Common English mistakes

[mephisto794]

English language can be very confusing and lead to many mistakes; and since English became the 'premium' world language, used for all aspects of communications, these mistakes might have dramatical consequences.

Let's use this thread to list the most common English language mistakes.

[Ana]

'Informations'........ is a term that doesn't exist....... the correct term is 'Information' whether it is in single or plural... it's a very common mistake on this forum.

[TMM]

Well, I found these two interesting sites :
http://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/CommonMistakes.htm
http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

....

Some people use "these ones". There is no such expression. One can simply say "these" . "Ones" may be used in plural form but not in all cases especially not in this case.

[FreeNadine]

ok let's say also the word "means" which means "way"
ex: going to school is a means to be educated.

this word cannot be written as "mean", it will always stay "means".

[shadow1]

when you read postings here you notice few common mistakes by posters.
here is a list of the most common errors people make:

Independence; Some spell it independAnce
Responsibility not responsAbility
Corrupt not corrupted ( except when used as a verb), a person is corrupt and not corrupted.

Lose not loose ( loose has a different meaning)

Choose not chose (except in past tense)

Enthusiasm not enthousiasm

Another common error is the use of it's instead of its. you can only use it's if u mean it is and not as a possessive adjective.Ex: it's a disgrace not to know the country and its people

There instead of their ( their is a possessive adjective, there is an adverb or a pronoun)

much and many ( much is used for something that cannot be counted, many for things that can): Ex; there were many people talking with much interest about many subjects with much relevance.

Less and few ( less used for something that cannot be counted like less tolerance for ex. and few for things that can be counted like fewer people in the room.

Done and finished ( the cooking is done the person is finished doing something) saying I am done is incorrect.

Santa Claus and not santa clause.

[terror]

There are hundreds of common mistakes, but one interesting one that I notice the MAJORITY of Lebanese people make is spelling "separate" with an "e" as "seperate."

Don't you do it?

[mephisto794]

Originally Posted by shadow1

when you read postings here you notice few common mistakes by posters.
here is a list of the most common errors people make:

Independence; Some spell it independAnce
Responsibility not responsAbility
Corrupt not corrupted ( except when used as a verb), a person is corrupt and not corrupted.

[...]
Enthusiasm not enthousiasm

[...]
Less and few ( less used for something that cannot be counted like less tolerance for ex. and few for things that can be counted like fewer people in the room.

Done and finished ( the cooking is done the person is finished doing something) saying I am done is incorrect.

Santa Claus and not santa clause.

Most of such errors have mainly 2 sources:
1- 'thinking' in French and then translating to English
2- effect of American English language (different from the classical, academic English)

[Tartaruga]

Originally Posted by mephisto794

Most of such errors have mainly 2 sources:
1- 'thinking' in French and then translating to English
2- effect of American English language (different from the classical, academic English)

so true! i was going to say the same thing, especially the first point

1-many write langage instead of language
2-adress instead of address
3-cristal instead of crystal

[Pestilencia]

many say substract instead of subtract
and homeworks doesnt exist..its homework even in plural form

[Mey]

I always make the mistake of writing Santa Clause instead of Santa Claus.

And I also always make the mistake of writing Lets not Let's.

Reading shadow's post, I think I write independence too

Also many people here write homeworks which should be homework