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English Language Skills

Some Common Grammar Mistakes
1. Articles
2. Plural nouns
3. Prepositions
4. Verb tense and form
5. Order of Adjectives

1. Articles:

Misuse of articles:
o Some rules for choosing correct articles in English:
A/An (indefinite article) = Used for a non-specific, singular, countable
noun:
A before a consonant (or semi-vowel)
An before a vowel
The (definite article) = used for specific, singular or plural nouns
o

Examples:
I had cat when I was little
I had a cat when I was little
Tom went to Museum last week
Tom went to the Museum last week
(Gordean, 2012)

2. Plural Nouns:

Examples of Irregular Plurals, Countable and Uncountable Nouns

o Irregular Plurals =
Child/children, mouse/mice, woman/women, tooth/teeth
o Countable Nouns =
One/a glass, two glasses; one/a child, three children
o Uncountable Nouns =
Weather, love, sugar, intelligence
(Gordean, 2012)

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3. Prepositions:

Preposition examples:
She accused the man for stealing
She accused the man of stealing
Laura is afraid from the dog
Laura is afraid of the dog
Annette complained for the weather
Annette complained about the weather
Steven failed from maths last year
Steven failed in maths last year
She is not interested for her work
She is not interested in her work
(Fitikides, 2002)

4. Verbs Tense and Form:

Subject-verb agreement:
Everybody are here; John and James has a shared kitchen
Everybody is here; John and James have a shared kitchen

Irregular Verb formation:

strided; hurted; flied; blewn
strode; hurt; flew; blew

Structure of Complex Verb forms:

The window was breaking by the wind
The window was broken by the wind

Common errors of tense:

I found that the room is empty; She will go by the time you get there
I found that the room was empty; She will have gone by the time you get there
(Chang, 1987)

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http://www.qub.ac.uk/lds

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5. Order of adjectives

Incorrect order of adjectives

o

Several adjectives can be used to describe a subject in the same sentence, but
must be used in the correct order:

1. Articles = a, an, the

2. Opinion, Judgement = interesting, boring, amazing

3. Size, dimension = little, thick, huge

4. Shape = square, round, short

5. Age = old, new, modern, ancient

6. Colour = black, blue, scarlet, dark-coloured

7. Nationality, origin = Romanian, English, French

8. Material = velvet, plastic, wooden

Examples:
Have you seen my black velvet new dress?
Have you seen my new black velvet dress?
(Gordean, 2012)

References
Chang, J. (1987) Chinese Speakers in Swan, M. and Smith, B. (eds.) Learner English: a Teachers
Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gordean, M.F. (2012) Most common mistakes in English as a second language, Anale. Seria Stiinte
Economice, XVIII. pp.576-579. [Online]. Available at:
http://fse.tibiscus.ro/anale/Lucrari2012/kssue2012_091.pdf (Accessed on 28 January 2014).
Fitikides, T.J. (2002) Common Mistakes in English. (Essex: Pearson Education Limited) [Online].
Available at: http://english4success.ru/Upload/books/681.pdf (Accessed 28 January 2014).

For information please contact us on 028 9097 3618 or email lds@qub.ac.uk

http://www.qub.ac.uk/lds