Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my channel Sparkle English where I teach you how to improve
your level of English. This is part two of my most Common English Mistakes series.
I'm going to talk to you about three very common mistakes for both English native speakers and
learners. Let's get started. The first common mistake is the difference between your and you're.
Your and you're homophones. This means that they sound the same but are spelled differently
and they have different meanings. Your is a possessive adjective.
Another example of a possessive adjective is my, my, your, his or her. For example,
I love your dog. We're talking about something that belongs to someone. Your dress is beautiful.
The dress belongs to the girl. Wash your hands before dinner. Your friends are very funny. All
of these are possessive adjectives. You're is a contraction for you are.
You're invited to my party. This means you are invited to my party. You're beautiful.
This means you are beautiful. If you're hungry, you can have an apple. You're driving us to the
cinema tomorrow. So if you get confused on when to write your and when to write you're,
ask yourself for example, you're tired. If you write it like this, and you think is this correct,
change this to you are. You are tired. If you can say you are that means you have to put 're.
The second common mistake is called a comma splice. A comma splice is an error that occurs
when two independent clauses are joined by a comma. I have a full video on comma splices
that I will link you to in the description below this video. But let's look at some examples. "The
exam was easy, I'm so happy." This is a comma splice. This is incorrect. The exam was easy is
an independent clause. It is a complete sentence. I'm so happy is also a complete sentence.
But a comma is not strong enough to combine both of these independent clauses.
Let's look at some more examples. "Thanks for dinner, it was delicious." Again,
this is incorrect. There are two independent clauses. And both of these clauses function alone
as an independent sentence. And we cannot connect them with just a comma. It's not strong enough.
Another example, "I speak Spanish, Tyler speaks French." So how can we fix comma splices?
There are three different ways how to correct a comma splice. Number one, we can add a period
and capitalize the second independent clause, and make it into two different sentences. The exam was
easy. I'm so happy. So this is one way to correct a comma splice. The second way is you can use a
semicolon. Thanks for dinner; it was delicious. A semicolon connects two related sentences.
Remember that you do not capitalize the first word of the second independent clause
unless it's a proper noun or a noun that always begins with a capital letter.
And finally, you can use a conjunction. I speak Spanish, but Tyler speaks French.
So we added the word but plus a comma because it is one of the FANBOYS conjunctions
to combine these two independent clauses. If you want more practice on comma splices, watch my
video on comma splices which you can see in the description below. And the third common mistake
is let's or lets. Again, like with your and you're, let's and lets are homophones.
They sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Let's means let us.
It is a contraction for let us. We use let's to make suggestions about what to do. For example,
let's go to the cinema tomorrow. We are making a suggestion that we should go to the cinema.
Let's have dinner now. Again, we are suggesting shall we have dinner now? Let's have dinner now.
Let's play basketball. Let's is a contraction for let us, but it's not very common to say let
us. Usually we say let's with an apostrophe s. Now, lets without an apostrophe means to allow
or to give permission. Let's is the third person singular form of the verb let in the
present tense. For example, the teacher lets the students use calculators in class. So the teacher
allows the students or gives permission for the students to use calculators in class.
My dad lets me drive his car. Beth lets her dogs sleep on her bed. Now because this is the third
person singular form, that means we use lets with he, she or it. You would say I let or you let or
they let. But with he, she, and it, we say let's because it's the third person singular form. Okay,
so now we're going to do a quiz on these three errors. So you have to tell me if these sentences
are correct. And if not, you have to correct them. Number one. Let's make pancakes for breakfast.
Number two, I love your dog. It's so cute. Number three, you're a great friend.
Number 4: my mom lets me play video games after school. Number five. I'm Canadian. You're Italian.
Finally, number six. Let's go for a drink. What is your favorite restaurant?
Okay, so number one is correct. Let's make pancakes for breakfast. We are giving a
suggestion. Shall we make pancakes for breakfast? Let's make pancakes for breakfast. Number two,
we have I love your dog. Your is correct. We're talking about the dog that belongs to you to the
person that we're talking to. So this is correct. However, this comma is incorrect. This is a comma
splice. So we have to correct it. We can put a period. I love your dog. Period. It's so cute.
Or we can change it to a semicolon. I love your dog; it's so cute. Number three
is incorrect. You're a great friend. Can we say you are a great friend. Does that make sense? Of
course we are trying to say that you are a great friend. So we have to change this to you're.
You are a great friend. You're a great friend. Number four, my mom lets me play video games after
school. This is incorrect. Let's is incorrect. We want to use the verb let, so lets. My mom lets
me play video games after school, which is my mom allows me to play video games after school.
Number five. I'm Canadian. You're Italian. This one is incorrect. And we have two errors to
correct. I'm Canadian, your Italian. Your Italian does not make sense. We are trying to say you are
Italian. So we have to put apostrophe R E. You are Italian and this is also a comma splice.
We can turn this into a semicolon or add a period and capitalize you're. We could also add
a conjunction. I'm Canadian, and you're Italian. And finally, number six, let's go for a drink.
What is your favorite restaurant? Here we have one error. Your is correct. What is your favorite
restaurant? But lets is incorrect. We have to add an apostrophe. Let's go for a drink.
What is your favorite restaurant? Because we are making a suggestion
about what we should do. Okay, so let me know in the comments section how many you got correct out
of six. If you have any problems with your, or you'rw, let's or lets, or comma splices,
check the description below this video. And I have three different lessons on each of these topics.
So thank you guys once again for watching. Make sure to subscribe to Sparkle English
for more videos on how to improve your level of English and I will see you in my next lesson.