Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "5 Common New
English Learner Mistakes". So in this lesson, I'll be looking at mistakes that I have heard
in my time as a teacher from students from various parts of the world. So these are mistakes
that are made by Spanish speakers, Portuguese speakers, German speakers, Korean speakers,
and they might apply to you as well. These are mistakes that kind of cross over and that
are very common. So let's start with the first one. Let's look at No. 1.
Okay, so this is, actually, a double mistake that I commonly hear when you're discussing
a subject and you want someone to give you an opinion on something. So for example, "Do
you prefer Coke or Pepsi?" Or "Do you prefer this or that?" And some people will say, "Well,
it's depend." Or "Hmm, it depends of (...)" So "It depends of the season." "It depends of
the person." "It depends of the society or the country" or something like this. So what
is wrong with this? Well, we don't say, "it's depend". We say "it depends", "it depends".
Okay? So we don't say, "it's depend". The correct form is: "it depends". And for this,
this is okay: "it depends", right? The only problem is the preposition that you're using.
We don't say "of" in English; we say "it depends on", okay? So "it depends on the person."
"It depends on the country." "It depends on the time of day." Whatever topic you're discussing.
Okay, guys, let's move on to No. 2. So for the second one, this is, actually,
a verb choice error, and maybe languages, when you talk about eating, you use the verb
"take". So you can "take a Coke", or "take your coffee in the morning", or you "take
breakfast", "take dinner". In English, it's a little different. So here, we have two sentences.
The first one says: "I took a coffee this morning." Now, when you look at it, maybe
you went to a coffee shop, and you say, "Yeah, I will take a coffee." Okay. Not too much
wrong with that. That's okay. However, when you're talking about the act of drinking the
coffee, we use the verb "have" in English. Okay? So you didn't "take" a coffee; you say
"I had" in the past, right? "I had a coffee this morning." Same thing for the second one.
So this one says: "I take dinner around six." Well, in English, we don't really say, "I
take dinner around six." We say, "I have dinner", okay? So when you're talking about food, you
"have breakfast", "have lunch", "have dinner", "have coffee". You "have pizza". You "have
a sandwich". Anything to do with food, use the verb "have". Now, let's move on to No.3.
Okay, so this one is, actually, a preposition
error, and it's when people use "for" when they mean to use an infinitive. So for example,
"I use it for go to work." Imagine you have a car, and people and you, "What do you use
your car for?" You know, do you drive around a lot, or you say, "No, no. I only use it
to go to work", right? So we don't say "for go", we use "to go". Now, why do we do this?
Well, when you have a verb and you follow that verb with either a pronoun or an object
of some kind, the verb afterwards has to be an infinitive, okay? So also, if you look
down here, "I need glasses for read." Well, we know it's "to read". And: "She ran for
catch the bus." "She ran to catch the bus." Again, there are some verbs, as you know,
which are only followed by gerunds, some verbs which are only followed by infinitives. So
here, if you want to have a verb and you want to use another verb, another action after
that verb -- so "she ran to catch the bus" -- it has to be a gerund or infinitive. An
"infinitive" is "to" plus the base verb, okay? So don't say, "I use it for do", "for do something."
"I use it to do something." "I need glasses to read", not "for read". Okay? So if you
ever have, you know, the desire to have a verb plus another action, either use a gerund
or in this case, it's not "for do something", it's "to do" something. All right, guys. Let's
look at No. 4. So this one is, actually, an adjective choice
error, and it's the difference between -ing and -ed adjectives. So when you feel something
internally, inside -- it's a personal feeling -- you should be using an -ed adjective, not
an -ing adjective. So all three examples on the board here are, actually, incorrect. So
the first one says, "I am exciting about that." So if you have, like, high interest in something
that's coming up, like a concert, you are not exciting about it; you are excited,
all right? You say, "I am excited." It's an internal feeling, okay? The second one, "He is interesting
in music." You want to say that he has interest in music. So "He is interested"; "he is personally
interested"; "he has an internal interest." And finally, "I feel so boring." This means
that you are a boring person, and other people think you are boring, you are not interesting,
which is not a good thing to say about yourself. So you say, "Oh, my goodness, I feel so bored."
Okay? "I'm bored." That's it. Okay, guys, so again, if it's internal, it's an -ed adjective.
If it's external, it's -ing. So you say, "I am excited because the class is exciting."
"I am interested because the movie is interesting." So let's move on to the last one, No. 5.
This final one is, actually, the difference between "it is" and "is". Now, I know in many
languages, you can start a sentence, a statement, with "is". In English, you can start a question
with "is", a yes/no question, no problem. "Is it cold today?" "Is he here?" "Is it easy?
Like, is it an easy test?" Okay? However, when you make a statement, you cannot say
"is good", "is easy", "is not a problem". You have to say "it is". In English, you need
the subject, okay? So for these, we don't say "is good"; we say "It's good!" "It's easy!"
"It's not a problem!" Okay? And all of these mean "it is", "it is", "it is". So not "is
good"; "It's good". Not "is easy"; "It's easy". Not "is not a problem"; "It's not a problem".
All right, guys, so let's review these five common new English learner mistakes.
Okay, so No. 1: We say, "it depends" or "it depends on". We don't say "it's depend" or
"it depends of". No. 2: We say, "I'm having sushi for dinner"; not "I'm taking sushi",
okay? So anything with food, use the verb "have". No. 3: "I visit EngVid to improve
my English". Not "for improve", but "to improve". And No. 4: "I am excited about that"; not
"I am exciting for that." If it's internal, you are "excited"; you are "interested"; you
are "bored"; you are "horrified". Okay? And finally: "It's fantastic", not "is fantastic".
If you'd like to test your understanding of these five very common new English learner
mistakes, as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And don't forget to
subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks, guys.