Top 10 MIstakes

Congratulations on finishing the quiz!

So how did you do? Did you know them all?

If not, don’t worry. Most English learners don’t know all of these. Even many native speakers don’t know all of these.

Below is a lesson with the explanations for each question. I hope this lesson will help you stop making some of the biggest mistakes in English.

Helping you fix your English mistakes

Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes English learners make:

1. Good or well?

You play tennis very well.

“Good” usually gives you more information about a noun.

Well” usually gives you more information about a verb.

Since “play” is a verb, “well” is correct in this sentence.

2. Job or work?

John just got a new job so he can save some money.

“Job” is a noun. It is a regular activity you do to receive money.

“Work” can be a noun or a verb. It is more general than “job.” You may or may not receive money for work. It is the activities needed to achieve a goal.

Since John will be receiving money, we use the word “job” in this sentence.

3. Speak or talk?

My boss would like to speak with me after work today. I'm a little nervous.

“Speak” is a little more formal than talk. It is used to give someone information and is more one-sided. One person is speaking more. We also use speak if the topic is more serious.

“Talk” is more informal than “speak.” It is used more for a conversation or a chat. It is a more two-sided conversation and less serious.

Because it is the boss, it is a more serious conversation and the boss will be speaking more so we use “speak” here.

4. Watch or look or see?

Look over there, can you see the bear?

We use “look” when we change the focus of our eyes and focus on something new or different.

We use “see” to talk about the ability to view or recognize something with our eyes.

We use “watch” when we are focusing our eyes on something for a long period of time, like an event or movie for example.

The first part of the sentence is changing our focus to look at something so we use “look.” The second part is about our ability to see the bear so we use “see.”

5. "Even if" or "even though?"

Even if it's raining today, we will still play soccer.

“Even if” refers to an imaginary or not real situation

“Even though” refers to a real situation or a fact.

In this question, “it is raining” is a real situation that is true so we use “even though”

6. Affect or effect?

Drinking a lot of coffee before bed will affect how well you sleep at night

“Affect” is a verb and it means to change, alter or influence something.

“Effect” is a noun and it is the result of a change or influence.

Because the coffee is changing your sleep, we use “affect.”

7. Early or soon or quickly?

I'm going to leave soon because I need to get to work early today to prepare for my meeting.

“Soon” means a short time after now.

“Early” is used to talk about a time that is “before the expected time” or to talk about a time that is “near the beginning of a time period”.

“Quickly” is used to talk about the speed something is done.

In the first part of the sentence we are talking about a time shortly after now so we use “soon.” In the second part of the sentence we want to arrive at work before the expected time so we use “early.”

8. Hear or listen?

I don't like living near the airport because I hear loud airplanes everyday.

“Hear” is used to just talk about sounds coming into our ears. This is just by chance and we are not doing anything active.

We use “listen” when we are paying attention to sounds. We are doing it actively.

We don’t actively listen to the sounds of an airplane. The sounds just come into our ears by chance when one is near, so in this sentence, we need to use “hear.”

9. Fewer or less?

There are fewer people at the party this year than last year.

We use “fewer” with countable nouns like pens, glasses or computers.

We use “less” with uncountable nouns like milk, air, or water.

In this sentence we are using the countable noun “people
” so we need to use the word “fewer.”

10. Since or until or by?

You need to be at work by 9am tomorrow morning.

We use “since” to talk about something being done continuously from a point in the past. The action is still happening.

We use “until” to talk about a continuous action that is happening now and will end at a time in the future.

We use “by” to talk about a single event happening before a time. This action is not continuous, it happens at a single point of time.

In the sentence, arriving at work is a single event that needs to happen before a time (9am tomorrow) so we need to use “by.”

Finally understand how to fix your most common mistakes

10 of the common topics like work, travel, food and shopping

Over 90 vocabulary and grammar differences explained

This is a great book for teachers as well. All lessons are prepared and there is a how to guide for how to use the lessons in your classes.

Practice activities after each unit to help you remember what you learned

Natural conversations to help explain every point to you