- Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to English with Lucy. Today we're going to break
down three of the most common speaking and writing mistakes and I'm going to teach you
how to never make them again. An essential part of this lesson is the free PDF that I've made
for you. It contains everything we're going to go through today and a quiz. You can test your
understanding. If you'd like to download that, click on the link in the description
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the PDF will arrive directly in your email inbox and you'll then receive all of my news, updates,
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to remind you that we have just updated our free online level test. You can use this level test as
a guide to understanding which level of English you may have from A1 all the way to C2. Now you
can view your answers after each round and see how many you got correct or incorrect. Again,
it's free. The answers will be sent to you via email. The link is in the description box. Okay,
let's get started with the first mistake I want to help you correct. It has to be
subject-verb agreement. And more specifically the difficulty with subject-verb agreement when
using noun phrases and collective nouns. So noun phrases are groups of words that
function as a noun such as "the tall man with the red hat," "my friend's mum,"
"her dog's bone." Collective nouns refer to a group of people, animals, or things such as team,
family, flock. Now, one of the challenges with noun phrases is that they can be quite long
and complex, making it difficult to identify the subject and the verb. For example, this sentence,
"The bus that is full of hundreds of tourists is due to arrive soon." Here we have a very long noun
phrase as our subject. "The bus that is full of hundreds of tourists." However, the subject at
its core is the bus, which is a singular noun, but it's easy to mistake tourists as the subject
since it is the head of the noun phrase. In this case, the verb is should agree with the singular
subject bus, not the plural tourists. Similarly with collective nouns, it can be challenging to
determine whether the verb should be singular or plural. In British English, collective nouns are
often treated as singular or plural depending on the context. While in American English, they are
always treated as singular nouns. For example, in British English you might hear, "The team is
playing well" or "the team are playing well." You can hear both. It's common to use singular
verb like is when referring to a collective noun as one single unit. Think about it like this, "The
team as a whole is playing well." We often use a plural verb like are with a collective noun when
we want to emphasise the individuality of each member of the collective noun. You can think of it
like this. The members of the team are playing well. So to help with subject-verb agreement
with noun phrases and collective nouns, follow these tips. First, identify the subject and verb.
Take the time to identify the subject and verb in the sentence, even if the sentence contains a long
noun phrase or collective noun. This will help you to determine the correct form of the verb to use.
Next, pay attention to the number. Determine whether the subject is singular or plural and
use a verb that agrees in number. Remember that the head of the noun phrase or collective noun may
not always be the subject as we saw previously. Finally, practise with examples. Use examples of
noun phrases and collective nouns in sentences and practise identifying the subject and verb,
and determining the correct form of the verb to use. Okay, let's move on to our next point of
contention. Double negatives. The use of double negatives is a common mistake made by English
learners. This often occurs when they try to translate a sentence from their native language,
where double negatives may be okay, into English, where they're generally not okay. Just in case,
what is a double negative? A double negative is when two negative words are used in the same
sentence resulting in a positive meaning. There are two common mistakes with double negatives.
Let's look at the first one. "I don't know nothing." "I don't know nothing." Here the
two negatives, don't and nothing, cancel each other out. They eliminate each other. Making the
sentence mean the opposite of what was intended. In this case, the sentence would technically mean,
"I know something." To correct this mistake. You need to be aware of the differences between
positive and negative indefinite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer
to unspecified or unknown people or things. Positive indefinite pronouns refer to people
or things in a positive way without negating or denying their existence. Some examples of
positive indefinite pronouns include someone or somebody, they refer to an unknown or unspecified
person. Everyone or everybody referring to all people. Something referring to an unknown or
unspecified thing. Anything referring to any of all things. Somewhere referring to an unknown
or unspecified place. And anywhere referring to any place or places. Anyone referring to any of
all people. Negative indefinite pronouns on the other hand indicate the absence or non-existence
of people or things. Some examples of negative indefinite pronouns include, nobody or no one,
indicating the absence of any person. Nothing, the absence of all things. Nowhere, no place. Neither,
the absence of two options or choices. And none, no options or choices exist.
Practising using these indefinite pronouns will help to avoid unintended double negatives.
If we take our example from before, "I don't know nothing," we now know that the
negative indefinite pronoun nothing, refers to the absence of all things. So we should use anything,
any of all things. "I don't know anything," which isn't true because you just learned a load of
useful information. We could also change it to, "I know nothing. I know nothing. I don't anything."
They both mean the same thing. Okay, let's look at the second mistake. Take a look at this sentence.
"She doesn't not like coffee." Here we are using the contraction doesn't along with not,
but using doesn't, which is the contracted form of does not, with an additional not, would mean that
she does like coffee. To fix this common error we need to follow specific sentence patterns for
negative statements. The sentence pattern in the present simple is auxiliary verb plus not plus
base verb. It's common to use a contraction to combine the auxiliary verb with not. One of the
most important points to remember here is that the main verb after the negative form of an auxiliary
verb is always in its base form. For example, "I don't eat meat" rather than "I don't ate meat."
"She does not live in London" not "She does not living in London." "They cannot speak Spanish" not
"They cannot spoke Spanish." In the past simple, you use the past simple form of the auxiliary verb
with not and the base form of the main verb. For example, "I didn't go to the party last night."
"He could not finish his homework on time." "We didn't watch the film yesterday." Remember that
the verb to be has its own negative forms, am not, is not, are not, was not, were not. For example,
"I am not hungry." "She is not coming today." "They were not happy with the results." Of course,
this is just a basic overview to correct any bad habits you may have formed previously. Now,
back to that first sentence. "She doesn't not like coffee." We do actually use this.
If I say "I don't not like coffee," I'm saying it's not that I hate it, I just don't like it.
So don't be surprised if you hear native speakers using it in this way. "I don't not like horror
films. I just prefer comedies." Okay, let's move on to mistake number three. Using comparatives
and superlatives together. Something that I hear and read frequently is English learners
using two comparatives or superlatives together in a sentence to describe a single noun or verb.
However, this is a grammatical error known as a double comparison. This error occurs when
two words that are intended to modify the same noun or verb are in conflict with each other
resulting in a sentence that is grammatically incorrect. Let's look at this sentence. "This
dress is more prettier than that one." This sentence is not correct. In this example,
more is the comparative form of much and prettier is the comparative form of pretty. Using both
comparatives together is incorrect and results in a double comparison. We should instead say,
"This dress is prettier than that one." The correct use of comparatives and superlatives
is essential to ensure that a sentence is clear and concise. Comparatives are used to
compare two things while superlatives are used to compare three or more things. For example,
"The red car is faster than the blue car." That's a comparative. And "The red car is the fastest of
them all." Notice that comparatives often end in E-R and superlatives are typically preceded
by the and their construction consists of an E-S-T ending. Although this isn't always the
case. If you would like to know more about superlative and comparative a objectives,
I've left a link in the description box. I've made a video all about them. To avoid the error
of using two comparatives or superlatives together in a sentence, it's important to ensure that you
are only using one comparative or superlative to modify the same noun or verb. This can be done by
carefully considering the meaning of each word and the context in which it's used. Let's do a
quick comprehension check. Choose the correct comparative or superlative to complete each
sentence. I'll give you five seconds to answer. Number one, "Brenda works much than Taylor"
Harder, "Brenda works much harder than Taylor." Number two, "That is the
beautiful necklace I have ever seen."
Most, "That is the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen." Not the beautifulest
'cause it has three syllables, so we don't add "est." And the last one, number three, "Max is
than me, but he is of his siblings."
Younger, the oldest, "Max is younger than me, but he is the oldest of his siblings." How many
did you get right out of three? Let me know in the comments section. If you enjoyed that,
there are lots more exercise questions in the PDF that you can download for free. The link is
in the description box. Now, I know this topic is a little bit challenging, but practise using
comparatives and superlatives whenever you can and it will start to come more naturally. If you're
unsure whether a sentence contains a double comparison or not. It can be helpful to read
the sentence aloud and check for any awkward or confusing phrasing. In addition it's always a good
idea to proofread your writing carefully and seek feedback from others to ensure that your writing
is clear, concise, and grammatically correct. Right, that's it for today's lesson. I hope
you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something. Don't forget to download the free PDF. The link
is in the description box. Also, if you want to check your level of English, my Level Test,
my newly improved Level Test, is a great guide. It can give you an indication as to what your level
of English might be. It doesn't take very long to complete. The link is in the description. Don't
forget to connect with me on all of my social media. I've got my Instagram, and my Facebook,
and my website englishwithlucy.com, where I've got lots more lessons and a free interactive
pronunciation tool where you can click on phonemes and words containing those phonemes and here me
pronounce them. It's lots of fun. Also, you can check out all of my English courses. We've got our
B1 and B2 course. And we are bringing out our C1 course on the 15th of May. The wait list is in the
description box, or if you're watching this in the future and it's already out, we will leave a link
there. I will see you soon for another lesson. Mwah! The bus that is full of hundreds of... The
bus that is full of hundreds of students... What is wrong with me? It's almost like I've filmed
seven videos in a row! With collective nouns it can be challenching... Challenching? Which,
. Okay, right. Similarly with collective nouns it can be challenging ta determine. Ta determine?
That are intended to modify the same noun or nerb. Nerb? Nerb! Nerb, I love that word, okay.