In this lesson, I'll show you how to correct three very common mistakes made
in English grammar, and those are to do with adjectives. Okay? Now, what are
"adjectives"? "Adjectives" are the words that we use to describe a noun or a
pronoun. What is a "noun"? A "noun" is usually a person, a place, or a thing.
Okay? And "adjectives" are words like these, for example: "good" or "bad".
Right? You could have a good day or a bad day, or they're... You could talk
about a "short" person, a "tall" person. Right? "Happy" or "sad" — a "happy"
event, a "sad" event; a "fast" car or a "slow" car; "hot" weather or "cold"
weather. Right? In all these cases, all these words are adjectives. And there
are some very common mistakes that occur when people of different language
backgrounds use adjectives in English because English adjectives behave
differently than the adjectives in their language. In particular, if you speak
Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, or Vietnamese, you will
especially benefit from this lesson because in your languages, the situation
is different. Okay? So, let's see what these mistakes are and how to correct
them. Here we go.
So, the first mistake that sometimes happens when we're using adjectives is
in the order— okay? — the order of the adjective in the sentence. For example,
this is the common mistake that is made: "They have a house big." So, what was
wrong here? The order; the placement of the adjective. So, in English, we never
say: "They have a house big", we say: "They have a big house", "He has a red
car". So, in all of these cases, "big" was the adjective, "red" was the
adjective. And all of these adjectives in English have to come before the noun,
and not after, as in many other languages. All right? So, be especially
careful of that if your language has the reverse order. Okay? Keep the order this
way — with the adjective, generally speaking, before the noun.
Next, another mistake that sometimes happens, again, because of language
influences, is with agreement. What does that mean? Let's look at the example.
The mistake is: "Those houses are very bigs." So, here, the person tried to
make the adjective match the word "houses". But in English, we don't do
that. We don't need to do that. In English, the adjective doesn't change.
That's all. For example: "Those houses are very big." So, in this sentence,
even though we're talking about many houses, we don't have to make it plural.
If... Also, in English, it doesn't have to agree in terms of singular and
plural. It also doesn't have to agree in terms of gender; male or female. Okay?
In English, things don't have any gender. Okay? Chairs, tables — it's not
that something is masculine or feminine, as in many other languages. In English,
things have no gender, so you don't have to match it in that way. Not because
it's singular or plural, not because it's male or female, or masculine or
feminine — it doesn't matter. The adjective stays the same. Okay? So, we
say: "Those houses are very big", "Those cars are red". Right? We don't need to
change that word, just because what we were referring to was something plural.
Okay? So, that's another point to keep in mind.
The third point is to do with comparison. When do adjectives change?
When we use them to compare something. So, for example, this is a mistake:
"This house is more big than that one." In English, that's not the rule that we
follow for all adjectives. Now, there is a separate lesson on... that I have made
on comparison adjectives and how to use them. If you make mistakes of this kind
— here, I'm just going to review it very basically — but you should watch the
entire lesson on comparative adjectives to understand this... this rules and how
they work. Okay? So, let's look at some quick examples. So, this is incorrect in
English. What it should be is: "This house is bigger than that one." Or:
"That test was harder"; not "more hard" — "harder".
So, how do you know when to say the... add the "er" or when to say "more"?
Well, again very quickly, the rule is something like this: If your adjective —
the original word, the adjective, like this — is a very short one with one
syllable, like "big", then when we want to make it comparative, we just add
"er", or sometimes we double the letter, but the sound is basically: "big",
"bigger". Okay? "Hot", "hotter"; "cold", "colder". Got it? Now, if the original
adjective is one or two syllables, but ends with a "y", then, for example,
"easy" — right? — two syllables: "easy" or "busy", two syllables ending with
"y", then we cancel the "y" and we add "ier", so: "easy", "easier". "This test
is easy. That test was easier." Okay? "This week, I'm busy. Last week, I was
busier." Okay? And if the original adjective is two or more syllables, but
no "y" or anything like that, then we have to use the word "more" before that
to make it comparative. "That house is modern, but this house is more modern."
Okay? So, that's the basic rule. But again, if you make any of these kind of
mistakes, then I suggest you do watch the fuller video, so you really
understand this part very well and you don't keep making these mistakes
forever. Because I have seen that many students struggle with this particular
point. They do usually get this point, they usually get this; but this
sometimes takes a little more practice, so make sure you do that. Okay? Now,
let's practice these and see if you can master them right now. Okay? Let's do
that.
All right. So, now, I've written eight sentences on the board. And just for you
to know, they all have mistakes, and you're going to help me correct them.
Okay? So, let's get started. We'll correct them and then we will say the
right one. Okay? So, number one: "Today is more hot than yesterday." That
student made a mistake. Can you check it and correct it? What should it be?
"Today is hotter... hotter than yesterday". Okay? Say it after me:
"Today is hotter than yesterday." Good. Okay. Number two: "I'd like a coffee
large, please." So, this friend of ours also made a mistake. Can you correct it?
It should be: "I'd like a... I'd like a large coffee, please. I'd like a large
coffee, please." So, what happened here? Here, the order was wrong. Here, it was
comparison. Okay? So, say this one after me: "I'd like a large coffee, please."
All right? Also, when you're learning English, or any language, say what
you're learning out loud; it helps you, not only when you write your exercises,
but when your ears can hear it. Correct? Then you can... you can learn much
faster because you will... after a while, your ear will tell you: "No, that
doesn't sound right." And that's a great stage to reach. Okay?
Number three: "Those flowers are beautifuls." That's wrong. It should be:
"Those flowers are beautiful." Say it after me: "Those flowers are beautiful."
In this case, the student mistakenly thought that because this was plural
that they had to make that plural, but no. In English, the adjective always
stays the same in terms of agreement. Okay? That was a mistake of agreement.
Number four: "She works in a company high tech." That's wrong. What should it
be? "She works in a... in a high-tech company". "High-tech" is the adjective
here and "company" is the noun. So, say it after me: "She works in a high-tech
company." Okay? So, this was also a mistake of order. Okay? Remember, the
adjective goes where? Before the noun. That's it. All right. Number five:
"Laptops are more cheap now." That's wrong. It should be what? Think about
it. "Laptops are cheaper now." Say it after me: "Laptops are cheaper now."
Okay? Good. Good. You're getting it.
Number six, also a mistake: "Many differents shirts are on sale." That's
incorrect. It should be: "Many different shirts... Many different shirts are on
sale." That was a mistake of agreement. Say it after me: "Many different shirts
are on sale." Good. Number seven: "The malls are more busy after six pm."
That's incorrect. Let's say it correctly now: "The malls are busier" — good.
Let's say the whole sentence: "The malls are busier after six pm." Good. And
number eight. Sorry. So, that one was a mistake of what? Of comparison. Right?
And number eight: "She gave me some advice good." That's incorrect. You know
by now. It should be what? "She gave me some good advice." So, this was a
mistake in the order. Okay? So, as you can see, these are three very common
areas in which students sometimes make mistakes. In case you are making any of
these mistakes, this is the chance to stop doing that once you realize that in
English, it doesn't quite work that way. So, really practice that. Okay?
And also what you can do: Go to our website at www.engvid.com. There, you
can do a test on this; a little quiz just to review it, make sure you've
really got it so that these kind of mistakes are gone. And one step at a
time, one mistake at a time, get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it — and
your English will improve every single day. All right? So, to get more lessons
like this, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. And don't forget to
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Thanks very much for watching. Bye for now. All the best with your English.