Are YOU Saying it WRONG? 5 Common Mistakes in English

Stop making these mistakes in English.

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Let's begin. First, can you spot two mistakes in this sentence? It depend of the weather.

It depend of the weather. Two mistakes

to identify here. Well, firstly, it should be it depends with an s on the end. Depends.

end. Depends.

Remember with he, she, and it, we usually add s to the verb. The second

mistake, the preposition of is also incorrect. Which preposition should it

incorrect. Which preposition should it be?

It should be on. It depends on. Now, I

strongly recommend learning this phrase together as a chunk. Learn all three words together. It depends on. It

words together. It depends on. It

depends on the weather.

Make sure you use the voiced Z sound.

Zon. It depends on. This phrase can be followed by a noun like weather or a clause starting with a word like how

who, or where. For example, it depends on who is coming. In informal English it's common to drop on before wh words.

For example, it depends where you're going. In formal English, you should

going. In formal English, you should always use on or upon. That's another

option, though it's less common and more formal. It depends upon how much funding

formal. It depends upon how much funding the project receives. In answers to questions, we can simply say it depends

or even just depends in casual conversation. Missing the subject

conversation. Missing the subject altogether.

Are you coming tonight? It depends. I'll

see how I feel. Or h depends. I'm pretty

tired. Okay. Next mistake number two.

Let's look at fun versus funny. My

students tend to use funny when they actually mean fun. Which of these sentences is more likely?

My holiday in Greece was really funny and I didn't want it to end or we watched a comedy show yesterday. It was

really funny. The second one is more likely. Funny means making you laugh

likely. Funny means making you laugh like a comedy show. The first is possible. You could have a really funny

possible. You could have a really funny holiday. Maybe you laughed the whole way

holiday. Maybe you laughed the whole way through, but the second is more likely.

Another example, Steven's so funny. He's

always making us laugh. Now, in informal English, fun is used as an adjective to describe something that you enjoy. So

you could say, "My holiday in Greece was really fun." Fun is more often used as

really fun." Fun is more often used as an uncountable noun, meaning that something or someone is entertaining or

enjoyable. You might say, "My holiday in

enjoyable. You might say, "My holiday in Greece was so much fun." Or, "We had great fun together at the fair." You'll

often hear have fun, but we never say have funny. Okay? Have fun means enjoy

have funny. Okay? Have fun means enjoy yourself. Are you ready for common

yourself. Are you ready for common mistake number three? It's a question I often hear my students ask. Are you

fine? Is it incorrect?

Well grammatically it's okay, but it's not something British English speakers tend to say when asking how someone is or how they

feel. In other varieties of English, it

feel. In other varieties of English, it might be more common, so listen out for it. But in British English, what do we

it. But in British English, what do we say instead?

We usually just say, "How are you? How

are you doing?" or "How is it going?"

People often say, "Are you fine?"

because the common answer to how are you is I'm fine, thanks. But we only tend to use fine in positive answers rather than

questions. Here's a correct example.

questions. Here's a correct example.

How's your wrist? I heard you sprained it. It's fine now. Thanks. Another

it. It's fine now. Thanks. Another

similar common mistake is I hope you're fine. So, I see that a lot in emails.

fine. So, I see that a lot in emails.

People usually want to say I hope you're well, as in, hi Lucy, I hope you're well. I'm writing to say blah blah blah

well. I'm writing to say blah blah blah blah blah. It's also correct to say, are

blah blah. It's also correct to say, are you okay? If you're asking if someone is

you okay? If you're asking if someone is feeling okay or you're worried that they don't feel okay, are you fine is just not something we tend to say. Number

four, can you correct this super common mistake?

You have to listen your teacher.

Listen to you have to listen to your teacher. We listen to somebody or

teacher. We listen to somebody or something. We can't just listen

something. We can't just listen somebody. An example, I love listening

somebody. An example, I love listening to podcasts while I'm exercising. Or

sorry, I wasn't listening to you. Not

listening music or listen you. I can't

tell someone to listen me. They listen

to me. Now, I understand where the confusion comes from. We do hear something or hear someone. We don't use

to there. For example, I can't hear you.

to there. For example, I can't hear you.

Or can you hear the bird song? So, we

hear something or someone, but we listen to something or someone. Now, our final mistake is to do with confusing the

verbs to lose, to miss, and to waste.

First, a note on pronunciation. It's

loose with a long ooh sound and a voiced Z at the end. Not loose. Loose meaning

not tight is spelled with two O's. Lose

with the Z at the end is spelled with one O. Okay. Now I want you to use each

one O. Okay. Now I want you to use each of these verbs lose, miss, and waste to

complete the gaps. Once each. Okay. One

I can't believe we our flight yesterday.

Two, we were late because we a lot of time scraping ice off the car.

And three, every day she so much time scrolling on social media.

Oh, I can relate to that. The first one should be missed. The second

lost, and the third should be wast.

Let's look at lose and miss as a pair first. So many of my students tell me

first. So many of my students tell me that they lost their flight when they mean the flight took off or left without

them. To say you lose your flight is a

them. To say you lose your flight is a mistake. We use miss when we arrive too

mistake. We use miss when we arrive too late for something or we are too late for something. We miss trains, planes

for something. We miss trains, planes and buses. We missed the start of films

and buses. We missed the start of films and we missed deadlines and all kinds of other things. Some examples, we missed

other things. Some examples, we missed the beginning of the film because we missed the bus. Now, lose just isn't

used with this meaning, but lose time and waste time can both be correct. And

if you look in learner's dictionaries you will often see waste defined as lose and vice versa. There is a lot of crossover, but sometimes one is more

appropriate than the other. I'm going to do this part as a voice over so you can see these verbs side by side. Here is

something I hear a lot. She loses a lot of time on social media. What they

really mean is she wastes time. If you

waste time, you use your time badly.

There's a sense that you are in control of how you spend your time and you choose to do something unproductive.

Another example, don't waste time arguing with him. He's already made up his mind. Don't spend your time doing

his mind. Don't spend your time doing something unproductive. We'll look at

something unproductive. We'll look at our example sentence with lose again. We

were late because we lost a lot of time scraping ice off the car. Were they

using their time badly when they were scraping ice off their car? No. It was a productive thing to do. You can't see if your car is covered in ice. If you lose

time, time is taken away from you perhaps because of delays, problems, or accidents. The situation is often out of

accidents. The situation is often out of your control. Here's another example. We

your control. Here's another example. We

lost time when the computer system crashed and had to be restarted. Let's

see a couple of pairs of sentences to cement the difference. They lost time during the meeting because the video link kept cutting out. This was out of

their control. They wasted time

their control. They wasted time discussing things that weren't on the agenda. This was within someone's

agenda. This was within someone's control. and another. We lost half an

control. and another. We lost half an hour during the flight due to turbulence. No one's fault. The

turbulence. No one's fault. The

passengers wasted 10 minutes complaining instead of trying to rebook their missed flight. That was the passenger's

flight. That was the passenger's decision. Okay, let's switch back to the

decision. Okay, let's switch back to the video again. So, those were the five

video again. So, those were the five common mistakes. Let's see how much you

common mistakes. Let's see how much you remember with a quiz. Some of these sentences contain a mistake. If they do

correct it. Number one, I arrived late

correct it. Number one, I arrived late and lost my train.

This is incorrect. It should be I missed my train. If we arrive too late, we miss

my train. If we arrive too late, we miss something. Two, it's so fun to try new

something. Two, it's so fun to try new recipes together every weekend.

No mistake, it's so fun is fine, but not it's so funny unless it's really hilarious. It doesn't really work with

hilarious. It doesn't really work with the context here. Remember, we often use fun as a noun. So, how might you change the sentence to do that? You could say

it's so much fun or it's great fun.

Number three, what time will you arrive?

It depend of the traffic.

So, two mistakes here. It should be it depends on that's the right verb agreement and the correct preposition.

Four. I'm listening Taylor Swift's new album.

Incorrect. Listening to her new album.

We always listen to something or someone.

and five. We lost 20 minutes changing a tire when we got a flat.

This one's fine. You lose time when doing something useful like changing a tire, something that was out of your control. You had to change that tire.

control. You had to change that tire.

That definitely wouldn't be a waste of time unless there's nothing wrong with the original tire. So, how did you do in that quiz? Let me know your score out of

that quiz? Let me know your score out of five in the comments. And let me know what other mistakes would you like to stop making in English. You might see your ideas appear in a future video like

this one. And don't forget to download

this one. And don't forget to download the PDF mistakes guide. You can scan the QR code there or click the link in the description. There are lots of

description. There are lots of activities there. I will see you in the

activities there. I will see you in the next video. Bye.

next video. Bye.

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