Frequent mistakes

TO WORK ON   

 

The correct preposition for this verb is ON.

"I'm working on a new project."

NEAR +NO PREPOSITION   

 

The preposition "near" is never followed by another prepostion: "He's near the window"

FOR TO  

These prepositions never go together:

"For working on..."

"To work on..."

   

•  All and everybody/ everyone

We do not normally use all to mean everybody

•   Everybody enjoyed the party, (not 'All enjoyed...')

 

 But note that we say all of us/ you/ them, not 'everybody of...':

• All of us enjoyed the party, (not 'everybody of us')

 

 •  All and everything

Sometimes you can use all or everything:

• I’ll do all I can to help,   or I’ll do everything I can to help.

 

  You can say 'all I can' / 'all you need' etc. but we do not normally use all alone:

• He thinks he knows everything, (not 'he knows all') 

  

We use all in the expression all about:

• They told us all about their holiday.  

   

We also use all (not 'everything') to mean the only thing(s):

• All I've eaten today is a sandwich. 

   Every/ everybody/ everyone/ everything are singular words, so we use a singular verb:

• Every seat in the theatre was taken. 

HEAR AND LISTEN    

 

To listen to sthing/body

To hear something/body

"I'll listen to you"

"I'm hearing something"

RECOMMEND

To recommend st to sb.

To recommend sb st.

To recommend sb to...

"He recommended this film to me"

He recommended me a film"

"He recommended me to go"

APPROACH

To approach something/somebody

"I approached the city"

VISIT

To visit something/somebody

"I visited the city"

"I'm going to visit my grandmother."

TO PICK UP

To pick st/sb up

To pick up (long expression)

"He picked me up"

"He picked up the children"

 

SIEBLINGS

 

 

Brother and sister are "sieblings", not brothers.

ARRIVE IN/AT

To arrive in (big place)

To arrive at (small place)

"He arrived in Seville/Africa"

"I arrived at the party at... 8 o'clock"

CONFUSED / CONFUSING

I feel confused.

He looked exhausted.

The book was confusing.

Playing football is exhausting.

QUITE / QUIET

• quite: Adverb which means "very":

The music is quite loud.

• quiet: Adjective which means "silent": 

He's a quiet man.

SAFE / SURE

• This is a safe place.

 

•  I'm sure of this.

CUTE   

 

This adjective is only used for people or animals.

"Her boyfriend is cute."

TO SPEND ON      

 

We use the preposition "on" with this verb.

"He spends great deals of money on cds."

SUBECT+VERB+OBJECT+COMPLEMENTS    

 

"I like this book very much."

"The waves were beating the rocks furiously."

This / that to refer to the past    

 

"This" refers to something near in place or time:

This is my book.

This Friday I'll be back.

This / that to refer to the past    

 

"That" refers to something far away in place or time:

That is my book.

That Friday I was back.

Use of contractions    

 

We do not use contractions in formal texts like formal letters, essays, reports, etc.

 

Other/another    

 

 

with the without the

singularthe other man

the otheranother one

another

pluralthe others

the other menother ones

others

"People" is always plural

People usually go to the beach in summer. 

 

Plural / singular

Be careful with the use of singular or plural with verbs, determiners, nouns, adjectives, etc.

 

In / into

"In" means "inside": It's in the box. 

"Into" means "in" with a sense of direction: "He got into the room."

preposition + object pronoun

After prepositions we always use object pronouns

It depends on them.

This is for us.

also

Also is always used in the middle of a sentence:

I also bought some food.

I have also gone to the cinema.

THERE IS / ARE

There is + singular noun

uncountable noun

There is a man.

There is some news.

THERE IS / ARE

There are + plural nouns

There are some people there.

There are two apples in the fridge.

TELL AND SAY

If you know when to use them, visit our blog:

http://englishinguiaintermedio.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/tell-and-say/

much and many

Much is used with uncountable nouns and is usually found in negative sentences.

He doesn’t have much money

much and many

In positive sentences we tend to use a lot of.

There is a lot of sugar.

much and many

Many is used with countable nouns.

There are many people here.

When do we contract have?

Have can only be contracted when it is an auxiliary verb

I’ve got a problem.

You’ve got to go.

When do we contract have?

When it is a full verb it can’t be contracted:I have two brothers and

sisters.

I have dinner everyday at 7pm.

SPELLING OF VERB WRITE

This is the correct spelling of this verb:

write

writing (do not double the t)

written

PREPOSITION + VERB + ING

Whenever we use a verb after a preposition we have to use its ing form.

I’m tired of working.

He isn’t used to getting up early.