Verb Choice – I take a coffee or I have a coffee
Instead of: I take a coffee We say: I have a coffee Teacher’s Note Instead of “to take a coffee”, in English we “have a coffee”. This is a common…
Verb Choice – He is washing his teeth or He is cleaning/brushing his teeth
Instead of: He is washing his teeth We say: He is cleaning/brushing his teeth Teacher’s Note In English, we don’t wash our teeth, but rather we clean or brush our…
Negatives – I haven’t time or I don’t have time
Instead of: I haven’t time We say: I don’t have time Teacher’s Note Whilst “I haven’t time” is a correctly formed construction, it is much more natural to say “I…
Prepositions – The woman is in the bus or The woman is on the bus
Instead of: The woman is in the bus We say: The woman is on the bus Teacher’s Note In English, we don’t say “in the bus” even though you are…
Word Order – They are horses white or They are white horses
Instead of: They are horses white We say: They are white horses Teacher’s Note In English, the colour of an object comes before the object itself. In this case, we…
Indefinite Articles – This is apple or This is an apple
Instead of: This is apple We say: This is an apple Teacher’s Note In English, we must be careful to include an article when one is required. In this case,…
Plural Form – Mans or Men
Instead of: Mans We say: Men Teacher’s Note The plural form here cannot be added by simply adding “s”. In this case, the correct plural form is “men”.
Present Perfect – I have write this down or I have written this down
Instead of: I have write this down We say: I have written this down Teacher’s Note This is a present perfect construction and so we must use the past participle…
Prepositions – On the window or In the window
Instead of: On the window We say: In the window Teacher’s Note The correct preposition here is “in”. We have to be careful with different preposition choices in English. If…
Word Choice – 500 sheets or 500 pages
Instead of: 500 sheets We say: 500 pages Teacher’s Note The natural word choice here is “pages”. These are the individual pieces of paper inside of a book.
Quantifiers – Much or Many
Instead of: So much vegetables We say: So many vegetables Teacher’s Note In this case, “vegetables” is a countable noun and as such we need to use “many”. “Much” is…
Double Negative – “Nobody” or “Anyone”
Instead of: I didn’t speak with nobody Join Our School We say: I didn’t speak to anyone Teacher’s Note In English, we have to watch out for double negatives. When…
The Possessive Form – “His” and “Her”
Instead of: The girl is helping his father We say: The girl is helping her father Teacher’s Note The father belongs to the girl in this sentence and so the…
The Past Simple – “To Eat”
Instead of: I eating We say: I ate Teacher’s Note This event happened in the past and so it should be “I ate” instead of “I eating”. This is a…
The Second Conditional – “To Tell”
Instead of: If they left, I tell them We say: If they left, I would tell them Teacher’s Note To form the second conditional, we use the past simple after…
To Hide – Simple Past
Error: THEY HIDED Correction: THEY HID Reason The past participle of “to hide” is “hid”. The past simple is formed by adding the past participle of the main verb to…
Asking and Answering Questions in English (With Examples)
In this post you will find some great English questions along with the correct way to answer them in English. Be sure to watch out for word order as well…