Top 10 Mistakes Made By A South American English Learner

Know Your Mistakes

In class, I often ask my students to identify and explain their common mistakes. I am sure that most learners know their most common mistakes very well as they often find it very difficult to stop and fix them. However, identification is the first step toward fixing your mistakes and is of course followed by practice and repeat, practice and repeat, practice and repeat, pra….. Ok, enough of that!

Top 10 Mistakes

Every student is different, but many have similarities and many make the same mistakes as their native language is usually the culprit. Below is a list of the top 10 common mistakes made by a South American ESL learner. How many have you made? Be honest!

1. Forgetting the ‘ing’ when using the continuous/progressive tense

Example
Wrong – “Imagine that I am use a…..”
Correct – “Imagine that I am using….”

2. Pronunciation of ‘ed’

Example
Wrong – “I was very focus on…”
Correct – “I was very focused on…”

3. Choosing the correct adjective form

Example
Wrong – “The film was very bored.”
Correct – “The film was very boring.”

4. Question word order

Example
Correct – “Where is my book?”
Wrong – “Do you know where is my book?”
Correct – “Do you know where my book is?

5. Forgetting to say the ‘S’ – Verb Forms

Example
Correct – ‘You look beautiful.”
Wrong – “She look beautiful.”
Correct – “She looks Beautiful.”

6. Choosing the correct verb form – Don’t / Doesn’t
(Similar to No. 5 but )

Example
Wrong – “He don’t like chocolate.”
Correct – “He doesn’t like chocolate.”

7. How many people?

Example
Wrong – “Both people is going to the party.”
Correct – “Both people are going to the party.”

8. Countable or Uncountable Nouns

Example
Wrong – “Can I have a water?”
Correct – “Can I have some water?”

9. Choosing the correct ‘common verb’

Example
Wrong – “I often do a lot of mistakes.”
Correct – “I often make a lot of mistakes.”

10. Anybody or Nobody?

Example
Wrong – “ At the party, I didn’t know nobody.”
Correct – “At the party, I knew nobody.”
Correct – “At the party, I didn’t know anybody.”

Practice and Improve

This is just a quick introduction to some commonly made speaking mistakes. Don’t forget to ask your teacher for more examples and to practice and repeat until you break any bad speaking habits. Be honest with yourself and soon you’ll be a confident and competent English speaker.