Follow LangFocus on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the LangFocus channel, and my name is Paul.
And despite what half the people in the comments say, English is my native language.
-DONALD TRUMP VOICE: Why doesn't he show his birth certificate?
-DONALD TRUMP VOICE: And you know what? I wish he would.
-DONALD TRUMP VOICE: He should show his birth certificate.
-DONALD TRUMP VOICE: [And] the other thing: Why doesn't he show his certificate?
Today's topic is...
10 Common Mistakes That Native English Speakers Make.
When most of us study a foreign language,
we try to avoid mistakes and speak accurately.
Some of us are even scared to make mistakes.
But, you know what, even native speakers make mistakes, and that includes speakers of my native language, English.
When I say mistakes, I'm not talking about dialectal variation.
English has various dialects that differ from the standard language, and I'm not talking about those differences.
I'm talking about native speakers of dialects that are very close to Standard English, but, who make mistakes.
What kind of mistakes?
Well, here are 10 of them.
Number 10: Unclear Subject Number
For example: Every one of those people need to buy a ticket.
The correct sentence would be...
Every one of those people *needs* to buy a ticket,
because the plural word people is right next to the verb,
some people might mistake it for the subject,
but the subject of the sentence is actually every one,
and of the people is extra information about that subject.
"Every one" is singular.
Number 9: Confusing Homophones When Writing
Homophones are words that sound the same as other words that have a different meaning, and usually have a different spelling.
One common example is the confusion of affect and effect.
This confusion arises because the first vowel of each word is often reduced,
and it sounds like a schwa, and this makes them sound alike.
When someone is writing the word, they may be hearing the sound of the word in their head,
and they may choose the wrong spelling to go with that sound.
Another example of this is "their, there, and they're"
"Their" and "there" sound the same, but "they're" sounds a little different,
but in its reduced form basically sounds the same.
People often choose the wrong one when writing.
Another example is the confusion of "your", the possessive pronoun,
with "you're", the contraction of you are.
Another example is writing of instead of 've, the contracted form of have.
For example: Someone might write "I would of gone to the party if I'd had time"
But it should be would've with apostrophe-"ve".
They sound the same in casual pronunciation so that's why they get confused.
Number 8: Confusion of Adjectives and Adverbs
For example: "He sang really good."
Good is an adjective, but we need an adverb to modify the verb "sang".
So, the correct sentence is, "He sang really well."
This mistake is the kind of mistake that kids often make before they've had English grammar drilled into them
and it's also a kind of mistake that less educated people might make.
Even educated people might make this kind of mistake,
but they'd probably notice it right away and maybe correct themselves.
Another related case is that people sometimes use and adverb when they actually need an adjective
So take this case for example:
"I feel very badly about that."
This sentence is wrong, it should be: "I feel very bad about that"
But, why is it wrong? I thought adverbs modify verbs...
Well, adverbs modify action verbs, but "feel" is a stative verb.
It just describes the way something is, the state that´s in; it doesn't describe an action.
Stative verbs are followed by adjetives, not adverbs.
Inevitably, someone will ask
What is all the sentence "I feel well" isn't that correct
Yes' that's a correct sentence, but "well" is not an adverb here.
It's actually an adjective meaning "healthy".
It's not an adverb equivalent of the adjective "good".
Number 7: Double Negatives
educated adults won't make this kind of
mistake and if they do it's probably
kind of an intentional casual style of
speaking you know trying to sound all
badass a double negative is like this I
don't have no money man the correct
sentence would be I don't have any money
man another example I didn't talk to
nobody correct sentence would be I
didn't talk to anybody so that one could
be a mistake or it could be people
intentionally trying to copy the
features of a dialect that's cool and
popular number six not using the
subjunctive mood the subjunctive mood is
a form of the verb that's used for
something not factual like possibility
or desire or necessity in English the
subjunctive has a unique form in the
third person present tense and the verb
to be has a unique form in the third
person past tense some people just don't
use it at all or they're confused about
when to use it for example it's
important that he goes to the hospital
that's actually wrong the correct
sentence would be it's important that he
go to the hospital
we need the subjunctive mood here to
show necessity another example if I was
rich the correct version would be if I
were rich here we need the subjunctive
because it's showing possibility number
five confusion of is and are this
confusion usually happens with there is
and there are or here is and here are
for example here's three cookies for you
the correct sentence would be here are
three cookies for you
another example there's around seven
people at the party the correct sentence
would be there are around seven people
at the party but so many people even
educated speakers use both of these
forms so much that I'm not even sure
that they're considered mistakes anymore
number four confusion of the verbs lie
and lay most native English speakers
know that there's a difference between
these words but they're kind of confused
about what the difference is or they
know what the difference is but they use
them incorrectly anyway lie is an
intransitive verb meaning it takes no
direct object for example let's lie on
the bed oh boy I can imagine the
comments already lay is a transitive
verb meaning it takes a direct object
for example let's lay the laundry on the
bed but lots of people say let's lay on
the bed and that's wrong people also
mistake the past tense form and the past
participle of lie
I often hear people say lied like he
lied on the floor or laid like he laid
on the floor but really the past tense
of lie is lay and the past participle is
blame the past tense of lay is laid and
the past participle is also laid number
three confusion of the words fewer and
less fewer is used for count nouns and
less is used for non count nouns but
people often use less for count nouns
for example I eat less cookies than I
used to cookies are countable so the
correct sentence is I eat fewer cookies
than I used to that kind of mistake is
very widespread number two confusing the
past tense form and the past participle
form of irregular verbs for example the
verb to go has the past tense form went
and the past participle gone but lots of
people say things like I should have
went to the party but the correct
sentence is I should have gone to the
party another example the verb to drink
the past tense form is drank in the past
participle is drunk
some people say things like he's already
drank two beers and it's only 4:00 p.m.
but it should be he's already drunk two
beers
number one misuse of the word literally
the real original meaning of this word
is that something in reality is exactly
as spoken without metaphor or
exaggeration for example if you say she
literally has thousands of pairs of
shoes that means if you count all of her
pairs of shoes there will be thousands
of them not hundreds not dozens but
really thousands but these days people
often use the word literally just to put
emphasis on something that's not
actually literal for example that guy is
literally a monster oh really that
sentence means that he looks like this
he's not
human he's a real monster but that's not
what they meant they just meant that
he's a bad person this kind of mistake
literally makes me scream what are you
waiting for me to scream I don't
actually scream I didn't mean that
literally.
I think that basically all native
speakers make some mistakes in writing
and in speaking if we judge by strict
grammatical standards sometimes it's
because they're just thinking on their
feet and maybe their ideas aren't
completely organized so things come out
a little bit unclear and sometimes it
might be a habitual mistake they repeat
the same mistake over and over but the
issue is not black and white
obviously standard languages need rules
so that there's not total chaos but at
the same time languages are always
evolving and sometimes a mistake may be a
new innovation in the language that just
doesn't match the rules of grammar yet
because the rules of grammar were
decided in the past so the question of
the day for native English speakers what
do you think of the kind of mistakes
that I described in the video do you
think that they're a danger to the
English language or do you see them as
mere innovations or does it depend on
the case and the question of the day for
native speakers of other languages do
you notice these kinds of mistakes in
your own native language what do you
think of them leave your comments down
below be sure to follow Leng focus on
Facebook Twitter and Instagram and once
again I'd like to say thanks to all of
my patreon supporters especially the
ones right here on the screen for their
especially generous pledges thank you
for watching and have a nice evening
Sike, day.