterested,” but a quick news search shows that “disinterested” is frequently misused by the media. Here’s how to use them properly: John couldn’t help yawning; he was uninterested in fishing stories. The ex-wife can hardly be considered a disinterested party. spell-and-grammer-checker 2. BLUNDER VS. MISTAKE These two words basically mean the same thing and can never be used in a sentence at the same time. Example: You have made a blunder mistake This is wrong because the sentence actually means, ”You have made a mistake.” It can either be ”You have made a mistake” or ”You have made a blunder”. 3. LOSE AND LOOSE When people mix up “lose” and “loose,” it’s usually just because they’re spelled so similarly. They know their definitions are completely different. “lose” is a verb that means “to be unable to find (something or someone), to fail to win (a game, contest, etc.), or to fail to keep or hold (something wanted or valued).” It’s like losing your keys or losing a football match. “Loose” is an adjective that means “not tightly fastened, attached, or held,” like loose clothing or a loose tooth. A trick for remembering the difference is to think of the term “loosey-goosey” — both of those words are spelled with two o’s. 4. YOUR AND YOU’RE “Your” indicates possession – something belonging to you. “You’re” is short for “you are”. How not to do it: Your beautiful Do you know when your coming over? Can I have one of you’re biscuits? How to do it properly: You’re beautiful Do you know when you’re coming over? Can I have one of your biscuits? 5. ITS/ IT’S We said earlier that apostrophes should be used to indicate possession, but there is one exception to this rule, and that is the word “it”. Unsurprisingly, this exception gets lots of people confused. “It’s” is only ever used when short for “it is”.“Its” indicates something belonging to something that isn’t masculine or feminine (like “his” and “hers”, but used when you’re not talking about a person).If it helps, remember that inanimate objects can’t really possess something in the way a human can. How not to do it: Its snowing outside The sofa looks great with it’s new cover How to do it properly: It’s snowing outside The sofa looks great with its new cover its-not-its 6. FEWER/ LESS The fact that many people don’t know the difference between “fewer” and “less” is reflected in the number of supermarket checkout aisles designated for “10 items or less”. The mistake most people make is using “less” when they actually mean “fewer”, rather than the other way round. “Fewer” refers to items you can count individually.“Less” refers to a commodity, such as sand or water, that you can’t count individually. How not to do it: There are less cakes now Ten items or less How to do it properly: There are fewer cakes now Ten items or fewer Less sand Fewer grains of sand 7. THEN/ THAN Confusion between “then” and “than” probably arises because of the two look and sound similar. “Than” is used in comparisons.“Then” is used to indicate something following something else in time, as in step-by-step instructions, or planning a schedule (“we’ll go there then there”). How not to do it: She was better at it then him It was more then enough How to do it properly: She was better at it than him It was more than enough We’ll go to the baker first, then the coffee shop 1 8. MORE VS. BETTER At no point should they be used together in a sentence. Example: This could never have turned out to be more better. The word better in itself implies superiority hence the use of the word ”more” in the sentence is seen as being unnecessary. 9. WHICH VS. THAT One of the most popular mistakes that cuts across all nationalities. ”That” should be used as a restrictive pronoun while ”Which” should be used as a relative pronoun to imply the available options. In a nutshell, ”Which” defines and ”That” limits. Example: I never watch movies that are not HD. This means that you limit yourself to HD movies. I only watch HD movies which are available on DVD. It means that you can watch HD movies available on DVD. 10. GOOD VS. WELL Good is an adjective. It goes before a noun. An adjective cannot be used to modify an adverb. Well is an adverb. It usually goes after the verb or verb + object These words are not interchangeable. Incorrect: He did good Correct: He did well. Incorrect: She sings good. Correct: She sings well. Incorrect: She speaks English good. Correct: She speaks good English. Correct: She speaks English well. 11. 360 DEGREE CHANGE VS. 180 DEGREE CHANGE You have probably heard people saying that they have made a complete 360-degree change in their life. Well, if they have made a 360-degree change, then they haven’t changed at all. When you go 360 degrees you return to the exact same place where you used to be. To imply that you have completely changed your life, you have to use the expression ‘a 180-degree change’. whose-vs-whos 12. WHOSE VS. WHO’S whose= possessive form of who. Whose plans are these? Whose money did he take? Do you know whose boat we saw the other day? who’s= a contraction for who is? Who’s going to clean all this mess? She was wondering who’s going to dance with her. Do we need to tell them who’s going to be there? 13. EFFECT AND AFFECT effect=noun, produced by a cause; a result. The effect of your leadership is visible here. The rules are in effect as of today. What if the change has no effect?affect=verb, to act on; to produce a chance. She affected all of us with her speech.The cold weather affected my plants last night.I let the movie affect me deeply. 14. ACCEPT VS EXCEPT accept=verb, to take or receive. I accept the challenge. They accepted the generous gift. Why not accept our flaws and still love ourselves? except=preposition, excluding, save, but. So it will never follow a subject such as I, they, we. Everyone except me decided to go. Do anything you can to please her except calling her. verb 15. GONE VS. WENT “Went” is the past tense of the verb to go whereas “gone” is the past participle. Use them correctly. Correct: I went to the store. I should have gone to the open market instead. Incorrect: I should’ve went somewhere! 16. LAY AND LIE This is the crown jewel of all grammatical errors. “Lay” is a transitive verb. It requires a direct subject and one or more objects. Its present tense is “lay” (e.g., I lay the pencil on the table) and its past tense is “laid” (e.g., Yesterday I laid the pencil on the table). “Lie” is an intransitive verb. It needs no object. Its present tense is “lie” (e.g., The Andes mountains lie between Chile and Argentina) and its past tense is “lay” (e.g., The man lay waiting for an ambulance). The most common mistake occurs when the writer uses the past tense of the transitive “lay” (e.g., I laid on the bed) when he/she actually means the intransitive past tense of “lie” (e.g., I lay on the bed). 17. FARTHER AND FURTHER The word “farther” implies a measurable distance. “Further” should be reserved for abstract lengths you can’t always measure. e.g., I threw the ball ten feet farther than Bill. e.g., The financial crisis caused further implications . 18. PAST AND PASSED The word past can be used as a preposition. Passed, on the other hand, is a verb. He passed his test. The word passed can also be used to refer to the act of distributing an item. She passed the salt. The word past can be used as a preposition and an adverb. As a preposition It is past your bedtime. I went past his house. Note that when the past is used as a preposition, it will be followed by a noun. As an adverb An old man walked past. When the past is used as an adverb, it is not followed by a noun. grammar-hammer-passed-vs-past 19. COLON MISTAKES A colon is used after a complete sentence to introduce a word, phrase, clause, list, or quotation. The colon indicates that what follows proves or explains the sentence before the colon. CORRECT: Students choose GSU for three main reasons: its urban environment, its diverse student body, and its rigorous academic reputation. (The list that follows the colon explains the complete sentence that precedes the colon.) INCORRECT: Students choose GSU for its urban environment, its diverse student body, and its rigorous academic reputation. (“Students choose GSU for” is not a complete sentence.) 20. SEMICOLON MISTAKES A semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses (two separate sentences) that are closely related. Often, semicolons appear before transitional words, such as however, therefore, moreover, furthermore, nevertheless, etc. Semicolons can also be used to separate detailed items in a series. Experienced writers use semicolons infrequently. CORRECT: John should enroll in an upper-level sociology class; he has fulfilled all of the prerequisites, and he is interested in the topic. (The semicolon joins to two closely related sentences.) INCORRECT: John should enroll in an upper-level sociology class; he has always wanted to join the swim club. (The semicolon should not be used to join these two complete sentences because the sentences are not closely related.) CORRECT: Many important members of the university attended the talk: Dr. Becker, the university president; Dr. Palms, the provost; and Dr. Stout, the dean of students. (The semicolons are necessary to clearly divide the complex items in the list.) INCORRECT: Many important members of the university attended the talk: Dr. Becker, the university president, Dr. Palms, the provost, and Dr. Stout, the dean of students. (The items in this list contain commas, so semicolons are needed here to distinguish between the items.) Source:helloenglish